Julia Heming
Articles by Julia Heming
Loose Scaffolding Closes Block of Broadway, Perturbs Smoker
Strong winds blowing down Broadway dislodged a piece of aluminum scaffolding in front of the offices of The Observer around 2:30 this afternoon. Firetrucks stopped traffic on the block between 20th and 21st streets, as firefighters secured the loose metal sheet.
The main elevators at 915 Broadway were temporarily closed, forcing tenants to use the freight elevator, and perturbing at least one Observer editor who needed a ready exit for smoking. The main elevators have reopened as has the block of Broadway.
No one was injured.
The Afternoon Wrap: Thursday
You! Designing Grand Army Plaza! [Streets]
High Line supporters start anti-Hudson Yards blog. Careful, developers. They're watching you... [Curbed]
Gowanus Canal gets anonymous public art display. [Gowanus Lounge] read more »
The Round-Up: Thursday
Lawyer claims suspect in Linda Stein murder was coerced. [NY Times]
Office building workers authorize a strike starting Jan. 1. [NY Times]
Bianca is kicked out of moldy apartment. [NY Post] read more »
The Afternoon Wrap: Wednesday
PropertyShark keeps an eye on monthly foreclosures. [Real Deal]
Questions for Times columnist about ethnic neighborhoods. [City Room]
Real estate and design blogs throw a Christmas party. Pass the Champagne! [Brownstoner] read more »
Holy Microdermabrasion! Staten Island Dermatologist Has Spots All Over Town
Real estate is the equalizer in New York, affecting all walks of life. It doesn’t matter if you’re a public school teacher or a stock roker, you must find an apartment.
But some take it a little further. Dominick Ligresti, a dermatologist with offices in New Jersey and Staten Island, has been especially active in the Manhattan real estate market, buying and selling enough apartments that some might wonder how much dermatology he has time for. read more »
The Round-Up: Wednesday
City Council approves landmark status for Williamsburg's Domino Sugar Refinery. [City Room]
Pig-investor Jay-Z looks to hotels. [NY Post]
Landlord lawsuit bill killed. [NYDN] read more »
The Afternoon Wrap: Tuesday
Brownstoners are really into radiators. [Brownstoner]
Solow and Macklowe eye one another from across the ring, a punch may be imminent. [Real Deal]
Renderings for new building in Chelsea show the strengths of Metal. [Curbed] read more »
The Round-Up: Tuesday
Office-building workers may strike. [NY Times]
Madison Square Park gets toilets. [NY Post]
Resident above restaurant is too noisy. That's a first. [NY Post] read more »
The Afternoon Wrap: Monday
Russell Simmons buys ex's share of penthouse apartment. He's really winning out, considering he's a penthouse-owning rap mogul, and she's on reality television. [Real Deal]
Betsy Johnson's pinko penthouse may or may not be totally hideous. [Curbed]
Is it moral to stalk the celebrities that live in your neighborhood? [Gothamist] read more »
The (Big) Round-Up: Monday
Javits plans get toned down, but they'll still fix that leaky roof. [NY Times]
Upper West Side school to get rid of its middle-income housing. [NY Times]
9/11 brings one man back to the city, to settle in a Chelsea studio. [NY Times] read more »
The Afternoon Wrap: Friday
Window washer dies on the Upper East Side. [WNYC]
City's public housing will take on a green hue. [City Room]
West Village Hudson Blue switches brokers, holds on to Leo? [Curbed] read more »
The Round-Up: Friday
State's real estate partnerships may have evaded $5 billion of taxes. [NY Times]
Madonna sues Central Park West co-op board. [NY Post]
Law firm moves downtown. [NY Post] read more »
The Afternoon Wrap: Thursday
An Oscar for best broker of the year? [Page 6]
Veniero's creates a holiday miracle. A canoli-filled miracle, that is. [City Room]
Beaver too drunk to drive. [Curbed] read more »
The Round-Up: Thursday
The Steves of Vornado try to convince Macy's to move to Moynihan. [NY Times]
City launches program to counsel against foreclosures. [NY Post]
Meatpacking District gets ready for its first apple. [NYDN] read more »
The Afternoon Wrap: Wednesday
The Beaver? Platinum? Let's face it--these developments already sound like stripclubs. They might as well have sexy ads. [Real Deal]
Hipster hotel begins the renaissance of that lame part of Broadway, between Herald Square and Madison Square Park. [Curbed] read more »
Plaza Is the New UN: Panamanian Buys In for $8.8 M.
Recent Plaza sales seem to have a south-of-the-border theme.
