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Fitch: Stuy Town Loans Transferred to Special Servicer

By Eliot Brown | November 6, 2009 | 10:49 pm

The main $3 billion mortgage for Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village has been transferred to a "special servicer," according to the rating agency Fitch, a significant step taken when loans are in default or on the verge of default. The owners of the giant 11,200-unit Manhattan apartment complex,... READ MORE»

Fitch: Stuy Town Loans Transferred to Special Servicer

By Eliot Brown | November 6, 2009 | 10:49 pm

The main $3 billion mortgage for Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village has been transferred to a "special servicer," according to the rating agency Fitch, a significant step taken when loans are in default or on the verge of... READ MORE»

The Apthorp

Maurice Mann Sued Again Over Apthorp

By Reid Pillifant | November 6, 2009 | 3:21 pm

Developer Maurice Mann, who partnered with the billionaire Lev Leviev to buy the Apthorp in 2007, is being sued by Blue Rock Properties, a brokerage firm that helped arrange the deal's... READ MORE»

Untitled, Dan Flavin.

Dia Back in Chelsea

By Molly Fischer | November 6, 2009 | 2:50 pm

The Dia Art Foundation has announced that it will be returning to its old neighborhood, constructing a new building on West 22nd Street in Chelsea. Director Philippe Vergne said in a press release that the foundation wants "to build a 'dream house' for... READ MORE»

Walt Disney's Grandniece Finally Sells West End Co-ops, But Loses Millions

By Max Abelson | November 6, 2009 | 11:34 am

Back in April 2008, Abigail Disney, the mogul's grandniece, put her two 300 West End Avenue apartments on the market for a combined $13,445,000. It was an ambitious thing to do, considering that a year and a half earlier she'd paid the singer Harry Belafonte just $10.75 million for... READ MORE»

NYU Crawling Out of the Doghouse Over Signs on Landmarked Property

By Roland Li | November 6, 2009 | 8:20 am

New York University is in the process of resolving a landmarks violation, issued after the school placed new signs on the landmarked Silver Towers, just south of Washington Square Park. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation first complained to the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission in June, after the school installed new signs in the spring, which tell visitors to curb their... READ MORE»

Richard Brodsky.

Brodsky: ‘More Than Optimistic’ on Authorities Reform

By Eliot Brown | November 6, 2009 | 8:07 am

If one Googles the term "Soviet Style bureaucracies," Assemblyman Richard Brodsky owns the top four results, each with quotes of his that refer to New York's public authorities--his favorite term on the... READ MORE»

Citing Albany Dysfunction, Rudin Says No to a Senator in Need

By Dana Rubinstein | November 5, 2009 | 5:32 pm

Bill Rudin, the civic-minded real estate billionaire, admired in New York for his family’s remarkable success, apparent functionality, and steadfast devotion to New York civic life, made a startling declaration on Wednesday morning at the Harvard... READ MORE»

New York Transit Gets a New Chief

By Reid Pillifant | November 5, 2009 | 12:29 pm

The new president of New York City Transit will be Thomas Prendergast, who served as head of the city's subways from 1990 to 1994 and later as head of the Long Island Rail Road. M.T.A. chairman Jay Walder confirmed the hire this morning and said an announcement will be made this afternoon, just one day after he accepted the resignation of outgoing president Howard... READ MORE»

Four More Years! But for What? Experts Opine on Economic Development Through '13

By Eliot Brown | November 3, 2009 | 9:45 pm

Almost indisputably, the mayoral race this year was a desert of big new ideas for New York City. Be it the lack of a competitive Democratic primary, the billions in budget gaps or the challenger's preference for blanket criticism over policy prescription, the incumbent and-at the time of this writing-presumptive winner, Michael Bloomberg, was never forced to offer much in the way of innovative... READ MORE»

45 West 67th Street.

A Slow Slide from ‘Ridiculous’: West 67th Condo Chopped Mightily to $8.97 M.

By Max Abelson | November 3, 2009 | 6:53 pm

Everything that comes up must come down, even the price tags for apartments with telephone-programmed air-conditioning, six-head steam showers, motorized refrigerator shelves, heated towel bars, master suite sitting rooms and 1,100-square-foot entertaining terraces. Earlier this month, the asking price of a four-bedroom apartment at 45 West 67th Street fell to $8,975,000, two years after it was listed for $14 million. “That was a ridiculous price,” said Robby Browne, its current... READ MORE»

The kitchen at 838 Fifth Avenue.

