Posted by Leonard Steinberg on July 2nd, 2012 There is rumor that the prime minister of Qatar is ready to pay nearly $100 million for the city’s most expensive penthouse — a super-slick, Thomas Juul-Hansen designed, two-story showplace atop the One57 condominium across the street from Carnegie Hall, The New York Post reports this morning… [Read More]
MASS STUPIDITY IS CONSISTENT…..
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on June 30th, 2012 One of the most glaring facts about the healthcare problem is: 1) Too many un-insured go to emergency rooms for medical assistance: the cost of treating these ailments in an emergency room is significantly greater than if they were treated in a regular doctor’s office visit. 2)… [Read More]
MANHATTAN/NEW YORK: THE BEST CITY FOR THE NOUVELDERLY?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on June 24th, 2012 Did you know that life expectancy has risen by over 10 years in New York since 1987? That is more than any other city in the USA. The average Manhattan based New Yorker is expected to live 82 years….that beats Hawaii! A lot of this dramatic increase… [Read More]
MORE CONTRADICTIONS
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on June 20th, 2012 We can now all agree on one thing about the economy: housing has been the # 1 driving force behind the meltdown. Too many people bought over-priced houses that they could not afford. There was a massive over-supply. And there were too many speculators driving pricing up… [Read More]
GREEK LESSONS: IS HOUSING THE ANSWER?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on June 20th, 2012 As the “Great Greek Tragedy” unfolds, there are so many lessons to be learned. This is what I am seeing: 1) It is clearly evident that salaried people are those carrying the brunt of the tax burden in Greece: that burden will more than quadruple now… [Read More]
POINTING GREECEY FINGERS…
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on June 15th, 2012 While we await the outcome of the Greek elections this weekend, the world seems fixated on a country whose GDP is the size of Indiana, Maryland or Minnesota….if we are to put things into perspective. If Indiana’s economy went bust would America crumble? Lots of the blame… [Read More]
ST.VINCENT’S GREENWICH VILLAGE CONSTRUCTION SITE MESS
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on June 14th, 2012 While I am thrilled that the Rudin’s have started construction on the old St. Vincent’s Hospital site in Greenwich Village, converting and re-building to create high end condominiums, I am somewhat outraged that their builder thinks its OK to stop all the traffic on Seventh Avenue so… [Read More]
THE CALEDONIA SETS ANOTHER PRICING RECORD
Posted on June 13th, 2012 Matt Amico reports that another apartment has sold for a record price at The Caledonia, located at 450 West 17th Street, the full service, Taconic/Related-developed building in West Chelsea abutting the Highline Park. Closed for $ 5,35 million (that’s over $ 2,400/sf) this sale proves yet again how the high-floor mega-view… [Read More]
GOOD DESIGN IMPROVES QUALITY OF LIFE
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on June 9th, 2012 In this morning’s Financial Times an article addresses how the Danish believe that good design improves lives. I see this trend more and more in New York real estate: the growth of consumer’s esthetic awareness has literally exploded in the past 10 years and their understanding of the benefits… [Read More]
A NEW MARKET?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on June 4th, 2012 Have we entered a new market, possibly more of a buyer’s market again? The bad economic news on Friday seems to be compounded by worsening news from Europe and the world is learning just how inter-connected the world economies truly are. When retail sales slow in Europe,… [Read More]