Zak Pelaccio Cutting the Fat, Glazing Turnips Instead
Who Will Be New York's Next Chief City Planner? And Does It Matter?

Stage Combat: Modern Theatergoers Turn Broadway into Great Fight Way
The fight broke out during the first act of Glengarry Glen Ross.
As Al Pacino and Bobby Cannavale circled each other on the boards, a well-dressed woman in the audience was noisily working her way through a cellophane package of Twizzlers. When she was shushed by a man in the next seat, her thuggish husband loudly Read More

Turn On, Tune In, Drop $14 M. On an UES Penthouse
The Park Regis at 50 East 89th Street isn’t what normally comes to mind when one thinks of $14 million penthouses. Built in 1974, it lacks the classical prewar touches of its Park and Fifth Avenue neighbors, and the standard unit sizes range from studios to two-bedrooms—not quite the palatial spreads that one expects from an eight-digit Upper East Side tower.
But what it lacks in outward beauty, the co-op makes up for with its interior and its views. Perched on the 32nd and 33rd floors, the unit has jaw-dropping views of Central Park, with just enough city in the frame to give it a Manhattan flavor (“Located in historic Carnegie Hill, The Park Regis offers the atmosphere of a small town,” the building description claims—unconvincingly, if you ask us, the UES being one of America’s densest neighborhoods), but not so much that you can’t make out every feature in the park. The Central Park Reservoir is especially prominent. The grand prewar apartments on Fifth and Park may have stately exteriors, but they generally top out at around half the height of the Park Regis. Read More

Microsoft Tramp Stamp Anyone? Indian Tech Employees Getting Company Logo Tattoos
In the Valley, employees of major tech companies like Google and Facebook wear their building badges like a literal badge of honor. You don’t need to keep it attached to your belt while out on a Friday night, but it also doesn’t hurt your chances of landing a date. You should probably debadge when you bang though (just a thought). Read More

You Jelly? Jack Dorsey, Al Gore, Bono Invest in Biz Stone’s Stealth Startup
Biz Stone’s mysterious new startup, Jelly, has just closed a Series A.
An announcement on the company’s Tumblr didn’t disclose the total amount raise, but revealed that Spark Capital raised the round, with SV Angel piling on, as well.
Also participating are several individual investors who, we can only assume, were rounded up in the parking lot of last year’s TED conference: Jack Dorsey, Bono, Al Gore, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, Where Good Ideas Come From author Steven Johnson, Evan Williams and Jason Goldman, House (?!) director Greg Yaitanes, and Afghan entrepreneur Roya Mahboob. Read More

Sinatra’s Storied Penthouse Snagged By Chinese Scion
Frank Sinatra’s old duplex at 530 East 72nd Street finally got under someone’s skin. And this despite a “meticulous” renovation in recent years that included the installation of the exact same staircase as the one in the Apple stores and some other rather hideous unique design choices.
The New York Post reports that the “glittering grotto in the sky”—as Andy Warhol once referred to the Sinatra-era party pad—is in contract to the daughter of a Chinese technology tycoon. Maybe she found the Apple staircase homey? Read More

$100 M. CitySpire Listing: The Most Expensive For Sale By Owner in History?
Long Island real estate scion Steven Klar was obviously not having much luck offloading his massive, octagonal condo at CitySpire Center with Douglas Elliman. The much-maligned “trophy” vanished from the market in January, when Mr. Klar dumped the brokerage—a win for Elliman?—and decided to lick his wounds for a few months and/or get fired up for another try.
At $100 million, more than any home in New York City has ever sold for, the price was widely mocked. Why, people asked, would Mr. Klar think he could best One57′s penthouses, which have reportedly entered into contract for more than $90 million, in a late ’80s building and a unit that he bought for only $4.5 million in the early ’90s (and hasn’t renovated since)? Read More

Nicholas Jackson Plans to Launch a ‘Smarter Version of MediaBistro’
Last week, Pacific Standard’s digital director Nick Jackson announced on Facebook and Twitter that he was starting a new website that would “be a place for inside-baseball coverage of the media industry and serve as a home for resources for both aspiring and professional journalists.”
Mr. Jackson actually came up with the idea for The Feature Well back in 2011 when he was covering technology as an associate editor at The Atlantic. Read More

Christine Quinn’s Campaign Blasts Bill Thompson Over Al D’Amato
In what may be the most direct and harsh attack to emerge from her campaign so far, Council Speaker Christine Quinn took her Democratic rival Bill Thompson to task today for his cross-partisan support from former Senator Al D’Amato.
“Al D’Amato isn’t just anti-woman,” an email from Ms. Quinn’s campaign declared to supporters, “he is anti-choice, anti-Medicare, and anti-civil rights. He also had the dubious honor of being known as the most investigated Senator in New York history.” Read More

Netflix Tries to Convince Us That ‘Netflix Adultery’ is a Real Thing
Here’s apparently a real problem that’s affecting those lucky enough to be in a relationship: “Netflix Adultery.” The condition, as coined by the Cut, is when a partner watches ahead or finishes a television show instead of waiting to watch it with their significant other on the streaming service.
Of the 2,000 American adults polled, who convinced themselves this was a legitimate issue, about 12 percent confessed to this unforgivable act of adultery. And you could be living with a cheater without even knowing it: 51 percent said they would watch a program even though they agreed to wait for their partner. Read More