Awesome and Disappointing: The Meaning of Big Deals at 838 Fifth, Chupi and Beyond

By Max Abelson | November 3, 2009 | 6:48 pm

The software magnate Marty Sprinzen’s $24.5 million, 4,552-square-foot, seven-room apartment at 838 Fifth Avenue, the kind of place where there’s museum-quality lighting, Venetian plaster and heated Portuguese limestone floors in the entrance gallery alone, went to contract last month, according to its Brown Harris Stevens... READ MORE»

Serenity Pow! Lawsuit Wallops Once-Serenely Confident Setai Condo

By Dana Rubinstein | November 3, 2009 | 5:32 pm

On Oct. 25, 2007, in a typically optimistic New York Sun column entitled, “All Signs Pointing Up in Downtown Manhattan,” Michael Stoler used the Setai at 40 Broad Street as one of many examples of the florescence of Lower... READ MORE»

363 Fifth Avenue.

Desigual? No, I Didn’t! Spanish Clothier Opening in Herald Square

By Dana Rubinstein | November 3, 2009 | 5:13 pm

Desigual, the Barcelona-based clothier whose use of geometric shapes and squiggly lines resembles something a preternaturally talented teenager might concoct, is opening a store in Herald Square, its first New York storefront (indeed, its first American storefront) outside of... READ MORE»

Stiletto Gatsby

By Max Abelson | November 3, 2009 | 4:16 pm

“My mind doesn’t stop thinking,” the 29-year-old model and real estate entrepreneur Jodie Fanelli said last month, driving in her Porsche SUV to Bensonhurst. “I could wake up in the middle of the night and I come up with crazy things that I’m, like, I have to write it down right away, and I want to try and pursue it.” “The first business we were ever in together,” her identical twin, Diane, said, “we sold... READ MORE»

Go Ahead and Stair

By Max Abelson | November 3, 2009 | 11:42 am

... READ MORE»

A Stuy-Town Simile

By Reid Pillifant | November 3, 2009 | 11:40 am

It looks like the elected officials who represent Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village are bracing for the complex to default, and they're already reminding the complex's lenders--Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--about how the lenders themselves needed a bit of help last year. In a letter to Fannie and Freddie, the electeds--U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney, Councilman Dan Garodnick, State Senator Tom Duane, Borough President Scott Stringer and Assemblyman Brian... READ MORE»

Unit 3F.

Your Open House: Upper West Side Family-Size

By Chloe Malle | November 3, 2009 | 11:02 am

Halloween Saturday was gray and warm, and the Upper West Side, the typically no-fun familial zone, was a twitter with tiny trick-or-treaters and pre-marathon... READ MORE»

Clothier, and So Much More, Rocawear Takes Floor-Plus at 1411 Broadway

By Emily Geminder | November 2, 2009 | 11:31 pm

When not producing chart-topping records, putting a ring on multiplatinum divas or investing in basketball teams, Jay-Z is at work on his other dynasty: fashion. Rocawear, the clothing label created by the rapper also known as Shawn Carter, inked a 40,000-square-foot deal at 1411 Broadway. The apparel company will hold down the entire 38th floor as well as part of the... READ MORE»

Lighting Wizard Fisher Marantz Stone Re-ups in Kaufman’s 22 West 19th

By Emily Geminder | November 2, 2009 | 11:13 pm

The lighting and design wizards at Fisher Marantz Stone, known for such pyrotechnics of illumination as the World Trade Center phantom towers and Brooklyn’s psychedelic-infused, color-coordinated Borough Hall, will remain in their 18,300-square-foot studios at 22 West 19th Street. A tenant of the Chelsea building since 1999, Fisher Marantz Stone extended its lease by another eight... READ MORE»

Monday’s 230 Park Racks Up Marquee Tenants: Encyclopædia Britannica, Stanley Tools, New York City

By Emily Geminder | November 2, 2009 | 11:07 pm

With its gilded pyramidal roof, marble interiors and cast-iron flourishes, 230 Park Avenue, the former Helmsley building, is arguably the most iconic New York building never scaled by a giant ape. Its enduring prominence in the city’s skyline is reflected in its recent acquisition of tenants. Encyclopædia Britannica and Stanley Tools are moving to the building, and the City of New York renewed its lease for the chief judge of the New York Court... READ MORE»