Madison (Wisconsin)

• Edward Lee Cave [pictured above, with posse] is a true Old School Broker. Why do his clients like him? "[T]hey knew I know how to live. That's why I sell prewar buildings, each of which is a private club that represents a way of life -- because I've lived in those buildings, I understand the way of life, the nuances." And the man takes his Carlyle Hotel martinis on the rocks. [The Real Deal]
• Zero of the six winners of the AIA's 2007 Young Architects Award are New Yorkers. Are all the bright young things flocking to Madison, Wis., and Minneapolis? [Architectural Record News]
• Scared of co-op boards, very very very rich Manhattanites are shying away from old-school apartments, and getting into the fun business of "renovating and combining two or more century-old townhouses into single-family urban mansions." In the real-estate journalism business, that's what we call "a new real estate trend in the area." [Multi-Housing News]
• When a Times writer ventures into Queens for food, he goes to the Gold City Supermarket, J&L Mall, and seven other locales. And then he sprints back to cozy old Manhattan. [OuterB]
- Max Abelson
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The New York Times profiles what is supposedly the largest for-sale-by-owner website in the country, based in Madison, Wisconsin. For $150 bucks, the seller gets a listing--and a free yard sign. (Can those things go in the window of a fourth-floor walk-up also?) Says a Wisconsin regulator, "The majority of residential transactions are very simple: 99 percent can be done without a broker. And the 1 percent screwed up - the broker couldn't have prevented it."

Self-service has its limits, however, as seen by the fate of the 1938 Horn and Hardart’s Automat, where a nickel once bought you a coffee and a sticky bun. Long since abandoned to full-service restaurants, the building, at 104 W. 57th St., will now be replaced completely, Steve Cuozzo relates. No word on future plans by owners, which include William L. Haines.

A waning housing market has become such a given that economists are predicting what effects it will have on the overall economy. The Wall Street Journal's semi-annual survey of 56 economists predicts—guess—a soft landing.

Donald Trump says he’s having too much fun talking about a run for president to take time off and run for governor.

Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion says he supports the new Yankee Stadium if... a whole bunch of other things get done, like turning the old stadium into a community ball field with a new high school for sports industry careers attached. Fie, responds Yankees antognisti Save Our Parks.

And for those who thought there was finally peace between transit workers and the M.T.A., it turns out this secret side agreement on pensions has become the rallying cry for union dissidents to vote down the contract.  read more »

-Matthew Schuerman