A Fine Blog

Friday, July 17, 2009

Friday Morning Links

11 Times Square Tower Comes With Cool Time Lapse Video (Curbed)
Green Shoots Sprout In Beat Down Harlem (Curbed)
New: "Vu Hotel" In Hell's Kitchen Renamed "Ink 48" Opens In November (Hotel Chatter via TRD)
In Depth: The Rockrose Split (The Real Deal)
City Jobless Rate Matches Nation At 9.5%, Securities Biz Adds Jobs (Reuters)
FlashBack: City Records Show Every Property In NYC From 1940's and 1980's (AMNY)
Developers Sued As Midtown Shangri-La Hotel Project Goes To Foreclosure (Crain's)

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Moondance Diner...What A Long Strange Trip It's Been!

Moondance, 2007 (James Estrin, NY Times)

Moondance 2008 (Gothamist)

Moondance 2009 Day

Moondance 2009, by moonlight

It started back in the 30's as The Holland Tunnel Diner with 6 tables and 10 counter seats. It was eventually renamed The Moondance Diner and refurbished in the early 80's. It has been seen by millions on TV (Friends, Sex and the City), Films (like SpiderMan) and even an AhHa video. But in 2007 it was all but a goner. Rent had made the business no longer viable and plans had been hatched to build the 255' Grand Street Hotel on the site. Extell development donated the diner to the American Diner Museum who sold it to an enterprising couple in Wyoming. The husband drove it with his father by flatbed to LaBarge, Wyoming. But the winter of 2008 nearly proved devastating. While the foundation for it's new home was being built, the weight of snow collapsed the roof and damaged the walls. For many of us following the story, that was the last that we heard. Well, there is a happy ending! Many of the significant artifacts were safe in storage, and on January 12th of this year, the Moondance Diner opened anew! I reached Lynn, a friend of the owner at the diner this morning, and she says business has been "quite busy". In fact, Lynn says that Moondance has now "become a tourist destination spot."

On Site Of Moondance Diner, Grand Street Hotel Rises

On Sixth Avenue and Grand Street, site of the famed former "Moondance Diner" rises the 255' Grand Street Hotel. The intriguing structure is getting glassed up and looks like about six months from completion. But, the hotel already has it's first guest, oh yes, the jumbo rat!
Special thanks for the pics from tipster (and sister), Liz Fine.
All the Grand Street Hotel coverage you can ever ask for from Wired NY Forums

Thursday Morning Links

One In Top Ten Most Expensive Listings Of 08' Sold, And At A Discount (Observer)
Triplex At 895 Park Has Fourth Contract On It In 2 Years (Observer)
Buyers At The Setai Gain Right Of Rescission (The Real Deal)
Has NYC's Commercial Market Hit Bottom? (Crain's)
Brooklyn Home Prices Down 16% vs. Last Year (Bloomberg)
Miller: It Was A Credit Boom, Not A Housing Boom (Newsday)
The Sheffield Clears Foreclosure Hurdle (The Real Deal)
Soho And Noho Join Forces For Subway Super Station (Curbed)

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Wednesday Morning Links

"Extend And Pretend": Commercial Lenders In State Of Denial (Retail Traffic Mag)
Banana Republic: Midtown Fruit Stand In Turf War (NY Times)
The Russians Are Coming....To Buy Real Estate (Bloomberg)
MTA Buys First Of Five Buildings To Vent East Side Access (The Real Deal)
Office Deals In Manhattan Getting Better By The Week (NY Times)
7-11 Expanding In NYC And Tri-State (NY Times)
Living Wall To Grace New Tram Station? (Curbed)

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Hamptons Sales Down 58%, Q2

The Hamptons are no stranger to the housing downturn. Bankers, brokers, and just about everyone else strangled tight the purse strings, sat on their wallets, and drove sales volume down 58% compared to the same quarter last year. This, according to Judy Desiderio, broker and Hamptons market report generator extraordinaire as reported by Bloomberg this morning.

Tuesday Morning Links

Shiller says Second Housing Bubble Is Possible (The Real Deal)
Bruce Willis Scopes Out The Apthorp (The Real Deal)
A Cautious Thumbs Up For TALF (Globe St.)
National CMBS Delinquencies Spike, NY State Largely Unscathed (Observer)
Unreal Estate: A $32.5 Mil One Bedroom (Observer)
Development Du Jour: The Copper Building (Curbed)

There Goes The Media Again: Manufactued "Outrage" At Goldman

The top story on ABC's Good Morning America today was about how Goldman Sachs had recovered from the banking crisis and was expected to report $2 Billion in profit for the 2nd Quarter. Hooray! Right? No?

Oh, I'm sorry, the gist of the story was to throw around terms like "outrage", "anger", and imply that we should all be collectively upset, or beyond upset, like break out the pitch forks sort of rage! The only rage I felt was against ABC for manufacturing such bullshit. Goldman Sachs, after all, is a great American company that has is critical to the functioning of our financial and capital markets. Here is a company with a remarkable track record, having recorded only one Quarterly loss (last fall) since going public. Yes, they took $10 Billion from the government (which they have since repaid), but nobody considers the context. Nobody seems to remember that they took this money because the Treasury more or less forced it on them when other banks were at risk of failure. The idea was that all the major banks would take money so that no bank would be singled out and such action would prevent a run on the most troubled institution (s). Goldman was a team player in the interest of the national and world economy. Now, thankfully, the immediate crisis has passed, and one of our great institutions is earning money yet again. This, and the resilience of capitalism should be celebrated, not berated. We should be happy that we are seeing signs of recovery, not "outraged". Chris Cuomo may ask "where is our cut"? Our cut is that we are not in another Great Depression. Take that to the bank.