The MTA finally selected developer Tishman Speyer to transform the West Side rail yards, between 10th and 12th Avenues between 30th and 33rd Streets, into a 26-acre commercial and residential hub. MTA Chairman H. Dale Hemmerdinger said Tishman's $1.004 billion bid is "more money than anyone expected...It is an extraordinary deal." more ›

In spite of rumors suggesting Tishman Speyer, the real estate developer behind Rockefeller Center and Stuyvesant Town, has the upper-hand, the MTA is still seriously considering the bid from joint bid from Durst-Vornado for the 26-acre Hudson Yards. more ›

This past weekend, an aluminum tree sculpture, dubbed A Tree for Anable Basin, built upon a floating island, set sail off Hunters Point. The project by Chico MacMurtrie and Amoprhic Robot Works was conceived to investigate and celebrate "the enigmatic, rapidly changing waterfront environment of Long Island City." It also acts as a "condominium for birds"; the press release reads:

It is designed to emote the displacement of nature, specifically of migratory water birds by industrial activity and urban development. more ›

Yesterday, the New School held a forum to discuss how New York City will save its public housing. The New York City Housing Authority, which is the city's primary sources of affordable housing to 400,000 residents, has an annual shortfall of $225 million. more ›

Starrett City, the subsidized housing development in Brooklyn, was sold for $1.3 billion in February, but for the second time, the Department of Housing and Urban Development rejected the deal. The February sale needed to be approved by HUD, because Starrett City is the country's largest subsidized development, and shortly after the sale was announced, State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo got to work on blocking the sale. more ›

Alarming news to start the workweek: The Daily News exclusively reports that the authorities are looking for "64 fugitive rapists, perverts and molesters" who have lied about where they live. more ›

more ›

The $1.3 billion deal for Brooklyn developer Berkshire LLC to buy federally subsidized Brooklyn housing complex Starrett City may be blocked by State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Cuomo announced that his office will enforce an injunction barring the lead investor David Bistricer from completing "certain real estate for life and will not permit the conversion of any of the property to cooperative apartments." Cuomo's statement was pretty damning, calling Bistricer's real estate history "sordid" and saying, "The material I turned over today should be enough to ban him from this deal at the start."

Findings that led to the court order against Bistricer include that he failed to disclose the terms of refinanced mortgages in amendments filed prior to the auction of apartments he owned, a violation of the Martin Act. He was ordered to pay $450,000 in restitution to residents and $50,000 to the State Attorney General’s office. more ›

This week New York Magazine chose Eric Harvey Brown as their look book subject. We decided to ask him a few questions ourselves, and dig a little deeper - beyond the beard (just a little though). more ›

The National Fair Housing Alliance says that real estate brokerage Corcoran discriminates against black people and also tries to steer white people from black neighborhoods. The NFHA, which was following up discrimination claims in a 2000 Department of Housing and Urban Development report, put both black and white people, posing as potential buyers, in a Brooklyn Corcoran office. Though the black "buyers" were more qualified, the whites received extra information about financial incentives. Further, the white "buyers" were urged to look in certain neighborhoods. From the National Fair Housing Alliance's report:

Agents at the Corcoran Group Real Estate were also found to have engaged in racial steering. In this investigation’s most egregious incident of racial steering, one agent produced a map of Brooklyn and drew a red outline of the areas in which the White homeseeker should consider living. He pointed to the neighborhoods of Prospect Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Heights and parts of Carroll Gardens as attractive neighborhoods for the White homeseeker, and indicated with arrows the neighborhoods that were “changing.” The agent also noted the high quality of schools in these neighborhoods as further indication of their desirability to the White homeseeker. more ›

Today's City section that brings up another problem with the development boom that has covered our fair city the past few years: Where to put the local old folk. Specifically where to put their nursing homes. more ›

One of Gothamist's new favorite blogs is The Gowanus Lounge-- it's reporting on real estate and urban development around the city. Today it reports on the acquisition of the Jewish Press Building on Third Avenue and Second Street, one of the last obstacles blocking the progress of the proposed Leviev Boymelgreen "Gowanus Village" project. The company plans to develop the entire lot between Carroll Street and Third Street, from Third Avenue all the way to the Gowanus Canal. That's a lot of redevelopment! Current plans project 400 units on 375,000 square feet of space. The new Whole Foods (ETA still unknown) will be built just a block away on the corner of 3rd Street, so while the toxic sludge in the canal might turn future tenants into mutants, at least they will be well fed. more ›

The plans for the proposed buildings around the Brooklyn Nets arena have been revealed by architect Frank Gehry, and they show a dazzling group of skyscrapers at various angles. The NY Times calls it an "instant skyline" and notes that the plan is far from a sure thing, given that developer Bruce Ratner still faces a bit of community antipathy for his plans. But the excitement is best summarized by the first paragraph of Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff's glowing appraisal:

Frank Gehry's new design for a 21-acre corridor of high-rise towers anchored by the 19,000-seat Nets arena in Brooklyn may be the most important urban development plan proposed in New York City in decades. If it is approved, it will radically alter the Brooklyn skyline, reaffirming the borough's emergence as a legitimate cultural rival to Manhattan.

This is no small miracle. Even in this early stage of development, the design proves that Mr. Gehry can handle the challenge better than most. His approach is a blow against the formulaic ways of thinking that are evidence of the city's sagging level of cultural ambition. It suggests another development model: locate real talent, encourage it to break the rules, get out of the way.

Gothamist is giddy over finding the New York Architecture Game, because with all this talk of rich dudes trying to make their mark on the city gives us serious urban development envy.

Conceived by the world-renowned game designer Thomas Fackler, The New York Architecture Game challenges players as it explores the architectural feats that went into constructing 24 New York City landmarks, including the Empire State Building, the Guggenheim Museum, the New York Stock Exchange, and the Brooklyn Bridge. Both children and adults will find much to learn as they race to complete their projects first. Vastly entertaining, this game will give every architecture fan, including New Yorkers and others who think they know the city's beautiful buildings well, a new reason to fall in love with the world's most exciting city.

Oh, that Paul Newman is funny (now in that crusty, 70-something way, but still funny) - he's going to sue the Department of Housing and Urban Development for ruining the name "Hud" (and his residual opportunities). Ah, nothing like the rich and famous laughingly trying to get richer. Read his op-ed in today's Times. more ›