Today, it's expected that Citigroup will start firing around 10% of its investment banking group, which has 65,000 employees. It's probably that entire trading desks in New York and other cities will be eliminated. Dealbook explains the bank is moving "aggressively to complete the 2,000 layoffs that it announced last March," and these 2,000 layoffs are "on top of about 4,200 announced in January." The Wall Street Journal offered this fact: "Citigroup, which has more......

A group of investors, headed by Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman--who is the CEO of Boston Properties--have purchased the GM Building and three other Midtown buildings for $3.95 billion. The GM Building alone went for $2.9 billion, which is "the highest price ever paid for an American office tower," per the NY Times. The GM Building, located at the corner of 5th Avenue and 59th Street, has over 2 million square feet of office......

The Bloomberg administration has augmented the Dept. of Buildings' budget by $5 million next year in order to hire an additional 63 building inspectors. It will bring the total number of inspectors to 461, versus 277 in 2002. The move comes on the heels of publicized events of fatal mishaps. Patricia Lancaster resigned last month as commissioner. Though she was brought in to streamline the notoriously inept and corrupt department, her leadership was questioned after......

The MTA has called a special board meeting to approve a takeover of the Hudson Yards development project in Manhattan by developer The Related Companies and investment bank Goldman Sachs. The quick switch follows an abrupt departure by real estate development firm Tishman Speyer, that won approval after a tortuously long selection process. An MTA press release quotes Mayor Bloomberg:"Today's announcement that the MTA will award Related Companies, in partnership with Goldman Sachs, the......

The Tribeca site where 14,000 pounds of steel fell on a construction trailer last December was hit with more violations yesterday when a "piece of steel fell 18 stories onto a baseball field where dozens of children were playing." Really--the Goldman Sachs site at 200 Murray Street is next to a baseball field and Little Leaguers were playing there yesterday. Apparently construction workers were bringing up a 30" by 30" piece of steel in......

According to The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the 11233 zip code that encompasses Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights had the highest foreclosure rates for subprime mortgages in the entire nation in October. More than one in four people, or 25.2%, with subprime loans in the zip code lost their homes to foreclosure. That's almost four times the national average of 6.9%. It's a stark example of the toll that the lending meltdown is taking......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on 1st Ave. in Manhattan, a possible abduction at 183rd St. and Webster Ave. in the Bronx, and a homicide on Cedarcroft Rd. and Home St. in Queens. A student at Stony Brook University was arrested for falsely reporting to police that he had been robbed at knife point on the Suffolk County school's campus. The newborn found by skateboarding teens on a Queens dumpster has......

The architect severely injured when 14,000 pounds of steel fell from a crane and on top of a construction trailer at a lower Manhattan site was moved out of the intensive care unit yesterday. Robert Woo, who had been working on the Goldman Sachs headquarters project on Murray Street, had been inside the trailer when the debris fell and trapped inside last Friday. Woo underwent surgery on Sunday to insert pins into his back.......

Hey, did you get your year end bonus yet? The bros at Goldman Sachs sure did, to the tune of $600K per employee, on average. Yep, $600,000 dollars, a number that stands out in a year when most Wall Street bonuses, though still obscene, are either diminished or staying even with previous years. In fact, 600K is double the average bonus paid at other firms, according to Reuters. Other banks may be wilting under fourth......

The MTA has apparently narrowed down the list of contenders to develop the West Side Rail Yards - and may even ask them to team up together. According to Crain's New York, the MTA favors the developers who have already lined up tenants. Which means the front runners are The Related Companies with News Corporation and Goldman Sachs, Durst & Vornado with Conde Nast, and Tishman-Speyer with Morgan Stanley. But front runners may need......

The architect who was in the construction site trailer crushed by 14,000 pounds of steel that fell 25 stories from a crane may never walk again. Doctors believe Robert Woo was likely paralyzed; his mother said, "He might not walk again...I've been telling him he's lucky to be alive." It is amazing Woo is alive - seeing photographs of the site, it's incredible he survived - but given the amount of construction and development......

Architect Robert Woo is hospitalized but in stable condition today after the construction trailer he was working in was crushed by a load of falling steel that a crane dropped. The crane was elevating the steel at the site of the new Goldman Sachs building at the World Trade Center. The accident occurred yesterday morning when a nylon sling snapped and seven tons of steel fell 25 stories. Woo was the only person injured......

A construction crane crushed construction trailers and trapped a worker this morning. According to 1010WINS, the FDNY says "the crane dropped a load of steel it was carrying and crushed the trailers. At least one person was rescued; his condition was not immediately available." The accident took place at 200 Vesey Street - the very site where Goldman Sachs is building a new world headquarters. The city and state gave Goldman Sachs $650 million......

While everyone knows that the proposals five development teams have offered up for the MTA's West Side rail yards are likely to change, the NY Times' architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff made it clear that he hopes they do, with a withering review of the five plans. Noting the great opportunity that developers have, Ouroussoff says the designs "are not just a disappointment for their lack of imagination, they are also a grim referendum on......

The financial markets may be taking a hit lately, but Wall Street is still planning about $38 billion in bonuses this year. Bloomberg News reports that the money was thanks to "a record $9 billion of fees for arranging acquisitions and $5 billion for underwriting initial public offerings and sales of junk bonds." This translate to an average Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers or Bear Stearns worker getting over $200,000 in bonuses.......

A storefront at the corner of Vanderbilt Avenue and 43rd Street (across from Grand Central) may be a window into the future of the West Side Rail Yards. The MTA unveiled an exhibition of the five proposals to redevelop the rail yards on the Far West Side of Manhattan, and the public will get a chance to see the models every day (except Thanksgiving) through December 3. And what's more, the MTA wants the......

