By Drew Grant 9/28/12 3:04pm

premieres

Olivia Wilde, Harvey Weinstein at 'Butter' (PMc)

Olivia Wilde and Jennifer Garner Get Chilly at Butter Premiere While Justin Kirk Talks Monkey Business

Last night at the Cinema Society’s after party for the premiere of the dark satire Butter, The Observer found Animal Practice‘s Justin Kirk lounging around on one of the black leather couches at Double 7, just one day after his show’s second episode.

Animal Practice has been getting a lot of love, so much so that New York magazine dedicated four whole pages in this week’s issue to its star. Not to Mr. Kirk–who had just finished up the last season of Weeds, on which he stole the show as Nancy Botwin’s free-spirited brother-in-law Andy–but to Crystal, a capuchin monkey who earns $12,000 per episode on the NBC hit.

We just had to ask … did Mr. Kirk feel a tiny bit jealous of all the monkey business? Read More

By Daniel Geiger 9/28/12 2:59pm

Lease Beat

387 Park Avenue South Roof Deck

After Success at 645 Madison, TF Cornerstone Has Similar Plans for 387 Park Avenue South

CBM Capital has renewed its lease at 645 Madison Avenue, a 2,500-square-foot space on the building’s sixth floor, for rents in the mid $80s per square foot. The renewal, which is for a portion of the floor, will stretch for three years and is the latest in a string of high priced deals at the tower.

Earlier in September, the financial firm Marble Arch Investments, took the building entire 17th floor, a nearly 7,000-square-foot space in a seven-year deal with asking rents that topped $100 per square foot. Before that, Banco Pine, a Brazil-based bank, took 3,000 square feet on the 22-story building’s ninth floor for rents in the high $70s per square foot. Read More

By Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke 9/28/12 2:54pm

Magazines

Real Kaplan Tweets

A Banner Week for Real (and Fake) Peter Kaplan

M, the magazine for “The New Class of Man” hit newsstands on Monday. The relaunch of the men’s lifestyle glossy with heavy matte paper stock was excitedly heralded by a profile of M editor (and former longtime New York Observer editor) Peter Kaplan in The New Republic.

But nobody has been more fired up about the new mag than the Twitter feed @real_kaplan. The parody feed, which is written by former Observer staffers Peter Stevenson and Jim Windolf,  has long furthered the legend of Mr. Kaplan’s New York, old-school sensibility.  Read More

By Andrew Russeth 9/28/12 2:50pm

human resources

Hoffmann. (Courtesy Wikipedia)

Curator Jens Hoffmann Will Be Named a Deputy Director at Jewish Museum

Jens Hoffmann, the director of San Francisco’s Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, is set to become a deputy director at the Jewish Museum. We first caught wind of a possible move via the Baer Faxt newsletter, and a representative at the museum confirmed today that he will start by the end of the year. Details about his exact title and start date are currently being worked out. Read More

By Hunter Walker 9/28/12 1:34pm

Call Me Bibi

President Barack Obama on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Netanyahu Gets His Meeting With Obama (But Not in Person)

President Barack Obama took some heat for not scheduling a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while the latter leader was in the United States for the U.N. General Assembly this week. The president (sort of) addressed that criticism today by making time to meet Mr. Netanyahu (via telephone). According to a “readout” of the conversation distributed by the White House Press Office, “the two leaders discussed a range of security issues, and the President reaffirmed his and our country’s unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security.”

“The two leaders underscored that they are in full agreement on the shared goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The Prime Minister welcomed President Obama’s commitment before the United Nations General Assembly to do what we must to achieve that goal,” the readout said. Read More

By Kim Velsey 9/28/12 12:40pm

Manhattan Transfers

8 Photos

Biddle Shipman Mansion Hits the Market

A $48.5 M. Manse For the East River Obsessed: Ellen Biddle Shipman House Hits the Market

When it came to her Beekman Place townhouse, Ellen Biddle Shipman was not what you would call modest. “There is not in all New York another piece of property like it, for it has the seclusion of Beekman Place, southern exposure, beauty of architecture combined with the extended view of the East River,” the famed landscape architect boasted of the brownstone that she bought in 1919 and renovated so thoroughly that it had become a red brick townhouse seven years later.

Now, Ms. Shipman’s house at 21 Beekman Place is looking for a buyer, with the seller betting that someone will be similarly awed by the townhouse’s charms to spend $48.5 million. It’s a price that might have shocked Ms. Shipman, but one that won’t cause today’s trophy hunters to bat an eye. As for Ms. Shipman, she knew a trend when she saw one. In fact, she had a habit of setting them off, causing something of a craze for East River abodes when she declared Beekman Place the place to be. Read More

By Jessica Roy 9/28/12 12:27pm

Mythbusters

I don't even know. (Photo: Macleans.ca)

Distrust of Facebook Now Demands a Help Page Dispelling ‘Common Myths’

Reuters social media editor Anthony De Rosa pointed us to what appears to be a new section in Facebook’s help center which addresses the many commonly held myths about the platform. You know your brand is seriously distrusted when you have to devise an entire help section dedicated to dispelling the half-truths told about it.

The vast majority of the questions relate to privacy issues–the eternal thorn in the company’s side–and how Facebook uses the troves of personal data mined from its users. Some examples: Read More

By Daniel Edward Rosen 9/28/12 12:15pm

Blahza District

Hipsters like him are not impressed with your Plaza district office space. (photo courtesy of Getty Images)

Blah-za District! Submarket Struggling to Fill Vacancies

The Plaza district submarket is struggling with a 12.3 percent vacancy rate, its highest in two years, as the area is losing financial services firms while also being passed over by tenants for much hipper alternatives in the Downtown and Midtown South markets.

“Right now, Midtown just isn’t cool,” Jason Pizer, president of Trinity Real Estate, said during a Bisnow forum that was featured in Bloomberg’s report on the Plaza district.  Read More

By Patrick Clark 9/28/12 12:06pm

J'adore NYC

france new york

Yo France: NYC Looking Better as Europe Falters, 75 Percent Tax Becomes a Reality

A month ago, in the face of proposed tax hikes on French millionaires, we offered Manhattan as a superior shelter to Brussels, Geneva or London—and indeed, the dodge looks all the better now that European vacations ended and the region has resumed falling apart.

Well, France’s new tax law is no longer just an unappealing prospect (e.g. the lawsuit to end foie gras production in New York state), but a cold reality (the recent ban in California), as Socialist President Françoise Hollande announced a new budget today, placing a 75 percent on million-euro earners. The Wall Street Journal has some details: Read More

By Alessia Pirolo 9/28/12 12:06pm

Lease Beat

629 West 54th Street.

Chrysler Gets a View from the West Side Highway

Next spring, drivers coursing down the West Side Highway will have easy access to FIAT and Chrysler vehicles, which will be on display at Chrysler Group LLC’s new Manhattan showroom at 629 West 54th Street.

FIAT of Manhattan and the service operations of Manhattan Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram, each of which are operated by the same family, have inked a deal for a 110,000-square-foot building that fronts one of Manhattan’s busiest thoroughfares along the Hudson River. Read More