Philadelphia

It appears the national housing slump has thoroughly caught up to the city of Rocky and the Word Series Champion Philies. Home sales and prices declined in 2008, according to a comprehensive market report (PDF here) published by Wharton economist Kevin Gillen, and it's not likely either will rebound soon.

The report includes data through the second quarter of 2008 that ended June 30, and found that median home prices had declined by 6.6 percent since the second quarter of 2007.  read more »

DENVER—Michael Nutter, the young, brainy, African-American mayor of Philadelphia, took a chance during the Democratic primary season. He vocally supported Hillary Clinton against Barack Obama, the candidate with whom he shares many qualities—and the overwhelming preference, as it turned out, of his constituents. He explained his decision by citing the Clintons’ track record of delivering for cities like Philadelphia, which experienced a revival during the 1990s. But in terms of raw political calculation, Nutter was picking sides in a battle that split Pennsylvania’s Democrats, from the highest levels (Governor Ed Rendell supported Hillary, Senator Bob Casey, Obama) right down to the neighborhood clubhouses that make up Philadelphia’s fabled—though somewhat diminished—Democratic machine.  read more »

Philadelphia home sales tumbled 25 percent annually in the spring, according to a new report from Wharton economist Kevin Gillen (hat tip: Matrix).

Meanwhile, the median house price there was roughly $109,000 by the end of June. In Manhattan, it was $1,025,000 (for condos and co-ops), according to Miller Samuel; and, in Brooklyn, $525,00.

No wonder so many New Yorkers are splitting for Philly.

The Manhattan rental market reports are popping out this week (I covered an authoritative one earlier this week). They show what many already know deep in their guts and wallets: Manhattan is the most expensive rental market in the United States.

How expensive?  read more »

Philadelphia recorded 392 murders in 2007, or about one murder for every 3,571 Philadelphians. New York City, on the other hand, had one of its lowest murder amounts ever in 2007, with 492--or, about one murder for every 16,260 New Yorkers. So, take note, before you or someone you love moves to Philly. (Hat tip to The Economist this week for the Philly stats.)

I wrote in this week's Observer about New Yorkers moving to Philadelphia. One of the statistics I dug up that didn't make it into the story was the amount of daily Amtrak commuters between New York's Penn Station and Philly's 30th Street Station. It turns out that annual daily round-trip ridership along the line peaked in 2004 and 2005, and has dropped precipitously ever since.  read more »

We all know one—that friend or relative who split New York City recently for the common cascade of reasons: high home prices, high rents, high living costs, high noise, high stress, or too much getting high or all of the above.

And when these people exit our five boroughs, they really exit: City Comptroller Bill Thompson’s office analyzed the Census Bureau’s recent American Community Survey and found that about two-thirds of the 190,150 people age 25 to 64 who left in 2005 moved not to the green suburbs to get just a daily break from the city grind, but outside of the metro area altogether.

Nearly a quarter of them split for the South, with 14.9 percent settling in Florida and 5 percent in Georgia, especially Atlanta. (And, no, the Florida settlers weren’t all ancient—far from it: over 90 percent were under 65.) Another 4.4 percent went to California. Only about 36 percent settled in New Jersey or elsewhere in New York state.

About 40 percent left big-city life altogether, opting out of the metro region as well as out of those large cities that traditionally compete with New York. L.A.? It claimed 2.6 percent of our people; Boston, even less at 2 percent. Wheezing Philadelphia (motto: Please Let Us Be Your Sixth Borough! We Got Rid of the Rocky Statue!)—claimed 3 percent; San Francisco and Chicago less than 2 percent. Atlanta led all cities with 4.5 percent. The rest of the percentages were dotted all over American exurbia.

In the end, of course, who went where depends on why. New Yorkers with younger children were more likely than childless people to leave the city, according to the comptroller, and those that left and stayed in the metro region—most of them still work in the city, trading the costs of living here for longer commutes.  read more »

A tipster found the above flier in his Cobble Hill mailbox and passed it along to The Real Estate. Universal City Studios plans a film called "Baby Mama" about a 35-year-old real-estate developer played by Tina Fey (that's believable) trying to have a baby by surrogate (the surrogate's "South Philly working girl Angie Ostrowski" -- yea, class stereotypes!).

The film firm needs two Brooklyn locations by May:

"A ONE-FAMILY TOWNHOUSE/BROWNSTONE with a large living room and an adjacent dining room, den or study, on the parlor floor.

AN APARTMENT IN A TOWNHOUSE/BROWNSTONE with an open floor plan."

And know this, homeowners: "a fee will be paid."

