NY Observer > Houston http://www.observer.com/taxonomy/term/27236/feed Articles from Observer.com en The Afternoon Wrap: Thursday http://www.observer.com/node/35971
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  • The West Village is really getting old: the chimney of famous Bedford Street speakeasy Chumley's "separated from the interior wall and collapsed into the bar area." Thankfully, the Department of Buildings promises that demolition is "not being considered at this time." [Curbed]
  • The subprime mortgage catastrophe has even hit uber-fancy homes: Palaces from Laguna Beach to Savannah (but, sadly, not Manhattan) will be auctioned off this spring, making for "something of a fire sale in the luxury sector." [Forbes]
  • What New York really needs is a green hotel-condo. Luckily, there's one (and it's 61,000 square feet) under construction at 250 Bowery between Prince and Houston. The design firm is "targeting tourists concerned with environmental responsibility as well as aesthetics." Creepy. [Real Deal] - Max Abelson]]> http://www.observer.com/node/35971#comments Real Estate Houston Laguna Beach Manhattan Savannah Thu, 05 Apr 2007 14:13:00 -0400 Observer Staff 35971 at http://www.observer.com Commercial Market Spawns Crazy Soho Building Sale—$1,000 a Foot! http://www.observer.com/node/36992 A very glam downtown project now has a very glam team to  sell it.    read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/36992#comments Real Estate Burberry Group plc Hong Kong Houston Hudson Waterfront Associates LP Sun, 25 Mar 2007 20:00:00 -0400 John Koblin 36992 at http://www.observer.com The Afternoon Wrap: Tuesday http://www.observer.com/node/35885
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    • The car parking at Soho's 123 Baxter is "hidden from view and lacks human operators." (Lasers steer the cars into spots, or something like that.) Better yet, it's now open to the public instead of the owners of the 24 condo units. [Metropolis]
    • The genius firm Architectural Artifacts is selling off (plus disassembling, shipping, and reassembling) the carved limestone entryway from a Westchester estate. And it only costs $135,000.00! [Luxist]
    • The attractively-named Solid Waste Management Plan ("'the swamp' in waste-savvy lingo") aims to get 25 percent of NYC's waste out of landfills/trash-burners this year, and 70 percent by 2015. Luckily for us, recylcing is a hoot. [City Limits]
    • An artist (with a lot of time and talent on his hands) drew every fire escape in lovely eastern Soho [above]. Click on all his Web site's little boxes if you really like the fiery rustication between Broadway, West Broadway, Houston and Canal. [The Fireladders of Soho, via Gothamist] - Max Abelson]]> http://www.observer.com/node/35885#comments Real Estate Gothamist LLC Houston New York City Westchester Tue, 20 Mar 2007 13:35:37 -0400 Observer Staff 35885 at http://www.observer.com The Afternoon Wrap: Wednesday http://www.observer.com/node/35770
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      • Oh me, oh my, how the Bowery has changed! The place you used to avoid at all costs, even in broad sunshine-y daylight like today, will welcome a Whole Foods in March. The fancy-pants grocer is supposed to open its doors at Bowery and Houston on Mar. 29.
        • [Curbed]
      • Residential marketing in New York has always had that certain something--a sense of pizzaz, a sense of adventure. Now, it also has MySpace. Entire buildings are getting their own MySpace pages, complete with sexual orientations and favorite films and TV shows. At least one is trying "to meet serious thrill seekers. Someone who looks for the entertainment in life. Someone who wants to play, for the sake of winning. A heavy need for quality films and that can play pool."
        • [Gowanus Lounge]
      • Brooklyn Heights used to have a much different promenade (see above). Before demolition in 1946, "to make way for the expressway, this arched viaduct, greenhouse and buttressed wall were accessible by the stone stairways that led down from the mansions above to the ferry landing below."
        • [Brownstoner]
      • CNN/Money lists the 10 Richest Americans Ever (whitest list ever!). Though a few people listed have New York City connections (Astor, Vanderbilt, Rensselear), none made his fortune in real estate. Brokers, take note: Railroads and merchant banking--that's where the money is, apparently.
        • [CNN/Money] - Tom Acitelli]]> http://www.observer.com/node/35770#comments Real Estate Gowanus Houston MySpace Inc. Whole Foods Market Inc. Wed, 21 Feb 2007 11:47:56 -0500 Observer Staff 35770 at http://www.observer.com Boo-Hoo: LoHo Loses http://www.observer.com/node/35647 Public relations executive Juda Engelmayer concedes that he has lost his fight against "Wikiminimalists" to keep LoHo (Lower Houston, a.k.a. the Lower East Side) in Wikipedia.

