Monday: Bloomberg Becomes Even Stonier, Lord Foster Goes In-Line Skating

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 00:45:50 -0400

The mayor: as supple as a skyscraper

It has been called One Beacon Court, 731 Lexington Avenue, 151 East 58th Street, and--for long-time New Yorkers--Alexander's. But now, The Times reports that the East Side skyscraper is commonly referred to as the Bloomberg Building, after its most famous renter. Seems like this idea has been explored before. (The New York Times)

It's been fun--and we've learned all about sandhogs and the "indispensable backhoe operators," but now it's time to head back to work. When ex-strikers toil at city construction sites like Ground Zero, they'll be compensated for their work 20 percent more than they'd been before. Heavy machine operators of the world, unite! (NY1)

The suburbs help drive a real estate boom in New Orleans, where "volume and sales prices" have somehow exceeded the pre-Katrina numbers. But back in the New York market--which is apparently built around international wealth and "well-designed kitchens"--there may not be enough buyers to fill the 24,400 potential new co-ops. (New York Times)

Or maybe American home buying is "grinding to a halt"? A few statistics sometimes help when trying to decide questions like this, though the Post pays no mind. (New York Post)

Essential read of the day: Crain's NY Market Facts special issue. (Crain's)

Non-essential read: CNN declares there are "mixed messages" on Manhattan real-estate prices, which is almost as piercing as their last feature on how "it's never easy buying your first home." At least this story has a few wonderfully anxious quotes from the New York real estate elite: "I'm more concerned about 2007 than 2006," Corcoran C.E.O. Pam Liebman admits. (CNN/Money)

Non-essential fact: Lord Norman Foster's new Hearst Tower has a 9,000-square-foot "exercise emporium," complete with something called "in-line skating machines" (unpleasantly dubbed, "The Wave"). (The Post)

- Max Abelson

Observer » Monday: Bloomberg Becomes Even Stonier, Lord Foster Goes In-Line Skating

Monday: Bloomberg Becomes Even Stonier, Lord Foster Goes In-Line Skating