UPPER EAST SIDE—Attention, high society: The Surrey, the East 76th Street hotel known more for its prime UES location at Madison Avenue than anything else, is ready to raise the curtain on its uber-luxe face lift. The hotel is having a grand opening party on Thursday night. The website has some details on the renovation, including a new rooftop garden and a lobby bar serviced by Daniel Boulud. HotelChatter got a sneak peek inside the place a few weeks ago (that's their entrance photo at right), and they liked what they saw ("If you love The Carlyle, then you will love The Surrey.") Rates from the ridiculous to the astronomical. [CurbedWire Inbox]
EAST VILLAGE—Speaking of fancy hotels and their fancy parties (but with a more downtown vibe), we now know when the Cooper Square Hotel's graffiti mural thingie will be finished. The East Village's favorite Dubaiesque tower is having a party in its library next Tuesday to celebrate the unveiling of its "Art Wall Project." [CurbedWire Inbox]
]]>
Packard Bell founder Beny Alagem and Adele Alagem sold their apartment at 15 Central Park West for $19.9 million at the end of September, Blockshopper reports. The 3BR, 3.5BA condo sold for $19.9 million -- down from an initial June asking price of $24 million. Still, the Alagems bought the unit in '08 for $15.4 million, so we think they're probably still solvent. [Blockshopper] ]]>
The terra cotta trash spotted outside 111 Hicks Street gets a follow-up, with Brooklyn Heights Blog reporting the 41 Art Deco pillars will be replaced. More intel: "The work is being done because the current terra cotta pillars were deteriorating and causing leaks, she said. The roof garden, which is closed during the estimated $1.5 million construction work, will reopen before all the pillars are replaced." The replicas are being produced by a "reputable company," which should calm the nerves of Brooklyn architecture buffs. Or should it?! [BHB; previously]]]>
What was shaping up to be a nasty little preservation scrap ended with a whimper. This morning the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 6-3 to designate 1780 Broadway, one of two old BF Goodrich buildings on "Automobile Row," a protected landmark. Its sister building, 225 West 57th Street, which preservationists argued was also of importance, was de-calendared from consideration. The LPC had fast-tracked the landmarking process on both buildings in the wake of megadeveloper Extell's plans to develop a large mixed-use tower on the site. Extell's strategy was to support the 1780 Broadway designation and recruit numerous politicians and others to lobby against the landmarking of 225 West 57th Street, arguing it would jeopardize the project. It was a rare all-out anti-landmarking blitz, and it paid off. Yesterday the Observer's Eliot Brown reported that LPC boss Bob Tierney was leaning towards blessing the 1-out-of-2 compromise. Sorry, fight fans, we're still looking for our new 980 Madison-style developer/LPC dust-up.
latest development in the epic saga of the Gowanus Canal is that the U.S. Navy and the city could be among the groups who'll get stuck with the bill when cleanup is done, the Daily News reports. The Environmental Protection Agency sent notices to each entity last week, telling them that they could be responsible for cleanup costs if the canal gets a Superfund designation because they have owned or operated nearby facilities. The EPA still has more sampling to do before it decides whether the Gowanus gets a Superfund label, but in the meantime, Archpaper reminds us that Mayor Bloomberg has been none too eager for a Superfund designation. [NYDN; Archpaper]]]>
Real estate attorney Adam Leitman Bailey (dude's everywhere these days) tells Brick Underground about an unnamed condo board he's working with that has a problem with one of its residents. The resident, a married female condo owner, has been propositioning the building's doormen. Bailey sent the resident a cease-and-desist letter, and so far, he says, it seems to have worked, though he is also prepared to get a protective order if necessary. According to the condo bylaws, the resident is responsible for any $$ the condo board shells out to get her to stop or anything it might have to spend if sued by the doormen.
Here's a new sales tactic: models. EV Grieve brings us the news that the 10 finalists in Victoria's Secret's open casting call for runway models will stay at FiDi's District condo while in Manhattan for their final "Angel Boot Camp" tryouts. Then again, we already knew District was willing to try almost anything. (Available units here.) [EV Grieve]]]>
As work on Brooklyn Bridge Park continues apace, State Senator Daniel Squadron has renewed his call for property taxes, not condos, to be used to finance the park. In Squadron's plan, the property tax revenues for the area will go up because of rezonings and the park itself (nifty how that works!). As part of his park maximization plan, Squadron also wants an ice-skating rink, the return of the floating barge pool, a rec center, a water-taxi, and a "winter bubble structure" for year-round fun.
This morning at 11 a.m., the Martha Stewart Show airs its very special Brooklyn episode (you remembered to set your DVR, right?). Hot-spots in this little-known corner of the city visited by Martha include Greenpoint's Rooftop Farms, Marlow and Sons, Franny's and the Brooklyn Flea. Yesp, Martha Stewart will be making papusas. Pity they couldn't get her out to Red Hook, but she probably wanted to avoid contracting cement lung. [Martha Stewart] 
Just when it looked like some high-end properties were selling without gigundo PriceChops, we get word that 105-107 Reade Street, a 16,822-square-foot Tribeca mansion that was on the market as recently as April for $14.5 million, has sold to a foreign investor for $10.075 million. For those who don't feel like getting out the old abacus, that's $599 per square foot. The five-story building -- which was in financial distress, according to a brokerage press release -- was built in 1860 and has a restaurant, Pierino, on the ground floor. The building went on the market for $20 million and failed to sell in 2008. For the moment, the new owner will occupy the property. We admit it: we're jealous.
