Portfolio’s second issue hits newsstands on August 15, and there have now been two high-profile departures in the past four days alone.

Kurt Eichenwald, a senior writer and investigative reporter, has resigned, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

For two decades, Mr. Eichenwald worked as an investigative reporter at the New York Times before joining the Conde Nast start-up in September 2006.

It was in Dec. 2005, while at The Times, that Mr. Eichenwald wrote an award-winning investigative piece on online child-pornography that continues to generate controversy. This past March, The Times revealed that Mr. Eichenwald paid $2,000 to the story’s subject Justin Berry—which although repaid, violated the paper’s ethics guidelines, according to executive editor Bill Keller. And two days ago, The Times reported that Mr. Eichenwald made additional payments totaling $1,100 to Mr. Berry via PayPal, under pseudonyms.

Back in February 2007, Mr. Eichenwald was very excited about his new position at Portfolio, telling The Observer that “very few startups have the kind of bankroll behind it that this one does."

Regarding the simultaneous print and online launch, he added: “Portfolio is a magazine being born in the 21st century. Any magazine coming out now cannot look at the Web as just something to put an article on; it has to be viewed as part of the whole.”

When contacted by The Observer today, Mr. Eichenwald declined to comment.

It’s been a tumultuous week over at 4 Times Square

On Tuesday, The Observer first reported on the firing of deputy editor Jim Impoco—regarded among staffers at the magazine’s number two, next to editor Joanne Lipman. The widely-admired Mr. Impoco brought in many of the magazine’s top staffers, and his firing occurred at a difficult moment, right as the magazine shifts to a monthly schedule.

Mr. Impoco was an advocate of an investigative piece on terrorism that Mr. Eichenwald wrote for the first issue, but which was held by Ms. Lipman.

Although Mr. Eichenwald wrote another piece for the forthcoming September issue, the terrorism story remains held. Several Portfolio staffers, who read the terrorism piece, praised it, and told The Observer that they did not know a specific reason why Ms. Lipman would not run it.

A Portfolio spokesperson had no comment.

UPDATE: Portfolio staffers now tell The Observer that was Mr. Eichenwald was on leave at the time of his resignation. A Portfolio spokesperson declined to comment on personnel matters.   read more »

NY architects, circa 1880 [Metrop.]

• How do you get Mayor Bloomberg, S.I. Newhouse, Arthur Sulzberger, and Ms. Oprah Winfrey in one room together? Cathy Black has the answer--tonight she's hosting the grand opening gala for the new Norman Foster-designed Hearst Tower. These days, $500 million buys you a rainwater waterfall (there's also "The Wave"), and rainwater buys you a "green" certificate. (See below...) (NY Post)
• After his hippy Tribeca rock club closed down, Peter Shapiro formed a environmental consultancy firm named GreenOrder with his brother Andrew. It's been six small years, but their group has helped 7 World Trade Center become New York's first "gold" office building, and now the Shapiros are working with GE's $47.5 billion real estate holdings. Up next: A $2.6 billion environmentally friendly mall in upstate New York. Green greed is good! (NY Times)
• New York's Young Architects' Forum isn't so young anymore. The YAF club--for cool kids like Steven Holl, Neil Denari, and Billie Tsien--is turning 25. Hurrah! Yet this year the group's theme is "instability," which proves that Crash Anxiety has finally spilled over from the brokers and bankers to the architects. (Metropolis)
• The City Opera suffers the daily indignity of performing in the NY State Theater (merely a sound-enhanced ballet hall), though even cheaper is Toronto's new, unfancy "Ikea Opera House." Can imperfect buildings hurt the music? Yes! "Architecture is everything," sneers Anthony Tommasini. (NY Times)
- Max Abelson]]> http://www.observer.com/node/35206#comments Real Estate Oprah Winfrey S.I. Newhouse The New York Times Company Mon, 09 Oct 2006 04:30:22 -0400 Observer Staff 35206 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/node/38535 Late last year, the magazines formerly known as Fairchild Publications moved from their headquarters  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/38535#comments Louis Fairchild Maurie Perl S.I. Newhouse Times Square Sun, 12 Mar 2006 19:00:00 -0500 Gabriel Sherman 38535 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/node/48136 Against the backdrop of an angry September sea, three young women in their late 20's sat huddled dee  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/48136#comments Media Giorgio Franchetti Jamie Johnson Lorne Weil S.I. Newhouse Sun, 05 Oct 2003 20:00:00 -0400 NYO Staff 48136 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/node/43020 At about 5:40 on Friday, May 19, Museum of Modern Art director Glenn Lowry strode out onto the West  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/43020#comments Media Glenn Lowry John Elderfield Pablo Picasso S.I. Newhouse Sun, 04 Jun 2000 20:00:00 -0400 Andrew Goldman 43020 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/node/42801 On the eve of Steve Wynn's resignation as chairman and chief executive of Mirage Resorts Inc., Advan  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/42801#comments Larry Gagosian MGM Mirage Inc. S.I. Newhouse Steve Wynn Sun, 09 Apr 2000 20:00:00 -0400 Sindy Goldman 42801 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/node/41306 When Robert Miller opened an eponymous gallery on the second floor of the Fuller Building in 1986, t  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/41306#comments Arts & Culture Betsy Miller Robert D. Miller S.I. Newhouse Sherri White Sun, 04 Apr 1999 20:00:00 -0400 Jeffrey Hogrefe 41306 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/node/40898 When I was growing up in Connecticut, two things were true: Vogue was good, Russia was bad.  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/40898#comments Media Mario Testino Moscow Russia S.I. Newhouse Sun, 30 Aug 1998 20:00:00 -0400 William Norwich 40898 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/node/40747 On July 13, Tina Brown, budding intellectual-property mogul, took time from taking meetings to take  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/40747#comments Media David Remnick Michael Kinsley S.I. Newhouse Tina Brown Sun, 19 Jul 1998 20:00:00 -0400 Warren St. John 40747 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/node/40388 In the same week that S.I. Newhouse Jr.  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/40388#comments Bertelsmann AG Carol Felsenthal Random House Inc. S.I. Newhouse Sun, 12 Apr 1998 20:00:00 -0400 Todd Gitlin 40388 at http://www.observer.com