Trench press

My round up on everything growing up along the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (a k a, "The Trench") is in today's NY Post.

The Real Deal was nice enough to link to it. (As was Brownstoner -- although they were slightly cheeky. But, hey, it's a free country.)

I'm really looking forward to that Pok Pok!

Let's go Metro!

This is my roundup of everything that's happening in Downtown Brooklyn's MetroTech area.

The stuff about the snake is gleaned from my own personal experience -- I remember coming out of the Fulton Mall's A&S and walking past the defunct movie theater (the same movie theater where I saw such '80s classics as "The Karate Kid" and "Back to the Future" when they first came out) and saw a snake charmer with what looked like a 9 foot long snake!

I nearly ran! (I managed to just walk quickly away.)

The area still has a ways to go, but, yes, it has made some remarkable progress.

2011 in Real Estate

My review of 2011 (and look ahead at 2012) in real estate can be read here.

Curbed was nice enough to link to it.

As an editor at the Post said upon reading my article:

"It's like nobody learned jackshit over the recession."

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

How much Lower can you goer?

I'm a little late posting this, but here's an article I wrote two weeks ago about the deals you can get on the Lower East Side....

...if you can find them!

Harlem is doing better than you thought

A lot of real estate watchers out there assumed that Harlem was doomed in this recession.

We felt that Harlem was reliving some (unfunny) real estate history.

Just as the neighborhood was overbuilt more than 100 years ago with the coming of the IRT line (the city's first subway) and property values plummeted when recession hit, most observers in recent years felt that Harlem real estate was one of two areas in Manhattan where developers were completely overbuilding. (The other being the Financial District.)

Buildings that were unfinished when the recession hit were doomed; buildings that were only partially sold were likely to remain that way.

But it looks like this is not entirely the case.

Developers aggressively cut prices (the average went from $836 per square foot during the height of the market in 2007 to $582 now) and thus managed to work through the glut of inventory -- the sales figures are the best on record.

I wrote about this here. And the Real Deal was kind enough to pick up on my story here.

East Harlem for $500 per foot

If you are looking for your first apartment, you might consider East Harlem.

Prices are $500 to $600 per square foot.

In fact, I found a guy who is paying less to buy an apartment than to rent in the neighborhood!

Moreover, a lot of these buildings require only a 5% (or in some cases less!) downpayment.

But you'll have to live without a Starbucks or a decent Chinese restaurant.

A decade later

It's difficult to believe that it's been 10 years since 9/11.

The Times has an excellent round-up of first-hand experiences from that day, as well as a round-up of all the implications of the attacks (in literature, on our economy, in the Arab world, etc.)

Of course, every publication did something this week to memorialize that horrible day.

The New Yorker's coverage was particularly heartbreaking. The great George Packer (The Assassins' Gate) and the great Adam Gopnik (Paris to the Moon) wrote twin pieces about American erosion in the past 10 years (how veterans came back from Iraq and Afghanistan with virtually zero prospects of getting a job, and a general decline-of-the-west article, respectively) that both left this schlub feeling depressed -- particularly Packer's. (Unfortunately, the articles are firewalled.)

New York magazine had an interesting idea to treat the issue as a 9/11 encyclopedia. Entries start at Abbottabad and end at Zazi, Najibullah (the failed, homegrown terrorist) with everything from "Survivor, Last Pulled Out" to "Freedom Fries" in between.

The Post has a huge tribute issue out today -- but earlier in the week, your humble correspondent got to do one of the more upbeat stories: How the Financial District rebounded after everyone thought it was as good as dead. And, indeed, (with some massive hiccups along the way which I didn't have space to get into) it did just that.

And, perhaps, I should leave it there.

High Five

My visit to 1212 Fifth Avenue.

The building is on the park and only about $900 per square foot! (Of course, it's also on 102nd Street...)

Don't worry. Be happy.

Developers are starting to wade into NYC waters again.

Check out my story in yesterday's Post.

On the townhouse

For architecture, NYC history and Louis CK geeks, check out my article on the history of the New York City townhouse -- as well as a slideshow of five different townhouses. (The one in Park Slope actually looks like a real bargain.)

I never quite understood why the filthy rich opt for glass condos over those Federalist and Anglo Italiante houses. (I suppose if I was one of those "masters of the universe" I might consider a Candela building or the Dakota ... but even then, I think I'd prefer a Greenwich Village townhouse.)

They're the city's most beautiful architectural marvels.

Moreover, in doing the research for this article, I got a chance to speak to Charles Lockwood, author of the classic Bricks and Brownstone and Columbia's Andrew Dolkart. (Any time I get a chance to speak to someone with serious scholarly training, the nerd in me starts kvelling.)

Bonds have more fun

If you don't know anything about Bond Street, it's a row of chichi buildings just north of Houston Street.

