Posted by Leonard Steinberg on July 28th, 2013 Here are my TOP 10 reasons why West Chelsea has only seen the BEGINNINGS of an upside that will only be fully realized in roughly 7-10 years: 1) A concentration of A-grade architecture that currently includes Jean Nouvel, Annabelle Selldorf, Frank Gehry, Neil Denari, Enrique Norten and… [Read More]
KARTRASHIAN-KANYE GOLD TOILETS: THE NEXT AMENITY?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on July 24th, 2013 This is really important: for a couple known to be full of it, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have spent just over $750,000 on four gold-plated toilets for their new Bel Air mansion according to semi-reliable sources. Is the gold toilet the next must-have real estate status… [Read More]
DATA DISGRACE: REALLY BAD INFORMATION
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on July 21st, 2013 This month several real estate company reports were released addressing the 2nd quarter of real estate sales in New York. What astounded me (and surely many consumers) was the huge variance in the reporting. I was shocked how several real estate firms reported flat pricing even though anyone and everyone… [Read More]
IS CENTRAL PARK SOUTH THE NEW CENTRAL PARK WEST?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on July 18th, 2013 Yesterday’s announcement that Steve Witkoff is in contract to buy the Park Lane Hotel on Central Park South for $ 650 million and construct a new residential tower leads me to believe that Central Park South, once associated with hoards of tourists and horse-drawn carriages, and already home to… [Read More]
ZAHA HADID COMES TO WEST CHELSEA
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on July 16th, 2013 Zaha Hadid, the Pritzker-prize-winning architect is coming to West Chelsea: the 11-story condo building coming to 520 West 28th Street, developed by Related, is perched on a site that was actually quite limiting, according to Hadid, keeping her signature TWA-terminal-esque grand swooshes in check. With two wings of uneven heights,… [Read More]
TREES SPROUT EVERYWHERE IN MANHATTAN
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on July 11th, 2013 Which bird made this tree sprout out of the side of a midtown New York building?
HOW DOES NEW YORK RATE BUSINESS-WISE?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on July 10th, 2013 The WALL STREET JOURNAL just posted its rankings for the top states for doing business in the USA, and New York did not fare that well, mostly because of the exorbitant costs for doing business here and….our workforce. New York was ranked # 35 out of the… [Read More]
CAN NEW YORK TEACH PARIS SOMETHING?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on July 7th, 2013 Everyone keeps asking why New York is so popular with foreigners……and it is. New York welcomes about 47 million visitors annually. The top producing countries for international visitors to New York City in 2011 were the United Kingdom (1,055,000), Canada (1,033,000), Brazil (718,000), France (662,000) Germany (587,000), Australia… [Read More]
HOT TOPIC OF THE DAY: INVENTORY
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on July 2nd, 2013 Last month in LUXURYLETTER we posted a note about how inventory levels have dropped to their lowest in almost a decade. This week, the market reports reported the same story……inventory levels are indeed very low right now. What these reports do not indicate is all the inventory… [Read More]
500 WEST 21st STREET – WEST CHELSEA'S NEWEST ADDITION
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on June 30th, 2013 Renderings were just released for the new Sherwood Equities-developed building coming to the corner of 21st Street and Tenth Avenue in West Chelsea abutting The Highline Park, 500 West 21st Street: I am not certain if I love or loathe this building. Elements of it are somewhat… [Read More]