THE BACCARAT HOTEL AND CONDO located at 20 West 53rd Street make its debut in what I think is a rather over-subscribed midtown mix: Starwood Capital’s hotel and condo tower has already settled on a price for its penthouse unit, supposedly asking $60 million ($8,128/sf). For $60 million, the buyer gets a duplex with 7,381 square… [Read More]
BANKS TOO BIG TO FAIL: ARE THEIR PROFITS TAXPAYER SUBSIDIZED?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 20th, 2013 Are those huge banks that are too big to fail not as profitable as we thought, and are the profits they are making a tax-payer funded(government paid) subsidy? Banks that are potentially the most dangerous can borrow at lower rates, because creditors perceive them as too big… [Read More]
JEAN GEORGE’S PERRY STREET RESTAURANT RE-OPENS POST SANDY
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 19th, 2013 PERRY STREET, the ultra-cool, chic + sleek, Thomas Juul Hansen-designed West Village Jean Georges restaurant, re-opened tonight after undergoing extensive renovations and repairs as a result of SANDY, the hurricane that caused flooding in lower Manhattan in late 2012. The place looked exceptional and the food was… [Read More]
ITS OFFICIAL: HOUSING PRICES ROSE IN 88% OF US CITIES IN THE FOURTH QUARTER OF 2012
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 16th, 2013 It’s official in the mainstream press(although looking in the rear-view mirror is often a bit late): housing prices across the board are rising: Prices for single-family homes climbed in almost 88 percent of U.S. cities in the fourth quarter as the housing recovery broadened. The best-performing metro… [Read More]
BIG DEALS ARE BACK!
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 15th, 2013 Wall Street is still reeling from the re-birth of the BIG DEAL, where this week Warren Buffet and a Brazilian group swooped in to buy out HEINZ. Similar confidence in the BIG DEAL is being seen in the New York luxury real estate market where big players… [Read More]
WAR ON THE RICH, OR WAR ON MEDIOCRITY?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 14th, 2013 Is the new campaign in Switzerland (of all places!)to restrict excessive executive compensation to limit and even punish publicly traded companies that reward executives with huge wages and bonuses regardless of performance an additional attack on the rich, or is it a smart way to minimize wasteful… [Read More]
MORE PROOF OF LUXOFLATION: HERMES FOURTH QUARTER SALES SOAR 22%
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 11th, 2013 Hermes posted its 4th quarter results for 2012: the maker of uber-luxury, hyper-priced fashion goods and accessories showed sales increased 22%. Rolls-Royce has achieved its best sales in its 108-year history, with the world’s mega-rich buying up 3,575 Phantom and Ghost models during 2012. More evidence that the… [Read More]
STATE OF THE UNION: RENEWABLE ENERGY IS CHEAPER IN AUSTRALIA!
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 10th, 2013 In the wake of soaring temperatures that made it impossible for some residents in the Australian outback to pump gas, really good news is coming to the energy market….just in time for Obama’s State of the Union Address possibly where the likelihood of green energy talk is almost… [Read More]
JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT NEW YORK REAL ESTATE PRICING WAS ON THE RISE…..
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 10th, 2013 Just when you thought real estate prices could not go higher in New York, we hear of real estate pricing estimates in London, a city that already makes New York seem like a bargain…. now news comes that the average price of a London home will climb… [Read More]
NEW YORK TIMES STORY: BEGGING OWNERS TO SELL
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 10th, 2013 This morning’s New York Times addresses the subject of how the low housing inventory in Manhattan is leading brokers to desperate measures to convince homeowners to sell….they are not exaggerating! The inventory is at historically low levels, and the buyer volume is at record high levels. Open… [Read More]