Manhattan Transfers

Not much of a downgrade.

Celebrity Chef Michael Symon Bounces From Balazs to Barely-Gramercy

When The Epoch Times reviewed celebrity chef Michael Symon‘s new Greek restaurant in the Flatiron District, Parea, in 2006, it wrote that it “might improve after Mr. Symon gets more experience in the New York restaurant world.” Parea shut down the next year and Mr. Symon has refocused his efforts on the Midwest and his hometown of Columbus, Ohio (he once described his cuisine as “meat-centric”), but he’s still taking The Epoch Times‘ advice to heart: he’s staying in New York.

Mr. Symon and his wife Elizabeth just picked up a full-floor unit at 316 East 22nd Street, a boutique loft building built by David Howell Design. The six-unit building went up around the time the market crashed, and the Symons’ sixth-floor unit (which is not actually the penthouse) is the first to be resold. The sellers, Neil Barve and Davray Aditi, picked up the pad in 2010 for around $2.24 million, and resold it to the Symons for $2.75 million—a tidy profit for not even three years of ownership. Read More

Fashion Week

Screengrab. From left: Andrew Warren, TK, Peter Brant II, and TK Gruber.

Watch Boytoys Peter Brant, Jr. and Nick Gruber Perform Karaoke at Chez André [Video]

Friday, opening night at pop-up club Chez André at The Standard, East Village, found teenage dandy Peter Brant II and ex-porn star Nick Gruber, who was apparently taking a night off from writing a book and developing a TV show about his two-year relationship with Calvin Klein, on stage. The duo, joined at the mic by Andrew Warren and model Serena Marron, sang and mumbled their way through a live-band karaoke rendition of “Born to Be Wild.” We have the video evidence. Arguably, it is the best version of the song ever performed. Arguably!

Read More

Checking in

The quiet Standard (don't let the architecture fool you).

Andre Balazs Says Standard East Village Will Be ‘More Quiet’

Andre Balazs is not known for his quietude, having developed hotels the world over famous for their parties and celebrities—the Standard Hollywood has naked people in the lobby, the Standard Manhattan has them the windows. So it is surprising to hear the hot hotelier tell Grub Street that the new Standard East Village, inside the old, alien-looking Cooper Square Hotel, will be more “residential, more quiet—more introspective, if you will.” Read More

Checking in

Vacancy. (Scouting NY)

Temple of Ruins, Balazs Checks Out of 5 Beekman St. Development

Hotelier Andre Balazs has given up on his effort to restore one of the cities grandest dormant dorms.

It was only last October when the magnificent Temple Court, a block from City Hall, was revealed as in contract to the hot hotelier, but the deal fell through and Mr. Balazs may even be out $5 million on it, the Post reports. It is believed intertia in financing the restoration got the better of Mr. Balazs. However a source for the tab claimed that he pulled out for other unspecified reasons. Read More

Manhattan Transfers

bloomberg

Mayor’s Ex Susan Bloomberg Sells Soho Penthouse

We know that Mayor Bloomberg lives in the lap of Old World luxury in his string of East Side townhouse, but his ex, Susan Bloomberg, has a roost rivaling the mayor’s Baroque maison, as well? Or at least she did.

Unlike her former husband’s palatial uptown abode, Ms. Bloomberg favors downtown digs, at One Kenmare Square, to be exact, that black, wavy lodestar built by Andre Balazs. Ms. Bloomberg has just sold her candy-colored bachelorette pad for $11.6 million, according to city records Read More

Our City Since

The Fresh Direct fridge goes here.

Glass Action: The Condo Since 9/11

One winter evening in 2006, host Martin Bashir’s voice intoned over the opening of Nightline: “Meet the brash, young real estate assassin, selling lavish dream apartments to clients with money to burn.”

The TV screen bled to an earnest-looking Michael Shvo. “When you see a photo of the New York skyline,” the 32-year-old informed us, “these are buildings I made happen.”

And what made Mr. Shvo happen? Read More

under the bridge

Those'll be some views. (Getty)

Related, Two Trees, Andre Balazs, FXFowle Among Firms Flooding Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 1

Even if the city could be headed for further construction slowdowns, developers are still readying themselves for the (eventual?) recovery. The MoMA Tower, Hudson Yards, East Coast Number 4—all are showing signs of life. And they all have something in common, as well: their developers have their sights set on the first site at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Read More