On Jan. 15, Sam Zell dropped by the bleak house that is the Melville, N.Y., headquarters of Newsday, Long Island’s newspaper.

It was to be a pep talk: The last decade, characterized by its nearly annual tradition of soul-wrenching job cuts, was over. “We’ve got to get off our ass,” he said to the assemblage of reporters and salesmen; it went over well, less like a scolding than a slap on the butt from Coach.

Two months later, a somber group showed up at the Newsday auditorium for cannoli, pecan pie and coffee to say goodbye to the 36 newsroom buyouts Tribune had exacted from the paper, including three national reporters, several business reporters, its features editor, its movie editor and two critics. (Some reporters were taken off other desks and transferred to the Long Island desk.)  read more »

Powerful landlord and print media titan Mort Zuckerman has signed his first tenant for his new tower-to-be on Eighth Avenue and West 55th Street, closing on a lease of more than 200,000 square feet with the law firm  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/2008/zuckerman-snags-first-tenant-new-eighth-avenue-tower#comments Real Estate Mortimer Zuckerman Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:10:19 -0500 Eliot Brown 63111 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/node/36704 Now Mort Zuckerman will have to write his monthly rent checks to a rival.    read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/36704#comments Real Estate Broadway Partners Mortimer Zuckerman New York Life Insurance Company Paul Glickman Sun, 11 Feb 2007 19:00:00 -0500 John Koblin 36704 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/node/35700 Hip Clothier Sheds Threads, Declares Art for Art's Sake "The last time local clothier Brooklyn Industries tried to make an ambitious artistic statement in its storefronts, the effort only inspired area graffiti artists. Now, one year (and thousands of dollars in property damage) later, the small-but-expanding chain's owners have come back with a plan to look a lot less like sell-outs: In one location, they're not planning on selling anything--except their image." Go to Counter Espionage by Chris Shott. Daily News Hub Sells for $700 Million "Now, Mort Zuckerman will have to write his monthly rent checks to a rival. The home of Mr. Zuckerman's prized asset, the Daily News, is in contract for more than $700 million, according to a source with knowledge of the deal." New York Life Building Fills with Tenants "The New York Life Building is not having any trouble finding tenants. And, unlike so many of its iconic peers, it's not turning residential, either. Totally the opposite: The building is now fully leased, after filling 300,000 available square feet in the last 18 months." Go to Commercial Breaks by John Koblin. Spitzer Aide as Transit Savior: Arise Again, Moynihan Station! "Just a matter of hours after Gov. Spitzer won [in November], Patrick Foye, not even announced as chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation, began to chart the course of an entirely new office district with a double-headed train station. Since then, Mr. Foye and others who work for him have been moving forward quickly to get Moynihan Station back on track after its demise in the final months of the Pataki administration, expanding the scope of any project to include the so-called Plan B, which would involve a new Penn Station as well." Go to story by Matthew Schuerman. It's a Long, Long Sales Haul for Manhattan Condos "At the dawn of 2000, when the idea that the average sales price for a Manhattan apartment could top a million dollars was but a glimmer in the eyes of brokers, it took 118 days, on average, to unload a condo. Not anymore. According to appraisal firm Miller Samuel, which prepares a quarterly market report for brokerage Prudential Douglas Elliman, by the start of 2007, the average number of days it took to sell a condo shot up more than 60 percent from barely two years earlier." Go to The Lab by Tom Acitelli. Wendy Wasserstein's Garret Windows Go for $5.22 M. "It's been one year since the playwright Wendy Wasserstein died at the age of 55, and her old apartment, on the 11th floor of 75 Central Park West, has now been sold for $5.22 million." Did Lehman Estate Get Close to $32 M. at 2 East 67th? "Back in 1978, after the death of her colossal art collector husband Robert Lehman, Lee Anz Lehman bought herself the ninth floor of 2 East 67th Street. The queenly apartment will soon change hands after nearly 30 years: according to the Corcoran Web site, where the apartment was listed for $32 million, her estate has now signed a contract to sell the co-op." Go to Manhattan Transfers by Max Abelson.]]> http://www.observer.com/node/35700#comments Real Estate Manhattan Mortimer Zuckerman Moynihan Station Patrick Foye Wed, 07 Feb 2007 04:00:51 -0500 Observer Staff 35700 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/node/32990 "It is completely false that I have anything to do with the Giuliani campaign," said Daily News chairman and publisher Mortimer Zuckerman.

On Jan 24, Politico's Ben Smith published a PDF of Rudy Giuliani's 127-page campaign dossier, a secret battle plan. Smith had also reported on the brief while working at the Daily News earlier this month.