Author Archives: admin

This is too sad and silly to make jokes about. Don’t worry, that won’t stop me. The city is trying to sort out what to do with the growing number of unfinished (or partially sold) condo buildings. Clever ideas, like moderate or low-income housing (Mike has to make his 160,000 unit promise somehow — well, […]
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Hey, look, I like the new, well-appointed and detailed ‘bespoke’ condo development by the too clever by half named Roman & Williams as much as the next CAD-hating, Mac-loving crank, but reading the preciousness doled out by Metropolis in their profile, which closes with doting on the Ace hotel without noting the checkered process of […]
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From the Duane Reade (formerly King’s, formerly Gas Station, does this seem like a Voice ad for a show at the Merc circa 1994 yet?)  at 2nd Street and B. The people have spoken, clearly.
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The information that leaks out of the ongoing investigations and criminal proceedings involving 130 Liberty Street (allow me this: never hire a company named after a Ayn Rand character — really) continue to be a sad testimony to the continued incompetence of just about everyone involved in the rebuilding. The kicker is, of course, that […]
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The bloom is really off the rose: the Times does a fairly nasty (in that effete “we probably were in a dining club with him” kind of way that is typical for them) take down of the compensation structure for the top two execs at the High Line Foundation. If this continues, we’re definitely going […]
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Slow and steady wins the race.

Not all the best ideas are the simplest. But some do stand out for the perversity of their effectiveness, yet go wanting because of the difficulty in getting people to see the greater long-term benefit against immediate short-term self-interest. Any time ‘self-interest’ and ‘failed good ideas’ there’s a high likelihood that you are talking about […]
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Writing about bicycle parking is like writing about the World Trade Center: it hardly ever progresses. Here’s a good roundup of the national situation, written after our recent symbolically impressive but mostly ineffectual Bicycle Access Bill. Sadly, we aren’t the only advanced metropolis that can’t effect modern solutions to simplistic problems.
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Fast fact: The amount of available commercial office space for lease in New York City has doubled in the past year. That means that NYC’s unoccupied, leasable office space is the 15th largest CBD in the country.
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Much greener than we thought.

Okay, first off: I haven’t been to the High Line. I know, I know. The Most Important Park of Our Time. Or at least the most important park to Ed Norton. So yeah, I hear it’s great. I would hope so. With a construction cost of around $12M per acre (that’s $275/sf, which would build […]
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Coney Island Low.

Astroland is officially, officially closed as of last weekend, with the completion of its last lease. This is not quite the collapse of Chumley’s (which may actually return now that owning a landmark approaches being as lucrative as selling a couple studio apartments once again), since the notion of a “golden era” of Coney is […]
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