By Matt Chaban 11/10/11 6:16pm

Critical Mass

Glowing reviews.

Ada Louise Huxtable Reveres the Renovated Empire State Building (the Twin Towers Not So Much)

Much as we have been enjoying the work of Michael Kimmelman lately, no one stokes the critical fires like Ada Louise Huxtable. The grand dame of the business, Ms. Huxtable writes all too infrequently for The Journal—only six times a year, but not because that is all the paper will give here but instead it is all she will offer them.

Today Ada Louise offers an especially intriguing look at the Empire State Building and its resurrection, an assessment really only she could offer as few others have the same lens through which to view it, having seen both its grandeur and its decay. Read More

By Jotham Sederstrom 8/16/11 9:12am

power broker

Mr. Bernstein joined Colliers ABR, the precursor to Cassidy Turley, in 2007.

The Accidental Journeyman

When it was announced in early 2007 that the Empire State Building would undertake an ambitious, $550 million renovation—the first of such grandeur since it was erected 76 years earlier—real estate observers stood divided on whether the effort was long overdue or, considering the looming economic crises, an unnecessarily expensive bet.

Given the 102-story tower’s 2.5 million square feet—not to mention its aging infrastructure, elevators and lobby—naysayers had reason to doubt the logic behind such a costly affair. Add to those challenges a mandate to replace the building’s jigsaw puzzle of 550 fractious users with a collection of far more prestigious, full-floor tenants and the endeavor seemed positively Sisyphean to some. Read More

By Matt Coyne 3/28/11 4:13pm

bike lames

Tallest Building in Town Adds Bike Racks 2.0

Today the World’s Most Famous Office Building announced the completion of the installation of bike racks as part of its ongoing sustainability initiative. The only thing, though, is the “bike racks” aren’t really bike racks, but rather a whole “dedicated bicycle storage room … purpose-built to provide secured and weather protected bicycle storage for tenants.”

Isn’t Read More