It Happened One Weekend: House Discount, Stuy Town Bugs Out, More

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1) Perhaps because the developer has to sell a bunch of units by June 1, current tenants at Manhattan House (right)—what could be the biggest condo conversion ever—have seen their insider discounts balloon up to 15% if they buy within 30 days. Prices were cut 6.6% over all. [Big Deal/Josh Barbanel]

2) Building on that death-of-the-starter-studio theme, the Times takes a look at the crazy price tags on 0BRs nowadays. A $2 million studio sold in the Plaza, and down in the Financial District, the average price-per-square-foot of studios is actually slightly more than one-bedrooms. Curse you, pied-a-terre shoppers! [Absence Makes the Buyer Fonder /Vivian S. Toy]

3) Who says new Stuy Town owner Tishman Speyer is ruling with an iron fist? They just let 720,000 new tenants move in and live rent-free. ['Harnessing the Benign Aggression of Ladybugs'/Andy Newman]

4) How hard are developers for 15 Central Park West? In a bid to recreate that 15 CPW magic, the developers of The Laurel on the UES are getting the limestone for the building cut in the same quarry that birthed that billion-dollar facade. Next step: getting a Zeckendorf to pee on the foundation for good luck. [Big Deal/Josh Barbanel]

5) After six years, this dude finally realizes that bike-riding hipsters live in Brooklyn, not the East Village! But which neighborhood is just right? The answer, of course, is Bushwick and Bed-Stuy. He wound up in the latter. [The Hunt/Joyce Cohen]

6) Very quietly, Bensonhurst has become Brooklyn's Jackson Heights. In fact, 76,000 of the neighborhood’s 158,000 residents are foreign-born. We'll assume Jackson Heights still has better Spanish food. [The City/'The United Nations of Brooklyn']

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