Manhattan

Next Tuesday is April 1, and the first-quarter housing market reports for Manhattan will start trickling out from brokerages like Halstead, Corcoran and Douglas Elliman. What will they say about home sales?

No one knows for certain, of course, but the speculation should pick up noticably in the next few days so here goes:

The first quarter of any year is usually relatively paltry in terms of the number of closed deals because those deals were cut in the winter months, which are normally among the slowest in Manhattan housing.  read more »

Manhattan's population grew 3.8 percent from July 1, 2001--two months before September 11--to July 1, 2007, according to new Census estimates. The borough's population now stands at an estimated 1,620,867. That's roughly 71,403 Manhattanites per square mile.

Brooklyn is the seventh-largest county in the United States, according to new census estimates. The County of Kings has 2,528,050 residents. Queens was No. 10 with 2,270,338; and Manhattan was No. 19 with 1,620,867 residents. The census' estimates run through July 1, 2007.

Although all three experienced population gains over previous years' estimates going back to 2000, none were among the nation's 100 fastest-growing counties; nor were the Bronx or Staten Island. The Bronx was No.  read more »

I wrote in this week's paper about how, even after all the calamitous economic news (like Bear Stearns' collapse), Manhattan rents appear buoyant if not strong. Most of the average rents I cited were for one-bedroom apartments.  read more »

Brokers, developers, and the media have been trumpeting the resilience of Manhattan’s condo and co-op market for nearly a year, and now even the Federal Reserve has singled it out in the latest installment of its regional survey known as the “Beige Book.”  read more »

The Wall Street Journal this morning asked the eternally burning question: Will Manhattan home sales drop like sales have been dropping in other markets around the country?

The Journal cites a Corcoran Group analysis which showed a 9.9 percent year-over-year September drop in the number of Manhattan home sales going to contract.

That got us to wondering: What do the borough's home sales usually do in September? The answer is they go up--or they go down.  read more »

Congratulations to us all! Manhattan has maintained its spot as America's wealthiest county. A Manhattanite's salary averages $2,821 a week, according to the Wall Street Journal (and that's sans bonuses).

Believe it or not, rents are going down in Manhattan.

At least that is what a report from The Real Estate Group is saying. In their August 2007 Manhattan Rental Market Report, the brokerage states that, after a peak this summer, rents are down boroughwide.

And the neighborhood where one-bedrooms had the steepest decline? Soho. In July, you would be paying close to $3,800 for a one-bedroom in a non-doorman building in the trendy neighborhood. Now, rentals are available for about $3,400.

According to the report, landlords are not reducing rents to deal with increasing vacancy. Rather, they are offering to pick up all or part of an apartment’s broker fee. Well, that is nice of them.

The full release about the report is after the jump.  read more »

Harry and Billy Macklowe are so busy.  read more »

‘Flutie’ Mooted   To the Editor:    read more »

In the first quarter of 2007, the Manhattan housing market notched a record number of apartment sale  read more »

“You used to have career video-store clerks,” said Leah Giblin, a diminutive 29-year-old  read more »

New M.T.A. chief Lee Sander was a skeptic about the long-planned East Side subway. Now he’s in charge of completing 33 blocks by 2013.  read more »

Patricia Volk’s new novel—clever, funny, light—celebrates a precious urban resourc  read more »

How’s the shampoo?” asked Patrick, the chatty, bespectacled 54-year-old bartender at Wol  read more »

Ripped open by an iceberg!  read more »

Eliot Spitzer has formed a new federal PAC to contribute to candidates for state and federal office across the country.

According to a reader, the governor's finance people discussed the PAC, Excelsior Committee, at a breakfast this morning in Manhattan with approximately 75 potential supporters.

According to a reader, they explained that "because federal candidates can't accept corporate funds, it was hard for Spitzer to support them with campaign funds and this federal PAC, which can't accept corporate money, would be able to fill that void."

According to another person familiar with the committee, the purpose is to "support other candidates across the country."

The treasurer for Excelsior Committee is Jerry Barbanel, who is also the treasurer for Spitzer 2010. The operations are both headquartered out of the same offices at 330 Madison Avenue, 19th Floor.

