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Kim Velsey

up in smoke

Smokers lose even more places to light up. (needoptic, flickr)

So Much For Enjoying the Nice Weather With a Cigarette

Poor smokers! Forced to shiver outside with chilly, chapped fingers all winter long, and then when the weather finally improves, New York announces that it will be expanding its state park smoking ban.

The ban on smoking in some areas of state parks had a rocky start (the state suspended it temporarily after smokers’ rights groups threatened to sue) and the legal challenge is, in fact, ongoing, But apparently, New York State is feeling very cocky, not only moving forward with the ban, but extending it to even more parks. Now smokers will only be able to suck fresh air into their damaged lungs when they visit one of the city’s parks. Or, the skin particle-laden air that passes for fresh in New York City. Read More

Elsewhere

On the Market: Gowanus Canal To Become Less Sewagey; America Hates Its Hipsters; Revamping Midtown East Streetscapes

City seeks developers to rebuild Sandy-ravaged neighborhoods. [Crain's]
They’re also looking for developers to restore Staten Island wetlands. [DNAinfo]
Greenpoint architecture is super, super contextual these days. [NYT]
Don’t you wish that your house had a trellis room? [WSJ]
Jenny’s new block: J-Lo set to buy a $10 million mansion in the Hamptons. [Post]
City hires consultants to revamp Midtown East’s (soon-to-be-rezoned?) streets. [Curbed]
Soccer arena parkland is totally replaceable, says Bloomberg. [CapitalNY]
East River floating pool just needs half-a-mil for a mock-up. [DNAinfo]
Considering the tiny, beloved antique Carroll Street Bridge.  [NYT]
Check out what the Hudson Yards culture shed would look like inside. [WSJ]
Citi Bikes are not racing bikes or fixies and that’s not a bad thing. [Streetsblog]
Americans hate hipsters but still love PBR. [Post]
Privately-funded public parks: still controversial. [Atlantic Cities]
Gowanus Canal will become 34 percent less sewagey. Will still be super-fundy. [CapitalNY]

Real estate kerfuffles

All fixed now! (Getty Images)

One57 Crane Boom Replaced Without Incident, Co-op Dwellers Allowed to Return to Their Homes

A new boom has successfully been hoisted onto the crane at One57, nearly seven months after the previous crane snapped during Hurricane Sandy and dangled ominously over West 57th Street for several days.

The maneuver’s completion—which involved swinging the boom over three buildings before hauling it up the side of the uber-luxury tower—was announced by Extell at just after 3 p.m. this afternoon. Residents of the two co-ops under the boom will now be allowed to return home after being forced to evacuate from their homes last night. It also means that construction will be able to move forward on the condo tower. Read More

Real estate kerfuffles

Not this again! (Getty)

Residents Evacuate Co-ops So That a New Crane Boom Can Rise At One57

Despite the rainy, windy weather that is set to hit New York tomorrow and a last-minute lawsuit filed to stop Extell from evacuating two co-op buildings adjacent to One57, plans to repair the crane broken during Hurricane Sandy are still moving forward Saturday morning.

Which means that the unfortunate residents of Alwyn Court, the landmarked building at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 58th Street, will either vacate the building voluntarily in the next few hours or face forcible eviction. The crane repair involves swinging a boom over Alwyn and two other buildings before hoisting it up the side of the unfinished tower. Read More

Scams

Beware the money cleansing on a mountaintop routine. 
flickr, BiblioArchives/ Library Archives

The Guru Grift: Spiritual Fraudster Pleads Guilty To Swindling Client Out of $650,000

How do you know if your spiritual guru is leading you astray? Well, if she tells you that she needs at least two Rolexes and $600,000 in cash to ward off the devil, it may be a sign that she is not on the level.

As all the online “how to recognize a fake guru or a false prophet” websites warn: it’s a bad sign when your guru exhibits greediness and accumulates expensive possessions, and it’s a really bad sign when your spiritual guru exhibits greediness towards your expensive possessions. Read More

Elsewhere

On the Market: MoMA May Not Demolish Folk Art Museum After All; Co-op Sues Over One57′s Crane Plans; Ben Stiller Sells Apartment At a Loss

Greystone acquires half-finished Williamsburg condo coversion for $16 million. [TRD]
Bullet-scarred doors reveal violent realities of living in the projects. [NYT]
Real estate developer plans to build fine art storage facility in LIC. [WSJ]
New York will receive $10 million for affordable housing from new state program. [Crain's]
Not very funny: Ben Stiller takes a $1 million loss on Riverside Drive duplex. [Curbed]
New affordable artists’ housing development is coming to West Chelsea. [DNAinfo]
Firm issuing foreclosure settlements flubs up yet again, delaying homeowner relief. [NYT]
Two of the Clinton Hill homes featured in sisters’ vintage decorating book. [Curbed]
Alwyn Court sues Extell to halt second evacuation because of One57 crane. [WSJ]
Naftali Group pays high above $45 M. ask for old parking garage on West 77th. [Crain's]
Opponents rally to protest renovation of Fifth Avenue Library. [NYT]
Poet Taylor Mead succumbs to stroke after settlement with Shaoul. [Bowery Boogie]
Replica of iconic Dumbo watertower to be displayed at Brooklyn Bridge Park. [DNAinfo]
MoMA might not demolish the Folk Art Museum after all. [Architect's Newspaper
In "Related" news: Time Warner is considering a move west, to Hudson Yards. [WSJ]
New condos in a historic district: 20-story glass tower rises by Madison Square. [NYT]
Pearl clutch! Upper East Siders are all in a tizzy over proposed medical complex. [Curbed]
Hell’s Kitchen just wants a normal grocery store, not some posh Eataly-style market. [DNAinfo]

