In the News: Late Summer Edition

With Community Board members soundly rejecting Columbia University's expansion plans in Manhattanville and booing former Mayor Dinkins for his support of the proposal, "the battle is just getting started," The New York Daily News's Frank Lombardi reports.

But an editorialist in the Daily News thinks the fight is ludicrous, seeing the protocol to solicit community opinion about land use transform into a "Gulliver Gambit: pretending to support progress, but only if the developer agrees to attach a thousand tiny strings to a big project." Opinion writer Errol Morris finds Nick Sprayregen's proposal more promising the the community board's objections. Sprayregen, the owner of the Tuck-It-Away Self Storage, located in the middle of the proposed expansion, is offering the Ivy League institution his parcels of land in exchange for other properties in the area. He says he'd build housing on the lots he's requesting, including an undetermined number of affordable units.

Next up: Borough President Scott Stringer's hearings on the expansion at the Manhattanville Houses Community Center on 9/19.

New York Daily News: Expanding Debate at Columbia
New York Daily News: Noisy Neighbors Wrong to Shout Down Progress
New York Observer: Columbia Expansion Foe Offers Olive Branch
Columbia Spectator: CB9 Rejects Manhattanville Rezoning

Demolition on Hold as Stock Market Wavers

If the preservationists can't save the Hotel Pennsylvania, fate and the stock market might lend a helping hand. The New York Post predicts that the credit crisis in the subprime mortgage world will lead developers to call off demolition until they can confirm their tenants. In the case of the storied Herald Square hotel, apparently Vornado Realty is courting Merrill Lynch.

New York Post: Seven Manhattan Development Projects to Watch

Today's Apartment Pick: Take the "A" Train

Go a few stops north on the A train from our last apartment pick and find this 850-sq. ft. three-bedroom on 180th St. It's listed at $349,900, with $550 maintenance. Hardwood floors, a few closets, and a nice lobby. If you visit, let us know what you think.

Link to Douglas Elliman

No Love for Piano; Plus, The Effect of Expansion

James Russell, the architecture critic for Bloomberg News, pans Renzo Piano's design for the proposed Manhattanville expansion campus of Columbia University. Affirming the "site's historically valuable industrial buildings" and calling the new plans bland, Russell finds Piano's choices aesthetically incongruous with a community already hostile to the university's ambitions: "The size and bulk of the proposed buildings make the streets anything but inviting to the surrounding neighborhood."

Meanwhile, the New York Observer reports on the official environmental impact statement about Columbia's plan. The impact statement's authors affirm community members fearful of rising rents: "While it is impossible to quantify the exact number of at-risk residents who would be indirectly displaced as a result of the Proposed Actions, there is the potential for the indirect residential displacement impact within the primary study area to be significant and adverse."

Bloomberg News: Columbia's $7 Billion Expansion Plan by Piano Fails to Thrill
New York Observer: The Columbia Effect, Detailed

Today's Apartment Pick: Morningside Charm; Plus, Harlem Blossoms

This three-bedroom charmer overlooking Morningside Park in Harlem is listed at $519k. The apartment boasts hardwood floors, French doors, a fancy new kitchen -- and is not far from the A train (one stop to 59th St.). At this asking price, you may be able to negotiate and get a good bargain.

Meanwhile, the New York Times highlights change and new development in central Harlem -- including a condo called the Langston, with 180 units, and Ellington on the Park, with 134 units. The New York Sun has noticed as well, pointing out extraordinary increases in price per square foot for central and east Harlem condos between 2005 and 2006. In commercial news, The Observer reported this past week that Reisman Properties has commissioned Handel Architects (Trump Soho Hotel, Ritz-Carlton Downtown) to design a 19-story luxury hotel on 125th St. and 5th Avenue.

Link to Today's Apartment Pick
Link to New York Times: A Neighborhood Worth the Big-Ticket Investment
Link to New York Sun: The Residential Market, Too, Surges in Harlem
Link to New York Observer: Harlem to Get First Luxury Hotel

Today's Apartment Pick: Calling All Families

Wowee! This three-bedroom, 1.5-bath apartment for (get this) $350k is the heart of historic Harlem -- 132nd and 5th Avenue. Lots of storage space and a washer/dryer. Note, though, that there are income restrictions at this co-op.

Link to Century 21

Landmarked: Modest Rowhouses, Grand Mansions, and Public Swimming Pools

Earning designations from NY's Landmarks Preservation Commission this week:

-- two Federal-style rowhouses (circa 1823), at 486 and 488 Greenwich Street in the West Village, which somehow survived despite a transforming neighborhood over nearly two centuries

-- two turn-of-the-century French Renaissance revival mansions with mansard roofs on "Bankers' Row" off Fifth Avenue -- the former Edey mansion at 10 W. 56th St., a six-story home designed by Warren and Wetmore (who also crafted Grand Central Terminal) -- and the former Seligman mansion at 30 W. 56th St., a wider structure designed by Charles Pierrepont Henry Gilbert

-- three Depression-era swimming pools and recreation centers in the Art Moderne style, including Brooklyn's McCarren and Sunset Play Centers and East Harlem's Thomas Jefferson Play Center.