-- Azi Paybarah

Hell's Kitchen Is Too Pretty For Reality TV Hollywood screenwriter Bobby Moresco spoke in Dickensian terms about growing up Irish in Hell's Kitchen, back in the mob-ruled pre-condo era. "For me, it was the greatest life on the face of the earth," he told The Observer. "It turned into the worst life on the face of the earth." Go to story by Chris Shott. Second Avenue Subway Convert Protects First Leg of Biggest Dig Thursday's groundbreaking for the Second Avenue Subway will be a huge victory for the new chief executive of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, but the hardest part may lie ahead--finding the money to complete a project that has been abandoned twice before. Go to story by Matthew Schuerman. Council: We Want Control Of All School Sites Everyone knows signing a lease in New York City is a lot easier than buying, but that's doubly true if you're opening a new school. Ordinarily, the city Department of Education needs City Council approval to construct a new school, but council members recently discovered that schools have been opening up in leased buildings for years without anyone even mentioning it to them. Go to story by Craig LeMoult. Macklowes Mull East 57th Street Monster Tower Harry and Billy Macklowe are so busy. Two months ago they more than doubled their New York portfolio with a $7 billion buy from Blackstone. And now here comes their next prize. Introducing Craig Nassi! He wants to buy 3 million feet of Manhattan He said he's serious about Manhattan. He said he's bullish about office space in Manhattan. He said he's going to buy a lot of office towers, that's how serious he is. Welcome to New York, Craig Nassi! Go to Commercial Breaks by John Koblin. Smith & Wollensky Takes It in The Chops The rather crude talk and mere pub fare might not exactly reflect the intended high-end image of such a traditionally refined outfit as Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group. But the more relaxed vibe may represent the future of the now-beleaguered Manhattan-based brand. Go to Counter Espionage by Chris Shott. 'Money Honey,' Hubby Buy $6.5 M. East Side Townhouse Despite her salacious scandal earlier this year, CNBC's top anchor, Maria "Money Honey" Bartiromo, and husband Jonathan Steinberg are settling into domestic bliss: They've closed on a five-level townhouse on East 62nd Street, paying $6.5 million. Time Warner Chief Cedes Tribeca Summit Dominance for $2.2 M. Manhattan tycoons should have bad toupees and bad tempers and badly decorated Fifth Avenue triplexes. But Dick Parsons, the mild chairman and CEO of Time Warner Inc., has sold off one of his comparatively modest apartments atop 166 Duane Street. Go to Manhattan Transfers by Max Abelson. Mutual Assured Construction In the first quarter of 2007, the Manhattan housing market notched a record number of apartment sales for a single quarter. In the same three-month period, the Manhattan office market recorded its lowest vacancy rate since early 2001. Is this simultaneous success a coincidence? Maybe. But probably not. Go to The Lab by Tom Acitelli. Cruise Decor Redefines 21st-Century Love Boats Not only are cruising enthusiasts starting younger and long before retirement, but New York City's cruise industry is booming with the 30-year master plan, according to the Economic Development Corporation. Go to Interiors by Toni Schlesinger. Ian Schrager: Viewing Studio 54 From Age 60 The man who forever placed 'boutique' before 'hotel' talks about his High Line plans, Brooklyn dreams, and why he wouldn't mind selling One Madison's clock tower. Go to The Sit-Down by Max Abelson. Deeds and Deals A Week in New York Real Estate

• 66 Pearl Street sells for $19 M.
[Real Deal]
• Ethan Allen leasing 37,000sf in 1010 Third Ave. [2nd item]
[NY Post]
• Health Department crackdown snares big-name eateries.
[NY Post]
• City Housing Authority faces $225 M. deficit.
[NY Times]
• Manhattan office rents hit record highs.
[NY Times]
• A look inside retail condos in Manhattan.
[NY Times]
• In the housing slump, maybe it's time to rent.
[NY Times]
• Commission names Jackie Robinson Pool a landmark.
[NY Sun]

Did we miss any New York City real estate news this morning? Please send along tips and links.

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A reader emailed to say Pete Grannis has officially resigned today -- finally -- from his Assembly seat on Manhattan's East Side.

His resignation was delayed because of the prolonged process of confirming Grannis as the state's DEC Commissioner. While that process unfolded, the list of Democrats vying for his seat swelled, then shrunk. The list of contenders now reads as follows: Micah Kellner.