- Tom Acitelli

He Wants You to Love Atlantic Yards "Laurie Olin, one of the most noted landscape architects in the country, was holding forth in his firm's library in central Philadelphia. He wants to help us get over our obsession with personal space. So Mr. Olin took on the task for designing the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn." Go to story by Matthew Schuerman. Macklowes Stomp Back Big with Buy "In the last week of January, shortly before Blackstone acquired Equity Office Properties for $39 billion, the developer Harry Macklowe decided to make a play for EOP's New York buildings." Go to story by John Koblin. When Alex Met Don... "In a decidedly unhip slice of Manhattan, two scions of New York real-estate tycoons, average age 27 and a half, plan to create a gleaming, 45-story condo-hotel, a rarity in city development." Go to story by Gillian Reagan. Doomed Hotel Penn Sends Other Lodges Scrambling for Doggie Style "To all the snowbound hounds that received a few extra hours of pampering at the all-too-pooch-friendly Hotel Pennsylvania last week: Lap it up, bitches. The landmark hotel, which every year reserves its best service strictly for four-legged guests, may be history even before next year's show." Go to story by Chris Shott. Moinian Nabs Two Fifth Avenue Addresses for $440 M. "The developer who is building the new downtown W Hotel is spreading his empire to Fifth Avenue. After buying four buildings on Fifth in the last two years, Joseph Moinian is buying two more for $440 million." Go to Commercial Breaks by John Koblin. Petitions, PR, Christine Quinn: What Can Save Le Madeleine? "After enduring back-to-back defeats in court, embattled restaurateur Toney Edwards remains 'determined as ever,' he said, to protect his hallowed Hell's Kitchen cookery, Le Madeleine, from a developer's wrecking ball." Go to Counter Espionage by Chris Shott. Columbia Kingpin Pays $3.48 M. on Central Park West "Bespectacled Ivy League administrators don't often get leafy uptown co-ops. But Columbia University senior executive vice president Robert Kasdin and his scholar wife have bought an eight-room apartment at 239 Central Park West. According to city records, they paid $3,485,000." Screenwriter, Actress Buy on Fifth for $1.26 M. "The Park Slope-born writer-director Noah Baumbach and his new starlet wife Jennifer Jason Leigh are expanding their current domain at 43 Fifth Avenue: According to city records, the couple paid $1.26 million for their next-door neighbor's co-op." Go to Manhattan Transfers by Max Abelson. The Sheriff of Landmarks "Robert Tierney, chairman of the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission, talks about 980 Madison and the controversy that pit author Tom Wolfe against developer Aby Rosen." Go to The Sit-Down by Tom Acitelli. Mayor Trumpets Building Boom, But We're Still Bursting at the Seams "Pity popular New York City. Unlike many other American metropolises (Detroit, Philly, even Cleveland), the city's population keeps growing steadily, so much so that even record home-building can't nearly keep up with the influx." Go to The Lab by Tom Acitelli. Knobs for the Snobs "The private-equity trader had to have the pumpkin-shaped doorknob in every room. He'd just bought an 1856 townhouse in the West Village, and he and his architect came upon a distinctive period knob in the apartment of one of the rent-regulated tenants that came with the building. They wanted to replicate it--not just in brass, but in bronze. 'Call Erich!' said the head of the architecture firm, meaning Erich Theophile, the debonair doorknob king of New York." Go to Interiors by Toni Schlesinger. Deeds and Deals A Week in New York Real Estate

CARRIE: I have 309 days left until I slide into my white gown and float down the aisle in front of 200+ guests at the Ritz Carlton in Philadelphia. But I don't yet have a white gown.

I am anxious and jumpy. "I was leaning towards this Reem Acra dress," I say to anyone who will listen, "but you know what? I'm not sure I'm an embellishment kind of bride. Maybe I should focus on lace? What about ivory vs. white? Saks only had this one dress in a soft white. What exactly is soft white?"  read more »

I have always been a "grass is greener" person. I have buyer's remorse. Recently I've been waking up in the early morning and sneaking off to the computer for just one more peek at a fabulous Ines Di Santo gown that I had loved the day before. Nah, I think, that's not the one.

Read the title carefully; then read it again.  read more »

TEDDY: I woke up last Sunday in a dorm room in Harvard's Dunster House, logged into facebook.com and noticed a recently published photo album entitled, "Austen and Tito's Wedding!!! Location: East Hampton." It wasn't the first album of this nature I'd encountered. I contemplated waking up my lady friend, who is Harvard class of 2008, to show her the album and quite possibly ask for her hand in marriage, but instead I sat at the foot of her bed and watched her sleep. I figured she might need to get a few core requirements out of the way before officially agreeing to tie the knot, and in our case, jump on a sheet of glass as a symbol of our place in the Jewish tradition. I was surprised by the marriage of Austen and Tito--though I had actually read a short story written by the bride a year before confirming their love.

