Results tagged “Trump Place”

      

Over the weekend, NY Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff took the opportunity offer his list of buildings for demolition:

Even the most majestic cities are pockmarked with horrors. There are countless dreadful buildings in New York; only a few (thankfully) have a traumatic effect on the city. So I propose we knock down the structures that not only fail to bring us joy, but actually bring us down.

Continue reading "NY Times Architecture Critic's Tear Down Wish List"

Perfect for a Saturday in NY: A lovely, married head doctor accused of having sex with a prisoner! Psychologist Madgalena Sanchez was arraigned at Brooklyn Federal Court yesterday for having sex with an inmate under her care - and lying to the Department of Justice about it!

Gothamist was hoping we could end the week without another peep out of Donald Trump, but Rosie O'Donnell just ruined it for us! Yesterday, she slammed him over the Miss USA Tara Conner scandal (Gawker has a clip), and then he fired (heh?) back hard. From The Insider:

"(He) left the first wife -- had an affair, left the second wife, had an affair, but he's the moral compass for 20-year-olds in America," she said from her perch on "The View." She added that personally she has "never enjoyed" watching The Donald and in a final challenge, said to the cameras, "Donald, sit and spin, my friend!"

Continue reading "Rosie O'Donnell and Donald Trump's Fight Gets Personal"

That Donald Trump. Just last week, there was all this attention about his hotel planned for Soho hitting a snag - well, actually many, many human remains - when a graveyard was found. The Department of Buildings issued a stop-work order and community groups criticizing the 45-floor Trump Soho Hotel rejoiced for the moment. And then Tara Conner happened.

After a fast and furious spate of gossip about underage drinking, drug abuse, and behavior unbecoming to a Miss USA, Miss USA Tara Conner was given a second chance by Donald Trump and pageant organizers. Trump has reportedly loved the attention from the scandal (the new season of the Apprentice starts in January!) and, at the press conference, he was as grandiose as ever. Basically, he referenced how he "fired" Miss USA 2002 Oxana Federova because she wasn't doing a good job. And he did say he expect to fire Conner before their meeting. But, ultimately, The Donald saw a "good person" caught up in the whirlwind that is New York ."

It's a story that's happened many times before, to many women and to many men that come to the Big Apple. They wanted their slice of the Big Apple and they found out it wasn't so easy. I'm always a believer in second chances... Tara is a good person. Tara has tried hard. Tara is going to be given a second chance.

Continue reading "Trump Doesn't Dump Miss USA, But Does Order Her to Rehab"

The Miss USA situation has reached the scandal point: Miss USA Tara Conner has reportedly tested positive for drugs and was kicked out of her apartment at Trump Place on the Upper West Side. Conner went back home to Kentucky as gossip about her illegal (she's underage) partying ways reached the media. The Daily News revealed Conner failed drug test (a person told the News that she was seen snorting cocaine at a nightclub) and enjoyed partying with her fellow underage pageant winner, Miss Teen USA Katie Blair. One person told the News, "Tara was a party animal. I've seen [Conner and Blair] kiss before. They always dance all sexy on the tables. ... They definitely get close."

West Chelsea can do no right, as now Miss USA Tara Conner is getting raked over the coals over her partying. Yesterday, TMZ reported pageant officials and NBC met to discuss Conner's status as Miss USA, given "alleged incidents of her inappropriate behavior, including her conduct at New York City bars." And by inappropriate, they mean underaging drinking at clubs downtown, alleged substance abuse, and missing Miss USA appearances, as Conner is only 20 years old. While Donald Trump, who co-owns the pageants (the winners of Miss USA, as well as Miss Teen USA and Miss Universe, live at Trump Place on the Upper West Side), said that officials were evaluating Conner's situation as she's "going through some personal problems and difficulties right now which could affect her ability to reign," she's still Miss USA.

Awesome: The Post reveals that Donald Trump Jr. was fired from the condo board of his own Upper West Side building! While one might initially suspects that a Trump would have a lifetime seat on a condo board of a building with the Trump name, 220 Riverside Boulevard at Trump Place was never owned by The Donald - he lent his name out to a group of investors. It seems that at a November 8 boarding meeting, resident Eugenia Kaye engineered an ouster to replace the whole board. Some tenants explained the Post why Kaye was so upset:

In late October, Kaye hand-addressed letters to the owners of all 420 units, outlining a series of grievances.

Continue reading "Condo Board Fires Trump Jr. "

People, this is yooge: Donald Trump is being sued by a trifecta of real estate brokers over $1.3 million in unpaid brokers' fees. The brokers, Barbara Corcoran, Carrie Chiang, and SusanCara-Madden, claim they were promised $4 million in total for helping broker the $1.8 billion dollar sale of some of his Trump Place/Riverside South buildings to Extell earlier this year, but that Trump has only paid $2.7 million. Clearly, these Corcoran brokers need some more money for their holiday shopping lists! Trump tells the AP, "The agreement is very clear. I only pay them when I get paid. We haven't gotten the money yet. For her to bring a lawsuit against me is insane." The brokers' lawyer says that Trump can't pay since he immediately reinvested money from the sale into other real estate, to avoid taxes. Well, that's the smart thing to do. We'd like to see Corcoran and Trump litigate this in a reality TV realm - perhaps the People's Court?

It was a kinder and gentler time back when Donald Trump started to build Trump Place south of West 72nd Street and Riverside Drive. Sure, it was pure bombastic Trump, battling neighborhood groups and neighboring apartments to develop Trumpland, even if he was going to extend Riverside Park by 21 acres, but it was a time when we didn't know the phrase "You're fired" was just scary, not funny in a yooge way. Now, Trump, plus a group of investors who bailed him out during the mid-90s, has sold three buildings and 77 acres for $1.8 billion, in what is considered the biggest residential sale in the city's history. The buyers are Extell Development Corporation and the Carlyle Group; Extell is expected to build eight more apartment buildings (a total of 3,000 units), to ensure the real estate bubble remain bubblicious. Of course, Trump is keeping four condo buildings along the made-up street, Riverside Boulevard, so Kelly Perdew can keep his job. We think.

Hmm, it seems that Congress has approved $2.5 million to help bury the West Side Highway at West 61st Street - which would help Donald Trump's Trump Place development. Last week, Congress passed a $284 million highway spending bill, and there was this little boon for the man with the craziest combover this side of Giuliani. Trump has been lobbying non-stop, much to the dismay of neighbors, for the development, from getting the West 72nd Street exit for the West Side Highway closed to getting special zoning for the development. Putting the West Side Highway underground would ensure better views and more parking for Trump Place residents, but the thing is that to put the West Side Highway underground, it would costs millions of dollars.