Elsewhere

On the Market: Graffiti Artists Tag Brooklyn Bridge Construction Panels; Back When the Battery Was a Beach; Documenting Truly Awful New York Apartments

A reflection on money, power, real estate and the One57 crane. [NYT]
Rockabus will still ferry sunbathers to the ravaged Rockaways this summer. [Crain's]
Graffiti artists love the construction paneling covering the Brooklyn Bridge. [WSJ]
A Tumblr of truly terrible affordable New York City apartments. [Atlantic Cities]
How Williamsburg rallied around Olso Coffee after the coffee roaster’s fire. [Grub Street]
City hopes that co-operative in Bk Navy Yard will kick off a manufacturing resurgence. [NYT]
Dueling candy stores to duke it out this summer on the Coney Island boardwalk. [Bk Paper]
Remembering Battery Park City when it was actually a beach. [Tribeca Trib]
The St. Regis is the most expensive hotel in Manhattan. [Post]
The old brick building at 301 West 46th Street is not long for this world. [Vanishing NY]
H.H. Richardson’s early work still stands in Staten Island. [Curbed]
Stretch of Water Street slated to become pedestrian shopping and dining plaza. [WSJ]
City Council plans to greenlight Cornell’s Tech Campus on Roosevelt Island. [Curbed]
Silverstone buys Dumbo site for $45 million with luxury condos in mind. [TRD]
Lawsuit accuses Hasidim of racial discrimination in Broadway Triangle apartments. [Daily News]
Swanky Post House restaurant at the Lowell Hotel will close for six months of repairs. [Crain's]
What to do when you inherit 700 dolls from your mother? [NYT]

theatrical happenings

DCTV's headquarters at 92 Lafayette.

Nothing But the Truth: Construction Kicks Off For All-Documentary Downtown Movie Theater

Up until a few weeks ago, documentary film lovers could be found clustered at the Tribeca Film Festival, trying to soak in as many documentaries as possible during the brief festival window. Soon, though, non-fiction film buffs will find it much easier to take in a broad range of documentaries throughout the year.

The Downtown Community Television Center, or DCTV, a media arts non-profit that has been fostering film education and production since the late 1970s, has started construction on an all-documentary theater.

The 74-seat theater will be housed in a historic horse stable at the rear of DCTV’s headquarters, an eye-catching 1896 limestone firehouse on the edge of Chinatown at 92 Lafayette Street. When completed, it will be the city’s second theater devoted to documentary (the other, located in Harlem, is the Maysles Institute). Read More

Elsewhere

On the Market: Inside a $10 EV Apartment; Controversy Grows Over Soho Nonprofit’s Expansion Plans; Why Are We Flipping Out Over Bike Share?

A look inside the $10 East Village apartments at  Jupiter21. [Gothamist]
Spit it out! Bruce Ratner stumped by SPURA acronym. [DNAinfo]
Meanwhile, does SPURA really need 500 parking spaces? [Streetsblog]
Thor Equities pays $23 million for mixed-use development by Barclays. [TRD]
Surprise! Lower Delancey Street’s quiet character is being colonized by commerce. [NYT]
State Senator John Sampson charged with embezzling foreclosure funds. [Daily News]
Exploring some of the more unusual apartments on the Upper West Side. [DNAinfo]
Soho nonprofit’s expansion and sale of air rights to a condo next door riles neighbors. [NYT]
Boerum Hill is invaded by a giant, but gentle, bee swarm. [Gothamist]
Long Island laboratory used by Tesla is purchased by nonprofit. [WSJ]
Is the city tracking drivers with EZ pass meters stationed at intersections? [Bk Paper]
Deconstructing New York”s total meltdown over bike share. [Atlantic Cities]
Mayoral candidates call on Forest City Ratner to hurry up with the Atlantic Yards housing. [Bk Paper]
Tennis Association makes land swap agreement with city, enabling Flushing Meadows expansion. [Crain's]

Developing problems

The old Donnell Library.

Public Institutions In Private Developments: Plans For a Smaller, If Sleeker, Donnell Library Reveal Trade-offs

These last few years have been challenging ones for both the New York and Brooklyn public libraries. Anemic funding and dwindling resources have collided not only with the need to repair many aging structures, but also to retrofit them to meet changing technology requirements. The combination of lean budgets and growing needs have, without a doubt, created a mounting financial crisis.

The question is how to fix it. For the libraries, one of the more popular strategies of late has been selling buildings and land to developers in exchange for some cash and a space in the condo tower that will be built on the parcel. Recently, plans to sell two libraries in Brooklyn have stirred up controversy, with local residents protesting that the sales are a bad deal for both taxpayers and library patrons. Read More