In this week’s Observer, Max Abelson spoke to Rogerio Azcarraga Madero, the Mexican radio mogul whose holding company dropped $8.2 million on a Plaza pad. read more »
Wall Street Bonus Estimates Delayed
The city will have to keep waiting to find out how much Wall Street will take home in year-end bonuses. The state Comptroller's office usually releases by mid-December estimates of the total bonus amount and average bonus per Wall Streeter, but Comptroller spokesman Robert Whalen tells us today that the estimates won't be out until early January. read more »
The Round-Up: Wednesday
Brooklyn arts district picks a developer. [NY Times]
City is most walkable, most daily needs met between subway stop and home. [NY Post]
The Palm Steakhouse considers moving downtown. [NY Post] read more »
The Afternoon Wrap: Tuesday
World Trade Centre nearing completion...in Bahrain. Man, do they have us beat. [Gawker]
Public Library gets a face lift. A $15-million, three-plus-years facelift. That's what happens when you approach 100. [Curbed] read more »
The Round-Up: Tuesday
Council plans crack down on illegal hotels. [NY Times]
Teachers union opposes subsidized housing plan without union labor. [NY Times]
Washington Square Park renovation to begin by year's end. [NY TImes] read more »
The (Big) Round-Up: Monday
A Japanese New Yorker makes some good investments. [NY Times]
A couple's hunt for a Manhattan rental leads to bed bugs and tension in the relationship. [NY Times]
Potential buyers rent and wait for the market to change. [NY Times] read more »
The (Big) Round-Up: Monday
A Japanese New Yorker makes some good investments. [NY Times]
A couple's hunt for a Manhattan rental leads to bed bugs and tension in the relationship. [NY Times]
Potential buyers rent and wait for the market to change. [NY Times] read more »
The Afternoon Wrap: Friday
Pearl Street gets the old with the new. [Curbed]
A review of the reviews of the new New Museum. [Gothamist]
Everything you ever wanted to know about New York City rats. [CityRoom] read more »
The Round-Up: Friday
Vornado and Lawrence Ruben bring a tower to the Port Authority. [NY Times]
City's job growth is best in the country. [NY Post]
More Atlantic Yards security concerns. [NYDN] read more »
The Afternoon Wrap: Thursday
A peak at the New Museum. [Curbed] and [Gawker]
New York, as "the ultimate 24-hour American city" makes real estate a spectator sport. [Real Deal] read more »
The Round-Up: Thursday
How to avoid getting robbed at your open house. [City Room]
Foreclosures are at worst in Queens, but Brooklyn's pretty bad too. [NY Post]
Open house suspect frequents Elaine's. [NY Post] read more »
The Afternoon Wrap: Wednesday
Open houses are quietier. Bidding wars are fewer. And yet prices still appreciate? [Real Deal]
Williamsburgh Savings Bank building lights up clock, but still can't tell time. [Curbed]
What does it take to build a New York City intersection in Canada? [Gothamist] read more »
$9 M. Mortgage at Fifteen Central Park West
Not every buyer at Fifteen Central Park West, the development du anneé, has ready cash to put down. Evelyne and Arthur Estey, recent buyers of Unit 7D, took out a $9 million mortgage to help pay for their $16.85 million condo, according to city records.
Both Mr. and Ms. Estey, of Bedford, NY, have raised funds for Yale (Mr. Estey is a '78 alum). And when he donated money to a Republican congressional candidate last year, Mr. Estey listed his occupation as a managing director at Lehman Brothers. We couldn't find a record of him at the firm now, though.
New Co-op for The Morgan's New Director
A new job in a new city generally leads to the stressful search for a new apartment, hopefully affordable with a convenient commute to the office. This search can take weeks, months even, before one finds a place that is just right.
Not so for the incoming director of The Morgan Library & Museum. Dr. William M. Griswold was appointed to the role in May, after Charles E. Pierce Jr. announced his plans to retire. When Dr. Griswold takes over in 2008, he will be welcomed by a $3.25 million apartment right down the street from his office.
The Morgan's purchase showed up in city records last week. The duplex co-op at 114 East 36th Street, a townhouse building, has two bedrooms, three and a half baths, three marble fireplaces, a wet bar, and a handcrafted wrought-iron staircase connecting the two floors, according to the listing with the Corcoran Group. The co-op had been on the market since May with no change in price, according to StreetEasy.
Patrick Milliman, the director of communications and marketing at The Morgan, told The Observer the board of trustees decided to buy the place to house directors nearby the museum and library. Mr. Milliman said Dr. Griswold would have to pay rent on his new digs but couldn’t disclose the amount. He also wouldn’t comment on the director’s salary. read more »
The Round-Up: Wednesday
Businesses looking for big spaces and low rent go to Midtown South. [NY Times]
A Harlem theater gets a new developer. [NY Times]
Bowery sees some changes, but hangs on to its "rough edges". [NY Times] read more »
The Afternoon Wrap: Tuesday
NoHo gets more inventive architecture. [Curbed]
Developers search for possibilities in Inwood. They're getting desperate! [Real Deal]
Alleged open-house theives to plead not guilty. [Gothamist] read more »
The Round-Up: Tuesday
Bird condo sinks. [NY Post]
Alleged open-house thieves are upper crust. [NY Post]
Could the Hudson Yards proposals replace Broadway in entertaining tourists? [NY Post] read more »
The Afternoon Wrap: Monday
Barbara Corcoran is pro-little old ladies and rising coffee prices. [Barbara Corcoran Ink via Curbed]
Shea Stadium might not get the All-Star Game in its final year, but those uniforms sure look cool. [Gothamist]
Bed-Stuy gets a reading room. [Bed-Stuy Blog] read more »
Over The Weekend...