Perhaps because I had just spent a cramped night on an extra-long twin bed in a college dorm room, I just could not imagine myself on the altar in the Adobe Photoshop of my mind.  read more »

After the show, Justin Bond’s dressing room reeked with the powdery, meaty smell of foundation  read more »

We followed downtown cabaret legends Kiki & Herb to Philadelphia—New York's sixth borough!— on Friday, as they workshopped their upcoming Broadway show.

Jared Geller, one of the show's producers, spent much of his week with the duo in glamorous Philadelphia as well. So how's our sixth borough doing?

Mr. Geller said that, while he worked, his Italian boyfriend went out touristing. Ever thoughtful, he texted Mr. Geller back a message: "If Jefferson only knew that the Independence Declaration would be read 230 years later by a parade of overweight and reactionary people..."

"They have these horse tours," Mr. Geller said, of the wonders of Philadelphia. "You can ride a horse around Philadelphia, and they point out things. Like, here's the first fire insurance building! The first building that would insure your home against fires. That's like a sight to see in Philadelphia.

"We were walking," he said, "and there was this sort of brick planter? It had bushes in it. It was this square. And there was a sign that said 'The Working Man's House.' And it explained that this square was the size of a working man's house in Philadelphia. And it was like the size of my desk.

"You just trip upon these things in Philadelphia," he said.

As vacation time nears, it is safe to say that no matter how rotten things get on the big screen dur  read more »

As vacation time nears, it is safe to say that no matter how rotten things get on the big screen dur  read more »

COLLEEN:

12:15 pm: Danny and I arrive at the Turkish restaurant his mom chose for our engagement party. Colored glass lamps abound.

12:22 pm: The first guests, Danny's friends Sonny and Jill, arrive bearing gifts: two cake pans that they packaged with cake mix, confectioner's sugar, sugar, a sugar shaker and a rubber bowl scraper. She's on the art side at her magazine.

12:30 pm: My parents arrive and my dad gives me a big hug saying, "Your sisters are going to be late. They went the wrong way on 95 and wound up in Philadelphia."

12:31 pm: Hummus and pitas and all kinds of Mediterranean treats. A crowd forms around the buffet.

1:00 pm: I'm feeling too jittery to eat.  read more »

2:00 pm: The main course is brought out: lamb and chicken and beef. The guests stare in stunned amazement.

Natan Scharansky, the rightwing Israeli, made a poetic statement once about the Soviet Union. He hated his guards so much that when they told him to walk straight somewhere, he walked in a zigzag, just to demonstrate his own free will.

The other day Scharansky was on a panel in Philadelphia at which it was agreed that democracy isn't

On today's Washington Journal, Neil King said that being able to vote doesn't mean anything in Baghdad when your refrigerator doesn't work. Pamela Hess of UPI said that the American military is well aware of Maslow's hierarchy of needs—who needs the right to vote if you can't even shelter yourself. Syria Comment has a great item on the end of the democratic visions for the Middle East.

A month after he did so, I learn that Vice President Cheney gave a long toast to the neoconservative scholar Bernard Lewis at a lunch in Philadelphia. As usual, Cheney's speech is significant for what it doesn't tell us: anything specific about the ideas that Lewis brought to the White House. Though Cheney notes that he first met Lewis 15 years ago, and that Lewis has been coming to the White House to talk to the President in the last four-and-a-half years. I.e., after September 11.

Lewis's message to the White House is summarized in The Assassins' Gate, by George Packer:

For decades, even centuries, [Arab] civilization has steadily fallen behind as the West and the rest of the world progressed into modernity. This decay is a source of humiliation and rage to millions of Arabs and non-Arab Muslims. In recent years, the sickness has produced a threat that ranges far beyond the region. American power has helped to keep the Arab world in decline by supporting sclerotic tyrannies; only an American break with its own history in the region can reverse it. The Arabs cannot pull themselves out of their historic rut. They need to be jolted out by some foreign-born shock. The overthrow of the Iraqi regime would provide one.

I believe Edward Said named this, orientalism.

Note that in Michael Massing's superb dissection of the power of AIPAC in the latest New York Review of Books, he states that Lewis's son Michael is an editor of the pro-Israel lobbyist's "Activities Update"—"a compilation of dozens of press clips, speech transcripts, and minutes of meetings... periodically e-mailed to a select list of AIPAC supporters. This research provides the raw material for AIPAC's efforts to intimidate and silence opponents. "

Note, too, that the VP's comments in Philly included this nice turn:

Some years ago, Professor Lewis was asked why he was always writing about sensitive topics. This was his reply: "The sensitive place in the body, physical or social, is where something is wrong." "Sensitivity," he said, "is a signal the body sends us, that something needs attention, which is what I try to give."