I'm told that several Republicans have expressed a vague interest in the race, but none have committed to running yet.

A date for the special election should be announced shortly.

-- Azi Paybarah

This'll keep that Bloomberg for President chatter going, I think.

"New York City will serve as the host city for the second C40 Large Cities Climate Summit, May 14-17, 2007. The international conference, which will include sessions at Manhattan venues, will feature keynote addresses by William Jefferson Clinton, 42nd President of the United States of America, and New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg."

There's more on the event over here.

-- Azi Paybarah

It sure is a good time to own real estate in Manhattan.

More than $13.6 billion in real-estate sales closed in the borough in the first quarter of 2007, with another $11 billion under contract. That puts the 2007 investment-sales market at a pace to whip last year's $34 billion record.

The numbers were unveiled at a quarterly breakfast on Tuesday morning hosted by Cushman & Wakefield at the Midtown power eatery Michael's.

Other reasons you'd want to be a landlord: Average office asking rents now stand at $53.43 per square foot--the highest average ever--and the office vacancy rate fell to 5.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006, its lowest mark since September 11, 2001.

"We have seen unprecedented rental growth in the Manhattan office market over the past year," said Cushman & Wakefield big man Joe Harbert.

More analysis on the record-setting numbers in this week's print edition of The Observer, out on Wednesday. And find the entire Cushman & Wakefield press release after the jump.  read more »

- John Koblin

• This week's New York magazine real-estate section answers pertinent questions like: How much are New York "street trees" [above] worth? How "ultraminimal" can a designer's house get? And what does Manhattan real-estate style look like in Fargo, ND? [NY]
• There's also a piece on real-estate cult figure Jonathan Miller, which somehow omitted interviews with his friends Woody Wheeler ("my group leader when I rode my bike across the US in '76") and Bart Simpson ("really! and he happens to be an appraiser"). [Matrix]
• You know a Brooklyn neighborhood is getting too hip when neighbors start complaining about churches. "It starts with this wood clacking, like two sticks beating together, and then it goes into an all out jump-fest, with mics," a brownstone renter complains. "It's drumbeats and a keyboard all day long. And then this one guy starts singing--pretty poorly, I might add."[Brooklyn Paper]
• Being a race car driver married to a model, being an actress who played Margaret Anderson in "Father Knows Best," or having the name Dean Witter III are all dandy ways to get expensive real estate. [WSJ]
• The only thing better than Manhattan real estate is a Manhattan real estate-related birthday. Thusly, our best wishes go out to Cushman & Wakefield's Cara Greenberg, who is still younger than all the Cushman bosses. - Max Abelson
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Milton Glaser, the grandfather of New York graphic design, has sold his grandfatherly third-floor du  read more »

Location: Certain neighborhood factions have been clamoring for a New York City representative on th  read more »

Pity upper-middle-class Manhattanites.  read more »

If you’re a buyer looking for a good deal in the Manhattan housing market, consider condominiu  read more »

The Real Ari Gold   To the Editor:    read more »

The Real Ari Gold   To the Editor:    read more »

• 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
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Need more proof the Manhattan housing market's unique?

While inventory here dropped in the first quarter of 2007, inventory in markets like Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., increased. In the quarter ending March 31 in Manhattan, the inventory of unsold homes on the market was down 0.2 percent from the quarter before, according to appraisal firm Miller Samuel. (It was also down more than 14 percent from the first quarter of 2006.)

In other markets, though, inventory went up--sometimes by a lot--during recent months. The Wall Street Journal reports that inventory in Los Angeles was up 12.8 percent from February through March, and, in the San Francisco Bay Area, it was up 12.2 percent. In fact, the inventories of unsold homes in 18 major metropolitan areas, not including New York, was up 6.5 percent in March from a month earlier.

- Tom Acitelli

After racking up one of the city's worst health-inspection scores so far this rat-crazed year, the original Papaya King outpost at the corner of Third Avenue and 86th Street is once again grilling its trademarked "Tastier Than Filet Mignon" franks.

Waiting in line to order at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, this reporter passed the time by reading juice joint C.E.O. Dan Horan's letter posted at the register, which described the eatery's efforts to rebound from a "tough couple of days."

The Health Department shuttered "New York's First Juice Bar" two weeks ago, after the TV program Inside Edition aired footage of rodents at the Upper East Side sausage factory--a situation Mr. Horan downplayed as "an isolated incident."

