If you're really, really rich, why not offer $150 million for a triplex penthouse at The Mark Hotel on East 77th Street? The Post reports that Russian-born American billionaire Leonard Blavatnik (#102 on the last Forbes list has "signed a letter of intent" for a number of units that would total almost 30,000 square feet. That's about $5,000/square foot! The Mark is being renovated to offer residences in addition to its hotel rooms. We guess......

Last month, when hundreds of tenants had to be evacuated from apartment buildings following the collapse of the retaining wall at a neighboring construction site, people suspected that the new development's dynamite blasting may have caused the collapse. Now, the City Council is proposing to dramatically limit the time builders can use explosives at sites. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn admitted that existing laws around construction blasting are "not very good." The Council's new......

When it comes down to it, learning about various problems with NYC buildings is like an episode of This Old House. Though the the city's Department of Environmental Protection says that the drinking water supply in southeastern Queens is safe, after last week's brief scare when tetrachloroethylene (PERC) was found in higher than normal amounts (though the water was still apparently safe), it turns out that many city buildings lack a special water valve. The......

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......

When you shell out $5.4 billion for thousands of apartments in Manhattan, some of them rent-regulated, clearly the next course of action is to oot out the illegal subletters. The NY Sun reports that private detective Fred Knapp has been hired by Tishman-Speyer to find out if tenants are violating rent stabilization rules. The Real Estate Board of New York says this is exactly what landlords should be doing, but housing advocates point out that......

The NY Times looks at how Astoria's Steinway Street has evolved into a magnet for big chain. The accompanying graphic shows a one block stretch complete with Gap, GapKids, Starbucks, Bath & Body Works, and Victoria's Secret - and four banks, natch! According to the Real Estate Board of NY's retail committee chairwoman Robin Abrams, the shift is occurring because chains are have either "saturated" or are "priced out" of Manhattan, and they are......

Developers are grumbling, but they'll have to adapt. The tax breaks they have enjoyed for the past 35 years in exchange for building new housing units in NY will now come with more strings attached. Specifically, the new plan approved by City Council on Wednesday aims to create more affordable housing and staunch the flow of taxpayer subsidies toward luxury housing. The New York Times, which endorsed Speaker Christine Quinn's plan before it passed,......

We're adding this to our holiday wish list: The MTA has published a book about the art in the subways, Along The Way: MTA Arts For Transit. From the description:Initiated in 1985, this collection of site-specific public art now encompasses more than 150 pieces in mosaic, terra-cotta, bronze, faceted glass, and mixed media. The program takes its cue from the original mandate that the subways be "designed, constructed, and maintained with a view to the......

Sweet fancy Moses, MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow might leave the MTA to take a job as the head of the Real Estate Board of New York, the big real estate lobbying group! Sources tell the Daily News that Kalikow, a real estate developer in his own right (his MTA salary si $1), would only leave after securing Second Avenue Subway funding. Someone in the federal government - fund that project! Likely future governor, Attorney General......

The New York housing bubble just refuses to pop apparently. According to NY1 the Real Estate Board of New York's quarterly report is showing that despite real estate cooling off in the rest of the country, New York just keeps getting hotter. Median sales prices for co-ops and condos in Manhattan continue to rise "with prices up 13 percent the first quarter of of the year compared to the same time last year." The......

Condos are booming in Brooklyn, with reports that condo transfers are up 124% and condo prices have increased 19-24%. Neighborhoods like Park Slope and Cobble Hill are growing as become more and more attractive to people fleeing Manhattan apartment prices, while Williamburg and Greenpoint are "emerging" areas for condos. Right, none of this is surprising - it's more confirmation of what everyone else suspected. And it's a chance for someone from the Real Estate Board......