        "I tried to appeal, it won't work," he writes in an e-mail. The LoHo entry is just a shell of itself, linking to a debate over the debate to delete the entry, in which one of the victors explains:

        If the "20 articles" were from reliable sources and documented the name as being in wide use, rather than minor passing mentions and blog postings and one article mentioning this as a neologism, and if anything demonstrated that the term has been influential in anything except naming one agency, then the references would have overruled any number of "delete" votes that didn't give a valid policy reason.

        All right. Everybody back to work!

        - Matthew Schuerman]]>         http://www.observer.com/node/35647#comments Real Estate Houston Wikimedia Foundation Inc. Thu, 25 Jan 2007 06:55:22 -0500 Observer Staff 35647 at http://www.observer.com         Diesel Brings 'Downtown' Look Farther Downtown http://www.observer.com/node/35587 male.jpg

        Italian denim dealer Diesel has leased 1,600 square feet on Lafayette Street to give its 55DSL line a boutique space all its own.

        The line was previously relegated to a small section of Diesel's Union Square location.

        "The retailer's 55DSL brand is targeting young men and women with a strong sense of fashion and a hip 'downtown' style," said Robert Cohen of the uber-hip retail brokerage Robert K. Futterman & Associates, which coordinated the deal, in a press release.

        The new store, located between Houston and Prince streets, is slated to open this spring.

        Totally "hip" press release after the jump.  read more »

        - Chris Shott ]]>         http://www.observer.com/node/35587#comments Real Estate Houston Robert Cohen Robert Futterman Robert K. Futterman & Associates LLC Fri, 12 Jan 2007 06:00:00 -0500 Observer Staff 35587 at http://www.observer.com         New Café Mixes Many Parts Booze, Some Parts Book http://www.observer.com/node/36509 “Hey, don’t walk out with that!” shouted Brian Butterick, general manager of the r  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/36509#comments Real Estate Brian Butterick Houston Joe Birdsong Rolling Rock Beer Sun, 07 Jan 2007 19:00:00 -0500 Chris Shott 36509 at http://www.observer.com A Soho Site Sits Pretty in Pink; Why Won't Retailers Bite? http://www.observer.com/node/53071 A seasonal smorgasbord of the latest in high-tech gadgetry, the short-lived Wired Store in Soho, ope  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/53071#comments Real Estate Houston Nathan Stange Sony PlayStation3 TriBeach Holdings Sun, 24 Dec 2006 19:00:00 -0500 Chris Shott 53071 at http://www.observer.com A Soho Site Sits Pretty in Pink; Why Won’t Retailers Bite? http://www.observer.com/node/36465 A seasonal smorgasbord of the latest in high-tech gadgetry, the short-lived Wired Store in Soho, ope  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/36465#comments Real Estate Houston Nathan Stange Sony PlayStation3 TriBeach Holdings Sun, 24 Dec 2006 19:00:00 -0500 Chris Shott 36465 at http://www.observer.com The Benefits of a Bust http://www.observer.com/node/30996 One more thing on my last post. Someone pointed out to me that Larry Littlefield at Room 8 recently raised the possibility that changing the 421a program might result in a residential real estate glut. But Littlefield thinks it should be an intended consequence. He writes:
        There is a lot of stupid money out there. Shouldn't we get some to subsidize our housing, rather than using tax dollars?

        Littlefield's proposal? Extend the program for one year, and then cut it off completely. Then:

        A huge wave of new units, even huger than that already in the pipeline, would come on the market -- perhaps in a recession. Supply would exceed demand, and rents and sales prices would drop. Investors would lose, but you pay your money and take your chances. That's how Texas is so affordable.

        I'm not so sure that creating a Houston-style real estate bust is exactly what Bloomberg had in mind when he proposed this, but I guess it's an idea.

        -- Andrew Rice]]>         http://www.observer.com/node/30996#comments Politics Houston Texas Thu, 21 Dec 2006 07:56:48 -0500 Observer Staff 30996 at http://www.observer.com