Citing the 75-year-old venue for "conditions conducive to vermin," among a host of other health-code violations, inspectors on March 20 slapped management with a horrendously high score of 111--just 84 points shy of the passing mark.

That's 19 points worse than the infamously rat-infested KFC-Taco Bell in Greenwich Village, which remains shuttered, but still 49 points behind Manhattan's most recent high scorer, Cafe Fonduta, which, like Papaya King, has since reopened.

According to Mr. Horan, it took "five days of scrubbing, cleaning and polishing this notably old, but historically significant space," in order to pass re-inspection.

- Chris Shott

• MTA mulls sliding glass doors for Second Ave. Subway.
[NY Times]
• Atlantic Yards work under way as doubts, suits dog it.
[NY Times]
• Upper East Side residents argue over dog run.
[NY Sun]
• Foye: ESDC may lower developer subsidies.
[NY Sun]
• Loehmann's opens Upper West Side location.
[NY Sun]
• Jean Nouvel's condo rising in Chelsea a 'vision.'
[NY Sun]
• City may create a historic district out of NoHo.
[NY Sun]
• Pension funds feast off Manhattan real estate.
[NY Sun]
• Scorsese sells Upper East Side townhouse.
[NY Post]
• Newer lower Westchester high-rises draw city buyers.
[NY Post]

Did we miss any New York City real estate news this morning? Please send along tips and links.

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The 10 Most Expensive Buildings in New York City If every New York City office building went up for sale, which ones would sell for the highest price? The Observer asked the denizens of the real estate world--the people who buy the buildings and the ones who trade them--which towers they thought would close with the biggest price tags. Go to story by John Koblin. The Crisis of the Upper-Middle Class: Big Pay Is Piddling in New York Pity upper-middle class Manhattanites. The average sales price of apartments here has spiked so extremely--tripling in the last decade to a record $1,295,445, according to a recent Prudential Douglas Elliman report--that only the most excessively well-heeled can become local owners. Go to story by Max Abelson. City Mean to Developers Being Green? Despite the hype about green roofs; despite the rampant branding of luxury residences with names like The Solaire and Tribeca Green; despite the cachet that once-repulsive ideas have now garnered (waterless urinals! recycled rainwater!); technologies that allow buildings to generate at least a portion of their own power in a clean, efficient way are having trouble catching on in Manhttan. Go to story by Matthew Schuerman. Another for Broadway Partners! Busy Firm Buys 280 Park for $1.2 B. The most ferocious investment firm of the last six months, Broadway Partners, is in contract to purchase 280 Park Avenue from Istithmar for a little more than $1.2 billion, a source said. Murray Hill Properties Nabs 1180 Avenue of the Americas for $300 M. One of the city's most active landlords, Murray Hill Properties, is in contract to purchase 1180 Avenue of the Americas for at least $300 million, a source said. Go to Commercial Breaks by John Koblin. New Whole Foods Seeks 21st Amendment Whole Foods' whopping 71,000-square-foot new supermarket opened last week on the Bowery at Houston Street, boasting perhaps the most extensive selection of groceries in Manhattan--though not a drop of alcohol. No organic Oregonian red wines. No earthy Vermont microbrews. Not even any gluten-free sorghum beers. Humble Ping-Pong Racket Merely a (Store)front for Entreprenuerial Brothers Barely one and a half weeks into existence, the tiny table-tennis club on Norfolk Street, which features only one ping-pong table, was already experiencing supply problems. Not that the owners' livelihood depends on it. Go to Counter Espionage by Chris Shott. No Contract for $59 M. Guccione Mansion, But 'The Conservative American Loves It' The brashest mansion in Manhattan, a nearly 20,000-square-foot Beaux-Arts townhouse that belonged to porn magnate Bob Guccione before his money woes, has entered its 13th month on the market. N.F.L. Commish, FOX News Anchor Hike 7-Room Co-Op for $2.72 M. Heartbreakingly, the Upper East Side has lost one of its all-American families: Roger Goodell, the new commissioner of the National Football League, and wife Jane Skinner, a brunette Fox News daytime anchoress (plus their twin daughters). The pedigree family sold its seven-room co-op at 180 East End Avenue late last month for $2.725 million. Go to Manhattan Transfers by Max Abelson. Mixing Legal and Liquor Join Noreen Healy, the only commissioner from the city on the State Liquor Authority, for a crawl through Manhattan's nightlife scene. She'll have an Amstel Light. Go to The Sit-Down by Chris Shott. Quarterly Figures Defy Dour Predictions "Dropped" remains a relative term in a Manhattan housing market that has apparently started 2007 with a bang, with just about every other sales-market barometer even more favorable to apartment sellers (and their brokers). Go to The Lab by Tom Acitelli. Buh-bye, Beige! Spring is here, sigh, a leaf trembles. If you're going to throw everything out the window and repaint top to bottom--which New Yorkers often do because they have so much time on their hands--what color is the color of the moment? Go to Interiors by Toni Schlesinger. The Times Machine Nobody at The New York Times seems to be able to talk about the paper's new building without talking about the future of the newspaper--or rather, the future of the news organization. Go to Off The Record by Michael Calderone. A Week in New York Real Estate Madonna's coming back! The Queen of Pop will be touring 179 Ludlow Street on the Lower East Side next week where she hopes to develop a three-floor kabbalah center. Go to Deeds and Deals.

