We interrupt our Irene coverage to bring you some very important local news: a sculptor and real estate developer at 259 Bowery may or may not have thrown a poop log at an art gallery because it juts out over 4.8 inches onto his property. "The fact that the final resting place of that object was south of its point of impact made clear that it had been thrown from the north, that is, 259 Bowery," the art gallery breathlessly claims in a court filing, written by actual attorneys. more ›

When we last left Billy Leroy of Billy's Antiques & Props, the police still had about 100 of his subway signs, even though the case that he had stolen the subway signs had essentially been dismissed. The city was sure some of the signs were stolen, so he'd have to sue the city if he wanted them back. But apparently the threat of a suit was good enough! His lawyer Ron Kuby threatened to file a federal lawsuit against Manhattan prosecutors, so today at noon Leroy was allowed to pick up 74 of his signs at the NYC Property Clerks. more ›

Are you in the market for a new place to live? We've got quite the deal for you: private-equity kingpin J. Christopher Flowers is trying to sell his townhouse at 4 East 75th Street near Fifth Avenue. And though it was the most expensive residential property ever sold in NYC when Flowers bought it in 2006 for $53 million, Flowers has put the 114-year-old mansion on the market for the bargain basement price of $50 million! more ›

State Senate President Malcolm Smith, who was recently called out for his extravagant pork-barrel spending, may be in trouble again, after failing to record two lucrative property sales on mandatory financial disclosure forms. In 1995 Smith bought two adjoining plots at 230th Street in Queens through his company Smith M. Realty. Since then, he's sold both to a developer netting $500,000, but that profit went undisclosed in 2002 paperwork for the legislature, and was only nominally explained thereafter. Coinciding with an investigation, which also involves his recently terminated campaign treasurer Joan Flowers, the Democrat has hired a lawyer who told the Post his client is "honest," "decent" and "law-abiding." "They can subpoena all the documents in the world. They're not going to find any evidence of wrongdoing by Malcolm Smith," he said. more ›

A Richmond Hill man is accused of pretending to be an immigration officer so he could pull off $1.75 million of green card and real estate scams that exploited 19 West Indian immigrants. Shane Ramsundar, 50, allegedly dressed like an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer—armed with an air gun and a fake badge—and convinced immigrants he could help them buy property or become legal residents. more ›

For all those New Yorkers at risk of foreclosure Mayor Bloomberg says, it's OK, you can pay your water bills late. His new program allows homeowners who already owe $1,000 in water bills to freeze their penalties and unpaid interest. The city will recoup the money when the properties are sold or refinanced, reports the Daily News. "What this is trying to do is to help people, not to bail out everyone. The city just can't do that," Bloomberg said. But daaad... more ›

The number of real estate sales in Manhattan is up over the past three months, offering a sign of hope to homeowners who have watched the number of deals drop and the median sale price of plummet by 21 percent since 2008. The Times reports that the uptick in sales chipped away at the inventory of unsold apartments. Prices stayed about the same or dropped slightly — though two major brokerages actually reported increases in the average and median sales prices, according to Curbed. Some insiders fear the market has hit a plateau before another plunge, but others think things are starting to turn around. "Considering where we came from, the results this quarter were much better than we could've imagined a year ago at this time," said Jonathan Miller, who created the study. "There are a lot of challenges ahead for housing, but I think the worst is behind us." more ›

The son of a Harlem landlord is accused scamming potential buyers by trying to sell a building he did not own. The commercial property, located on a triangular lot just north of Central Park at 21-41 Lenox Avenue, was entirely owned by another man. But alleged grifter Henry Vargas told buyers the man, Manuel Duran Jr., was just an elderly farmer from the Dominican Republic whose share was only 10 percent. more ›

Anyone who strolls along Greenpoint's desolate West Street—just one tantalizing block from the East River—is familiar with the frustration of finding many streets leading to the water gated off. It's not as if there's some waterside idyll waiting on the other end of the block, but there's still something refreshing about being able to stand by the river and watch the sunset or fish (shudder). more ›

