Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 13th, 2014 Dolly Lenz has been de-throned: A big CONGRATULATIONS to Melanie Lazenby, who was announced as the NUMBER ONE broker at Douglas Elliman’s real estate awards event last night (The Ellie’s) at CIPRIANI by Howard Lorber. Breathtakingly beautiful Melanie sold the most expensive condominium in 2013 at 18… [Read More]
AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR WHOM?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 11th, 2014 The gorgeous building housing CITY HALL restaurant at 131 Duane Street just sold for over $18 million: this sale highlights an issue that Mayor De Blasio needs to address related to AFFORDABLE HOUSING: The building houses 6 rent stabilized tenants who are supposedly paying an average of… [Read More]
THE 74,608 PAGE OUTRAGE
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 9th, 2014 The standard federal tax publication issued by CCH totals a record 74,608 pages, up from 73,954 pages in 2013— and up about 23% from a decade ago. The bottom line: you’ll probably pay a lot more taxes than someone with a team of lawyers and accountants. NUTS!
OBAMACARE GOOD FOR LUXURY REAL ESTATE?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 7th, 2014 Is it possible that OBAMACARE could be good for the high end of luxury real estate in New York? This week it was revealed that the overall level of labor will fall by 1.5% to 2% over the decade, not merely by 800,000, according to the Congressional Budget Office… [Read More]
THE SARABETH EFFECT
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 7th, 2014 Have you noticed the effect that eponymous cafe SARABETH’S is having on certain neighborhoods? It all started on the Upper West Side in 1981, the bastion of ‘family-living’……a cafe/bakery that presented the home cooked and baked experience. The store started out as a bakery and jam shop, where… [Read More]
WEST CHELSEA RIVERFRONT SITE SELLS FOR $ 714/sf
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 2nd, 2014 The Atlantic Foundation, a nonprofit funding group founded by an heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, has sold a development site at 540 West 21st Street in West Chelsea for $50 million, or about $714/sf to Casco Development Corp, which is controlled by a foreign real estate investor… [Read More]
FROM INSTAGRAM TO INSTA-ART?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 2nd, 2014 February’s REAL DEAL reports on our INSTAGRAM event where we printed and framed 49 Instagram shots from our account ‘luxury_loft_team’ as “INSTA-ART” to stage an apartment (a New York first?): Social media meets society? http://therealdeal.com/issues_articles/social-media-becomes-the-latest-staging-tool/
NEW DEVELOPMENT DESIGN DIRECTION 2014
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on January 25th, 2014 Many developers are in a quandary: what is the ‘next’ design direction and how do you deliver this without taking on too much risk. In the last few years we have seen new adjectives emerge in the different styles of finish-out……here are some: 1) Richard Meier-esque:… [Read More]
TWITTER MOVES TO CHELSEA
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on January 24th, 2014 Twitter is coming to Chelsea, joining Google as the two most important tech companies in the area. Their 141,000 square-foot new base is just one block from Google on Eighth Avenue. The buildings used to be wagon warehouses: now the two are connected loft buildings at 245… [Read More]
MAYOR DE BLUNDER? JANUS SNOWSTORM CLEANUP DISAPPOINTING
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on January 22nd, 2014 I have received far too many calls today about New Yorkers angry at the City, and especially Mayor De Blasio, for the dreadful post-storm clean-up: why is it that the streets of Manhattan were so poorly ploughed? A visiting Chicago resident said ‘this would never happen in Chicago’…..TODAY SHOW Al… [Read More]