The glory days of Manhattan's stratospheric real estate market continue: the 55-foot-wide townhouse at 11 West 10th Street, which The Observer reported on when it went to contract in November, has sold.

The blogging venture capitalist Fred Wilson owns the 15,000-square-foot townhouse, which he listed in July with Debbie Korb at Sotheby's International Realty. The asking price was $37.5 million. If it closed near there, this 1847 mansion would be the most expensive single-family residence downtown.

Well, it has closed--and it is indeed a record setter.

- Max Abelson

• West 54th Street building sells for $110 M.
[GlobeSt]
• Upper Manhattan portfolio sale could top $1 B.
[Real Deal]
• Manhattan home sales rise sharply in first quarter.
[NY Post]
• Coney Island's Astroland may stay open next summer.
[NY Post]
• Survey: City's middle-class disappearing.
[NY Post]
• Toy Building selling for nearly $500 M.
[NY Post]
• Morningside Heights mansion lowers asking to $20 M.
[NY Times]
• Subprime giant New Century files for bankruptcy.
[NY Times]
• Chelsea residents foil seminary's development plans.
[NY Sun]

Did we miss any New York City real estate news this morning? Please send along tips and links.

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John Catsimatidis, the Hillary Clinton fund-raiser who said he wants to run for mayor, told me he'll be changing his party registration from Democrat to Republican "maybe in the next week or two."

Why?

"Because of my future plans," he said when reached by cell phone in Manhattan, back from from a trip to his home in the Hamptons.

Crain's has something on Catsimatidis today [looking for link now].

Previously, Catsimatidis said he'd run for mayor as a Republican "Because I'm a moderate business man. I don't' think a moderate businessman has a chance in hell winning the Democratic primary."

-- Azi Paybarah

Speaking on the floor of the Assembly Saturday night, Assemblyman Herman "Denny" Farrell of Manhattan defended this year's budget process, saying that it was open and publicly negotiated.

Which some people might disagree with.

-- Azi Paybarah

Speaker Quinn Speaks Nonsense    read more »

Could the suddenly busy sales market be draining Manhattan’s luxury rentals?    read more »

Speaker Quinn Speaks Nonsense    read more »

The mission of the High Line, the future park that will rest on an elevated train platform slicing a  read more »

A mustachioed man in a tan trench coat milled anxiously outside the newly reopened Cafe Fonduta at 1  read more »

City Councilman Lew Fidler, a man who lives on the edge (of Brooklyn, that is), submitted a bill this week that calls on Mayor Bloomberg to oppose congestion pricing before he even gets a chance to propose it. So far, six other outer-borough Council members (Melinda Katz, Tony Avella, Sara Gonzalez, Miguel Martinez, Michael Nelson and David Weprin) have signed on.

The bill argues two sides of the same coin: that London's congestion pricing scheme was so ineffective that only 2 percent fewer people entered the city as a result, but that a Manhattan model would be so effective that it would result in a $2.7 billion loss in economic output.

