Taco Bell Corp.
The Round-Up: Tuesday
- New boutique hotel on Soho's edge? [NY Post]
- 400,000sf lease at 1271 Sixth closes. [2nd item] [NY Post]
- City OKs redevelopment for four former firehouses. [NY Post]
- Gentrification likely claims East Harlem school. [NY Times]
- Health Department to revamp rodent inspections. [NY Times]
- Defaults rise among borrowers with decent credit. [NY Times]
- Philadelphia tries to lure away New York's artists. [NY Sun]
- Inspector who passed Village KFC/Taco Bell resigns. [NY Sun]
- Complaints about KFC/Taco Bell before inspection. [Daily News]
Did we miss any New York City real estate news this morning? Please send along tips and links.
Of Mice and Mangia in Midtown
Shott On Location: One Month Later, Rat Mecca Remains Shuttered, Regulatory Backlash Ongoing
At noon on Friday, a towncar driver in a black suit stood beside his parked Lincoln, staring at the shuttered storefront at 331 Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village.
"This is the place from the TV, right?" he asked.
This is, indeed, the place---one month to the day, in fact, after the infamous video of rats running amok inside the two-pronged fast-food joint triggered a Health Department crackdown on restaurants citywide.
"It was a rat party," the parked driver said, laughing. "The rats were having a party."
More than 200 restaurants have failed inspections since the infamous video aired. At one point, inspectors were shuttering an average of nine eateries a day--triple the usual number.
Just this week, inspectors slammed the door on Papaya Dog on the Upper East Side after news crews filmed rats at that location, too.
Some eateries that inspectors initially shut down have since reopened. But not the place that started it all, which remains a quiet monument to the original scampering spectacle.
Two bright yellow signs, reading "CLOSED BY ORDER OF THE COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH AND MENTAL HYGIENE," remain affixed to the papered windows. Passers-by have added plenty of their own comments to the garish placards, ranging from "TRY OUR NEW BURRATO!" to "THE REAL RATS OWN THIS PLACE!" One amateur cartoonist drew a rat head sticking out of an "X-TRA CRISPIE" bucket.
"They should sell it," suggested the spectating driver, as he returned to his car and then drove off.
Operator ADF Companies, which closed a number of its KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut franchises in the city after the debacle, announced in a March 1 statement that the venues will all reopen once "they are fully inspected and given a clean bill of health."
A company spokesperson has yet to return phone calls seeking an update.
- Chris ShottRat-a-Tat-Tat!
The Round-Up: Tuesday
- 148 Lafayette Street sells for $59 M. [GlobeSt]
- Bid to rat-proof Village Taco Bell-KFC. [NY Post]
- Moody's to take more space at 7 World Trade Center. [NY Post]
- Whole Foods opening at 100th and Columbus. [bottom] [NY Post]
Did we miss any New York City real estate news this morning? Please send along tips and links.
The Afternoon Wrap: Friday
- A skinny, possibly "gloomy" Harlem townhouse is granted "Estate of the Day" honors at Luxist. Why? The 1910 house has a planted terrace, garden, 12-foot-high parlor floor, and original details like mahogany-framed windows and carved staircase. [Lux]
- The 'New Park Slope' bears shockingly little semblance to the original. Unless the old Park Slope was a pioneer of comfort and style, and a modern and exciting residential corridor, and "rich with the ambience and energy..." [Curbed]
- Pity the poor Greenwich VIllage KFC/Taco Bell! Even though it miraculously provided Villagers with both tasty fried chieck and Challupas, a few measly rats have put the restaurant in peril. To be fair, though, technically it was a "rat infestation." [NY1, via everyone]
- The Observer's favorite mega-uber-luxury broker, Leonard Steinberg, works the "art week" angle into selling his condos at 200 11th Avenue. "Most units have double-height ceilings, which gives you a tremendous opportunity to display sculpture and artwork... It is not attracting the Kevin Federlines of the world." [Real Deal] - Max Abelson
New Times Tower: Now, More Snobulous!
Fast food restaurants, educational and medical facilities not permitted to lease space in the 52-story building include: Taco Bell, McDonald's, Wendy's, juvenile or adult day-care centers, social-services offices, job training centers, and auction houses (except "high-end auction houses specializing in art and historical artifacts").
That's according to The Village Voice's Paul Moses who harshly criticizes The New York Times this week over lease stipulations in the Renzo Piano-designed tower that the Gray Lady will soon call home.
Thankfully, soy latte-addicted reporters can relax, because Starbucks is permitted to set up shop downstairs. Huzzah!
Our personal favorite exclusion is any government office where you can show up "without appointment." It's a well-known fact that the huddled masses never call ahead (or have their names on a list).
Surely, David Brooks is already mining this article for column-worthy cultural signifiers.His colleagues on the editorial page have already weighed in on the principle: "The Supreme Court's ruling yesterday that the economically troubled city of New London, Conn., can use its power of eminent domain to spur development was a welcome vindication of cities' ability to act in the public interest. It also is a setback to the 'property rights' movement, which is trying to block government from imposing reasonable zoning and environmental regulations. Still, the dissenters provided a useful reminder that eminent domain must not be used for purely private gain."
"The 'property rights' movement!" How charmingly Marxist. Ahem.
In the mean time, The Real Estate is reminded of The Times' three-week series on class in America that began last May.
The introductory piece posed the challenging question: "Why does it appear that class is fading as a force in American life?"
So coy!
"Today, the country has gone a long way toward an appearance of classlessness. Americans of all sorts are awash in luxuries that would have dazzled their grandparents. Social diversity has erased many of the old markers. It has become harder to read people's status in the clothes they wear, the cars they drive, the votes they cast, the god they worship, the color of their skin. The contours of class have blurred; some say they have disappeared."
We say the difference between Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks coffee ain't the coffee. read more »
- Michael CalderoneSarah Thyre, Actress and Bride of Richter
