'Grave Dancer' Sam Zell, Takes Manhattan
Sam Zell--the self-proclaimed "grave dancer" with a history of swooping in on the carcasses of struggling businesses--is now picking at the Manhattan real estate market. Yesterday, Mr. Zell's company Equity Residential fleshed out its plans in Chelsea, which were reported by the NY Post. His company Equity Residential said it plans 111 market-rate apartments and nearly 10,000 square feet of retail space in the Chelsea neighborhood at the southwest corner of 10th Avenue and 23rd Street.
Housing Recovery? 'Strategic Defaults' Tell a Different Tale
This is an investment-led recovery. Asset prices have rallied strongly from their March 09 lows and corporations have done a phenomenal job of quickly cutting costs and returning to profitability. The casualties reside with the U.S. Government and the U.S. consumer.
Jobless Rate Falls to 9.7%, Giving Hope Worst Is Over
The unemployment rate unexpectedly dipped to 9.7 percent in January, from 10 percent in December, the government reported Friday, buoying hopes that the worst job market in at least a quarter-century is finally improving. Growth in manufacturing and part-time employment raised hopes, despite the loss of 20,000 more nonfarm jobs in January.
Finding Hope in the Jobless Numbers
If you were worried the job market was starting to deteriorate again, today’s employment report lets you stop worrying. The job market is still improving. Among the other positive signs, the workweek increased, and the average hourly wage growth picked up a bit. The number of people working part-time because they couldn’t find full-time work dropped by more than 800,000. These are all signs that the economy is turning.
Feds say Gluck is gouging I.P.N.
Tenants of Independence Plaza North have been arguing for years that their apartments should be rent-stabilized — and now U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is taking up the cause. Bharara’s office wants to recover tens of millions of dollars the federal government paid I.P.N. owner Laurence Gluck to support the Tribeca apartment complex’s low-income tenants. Bharara, in New York’s Southern District, also wants many of I.P.N.’s 1,339 apartments declared rent-stabilized.
Lower Manhattan's Public Schools are Rezoned
Ending months of speculation and battles that divided Lower Manhattan, the District 2 Community Education Council voted Wednesday night for school zoning Option 2. The board’s vote means that all Tribeca children west of Church St. will be zoned for P.S. 234. Children in east Tribeca and the Seaport will attend the Spruce Street School; the Financial District south of Liberty St. and Battery Park City south of Albany St. will attend P.S./I.S. 276; and north Battery Park City and Gateway Plaza will attend P.S. 89.
J. D. Salinger, Author of ‘The Catcher in the Rye,’ Dies
J. D. Salinger, who was thought at one time to be the most important American writer to emerge since World War II but who then turned his back on success and adulation, becoming the Garbo of letters, famous for not wanting to be famous, died Wednesday at his home in Cornish, N.H., where he had lived in seclusion for more than 50 years. He was 91
Throwing In the Towel at Stuyvesant Town
A group led by Tishman Speyer Properties has decided to give up the sprawling Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town apartment complex in Manhattan to its creditors in the collapse of one of the most high-profile deals of the real estate boom. The decision comes after the venture between Tishman and BlackRock Inc. defaulted on the $4.4 billion debt used to help finance the deal.
Crosby Street - A Quiet Pocket of SoHo
One of my favorite blocks in Soho. Against some odds, Crosby Street has managed its revitalization without losing its character.
Mortgage Modifications Are Seen as Adding to Housing Woes
The Obama administration’s $75 billion program to protect homeowners from foreclosure has been widely pronounced a disappointment, and some economists and real estate experts now contend it has done more harm than good.
Agent or No Agent?
The NY Times recycles this old story line of FSBO vs. agent. Are real estate brokers — like travel agents and other middlemen coping with the increasingly digital culture — in danger of becoming expensive anachronisms? Haven't I read this one before guys?
What’s So Great About 30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgages?
Questioning the sanctity of the 30-year fixed home loan is tantamount to proposing that the White House should be repainted pink. For Realtors, mortgage lenders and home builders, the fixed rate is nearly as sacred as the tax deduction on mortgage interest. Yet there are good reasons to wonder whether the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage deserves to be enshrined and protected in public policy.
I was delighted to pick up the New York Times this morning to find that they had finally run a cover story on blogging in the weekly real estate section. Samantha Storey's And the Blog Goes On serves as a primer on the local scene and profiles Curbed, Matrix, Brownstoner, True Gotham, UrbanDigs and PropertyGrunt. No doubt feeling the pinch in readership and advertising dollars themselves, the NY Times was quick to point out that, "For some blogs, the real estate slowdown has led to a leveling off in readership.", and noted that that brokerages had started shifting advertising resources to local blogs as a way of controlling costs and getting targeted Web based exposure. Curbed's founder Lockhart Steele is quoted in the story saying that “Traffic on Curbed has been flat”, while Noah Rosenblatt over at UrbanDigs posted his impressive growth in traffic numbers today. It's good to see the most authoritative big media outlet recognizing a NYC blogging community that has been serving an interested and engaged readership— focused on the New York market in ways that are unique, timely, informative, opinionated and personal. Congrats on the ink guys! 
This talk about the marketplace, technology and brokerage practice was one of the many highlights at the InmanConnect Conference held earlier this month in New York City. This segment featured three of the most informed people working in the world of real estate, 
In his July 2005 
It's late. The television drones softly in the background. I lift my face up from the laptop, pick up the remote, and mindlessly surf right into 
Also on the show are Steven Witkoff of The Witkoff Organization, which did Cipriani Residences at 55 Wall Street; and Joseph Harbert from Cushman & Wakefield commenting on commercial leasing. Next, 