This holiday weekend was Plaza heavy, with an $8,616,895.53 condo purchase in the 100-year-old hotel, according to city records. The buyer was Fred G. Farago, the president of California-based American Fruit Processors, a provider of fruity flavored syrups and extracts. The purchased unit, number 1003, was Mr. Farago’s second in the building. He purchased unit 1505 in July for $5,873,316.
Perhaps the fruit-king decided he needed more space?
Also at The Plaza last week was a $5,343,457.41 condo sold to Mary Q. Pedersen from Purchase, N.Y. Ms. Pedersen chose unit 506.
The (Big) Round-Up: Monday
Building owners leaving government subsidy programs for "unique and peculiar" reasons can't raise rents to market rates. [NY Times]
Ladies grab a hammer and join construction field. [NY Times]
A tale of immigration, bilingual children and pets in Brooklyn apartment. [NY Times] read more »
The Afternoon Wrap: Friday
Borough Park developers need rezoing, but traffic concerns may get in the way. [Brownstoner]
Developments scale back. The end of the condo is near... [Real Deal]
Magnetic Fields cellist leaves New York for Boston? So much for Lower Manhattan being cool. [NY Times] read more »
The Round-Up: Friday
Is the U.N. a firetrap? Bringing it up to code. [The New York Times]
Worries over Atlantic Yards arena placement. [City Room]
News anchor flees Gramercy Park Hotel apartment because of mold. [The New York Post] read more »
The Afternoon Wrap: Wednesday
Hand-made chiseling ups Bond Street's cool factor. [Curbed]
Two Rite Aids make a "tourist destination" in Queens. [Gothamist]
Fort Greene to get Brooklyn's largest flea market. [Brooklyn Eagle] read more »
Dean & DeLuca Opens at One Rock
Dean & DeLuca is pulling a Starbucks. With an existing Dean & DeLuca Café at 9 Rockefeller Center, we got word last night that the 30-year-old specialty food retailer has opened a new location at the Tishman Speyer-owned One Rockefeller Center. But not to worry, the press release promises a “new café concept."
The new Rockefeller Center location is the first of three Dean & DeLuca cafes coming to Manhattan in the next few months; the others are planned for the new New York Times building at 620 Eighth Avenue and the read more »
The Round-Up: Wednesday
Neglected buildings, mostly in Brooklyn, get a deadline for improvement. [NY Times]
Guggenheim remains gray. [NY Post]
825 feet of Hudson River frontage opens up with St. John's Center. [NY Post] read more »
The Afternoon Wrap: Tuesday
Williamsburg gets a theme song, the angsty sing "this city was the blue-print for hell..." [YouTube]
Sam Chang feasts his eyes on Alphabet City. Well, maybe just his mind's eye. [Curbed]
Is Dumbo the new TriBeCa? [Brownstoner] read more »
Candidates and Co-ops: Where the Money Is
The Round-Up: Tuesday
City acquires island in East River. [NY Times]
Disappointments of the new Times building. [NY Times]
MTA loses federal funding if they don't "stay on track". [NY Post] read more »
Over The Weekend...
Developer Scott Resnick sold his Richard Meier condo on Perry Street for $6.135 million, according to city records.
The unit 5S is in the south tower, at 176 Perry Street, and was sold to the trusts of John C. Atwater and his wife Diane Lynn Nelson of San Francisco. Mr. Atwater is a real estate man as well, whose focus has been in large apartment complexes on the West Coast and in the Southwest. read more »
The (Big) Round-Up: Monday
Top-floor owners buy air rights and start building up. [NY Times]
Banker couple settle into West Village carriage house. [NY Times]
The history of Central Park's Arsenal as it reaches renovation completion. [NY Times] read more »
The Afternoon Wrap: Friday
Ian Schrager: 'Is Bill Marriot any different than I am?' [Portfolio]
Trump gets a snail's reputation. [WSJ]
REBNY's Web site to include new page for just open houses. [Real Deal] read more »
The Round-Up: Friday
Columbia listens to striking students, but doesn't budge on expansion. [NY Post]
Buildings Department inspectors get new uniforms, command respect. [NYDN]
Bronx legislator fights foreclosures. [NYDN] read more »
The Afternoon Wrap: Thursday
When all else fails, the city can depend on its lawyers. [Real Deal]
Who said Red Hook was degentrified? [Curbed]
Domino development tries marketing. (2nd item) [Gowanus Lounge]
A mall-like development is proposed for Williamsburg. [Brownstoner]
The Round-Up: Thursday
Sheldon Solow's plans for the East Side's former Con Ed site. [NY Times]
Supporters of Stein's alleged killer go a little nuts in the court room. [NY Post]
L&L Holding Company gets another advertiser. [NY Post] read more »
The Afternoon Wrap: Wednesday
Nothing changes a neighborhood like a specialty grocery store--the Bronx hopes for Trader Joe's. [Real Deal]
A look at pre-development Sunset Park. Oh, sweet toxic serenity. [Curbed]
Bowery's New Museum to open soon. [Gothamist] read more »