Three and a half years ago, when I got my dog, Lee, from an animal-rescue organization in New Jersey  read more »

Via ArchNewsNow comes this interview on Artinfo.com with architect Rafael Viñoly, a propos the new (well, it opened Oct. 1) Nasher art museum at Duke University.

From the intro:

Viñoly offers a bold challenge to the kind of architectural sensibility that sees restrictions as limitations to the work of the architect, reaching for that rare synthesis of great design and purpose that defines his singular vision.

Ahem. Moving along, he is cited as the architect of several major projects including

the new home for Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, and the Leiscester City Perfoming Arts Center in the UK, as well as several university projects. Among his other museum projects are the Tampa Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Children's Museum, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, scheduled to be completed in 2011.

Oh, and the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, where his work was yesterday acclaimed as

a stunning, state-of-the-art concert hall that attracts world-class artists. It is one of the most beautiful and unique buildings of its kind in the world, a world-class performing arts center, a wonderful civic space and an economic engine for the entire area. As one of the best facilities of its kind anywhere, it has achieved its goal of becoming a cultural center for all tastes.

That high praise comes in the settlement documents relating to the Kimmel Center's $23 million lawsuit against the architect.

Not long ago, as you may remember, the Kimmel had a different view of the architect, if not of the building they ended up with. Viñoly, they said in court documents, is

an architect who had a grand vision but was unable to convert that vision into reality, causing the owner to incur significant additional expenses to correct and overcome the architect’s errors and delays.

Viñoly wasn't commenting on the settlement yesterday, which is why this from today's Artinfo.com interview is interesting if bewildering:

INTERVIEWER: Is that why you might be drawn to the civic function of a museum, as opposed to more corporate architecture? VINOLY: No, it has nothing to do with corporate…it has to do with the use of funds that have to be within logic, and that logic to me is what defines the capacity of an architect to produce a great idea, with less rather than more.

- Tom McGeveran

The Kimmel Center in Philadelphia and its architect, Rafael Vinoly, reached a settlement this week that ended an ugly and public legal battle in which the managers of the concert hall accused the designer of doing shoddy work that lead the construction to balloon $23 million over budget.

Peter Dobrin, who has been writing about the mess for the Philadelphia Inquirer, hands the win to Vinoly, and predicts dire things for the Kimmel Center for blaming its problems on Vinoly:

Anyone keeping track of these legal maneuvers will spot the fact that architect Rafael Viñoly got the apology he wanted. Whether any money changed hands in the out-of-court settlement - $23 million was the amount the Kimmel sought - is unanswered at the moment. And whether any amount of money was worth the message the Kimmel sent to its public when it sued its own architect is something one hopes the center's board fully considered. When a convention of music critics meets here this spring, you can be sure that this sad episode will be recounted to readers across the country.

No one at Vinoly would comment on Thursday as to whether any money exchanged hands in the settlement, and J Bradford Mcilvain, a lawyer representing the Kimmel Center, was not available for comment on Thursday afternoon. But Mr. Vinoly must feel somewhat vindicated with the statement that the Kimmel's lawyers issued.

"... the Kimmel Center recognizes that the Viñoly-designed and delivered Kimmel Center is a stunning, state-of-the-art concert hall that attracts world-class artists. It is one of the most beautiful and unique buildings of its kind in the world, a world-class performing arts center, a wonderful civic space and an economic engine for the entire area. As one of the best facilities of its kind anywhere, it has achieved its goal of becoming a cultural center for all tastes."

The Kimmel managers' tune was somewhat different in November, when they accused Mr. Vinoly of habitually failing to meet strict deadlines and being "wholly unable" to successfully convert his ambitious concept into a real building.

- Jason Horowitz

New York architect Rafael Viñoly has asked that the lawsuit filed against his prestigious firm by Philadelphia's Kimmel Center be dismissed.

The Kimmel Center is suing Viñoly over delays and cost overruns in the construction of their new building, for which Viñoly was the architect.

The news was carried in today's editions of The Philadelphia Inquirer:

In a response to a suit filed by the Kimmel Center against Rafael Viñoly Architects (RVA), the internationally esteemed firm says that "the delays and increased costs of this project were caused by [the Kimmel's] failure to make timely, fixed and consistent programmatic and budgetary decisions required of it..."

