CITY GROWTH DRIVERS: YOUTH AND RETIREES?

Posted by Leonard Steinberg on May 22nd, 2014 An interesting article in the Wall Street Journal this morning addresses the possibility that urban growth may be slowing, with renewed interest in the suburbs. Two demographics continue to drive Urban growth: the ‘young’ and the ‘old’ either for life-style reasons or to downsize their living arrangements…. [Read More]

THE UNREAL WORLD

Posted by Leonard Steinberg on May 19th, 2014 Last night’s BILLBOARD MUSIC AWARDS ‘performance’ by Michael Jackson highlighted the unreality of our world. There was Michael Jackson performing for the world through high technology. Amazing. Obviously it was a holographic image but it was eerily real. And yet it was not real. It was about… [Read More]

NEW YORK 3rd 'SMARTEST CITY', ECONOMIC CAPITAL OF THE WORLD

Posted by Leonard Steinberg on May 18th, 2014 A recent study by ICIM concluded that the world’s Top 3 “smartest” cities are Tokyo, London and New York. New York ranked number 1 for the Economy. To establish this ranking, the researchers studied 135 cities based on 50 indicators along 10 different dimensions. Of the top 20 cities,… [Read More]

DE-GOOGLE ME!

Posted by Leonard Steinberg on May 15th, 2014 Could the Court of Justice of the European Union’s decision requiring internet search engines such as GOOGLE to remove information deemed inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant be coming to the USA? In real estate land when we want to know something about someone, the word ‘google’… [Read More]

RELATED TO BUY THE MOST IMPORTANT SITE IN WEST CHELSEA?

Posted by Leonard Steinberg on May 14th, 2014 I would argue that the site at 511-525 W. 18th St in West Chelsea that is about to be bought by RELATED is the most important build able site in the West Chelsea area. While some skeptics may argue that paying more than $700/sf for this site was absurd, and… [Read More]

WHAT HAPPENS IN THE ELEVATOR DOESN’T STAY IN THE ELEVATOR!

Posted by Leonard Steinberg on May 13th, 2014 The recently released TMZ video clip of a heated Jerry-Springer-style altercation in the elevator of the Standard Hotel between Solange Knowles (sister of Beyonce) and Jay-Z highlight an element to daily New York life that many forget……we are being watched, especially in elevators. In my building every… [Read More]

ENGELS AND VOLKERS OPENS IN NEW YORK: A GROWING TIDE?

Posted by Leonard Steinberg on May 13th, 2014 Another major real estate firm has opened offices in Manhattan:  Following the recent announcement that Connecticut/Massachusetts based William Raveis opened an office in Midtown Manhattan, we heard that Engels and Volkers, the German-based international real estate firm with 520 offices in 38 countries, is opening 12,000sf offices at… [Read More]

SILICON ISLAND – NEW YORK'S TECH INDUSTRY TAKES OVER

Posted by Leonard Steinberg on May 1st, 2014 The Flatiron District and Chelsea was termed Silicon Alley as the East Coast’s alternative to Silicon Valley in California: now that this industry is spreading further West into Chelsea and South into the Financial District, we have decided to re-name our tech industry…..SILICON ISLAND. As all our… [Read More]

HERMES SOARS – LUXURY BUYERS PAY A PREMIUM FOR REAL QUALITY

Posted by Leonard Steinberg on April 28th, 2014 The super-luxury market is alive and well as witnessed by Hermes’ forecast-beating 14.7% rise in like-for-like first-quarter sales on Tuesday, driven by strong demand for its ultra high quality fashion and leather goods. Sales in Japan, one of its biggest markets, were boosted by purchases ahead of… [Read More]

THE POWER OF GARBAGE

Posted by Leonard Steinberg on April 25th, 2014 I just learned that garbage produces more energy than SOLAR power: good to know our buried piles of decomposing New York garbage produce methane gas energy and is doing some good! Now if only we could make garbage collection a bit more attractive and 21st Century…..