The Bloomberg administration made another offer to developer Joe Sitt yesterday to buy roughly 10 acres of Boardwalk property, which the city would like to designate park land for an amusement district. Negotiations between Sitt and city officials have been stalled since November, when the developer shrugged off a $110 million offer; it's believed Sitt spent some $93 million acquiring the land, and hopes to flip it for twice that. So you can imagine how he responded to yesterday's $105 million offer, which was less than what the city previously floated, and based on declining land prices in Brooklyn. Speaking to City Room, Sitt's lawyer sarcastically remarked, "We won’t talk to them until they come down to $100 million." more ›

After the roof over her head burned to the ground, Shaniqua Tompkins found herself in court where a Manhattan judge ruled that she owes Fifty Cent $4,500 for May rent that she never paid (previously a judge ruled she owed double that for past due rents). The NY Post reports that she has until Friday to come up with the cash.

"She better pay it by the end of the week. Do you understand?" Edmead told Tompkins' lawyer, Paul Catsandonis, at a hearing yesterday. more ›

Manhattan real estate sales set a record in the fourth quarter of 2007, with residential sales averaging out to be $1.4 million (according to data from Prudential Douglas Elliman), an increase of 17.6% over 2006's fourth quarter. However impressive that statistic is, the growth was primarily driven by super high-end sales of at least $10 million. more ›

A state office responsible for oversight of the MTA recently conducted a test of the NYC subway system's lost and found department and the results were not encouraging. Investigators turned over 26 items to the New York City Transit employees--both bus and subway workers, including keys, a purse, a Walkman, a watch, a jacket, and an electric shaver. Only three of the items eventually made their way to the Lost & Found office, which is located behind a metal door at the subway station across from Madison Square Garden on 34th St. and 8th Ave. more ›

Yesterday, the police arrested the personal assistant to "broker to the stars" Linda Stein in connection with Stein's October 30 murder. Stein, who had also managed the Ramones and later parlayed her connections to sell real estate to celebrities, had been found bludgeoned to death in her Fifth Avenue apartment by her daughter. The police revealed that assistant Natavia Lowery confessed to them that Stein's abuse pushed her over the edge. Police Commissioner Ray... more ›

Sure, there are worries about the credit market and subprime mortgage situation, but real estate brokerages around the city are basking in good news: Third-quarter Manhattan apartment closings were at the highest average price ever and home inventory tightened as well. more ›

No, seriously-- check this photo I'm Not Saying just sent in: more ›

City Council member Gale Brewer criticized the Taxi and Limousine Commission's disorganized lost and found process and urged the TLC to make some changes. Brewer said, "A New Yorker misfortunate enough to lose her property in a taxi is more likely to find overwhelmed hotlines and contradictory instructions than she is to recover her missing possession. The TLC procedure is rarely followed and is hopeless without a receipt. The TLC’s system does not work, if it could even be called a system." more ›

Distributer of royalties, BMI, filed a federal lawsuit against Jay-Z's 40/40 Club yesterday. The performing right organization holds the licensing rights to 6.5 million songs, and apparently plenty of them are being played at the club, the lawsuit cites "unauthorized public performance of musical compositions." In other words, Jay-Z has been holding out and skimping on royalties owed to fellow musicians! more ›

The practices that condos have adopted range from requiring extensive application packages that include a stack of reference letters and even a board interview, to strict house rules that ban open houses or limit pet ownership. more ›

We knew holiday tips were trouble! The former doorman to a Sutton Place apartment building on East 52nd Street is suing his former employers for $2 million. Viorel Cincu says that he was unfairly fired after 17 years of service, after a videotape showed him allegedly stealing a colleague's $400 tip. more ›

