Results tagged “sold”

There's good news for the famously decaying Windermere, a complex of three 1881 apartment buildings in Hell's Kitchen that was landmarked in 2005. The Japanese owner of the structure, Masako Yamagata, has finally agreed to a settlement with seven tenants who had to be evacuated in 2007 because of the extreme decay. They'll collectively share $2.6 million in exchange for relinquishing claims on their apartments, and Yamagata has also agreed to pay $1.1 million in civil penalties to the city for failing to maintain the building. A judge had issued a court order last year requiring Yamagata to repair the landmark, but the city had been unable to enforce it because he was in Japan. Once a buyer expressed serious interest in purchasing the Windermere, Yamagata finally settled so he could unload it for an undisclosed sum. The buyer has promised make all necessary repairs to the complex, which was popular with single working women and artists at the turn of the 20th century. When it opened, it was known for its technological marvels like the hydraulic elevator and telephone.

After a planned relocation to Red Hook fell apart, the beloved old Cheyenne diner will most likely be sold to a buyer in Alabama, after almost 70 years in business near Penn Station. Owner George Papas, who will demolish it if no one buys it so he can build a nine story condo on the property, tells Chelsea Now he's "pretty confident" that an unnamed man will move it to Alabama. Which beats demolition, but you'll recall how the Moondance Diner fared when a Wyoming couple bought it. Of course, there's a certain bitter irony to all this, since newcomers are perpetually drawn to New York in large part due to the distinctive character created by places like these, which are now forced to relocate to the provinces to make way for the same generic eyesores found everywhere. The lesson, perhaps, is that if you live in the Midwest, you may as well just stay down on the farm until a taste of New York comes to you—because there ain't much of it left here, y'all!

After 60 years on the Bowery, the fat lady has sung for the Amato Opera; it will close at the end of May. The Times reports that Anthony Amato, the company’s 88-year-old founder, broke the news to his company before Saturday night’s performance of The Merry Widow. Curbed did some digging and found that Amato sold the building to Croman Real Estate last month for $3.7 million, or $681 per square-foot. Steve Croman, the new owner, has been previously blasted by the Village Voice as one of the city's worst landlords, and it's doubtful that opera will still resonate from the old tenement theater after this season ends, with The Marriage of Figaro. The news comes despite a vow from Amato's niece to run the opera when he'd had enough. Last January Vanishing New York checked out an Amato production of La Boheme and prophesied, "Go and enjoy, before it's too late."

Could it be that Reverend Billy prematurely administered last rites to Astroland, that highly romanticized jumble of third-rate county fair rides? After yesterday's report that unnamed officials were trying to broker a deal between Astroland owner Carol Albert and developer Joe Sitt (to whom she sold her 3 acres of property for $30 million in 2006), Mayor Bloomberg has now publicly entered the fray. Hizzoner told reporters yesterday that it "would be a shame if we lost" the Astroland rides, which are now up for sale. "What we're trying to do is to get Astroland to have another one-year extension of their lease so that we can get the rezoning done and then hopefully come to an agreement with Thor." Albert has not commented on the resuscitation efforts since closing Astroland for good on Sunday; a spokesman for Sitt insists there are no negotiations under way with the city or Albert.

Well, forget about getting any closure; less than 48 hours after Coney Island amusement park Astroland supposedly shut down forever, city officials are working behind the scenes to try and keep it alive. The Daily News hears buzz from an unnamed official that if property owner Joe Sitt can be convinced to temporarily extend Astroland's lease, the city will agree to lease land to Astroland owner Carol Albert if and when a controversial plan for a new amusement area gets approved. But there are a lot of ifs at play here, and Albert has already moved to sell off the rides. Another catch is that both sides say no one from the city has contacted them. Albert's spokesman struck a bitter note: "Talk is cheap. It's just too much of an upstream swim at this point."

Word from Brooklyn's Cranberry Street is that the Moonstruck house (located at #19) has been sold after being on the market for just over two years. In that time it's gone from $5 million to $3.5 million; though there's no word on how much it was actually sold for, that's quite a deal for any Cher fan! Brooklyn Heights Blog notes that "the sellers of the home, architect Edwards Rullman and his wife Francesca, have owned the building since 1959. Rullman also served a 10 year term as a governor and a two year term as president of the Brooklyn Heights Association." Catch some glimpses of the house in the Moonstruck trailer.