Despite his penchant for political repression and election fraud, former two-term Nigerian President Olu Obasanjo scored points in the West for economic reforms in the oil-rich African country. But Mr. Obasanjo’s hands were by no means clean when he left office in May 2007.

Last March, for instance, Mr. Obasanjo was indicted by the Nigerian parliament for awarding $2.2 billion worth of energy contracts during his eight-year rule, without due process.

His son, Olu Obasanjo Jr., however, seems to have markedly less extravagant tastes and spending habits than his father. He and his wife, Imelse, live in a Park Slope condo at 705 Carroll Street that Mr.  read more »

Back in 2004, Howard Stern’s sidekick Robin Quivers pledged to leave the U.S.A. if George W. Bush was re-elected. Last November the shock-jock’s wing woman did sell her Staten Island home for $1.2 million, but it appears Ms. Quivers only intended to flee the borough, not the country.

She has paid $2.4 million for a 1,486-square-foot condo at the new, Costas Kondylis-designed building, 200 West End Avenue, city records show. Ms. Quivers took out a $1.9 million mortgage on her two-bedroom, 22nd-floor, Upper West Side apartment.  read more »

Activists targeted hotelier Hank Freid last week as the focal point for their campaign against illegal hotel conversions citywide, calling the much-maligned developer a "scamlord" and picketing his Broadway Hotel this past Saturday.

Mr. Freid's lawyer chimed in this week to make a point -- those hotels aren't actually illegal:  read more »

Activists plan to rally at noon on Saturday outside controversial hotelier Hank Freid's Broadway Studios on the Upper West Side to "denounce the continued operation of illegal hotels" by "scamlords" citywide.

"We are targeting Hank Freid as an egregious illegal hotelier ... with a particularly insidious past," organizer Yarrow Willman-Cole told The Observer.

Mr. Freid earned the dubious distinction as one of New York City's "Worst Landlords" after contracting with the government to provide housing for homeless persons living with HIV/AIDS at his hotels amid hard economic times, then evicting those tenants to make way for upcale renovations once the economy rebounded.  read more »

15 Central Park West has no shortage of accomplished residents. Pick a field and its leader might just have a condo in the building. There are dozens of Wall Street investors who’ve made (and in a few cases) lost billions of dollars, a Nascar star, a pharmaceutical executive, and even English teacher-cum-rockstar Sting.

The latest buyer might be the most dazzling professional hyphenate yet—M.D./Hedge Fund Manager. Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald, a one-time internal physician who made a fortune investing in bio-technology start-ups took out a $22.5 million mortgage to buy a $30 million duplex condominium on the 18th floor, city records show.  read more »

I wrote in today's Observer about the drops in doorman-building rents. The stats for that story came from a new February market report by The Real Estate Group New York.

Some of the other stats in the report show a marked increase in Lower East Side rents. For instance, the average monthly rent in a two-bedroom in a non-doorman building increased 3.3 percent from March of last year to $3,273.  read more »

The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in a non-doorman building on the Upper West Side was $2,478 in January, according to a report (PDF) from brokerage The Real Estate Group New York. The average for a one-bedroom in a non-doorman building on the Upper East Side was $2,439. In doorman buildings, one-bedrooms averaged $3,549 on the Upper West Side and $3,534 on the Upper East Side.

Hallowed cupcake mecca Magnolia Bakery has spawned a second location -- three times bigger -- on the Upper West Side.

For this week's Observer, out tomorrow, I sat down with Magnolia owner Steve Abrams and brother Danny Abrams, owner of the Mermaid Inn, who similarly opened a second location in the same neighborhood.  read more »

Guy walks into a bar, says to the bartender: "Same shirt as yesterday, Charlie?"

Same shirt, same shit, different day.

Indeed, change is rare around the old P&G Bar, founded in 1942 at the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and West 73rd Street, where around 5 p.m. on Thursday regulars compared bowling scores over Budweisers while horse races flickered on an old boxy TV set in the background.

But change is happening outside the bar.

Scheduled storefront renovations have finally begun on the building. The bar's prior dark-green facade has been stripped away and new windows with light green trim are being installed.

Yet the defiant Chahalis family, which has owned and operated the bar for the past 60 years, refuses to budge and has rebuffed buyout offers from the landlord. (The bar's lease is up at the end of 2008.)

"WE WILL BE OPEN DURING STOREFRONT REPAIRS," according to a sign on the door.

Relations between the contractors and bar goers have been strained at times during the past few weeks, according to a bartender, who scoffed at the notion of unplugging his ice machine so a worker could plug in his drill.

Folks who frequent the place are anxious for construction to wrap up. Said the bartender: "They could've put up the World Trade Center by now!"

Come check out the latest technology by ... Liz Claiborne?

Indeed! Chic leather handbags with removable laptop sleeves are the first items on display when you stroll down the blue-carpeted entranceway to the city's freshest Best Buy, which held its blue-and-gold-balloon-strewn grand opening on Friday at Fifteen Central Park West.

A day earlier, the retailer even held a fashion show, with an appearance by design diva Tim Gunn of Project Runway fame.

Yes, the home of the Geek Squad has gone slightly more upscale at its new Columbus Circle location. After all, who in this ritzy neighborhood wants the common Targus tote when you can get something more fashionable, say, a cute floral-patterned laptop bag by Sigrid Olsen? (Just $199.99!)

The spacious three-level location also features two swank sound-proof booths so Upper West Side shoppers can crank up the Michael Buble on titanium horn-loaded tweeters as high as 75 decibels without disturbing the sleeping billionaires in the pricey condos upstairs.

"No other store in the city has one," asserted Luiz, one of many overly friendly, earpiece-equipped employees, who seemingly outnumbered customers by about 2 to 1 on this particular afternoon.

He also pointed to the "trippy" strip of soft blue lighting in the ceiling as another amenity exclusive to the new location.