"More important, however, is the sheer scope of the proposed store in comparison with Apple's two existing Manhattan-area retail presences -- if not the world. The space will easily outsize both the 21,577 square feet of Apple Store SoHo and the yet-larger 25,000 square feet of the subterranean Fifth Avenue location. Property allotted to the third store will be so large, in fact, that its showrooms alone should dwarf the total area given to either of the present-day Apple stores." more ›

City Councilman Hiram Monserratte is the prime sponsor of a bill that would require co-op boards to explain why applicants were rejected when they deny a person's request to buy into a building. The secrecy behind the approval/refusal process by many co-op boards has generated long-held suspicions that the whole ordeal is simply a way to quietly discriminate against "undesirable" applicants.

Now nearly two-thirds of the members of the City Council are co-sponsoring a measure to shed a little light on the shadowy process by which co-op boards decide which apartment buyers to accept and which to reject. To the uninitiated, the council members’ aim may seem modest. What they want is for co-op boards to be required to give their reasons for rejecting an applicant, and to do it in writing within five days of rejection. more ›

If it's April, it's time to get quarterly real estate data. The NY Times reports that the "prices and number of apartments selling in Manhattan rose" during the beginning of the year. Brown Harris Stevens and Halstead Property say sales were up 12% versus 2006's 4th quarter. And in an amusing example of how different data can be, BHS and HP say prices rose 6%, but Prudential Douglas Elliman says prices rose 5.4% and Corcoran says they rose 12%. more ›

There are toxic plots of land all over New York City, hello Greenpoint, but Queens Crap has some maps showing the toxic parts of Queens. The maps they show are from Property Shark, but they also link to a site where you can see maps for all the neighborhoods of Queens. more ›

Al's Grocery, by Dalton Rooney. more ›

In a few hours, Mayor Bloomberg will give his annual State of the City address. But the cat is out of the bag, as everyone is abuzz about how he will be discussing a $1 billion tax cut. Property taxes will be reduced, the city's 4% tax on clothing and shoes over $110 would be eliminated (you would still pay the state (and MTA)'s 4.375% sales tax), and small businesses would get tax breaks, too. more ›

Six years can bring more than a 300% return (or clear 200% of your initial investment in pure profit)! The NY Times reports that Tishman-Speyer sold 666 Fifth Avenue to the Kushner family for $1.8 billion. And reporter Charles Bagli points out Tishman-Speyer bought the property for $518 million. Many people that this will be the most expensive single building in the city, breaking Tishman-Speyer's then-record $1.72 billion purchase of the MetLife Building. Factoids: The per-square foot cost of the MetLife building is $604 while the per-square foot cost of 666 Fifth is $1,200. Hey, a Fifth Avenue address can command that. more ›

It's possibly the most famous couple to sue over bed bugs: Saturday Night Live star Maya Rudolph and auteur Paul Thomas Anderson claim that their SoHo rental was infested with the vermin and are now suing Halstead Property and the owner, Francis Feeney! They were paying $13,500/month for a Greene Street loft (plus two months' rent, security deposit, broker's fee), but found themselves (and their baby!) bitten. Ew. The exterminator told them they would have to move out for a couple weeks, and the family hasn't been back since. more ›

After Scott Fappiano was freed last week, after being in falsely imprisoned for 21 years (he was mistakenly convicted of raping a police officer's wife in their Brooklyn home), more questions are being raised about the way police evidence is stored/a>. Thought Fappiano had requested a pair of sweatpants be tested for DNA evidence in 1989, the technology back then wasn't able to read the small sample - and then the pants and sample were basically lost until this year (they had been in the DNA testing company's storage all along). The Innocence Project, which took on Fappiano's case, said that the NYPD evidence collection and tracking systems need to be reformed; IP's Peter Neufeld told WABC 7, "Unfortunately it's a black hole. We've had less good fortune locating evidence in New York City than in the rural quarters of Mississippi and Alabama." more ›

We're so confused by all the stories on the city's housing market. more ›