LONG ISLAND CITY—A shade under two mil in LIC? It happened, writes a tipster: "Everybody makes such a big deal about the Arris. A few weeks ago, an apartment (OK the penthouse) in former Development Du Jour The Badge Building (right) quietly closed for $1,925,000. It closed, it's on record. Just sayin." Indeed. Mercy. [CurbedWire Inbox]
UPPER WEST SIDE—Extell's Riverside South development just keeps on growing! Already home to the Avery and the Rushmore, Riverside South will soon be graced with two new towers on West 62nd Street and West 63rd Street. The announcement came in a press release regarding Extell's securing of a $613 million construction loan for the project, the largest construction loan in the U.S. this year (what credit crunch?). There will be a 38-story condo/rental tower, and a 23-story rental building. Completion is expected in 2010. It had been previously reported that the condo one would be called The Aldyn. [CurbedWire Inbox]
1)Spring Awakening composer and recovering pop musician Duncan Sheik had a good 1999. It was in those pre-boom days that Sheik bought a 2,400-square-foot raw loft at 195 Hudson Street for a bit over $850,000. He turned it into a swingin' live/work space, building out an entire recording studio where he laid down some hot tracks with Jay-Z (OK, not really, but Jay does own the penthouse). Now, old man Sheik wants to separate his life from his work, so he's moving to Gramercy Park and selling the Tribeca loft. He's asking for a cool $2.85 million, following—per the listing—a "$75,000 price improvement!" [Big Deal/Josh Barbanel]
2) The wilds of West Chelsea are no place to raise a family, so husband-and-wife Daily Show correspondents Samantha Bee and Jason Jones bought an $835,000 condo in Extell's Avery on the Upper West Side. Oops, exuse us, "Riverside South." [The Real Deal]
3) The glassy 505 Greenwich, over in Hudson Square just off Spring Street, reportedly has Joel Schumacher, André 3000 and Robert De Niro sniffing it out. This sounds slightly suspicious, because these guys could probably pool their resources and just buy all of Tribeca if they wanted to. They don't need to be near the Tunnel. [S. Jhoanna Robledo/NYMag]
4) The Irving Place co-op owned by late film critic Joel Siegel was sold for $1.95 million to an In Style editor. Wow, and we thought magazines were a dying breed. [The Real Estate]
UPPER EAST SIDE—The WindowGate scandal at the Lucida is a controversy that refuses to die. Actually, there's no real controversy, but "WindowGate" just sounded catchy. The latest: "Photos of another 'broken window' at the Lucida (or perhaps the same one) reveal that the curtainwall windows themselves are not broken, it's the (probably temporary) protective coating on the windows! When the coating breaks off, you can see the window underneath is actually extremely reflective. I imagine when the rest of the protective panels come off after completion, the building is going to be a giant mirror for the ugly Petco building across the street." Delightful. [CurbedWire Inbox]
UPPER WEST SIDE—Following up on our reader report on closings at Extell's Avery in the developer's wacky Riverside South community comes official word that, indeed, closings are in full swing and folks are moving in. The Avery is 90% sold, we're told. [CurbedWire Inbox]
The Post has an interesting look at the development boom north of 57th Street on the Far West Side, where residential buildings with silly names (Adagio, Sessanta, etc.) are popping up despite their distance from civilization. A second article takes an even more up-close look at the most fascinating chunk of that boom: Extell's wacky Riverside South community, a half dozen buildings planned for the new extension of Riverside Boulevard from 64th Street down to 59th Street. We already know about the first two buildings, the Rushmore and the Avery (L-R, respectively), and Katherine Dykstra offers up some interesting sales figures on both, as well as what's to come for the village that will one day have parks, bowling, ice skating and spas right along the majestic West Side Highway.
HELL'S KITCHEN—The Windermere at 57th Street and Ninth Avenue is the most-emailed-about building in Curbed history. Trapped in litigation for decades—with the latest update concerning the remaining seven tenants, 200+ violations and an owner stuck in a Japanese hospital—the landmark now has some scaffolding up, per the photo above sent by a tipster. DOB shows some permits for facade repair, among other things. Does this mean the owner recovered? [CurbedWire Inbox]
UPPER WEST SIDE—Extell's Avery on Riverside Boulevard had perhaps the most expensive launch party in history. Now it's time to make some of that skrilla back. Writes a buyer: "I was the first closing at the Avery, 100 Riverside Blvd. Regarding your story on first closings, my closing at the Avery was held on Dec. 27, 2007. The building obtained a TCO in mid-December 2007. People are starting to move into the building while work continues on the upper floors." Noted. [CurbedWire Inbox]
SCARANOVILLE—Can crap architects achieve celebrity status? Sure! "I saw robert scarano on the f train today! I got on at 4th ave and he was already on...he got off at york ave. I sat right next to him. He was blackberry'n and I looked! but it was mainly boring stuff, like what do we need to get this signed off etc. creepy! i told him his buildings sucked and he said, yeah...(not really)" If you see the Scarano, please refrain from looking him in the eye, lest he drop the S on you.
LONG ISLAND CITY—A shade under two mil in LIC? It happened, writes a tipster: "Everybody makes such a big deal about the Arris. A few weeks ago, an apartment (OK the penthouse) in former Development Du Jour The Badge Building (right) quietly closed for $1,925,000. It closed, it's on record. Just sayin." Indeed. Mercy. [CurbedWire Inbox]
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