According to the Civic Center Residents Coalition, Mott Street has way too many vacant storefronts. And this is serious business. Very serious: "Mott Street, the traditional backbone of Chinatown, the historic core, the ground zero of the Chinese experience on the eastern seaboard of America is on the verge of commercial collapse." They blame the NYPD's insistence on keeping nearby Park Row closed to traffic, as it has been since the 9/11 attacks. [CCRC]]]>
Formula One racing magnate and serial supermodel dater Flavio Briatore has PriceChopped his One Beacon Court penthouse. He first listed it for $25 million more than a year ago, but it is now only $23 million (trendy zebra-patterned furniture not included). For those looking at the rental end of things instead, his Plaza apartment is also on offer for $65,000 a month. [Cityfile]]]>
Extell Development's 225 West 57th Street and connected 1780 Broadway will make their first appearance in front of the Landmarks Preservation Commission tomorrow. The LPC started the landmark designation process without agreement from the developer -- ruhroh! -- in July. Extell and a number of City Council members are against landmarking the site, where Extell had planned a $1 billion-plus commercial building, but preservationists are now fighting for the 1909 "Automobile Row" structure. Extell's suggested compromise: landmark 1780 Broadway and demolish 225 West 57th Street. In the meantime, a poster over at the Wired New York forum noticed that both buildings are shrouded while they await their fates. Will it be the shield or the wrecking ball?
The reveal that the "What's 21123?" ad campaign blitzing Park Slope is for a new South Slope/Greenwood Heights condo building led Brownstoner to dip into the project's past: "The building was originally one of the Scarano mezzanine specials that was caught with its pants down; while the developers scrambled to save the project (which they ultimately did by merging tax lots to create enough FAR to make the mezzanines legit), the site turned into a quality-of-life nightmare ('trash, broken windows, a disgusting port-o-potty that was left to rot for 2 years,' according to one reader who lives nearby) for Greenwood Heights." Interestingly, asking prices haven't really come down in the past two years. ['Stoner; previously]]]>
New York's favorite lovable bunch of designers/flippers/breeders, the Novogratz clan, has switched brokers but not lowered the asking price on their $25 million funky faux-wood 400 West Street townhouse. Celebrity offspring Raphael De Niro will now try to sell it. But that's not the big news! The Real Deal reports the Novogratz's reality show, filmed in the house, will air on Bravo in January. Novomania! [Real Deal; previously]]]>
Two editors from the Brooklyn Paper got a look inside the long-delayed Park Slope Armory last week. They give the renovation a thumbs-up, but there are still some hurdles to overcome. The YMCA will need about 2,500 members to cover the Armory's $1 million operating budget -- and its rec area will be closed between 9 and 2 every day. Oh, yeah, and it still doesn't have an opening date. [BK Paper; previously]]]>
It appears that One Madison Park, the 60-story sensation of 23rd Street, has lost its sizzle. Now, no one said closing 70 uber-expensive luxury condos in this market was going to be easy, but given the hype during the building's construction—the quick sales, the celebs, the proximity to semi-clothed hotties—one would think the sailing would be a bit smoother. But in the three months since closings began, only seven units have sold. And according to StreetEasy, the final prices on the six to reach public record so far have been anywhere from 20% to 38% off the asking prices. And not to kick a guy when he's down, but we'd be remiss in not dedicating some space to the nasty bit of business printed in the New York Times yesterday.]]>
We've already touched on the confusion regarding the building, but now Josh Barbanel—who will end up writing an Andrew Ross Sorkin-style tell-all about OneMadPark when all is said and done—notes many troubling things about the city's biggest south-of-59th symbol of boom-time real estate excess:
As Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner battles the approximately 547 lawsuits filed against the project over the past month, Crain's drops in with a flattering profile of "Tenacious B" (which is what we're calling him from now on). The profile praises Ratner's commitment to what he calls the "civic project" that is AY, but even Tenacious B gets a little testy at moments:
The Daily News' Kevin Deutsch wades into that ancient NYC real estate tradition of renaming neighborhoods (even old New York was once New Amsterdam!), and he isn't sold on a few new nicknames making the rounds, like Bowery-below-Houston BoHo and iTri. He also mentions some that are new to us, like SunSlope (is that a ski resort?) and GoCaGa, which is the sound a baby makes after spitting up apple sauce. [NYDN]]]>
Bloomberg reports that Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village landlord Tishman Speyer "moved closer to restructuring $3 billion in debt on the apartment complex as the property verges on default." With the cash reserve running out, the loan has been turned over to a special servicer. But according to one observer, a sale is more likely than a restructuring because the $5.4 billion property (circa '06) has lost so much value. Hear that, tenants? [Bloomberg]]]>
· 
