Posted by Leonard Steinberg of URBAN COMPASS on October 29th, 2014 CRAIN’S just reported that Lowe’s, the primary Home Depot competitor is coming to Manhattan opening two branches, one on the Upper West Side at 2008 Broadway and another 30,000sf store in West Chelsea at 635 West 19th Street. Does anyone know what building this… [Read More]
THE APARTMENT IS THE CHEAP P(ART)
Posted by Leonard Steinberg of URBAN COMPASS on October 26th, 2014 Strolling through the exceptional Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibit of the Cubist works owned by Leonard Lauder, I was reminded that these masterpieces were actually in someone’s home until very recently: We should be reminded in a world obsessed with high priced real estate just how… [Read More]
PIEDE-A-TERRE TAX STUPIDITY
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on October 25th, 2014 I live in a building where several people own apartments that they only use a few months of the year. I am in no way offended by this. My neighbors paid lots of transfer and mansion taxes buying, pay monthly real estate taxes, employ decorators, trades people,… [Read More]
WHEN SPECULATION DAMPENS MARKETS
Posted by Leonard Steinberg of URBAN COMPASS on October 24th, 2014 Speculation can be a powerful thing: as New Yorkers awaken this morning to the reality that the first local EBOLA case has been identified, many are wondering what or if they have been exposed in some way to this deadly disease? Did you walk… [Read More]
J-LO BUYS AT MADISON SQUARE PARK AS CHELSEA CLINTON NEIGHBOR
Posted by Leonard Steinberg of URBAN COMPASS on October 22nd, 2014 Jennifer Lopez, the fly-girl turned super-star from the Bronx is moving Downtown according to the New York Post: she is supposedly in contract to buy the penthouse above Chelsea Clinton at The Whitman, a newly renovated condominium facing Madison Square Park. The massive penthouse… [Read More]
$80 MILLION CO-OP PRICING RECORD SET IN NEW YORK
Posted by Leonard Steinberg of URBAN COMPASS on October 21st, 2014 A new pricing record has been broken in New York: For the first time ever a co-op located at 834 Fifth Avenue has been sold for $80 million. The buyer is the quintessential Russian Billionaire Len Blavatnik. 834 Fifth Avenue is widely regarded as… [Read More]
WORDS OF THE REALLY RICH
Posted by Leonard Steinberg of URBAN COMPASS on October 18th, 2014 There is rich and then there is REALLY rich: As a New York real estate broker I often get lost in this micro-world of what is completely removed from the ‘real’ world, and I try to see the humor in it all. Yes, the… [Read More]
OIL PRICE DELIVERS SOME GOOD NEWS
Posted by Leonard Steinberg of URBAN COMPASS on October 16th, 2014 Wall Street is lamenting lower oil prices, yet this delivers some great news for consumers: the average American consumes about 35 gallons of gas per week, or 140 gallons per month. If gas prices are down about 50 cent per gallon on average since… [Read More]
SOHO ARTIST’S LIVE IN THE RICHEST ZIP CODE IN NEW YORK/USA?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg of URBAN COMPASS on October 9th, 2014 Are Soho artists living in the third most expensive zip code in the USA? It appears so…..The median price for a home in Soho is $6 million yet the City still keeps Soho in the grasp of an antiquated zoning law called A.I.R, or… [Read More]
OBAMA FUNDRAISER TO WREAK HAVOC ON WEST CHELSEA?
Posted on October 6th, 2014 by Leonard Steinberg Presidents of both parties have to visit big cities for official business. But surely the President does not have to visit New York tomorrow, the second time within a month, for a FUNDRAISER, thereby blocking off traffic, making navigating the West Chelsea area a total and thorough… [Read More]