Monday: Martha Sells Turkey Estate, CNN Blows Bubbles

Mon, 21 Aug 2006 08:30:00 -0400

The mid-90s: a good thing.

How the mighty have fallen! Ex-executive, ex-con Martha Stewart may sell her $9 million Turkey Hill estate to a "Connecticut-based local TV host." This personality, Mr. Mar Jennings, will own the hallowed grounds on which Ms. Stewart's not-impenetrable empire was built. (New York Post)

Is "buzz"-happy Red Hook still the same neighborhood? Maybe. According to the Times, "local real estate agents" agree that the majority of residents still live in projects--and the Red Hook Houses have nearly the lowest average income in New York. That stat comes from a NYT piece on the neighborhood's African American "old timers," in which real estate nicknames like "Poor Block, Junkie Paradise, Crazy Corner" are rattled off without a hint of condescension or discomfort. (New York Times)

CNN loves the bubble, or at least it loves bubble stories. Thus we are all alerted this morning to the big news that real estate does not necessarily make a good short-term investment. The story's headline reads: "With the real estate bubble losing air, is this your big chance - or the single worst time to buy?" Everyone panic. (CNN/Money)

Eloquent Metropolis gives a brief overview of the recent infiltration of public art, including Sarah Sze's Corner Plot in Central Park ("self-contained by its submerged plot"), Nancy Rubins' Big Pleasure Point at Lincoln Center ("Hurricane Katrina"), and Jeff Koons' Balloon Flower (Red) at 7 WTC ("of course... now trite."). (Metropolis)

Questionable Expert Assertion of the Day: "Long Island City, along with Greenpoint, Brooklyn, contain the same potential as such Manhattan areas as Chelsea or the Lower East Side." (Globe St.)

- Max Abelson

Observer » Monday: Martha Sells Turkey Estate, CNN Blows Bubbles

Monday: Martha Sells Turkey Estate, CNN Blows Bubbles