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By Kim Velsey 6/10 6:35pm

Affordable Housing or Lack Thereof

Cuts to housing subsidies hit New York. (Bonile Bam/Getty Images)

Section 8 Cuts Threaten to Diminish Access to Affordable Housing

New York is a city beset by an affordable housing crisis—market forces are eliminating affordable units faster than the city can add them, even rents in the least-expensive neighborhoods are beyond the reach of low-income workers—and now, major cuts to Section 8 program threaten to further reduce low-income New Yorker’s access to affordable housing.

Federal sequestration will cut $120 million from the rental subsidy program, according to Crain’s. To deal with the cuts, government agencies that administer the housing vouchers may reduce the number issued this year by as many as 6,000; other cuts will come in the form of reduced subsidies, forcing tenants and Section 8 housing providers to pick up the slack. Read More

By Stephen Jacob Smith 6/10 10:15am

Manhattan Transfers

Vacant as the day it was born.

The Nightmare on East 73rd Street Is Over: Pavia House Sells for $19.5 M.

Nearly two decades after George and Antonia Pavia signed a lease on their Upper East Side townhouse with notoriously litigious tenant James Couri, sparking years of legal wrangling and copious quantities of press, the couple’s time at 18 East 73rd Street is finally coming to a close: they’ve signed a contract to sell the neo-Georgian brick townhouse for $19.5 million to an undisclosed buyer, according to Douglas Elliman, who represented the sellers. Read More

By Kim Velsey 6/10 9:21am

Elsewhere

On the Market: Plaza Penthouse Returns to the Market; The Architecture of New York’s Movie Theaters; Broken-Up but Still Living Together

Co-op at 778 Park Avenue wants $29 million (and the board demands all cash). [NYT]
In fact, a lot of places are demanding all cash, and not just in New York. [NYT]
Inside Dumbo’s new $4.1 million townhouses. [Curbed]
Coney Island beach boutique Lola Star re-opens post-Sandy. [Crain's]
New York’s movie theater revival, with architecture both good and bad. [WSJ]
Tenant lawsuit against NYCHA forces immediate repairs at Smith Houses. [Daily News]
Christian Candy tries to sell Plaza penthouse for $59 million. Good luck. [Curbed]
Broken hearts, but not leases: living together when the love is gone. [NYT]
Luxurious stud farms, where race horses go to retire. [WSJ]
Developers flocking to Brooklyn Bridge Park. [Crain's]
UWS in tizzy over ramshackle brownstone, demand owner sell. [Daily News]
Hasids divided over bike share; some want it, others really don’t. [DNAinfo]
WSJ columnist Dorothy Rabinowitz doubles down on her bike hating. [Gothamist]
Residents forced to evacuate after Hudson Heights retaining wall collapses. [Daily News]
Boerum Hill building comes with a “squatter”—the former owners’ lease-holding son. [Post]

By Kim Velsey 6/07 6:53pm

Manhattan Transfers

It took a long time, but someone is finally buying.

After Years on the Market, Magnificent Riverside Drive Mansion Finally Finds a Buyer

Mysterious, beautiful and fiercely independent—the Schinasi Mansion at 351 Riverside Drive—the Ellen Olenska of real estate, has finally found a buyer. The white marble, 12,000-square-foot French Renaissance mansion is one of the rare free-standing single-family houses in Manhattan (and one could hardly hope to possess Gracie Mansion or the Morris Jumel), but has lingered (some might even say languished) on the market for the better part of seven years. In that time, she has lowered her lofty expectations considerably, dropping her $31 million ask to a much more modest $13.5 million.

When we called, Corcoran broker Tod Mercy confirmed that the magnificent, 12-bedroom, 11-bath mansion, which Robert A.M. Stern called “unsurpassed in refinement in the West End,” is indeed in contract. But he could not comment on the identity of the buyers or the price (which we had heard was close to the ask) and the Corcoran spokesperson he referred us to was unforthcoming about even his unforthcomingness, writing: “We have no comment.  Please do not quote me directly.” Read More

By Michael Ewing 6/07 3:56pm

Lease Beat

Anderson Cooper and Benjamin Maisini (Courtesy of Just Jared)

Anderson Cooper’s Partner Inked Deal for a Restaurant and Bar in Hell’s Kitchen

Anderson Cooper‘s partner, Antoine “Benjamin” Maisini, will be pitching in to open a restaurant and bar in Hell’s Kitchen.

Disguised under the entity Oxido Corp., Mr. Maisini and Pablo Raimondi, his business partner, will be teaming up together to open the 5,000-square-foot gay restaurant at 753 Ninth Avenue. The pair specifically sought after a location in the Hell’s Kitchen and Clinton area, likely because of the prominent gay community. Read More

By Stephen Jacob Smith 6/07 3:23pm

Manhattan Transfers

Arches fit for a Moor.

This Used to Be My Playground: Madonna’s CPW Co-op Sells for $4 M. Discount

We knew that the Material Girl wasn’t going to get the nearly $20 million that she last asked for her sprawling pad on 41 Central Park West—brokers told the Wall Street Journal last week that it sold for “considerably less”—but it’s still sad to see the pre-war beauty fall short: her co-op ended up closing for $16 million, according to city records. Read More

By Kim Velsey 6/07 9:45am

elswehere

On the Market: LIC Gets Its Own Flea Market; Rent Guidelines Board Cuts Hearing; Hell’s Kitchen Residents Desperate For Affordable Groceries

5 Pointz condo plan moving forward despite community board opposition. [NY1]
Adult kickball league agrees to shorten games to appease neighbors. [DNAinfo]
Taxi! Outer-borough residents will now be allowed to hail livery cabs. [Crain's]
Visit the New York Marble Cemetery tomorrow. [NYMC]
No vinyl siding here! Take a wooden house walking tour through South Slope. [BkBased]
Prospect Heights row houses imperiled after developer flubs renovation. [Brownstoner]
Rent Guidelines Board eliminates outer-borough public hearing. [NYT]
Condo board at 150 Nassau doesn’t want a Denny’s downstairs. [TRD]
Couple turns New Mexico ghost town into balsamic vinegar, gourmet food hub. [WSJ]
A champagne brunch cruise to watch Governor’s Island building implode. [Gothamist]
Related rolls out its own bike share program in several New York buildings. [NYT]
Trump Soho sues insurer, Con Edison for refusing to pay for Sandy-related losses. [Crain's]
LIC to get its own flea and food market, possibility of being considered cool. [WSJ]
Affordable grocery store wants a rent break to move into Port Authority space. [DNAinfo]

By Stephen Jacob Smith 6/06 4:58pm

Conspiracy Theories

Yeah well, you know who else rode bicycles?

Citi Bike: A Nazi, Muslim Plot to Create a Dresden-on-the-Hudson, Says Frontpage Mag Writer

When the Wall Street Journal got an aging member of its editorial team on camera to talk about New York City’s new bike share program, we thought the hysteria over Citi Bike had reached its peak of wackiness, with nowhere to go but down.

“Look, I represent the majority of citizens,” Dorothy Rabinowitz declared of her opposition to the program. (Meanwhile, back in the real world, 72 percent of New Yorkers said they supported the program when polled last year.) Read More