All the News That Fits

We've been away! Here's a bit of what's been happening:

Village
The New York Sun: Washington Square Park Plans Get Cool Reception

Turtle Bay
Reuters: U.N. Signs Contract With Skanska for HQ Renovation

Upper West Side
The New York Sun: Fordham Plans UWS Expansion
The New York Times: Collapse of Wall Under Apartment House Exposes Neighbors' Anger

Harlem
The New York Sun: City Developers Agree: 'Harlem Has Arrived'
New York Daily News: Heart, soul of Harlem dining saying farewell

Profile: Former Mayor as Columbia Booster

A new article in City Hall News highlights former New York City Mayor David Dinkins's support of Columbia's expansion as a pragmatic turnaround from his days as a protestor of the university's development practices.

Community leaders don't seem surprised that Dinkins would support the university: he's a professor at their School of International and Public Affairs and and sits on the school's board of advisors. But haven't professors publicly disagreed with administrators in the past?

Dinkins himself appears to see Manhattanville being transformed one way or another, so "it's far better to be in concert with Columbia University than with some other developer." But would any other developer get the rights of eminent domain that Columbia is pursuing? (On second thought: paging Bruce Ratner.) I am surprised by the inevitability arguments -- particularly when the Community Board has completed its own separate plan that Dinkins could support if he chose to.

City Hall News: Lion's Share

Today's Apartment Pick: Best Price in Manhattan

A one-bedroom in a historic Harlem building (409 Edgecombe) for -- get this -- $185k. Ten-foot ceilings, eat-in kitchen, lots of windows, close to the subway, laundry in the building, low maintenance, 650 square feet.

Let us know if you have a look inside!

Link to Corcoran

Apartment Pick of the Day: Chelsea Co-op

Here's something you don't see every day: a two-bedroom co-op in Chelsea for under $500k. Apparently, this place has a fireplace, high ceilings, hardwood floors and a washer-dryer. Potential downsides: They do want 20% down, and the maintenance is over $800/month. But the location on W. 16th St. and the Hudson, just north of the West Village, is pretty dreamy.

Link to Ardor Real Estate

Storage King Tells Columbia to Tuck-It-Away

The New York Sun profiles Nicholas Sprayregen, owner of Tuck-It-Away self-storage and a feisty opponent of the proposed Columbia expansion into Manhattanville. The author plays up how relentless and formidable Sprayregen may prove: sending e-mails at 4:45 a.m., reviewing thousands of government documents, willing to spend half a million dollars in protest thus far. Such energies, the article goes on to say, stem from motives both community-minded and personal:

The owner of 18 storage, residential, and commercial buildings around the New York metropolitan area, Mr. Sprayregen is hardly without self-interest. If Columbia moves forward with a revised expansion plan that does not use eminent domain, as Mr. Sprayregen is urging, the value of his five properties in the footprint will undoubtedly skyrocket, allowing for uses far more lucrative than storage.

Meanwhile, Columbia apparently just closed on two more properties on 131st Street, continuing a "buying spree" that picked up two weeks ago, according to the New York Observer.

New York Sun: Storage Mogul Is an Obstacle to Columbia's Expansion
New York Observer: Columbia University Buying Up a Storm

Stacked Boxes in Harlem

The creators of Fifth Avenue's Trump Towers are about to unload some pretty big boxes at the corner of 125th and Park Avenue. In what would be Harlem's tallest building at 21 stories high, construction on "Harlem Park" may soon begin on an open lot adjacent to the Metro North rail station. Explaining the design of stacked glass cubes, SHCA's Roger Klein told Architectural Record: “Instead of trying to do what architects typically do with an office tower, which is to express the verticality of the buildings, we embraced the squat and masculine forms of the Harlem neighborhood." Not sure I see much of the neighborhood reflected in this building -- except for maybe that other 125th St. behemoth, the Adam Clayton Powell building. What do others think?

Architectural Record: Harlem Tower Will Be First in Decades

Downtown Restauranteurs to Launch Uptown Post

Come August, the owners of the highly-popular Clinton Street Baking Company (see picture) in the Lower East Side will open an eco-friendly restaurant and juice bar -- called Community Food and Juice -- on Broadway and 112th, where Nacho Mama's last held sway. This seems significant because downtowners tread carefully when choosing their next trendy locales; notable that they picked Morningside Heights over, say, a piece of Brooklyn.

Profile of a Preservationist

The New York Daily News honors Carolyn Kent, winner of the Hamilton Heights/West Harlem Community Preservation Organization's first Preservation Angel award.

Masters of Their Domain

In the same week that a committee of Community Board 9 voted unanimously on a zoning and development plan in sharp contrast with the Columbia's Manhattanville project, university officials issued a statement pledging not to ask the state to use eminent domain in order to evict residents currently in the 17-acre expansion area. Coincidence?

While some community officials celebrated this mini-victory in the New York Observer, the Columbia Spectator noted the university had already agreed not to use eminent domain against residents -- and was merely repeating itself.

