The New York Observer, June 9th, 2006
The Times' Nicolai Ouroussoff pens a 1150-word love letter to Norman Foster's steely new Hearst Tower. The "muscular symbol" is viewed as "slamming through the malaise like a hammer," and of course it is "another sign that the city's energy is reviving." (And that's just the first 400 words). (New York Times)
The Pratt Center for Community Development accuses the Pataki administration of cutting housing funding, and steering bond money to Republican campaign donors. So instead of affordable housing, New York has apparently been giving money to sleazy luxury developers. We say it's trickle down real estate! (AP, via New York Post)
The New York Comptroller's big new study reveals that Queens property values have risen more than in any other borough (besides, of course, Manhattan). "The bad news is that housing is less affordable"--and that "the borough had the slowest rate of job growth" in the city, and that "Queens residents had the longest work commute in the country." (Crain's)
Elad Properties, whose karma is already suffering because of its Plaza hotel/condo project, is turning a 19th-century Chelsea department store into luxury condominiums. Now debris from the Chelsea construction has damaged one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in New York, the final home of American Revolution Jewish soldiers. Does this mean Elad is permanently cursed? (The New York Times)
Get your weekend home, August family vacationing and caviar all in one place: scenic Brighton Beach! It's just a "breezy half-hour drive," though Curbed mocks Brighton's "Brezhnev Era chic by the sea." (New York Daily News) (Curbed)
-
Max Abelson