Anti-anti-congestion forces are fighting back: Streetsblog has some data showing that in Mr. Fidler's district, only 25 percent of commuters to Manhattan drive and the rest use mass transit. That factoid, however, does not deter the bill's sponsor.

"It's economically unjust. Only those who can afford it will pay and those who can't, can't," said Mr. Fidler, who added that there is not a single subway stop in his district, which includes Canarsie and Marine Park. "I believe in subsidizing mass transit. I also believe that it is not the only transportation that New Yorkers use, and it cannot be."

He has a more radical solution, at least to the issue of clean air.

"I would have the federal government ban the manufacturing and importation of combustion engines in 10 years or 12 years or something like that," Mr. Fidler said, "and see how quickly they adapt the technology to cleaner air and alternate sources of energy."

- Matthew Schuerman

• The booming home-security market now offers "super-luxe security" [above]. For example: It costs $5,000 to "monitor 20 video cameras in your Manhattan home--via PDA--from a beach in Cote d'Azur." It's a wonderful world. [Forbes]
• Gotham Bar and Grill has everything anyone could want from a Village eatery: Maine lobster, artichokes, and Jay McInerney's new wife repeatedly assaulting Ed Koch. [House & Garden]
• It's a bad time for New York music: Tonic, "one of the city's most popular small clubs," is closing on Friday the 13th. Plus, the hip Mercury Lounge may or may not be doomed, and the essential Irving Plaza is being reborn (or, at least renamed). [Time Out New York]
• The 'UWS Asian-Food Crisis' is tragically spreading, claiming three of the five Ollie's restaurants. Maybe the restaurant deserves their problems: Workers claim they were being paid $1.40 an hour. [NY Mag, D.I.] - Max Abelson
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At a panel discussion about women in politics in lower Manhattan last night organized by the state organization of Young Democrats, UFT President Randi Weingarten said that "if women act like men acted publicly, many times they're viewed as shrill, harsh, tough --"

"The b-word word," a few people yelled out.

"A bitch," continued Weingarten.

Chuck Schumer's deputy state director, Teri Coaxum told the mostly female audience that the key for women in politics is to maintain a certain level of decorum.

"People will, you know, ask inappropriate questions. And my thing is stand for something or fall for anything. Keep your integrity in tact, never compromise your values, and, I'm going to be a little bit blunt: you can't sleep with everybody you meet. I'm sorry.

[skip]

The main point is, we're already seen as sex symbols. End of story. We all talked about it. We're already seen as sex symbols. You have to keep your integrity in tact. This is business."

Fellow panelist Gigi Georges, a longtime Hillary Clinton adviser, agreed with Coaxum -- to an extent.

"Women have a lot of power in who we are. Frankly, in some ways, women have a lot more power then men in who we are because we're able to be tough when we need to be, and at the same time, be charming and gracious and yes, a little flirtatious when it works for us."

State Democratic Party Chair June O'Neill, who introduced the panel, also had some advice for women in politics: Learn to shake hands. "It's a code," she said.

-- Azi Paybarah

Brit Richard Rogers, who will design Tower 3 at the World Trade Center site, has won the Pritzker Prize, the top honor in architecture. As The Times notes, Mr. Rogers has been busy as of late in New York, and not just in lower Manhattan:

[He] now has four projects under way in the city: an expanded Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on Manhattan's Far West Side; a tower at the World Trade Center site; a complex at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, Queens; and a redesign of the East River waterfront.

- Tom Acitelli

The Daily News on Wednesday lays out a convincing argument that the foreclosure wave sweeping parts of the United States may drench the outer-boroughs as well. The argument uses numbers from a study by the nonprofit Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project--and the numbers are sobering:

In some areas of South Jamaica and Bedford-Stuyvesant, as many as 10 homes per block faced foreclosure last year... Mortgage lenders have filed 3,116 new motions to foreclose against delinquent homeowners since Jan. 1... Our city is now on track to surpass 15,000 filings this year, more than double the total two years ago, according to the study, which examines one- to four-family homes.

The News, like many, blames the predatory practices of some subprime-mortgage lenders, those who feasted on the aspirations of people craving homeownership during the housing boom, people who probably shouldn't have had large sums of money loaned to them.

The dearth of such mortgages in Manhattan, however, ensures that at least one borough will likely escape the wave washing ashore from Staten Island through the Bronx.

- Tom Acitelli