As the city and state start to get to work on West Side redevelopment, the Mayor said that one entity won't be getting tax breaks if it moves. Mayor Bloomberg was asked if Madison Square Garden would continue to get $10.9 million in tax breaks if it moves West to the Farley Post Office building (that's what a map in the draft Environmental Impact Statement notes). Bloomberg decisively said, "Not if I'm mayor they won't.......

After many attempts by World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein and state officials to keep brokerage Merrill Lynch downtown, the NY Times reports the firm "appears ready" to move to a new, yet-to-be built skyscraper on Seventh Avenue between 32nd and 33rd Streets. Currently Merrill Lynch has offices at 4 World Financial Center, and it seems that it wants "extra large trading floors." It's questionable whether a Midtown building to accommodate 11,000 employees would be......

If you were checking the Gothamist Newsmap yesterday, you may have noticed that there was a possible Hazmat situation at 55 Water Street in lower Manhattan. Apparently someone fell ill when opening a letter that contained an unknown substance and then other people were sickened as well! According to the Post, the letter was sent to Standard & Poor's. The envelope was not addressed, and a worker tried to smell the contents (!). Though other......

A former Goldman Sachs analyst pleaded guilty to insider trading charges yesterday. Twenty-eight- year-old Eugene Plotkin, with fellow Harvard graduate Stanislav Shpigelman who worked at Merrill Lynch and fellow Goldman analyst David Pajcin, have all pleaded guilty to an elaborate scheme that netted them almost $7 million. The trio had been charged back in 2006. Plotkin and Pajcin would get tips from Shpigelman about Merrill's big deals. Pajcin gave tips to his seamstress aunt in......

Are some teenagers behind those threatening letters to Goldman Sachs? The Daily News' John Marzulli received a four-page handwritten letter from the teens and their parents saying as much. In June, some handwritten letters were sent to newspapers around the country, stating, "GOLDMAN SACHS. HUNDREDS WILL DIE. WE ARE INSIDE. YOU CANNOT STOP US." and signed A.Q.U.S.A. The letters were postmarked from Manhattan and Queens and received by local and community papers, but none of......

Could the YES Network and the Yankees be up for sale? A report from Fortune Magazine quotes sources that say the YES Network is being shopped around - and that the Yankees could be up for sale in three or four years. YES is owned by jointly by the Yankees, Goldman Sachs, and former Nets owner Ray Chambers; Fortune reports that Chambers and Goldman want to cash out and a deal could come as early......

In an effort to cut power consumption and adopt a more green profile, some New York City office towers are making use of a somewhat archaic air conditioning system: blowing air over giant blocks of ice. WNBC reports that financial firm Credit Suisse is using such a system to cool its offices in the Met Life tower off Madison Square. The basement of the building houses three main cooling rooms with "chilling machines and......

Late last month, a number of handwritten letters were mailed to newspapers across the country, with a threat directed at Goldman Sachs, saying that "hundreds will die" with the sign-off "A.Q.U.S.A." Officials say they do not consider the threats to be credible, though they are investigating the matter to figure out who sent the messages. The letters were postmarked from Manhattan and Queens and were sent to papers in NJ, Texas, Indiana and Washington. However,......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A train derailed on Otto Rd. in Queens, a stabbing at Rockaway Blvd. and Broadway in Brooklyn, and a sexual assault at Coney Island Hospital in Brooklyn. Visitors to the New York-New York hotel-casino in Las Vegas got an extra dose of big city verisimilitude last night, when shots rang out in the casino's mezzanine. Three people were struck, but none were seriously injured before the gunman was tackled.......

After months of negotiations, JP Morgan Chase will announce plans to build a 42-story tower at Ground Zero. Government officials had been trying to entice the third-largest bank in the world to move downtown, as a sign the area would flourish once all the construction is complete. Chase wanted incentives and subsidies, much like the $650 million Goldman Sachs incentive deal, in order to be convinced to move downtown, but officials were wary. From......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a professor at Brooklyn Law was killed by a garbage truck this morning in Brooklyn Heights and an "all hands" fire broke out on Ludlow and Delancey Street in Manhattan. A Westchester teen got busted by the SPCA after collecting more than 150 animals, and forcing them to live in squalid conditions. The animals included "bearded dragon lizards, rabbits, guinea pigs, turtles, ferrets, chameleons, South American squirrels, cats, hamsters,......

As he stumps for various Repubican candidates vying for win durings the 2006 elections, Rudy Giulaini is, more than ever, bandied about as a possible 2008 presidential candidate. The NY Times has a big article about Giuliani - and the GOP - riding his September 11 coattails. Given that Giuliani is a difficult hybrid of stances - pro-gay rights, pro-gun control, pro-choice, very divorced (and Italian, to boot!) - focusing on September 11 is......

The Times today has an interesting story on the continuing issues that have been troubling the slowly reemerging commercial ferry business here. Earlier this week New York Water Taxi announced that it was going to have to raise the cost of a trip between Jersey City and Wall Street from $6 to $9, much to the dismay of the 2,000 odd commuters who ride the boats daily. The increase was, the Times says, due......

There's one sign the World Trade Memorial will be built - a builder has been selected to build the memorial's footings and foundation. NJ company E.E. Cruz was awarded the job, and Governor Pataki said, "This month, we will begin in earnest to build a fitting and lasting tribute to he thousands of heroic men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice on September 11." Now, besides finding contractors for other parts of the project,......