Jay Bargmann, the firm's senior vice president, tells Ink reporter Peter Dobrin that in a 2004 meeting, Kimmel Center president Janice Price characterized their lawsuit as a "fund-raising opportunity." In the article, Ms. Price calls that claim "absolutely false."

Viñoly himself doesn't speak to Dobrin in the piece, but Bargmann says the program kept changing, and the building increased in size by 50 percent, and that the Kimmel's own unstable plan was the reason for the difficulties in the construction.

Viñoly has countersued subcontractors who worked with him on the job.  read more »

Earlier: Life Getting Hot for Architect Rafael Vinoly - Tom McGeveran

Can New York City Function Without the BlackBerry?    read more »

Can New York City Function Without the BlackBerry?  read more »

Rafael Viñoly, the celebrated New York architect, is having a great run in a tough town by mo  read more »

New languages are discovered every year, and “goodbye” is a lousy word in every one of t  read more »

We heard this might be coming (via Gawker): the Sunday Styles section dubs Philadelphia the sixth borough. Williamsburg expats in shrunken ironic T-shirts are apparently swanning past that cracked, bronze bell and marvelling at Rocky's workout steps as they get acquainte with New Jersey transit. Bets taken here on how soon before "Brooklynization" makes it into the O.E.D.

Top real-estate developer Aby Rosen will overcome you with both his "arresting blue eyes" and off-putting Damien Hirst sculptures. And the guy does own Lever House and the Seagram Building which is pretty intimidating, too.

A bizarre replica of the East Village is being built in Las Vegas because casino developer Mark Advent believes the desert city lacks a "sense of community." Nothing says community like bridge-and-tunnel bars and overpriced, rat-infested studios! Felafel, anyone?

Lastly, the Upper East Side has become a haven for cheapskates.  read more »

- Michael Calderone

Now that Charles Peters has finished with Five Days in Philadelphia, we should draft him to overhaul  read more »

On June 5, Curtis Sittenfeld, author of the well-reviewed novel Prep, wrote a fairly scathing review  read more »

On  read more »

And speaking of Gifford, the Speaker's former spokesman Fred Baldassaro has resurfaced as DNC Chairman Howard Dean's trip director. And, as you'd expect from a Democratic Party run by Dean, Fred's blogging on the side.

Here's an entry from Philadelphia last week:

"The Gov. and I spent a total of five hours sitting at B13 waiting for our flight to New Orleans to take off. You know you're at an airport too long when airline workers at the check-in counter are calling you by your first name.

"Undaunted, we carried on. We read the papers, the Governor made phone calls, we chatted with folks at the gate. A nice guy bought the Gov. a smoothie. The flight at the gate next to us -- the flight to Burlington, VT. -- was also cancelled, so we had some admirers who recognized the Gov. instantly. I even met a pilot who taught me all about how planes stay in the air without colliding with one another."

Ah, the glamour of politics.  read more »

Sexually transmitted diseases and a reduced bank account aren't the only drawbacks when visiting a p  read more »

We don't quite know what to make of this vaguely sourced Philadelphia Daily News story, which leads with the news that "The Rev. Al Sharpton is the subject of a federal criminal investigation."

In the next breath, the story tells us that it's not the Philadelphia corruption investigation in which Sharpton briefly figured as a bit player.  read more »

And if it's a criminal investigation, that means it can't be the ongoing Federal Elections Commission probe. Hmm.

PHILADELPHIA-Wandering through a working-class neighborhood of Philadelphia as night fell on Tuesday  read more »

It looks as if the sad saga of the Barnes Foundation-a saga of Philadelphia history repeating itself  read more »

In their euphoria over the prospect of Republican delegates spending their cash in destitute New Yor  read more »

The great Thomas Eakins exhibition, which was reviewed here when it opened last fall at the Philadel  read more »

I greedily read with a lump in my throat (not to mention a certain frisson of fascination) about the  read more »

For a large part of the American art public, the Philadelphia painter Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) stan  read more »

The exhibition devoted to the work of the American painter Everett Shinn (1876-1953) at the Berry-Hi  read more »

I grew up in Philadelphia, where everyone loved the Phillies. I did not love the Phillies.  read more »

Who's Afraid Of Kevin Bacon?"Power corrupts" is a tired theme that is not necessarily restricted to  read more »

PHILADELPHIA-Have you read enough of these datelines?  read more »

Those Bush Republicans certainly know how to put on a cute convention.  read more »

PHILADELPHIA-The last time Republicans gathered in this city, they nominated a New Yorker with a mus  read more »

Dare Not Gobble My wife's cousin is usually calm, but when he called in mid-March he was agitated.  read more »

You're a nobody if you're not famous, and Linda Pendergraft is not a nobody.  read more »