Meanwhile, Renzo (Centre Pompidou) Piano told BusinessWeek that West Harlemites have got to change with the times. "You can't embalm a city," he said. Eric Washington, a historian of the area, appeared to choke when he heard that Piano will preserve less than a half-dozen turn-of-the-century brick buildings as part of his plan. "How can only three or four buildings preserve the character of a neighborhood,” Washington asked. “That’s a lot of responsibility for four buildings."

New York Observer: Columbia Renounces (Some) Eminent Domain
New York Times: Columbia Rules Out Evictions in Expansion Plan
Columbia Spectator: Committee Approves 197-A Plan
Columbia Spectator: CU Pledges No Eminent Domain For Residents--Again
Business Week (from 6/07): Controversy in West Harlem

Today's Apartment Pick: Bryant Park One-Bedroom

This one-bedroom overlooking Bryant Park in Midtown -- complete with high ceilings and hardwood floors -- looks like a deal at $459k. The building -- originally a club for railroad baron Andrew Carnegie and his cronies -- dates back to the turn of the century, and the redone lobby sounds gorgeous.

Link to Domain Properties

Hudson Heights Boomlet?

This 3BR listing in Hudson Heights at $695k is emblematic of a larger trend we are noticing: 1,000 square-foot apartments in pre-war Tudor-style buildings north of the George Washington Bridge moving successfully to contract. Hudson Heights is quite charming, given its proximity to the Met's Medieval satellite, the Cloisters, as well as Ft. Tryon Park and the Little Red Lighthouse of children's book fame. We also hear that amenities, businesses and cafes have increased, though a recent visit suggested that you still need to know where to look. For a nabe that's starting to get a buzz, prices are almost comparable to areas 80 blocks down. So what gives? Is it families who want space and security as opposed to location? One would think that, if the speculative bubble does burst, the extremities of Manhattan would be first affected. What do people see as the draw?

For an example, see this listing.

For Your Calendar: Public Hearing on 197-A Plan, 7/9

Community Board #9 will hold a public hearing to review their 197-A plan, which seeks to establish comprehensive development guidelines for the neighborhoods of Morningside Heights, Manhattanville and Hamilton Heights. The details of the plan include preserving historic landmarks and blocks and creating a special mixed-use district for Manhattanville, as well as securing industrial jobs, affordable housing and environmentally-friendly policies. If successful, this plan could create guidelines with which the Columbia University expansion must comply.

The meeting is this Monday, July 9th at 6:30 p.m. at the Manhattanville Community Center, 530 West 133rd Street (between Amsterdam and Broadway). (Columbia will be presenting its own 197-c Plan to the public on Wednesday, August 15.)

If you attend the meeting, be sure to share your observations and opinions here on the blog.

Link to the Community-Based Plan
New York Sun: Columbia Expansion Debate Plan Will Intensify

Harlem Restaurant Renaissance

For those sure that uptown fails to offer the amenities befitting a Manhattanite, those in West Harlem know that the tide is turning. In what some are calling a second Meatpacking District renewal, three veteran restaurant owners are setting up shop on the 12th Avenue strip underneath the dramatic Riverside Viaduct. Occupying a large triangular building on 135th St., a brick-oven pizzeria with a 1950's feel (from the owner of Max SoHa), a Mediterranean bar and grill (from the owner of Sabor), and a Thai-Latin fusion restaurant and lounge (from the owner of Mamajuana Café) will open just north of the popular and lip-smacking Dinosaur Bar-B-Que and newcomer Hudson River Café, adjacent to the Harlem Piers currently under construction. (The New York Times reported on the area last summer, when some of these details were first emerging. Apparently, some are trying to name the area ViVa, for Viaduct Valley.)

The Upper West Side traditionally gets a bad rap for restaurant options, but Amsterdam Avenue below 110th Street is also seeing its new crop of offerings. If you visit, post some reviews and tell us what you think!

The Real Deal: 135th Street's Restaurant Row

New York Times (from 6/06): Along a Viaduct, A Restaurant Row Emerges
New York Sun: New Restaurants Signal Changes in West 90's
Chow.Com: Two New Thai Contenders Uptown

Today's Apartment Pick: West Village Bargain

This is an incredible location on Charles Street -- you usually don't see this sort of listing for under 600k. So, at 499k, this 500-sq. ft. one-bedroom is quite possibly the best deal in the West Village. Besides the original wood floors with the marquetry borders, there isn't much detail to the interior. One modern update of note: a very large skylight in the living space. Worth walking up five flights. Does anyone have any inside information they can share with the readers of this blog?

Link to Bellmarc

Renewyork Applauds: New Day for Fifth Ave. Classic

The 1897 Merchant Bank of New York on Fifth Avenue (between 20th and 21st), being converted to luxury lofts, is seeing brisk sales. Glad to see folks appreciating this gorgeous Robert Maynicke landmark.

New York Sun: A Beaux-Arts Revival Takes Off at 141 Fifth Ave.

New York Post: Positively Fifth Ave.