It's also the street Will Smith is currently renting on while he's filming Men In Black III. (And Dr. Smith also checked out a possible condo on the block as well.)

Last month I checked out the newest addition to this block, 41 Bond.

High times

I'm a little late posting this, but here's my big story about the next phase of the High Line.

One of the interesting questions: Will Part Two of the High Line be better than Part One?

Leonard Steinberg, one of Elliman's super-brokers, seems to think so. As do a couple of others that I spoke to.

I don't know yet, but I'll certainly be visiting when part two opens for business in June.

(And while you're visiting the HL, there are a lot of great --and super-expensive -- restaurants to visit that are worth a splurge: Mario Batali's Del Posto and Scott Conant's Scarpetta. Scarpetta is probably the cheaper of the two. And it's only opened for dinner. But if you go for an early, 5 pm-ish dinner, the spaghetti with tomato sauce -- very simple, but so perfectly done -- is worth the outrageous $24 price tag.)

Southward Ho!

Check out my video about Mondrian SoHo -- oh, yeah, and the story that goes with it about southern SoHo which is getting nice and fancy!

Also, I wrote a little sidebar about Mondrian's restaurant Imperial No. 9, and quoted its chef, Sam Talbot. Today is a good day for Sam (who, I should add, is incredibly nice): he's also got a pretty rad profile in the Times!

Advertisements for myself

My latest on how to trade up (or down) in real estate. (In an absolute dollar sense, this is a good time to buy.)

Tip number one: Sell your place before you start looking for a new one.

Family jewels

Half way through my "At Home With" Francois Latapie I started getting very nervous...

The stuff that Francois (of the new restaurant Lyon) was telling me was so damn good that I started to get very worried he'd start trying to tell me not to use the stories.

Francois and Suzanne Latapie's apartment is a real treasure trove of amazing goodies -- some illicit, some not. Francois' grandfather is Louis Latapie, and the grandson has at least three or four of his grandfather's works up on the walls. Francois also has a few stolen paintings (read the article), skulls from crypts, and much, much more. It was one of the most fascinating tours I've ever taken of an apartment.

But like most reporters who are not on deadline, I always like to double-check my notes, and I decided to bite the bullet, make sure that I got everything right and risk a confrontation in which he'd say something along the lines of "You can't print that!" (Which leads to an argument where you say, "You never said that before!")

I called Francois up and asked him a few questions about a painting that his grandfather had lifted from a cathedral in Alsace that was firebombed during World War I. "That painting that your grandfather got from the cathedral in Alsace..."

"Yes," Francois said, "it was in Colmar. C-O-L-M-A-R."

I loved this guy. (And his utterly charming wife, Suzanne, and daughter Sophie!) I only hope the French government doesn't read the piece and make him give his art work back!

Everything you always wanted to know about new development* but were afraid to ask

My latest on the state of new development.

The takeaway:

Banks are still being extremely conservative... but developers are, indeed, starting to gear up for new development.

There are a significant number of new projects being unveiled in the coming weeks/months.

Movin' on up?

My update on the state of the rental market.

The take aways:

Incentives are starting to disappear. Not everywhere. And not all of them. If you're looking for something in a new building you can very easily get a month off (at least). But a lot of those big older buildings have pretty much stopped offering goodies to get the lease signed.

Rents are up. (Sigh.)

They're probably going to be higher. This has been a surprisingly active winter for the rental market... which should make renters a little nervous about waiting until the height of the rental season (June).

If you want something new, your best neighborhoods are probably Midtown West (which still has a lot of new stock) and FiDi.

Straight Flushing

Learn all about the condo wave hitting Flushing, Queens in my story in yesterday's NY Post Home section.

This was one of those stories where I couldn't justify doing a massive food roundup video along the way (maybe I could have, but the holidays interfered) but, of course, a fresser like me has much to talk about in the Flushing Chinese food scene.

There are at least two restaurants on Robert Sietsema's favorite-Chinese-restaurants-in-NYC in Flushing that I'm dying to try.

Unfortunately, I rarely try out new places, 'cause I'm wedded to the old ones.

My favorite will always be Spicy and Tasty. But there are many, many other places to get one's Szechuan or Hunan fix on. Definitely try Hunan House. For dumplings, I like White Bear (just make sure that they're open -- I've been shit out of luck plenty of times). And, of course, one shouldn't leave Flushing without getting at least one $1 Peking Duck sandwich at Corner 28. And one shouldn't miss Xi'an Famous Food for noodles -- although it's less essential than the others. (Not because you shouldn't try it, but Xi'an got so popular that they opened another branch in Manhattan. But a Flushing Xi'an expedition is worthwhile, because it is in a sort of seedy food mall with all sorts of delicious spots nearby.)

Let's have a toast...

My real estate overview of 2010.

Oh, and while I was away...

The Post ran my story about real estate photographer Evan Joseph. Check it out!