By Matt Chaban 9/08/11 5:17pm

Planes Trains & Automobiles

Hail yes!

Taxi of For-The-Time-Being Spotted in the Wild!

As was revealed back in June, it will be at least two years before the Nissan-designed Taxi of Tomorrow hits the road, at which point most cabs will have to be replaced with this first-ever New York-exclusive taxi. In the meantime, the city has agreed to let Ford’s runner-up entry be sold while the Nissans get up to speed.

As The Journal reports, the first 200 Ford Transit Connects are in the city and have begun making the rounds. Read More

By Elise Knutsen 9/08/11 2:57pm

This Old House

Haminton Grange

Uptown House of Original Gentrifier Alexander Hamilton to Reopen

Poor Alexander Hamilton. The only house he ever owned, Hamilton Grange, has been uprooted and moved not once but twice since its original construction in Upper Manhattan. Hopefully this time, however, the first Treasury secretary’s home has found a permanent home of its own.

The building, a national landmark, was closed in 2006, and ever so carefully moved to St. Nicholas Park. And, in news that will surely excite the history buffs among you, Read More

By Matt Chaban 9/08/11 9:30am

The Neverending Story

Silverstein_CGI_WTC_Video

Silverstein Uses Avatar-Quality CGI to Bring the World Trade Center to Life [Video]

Silverstein Properties, along with Mayor Bloomberg, Chris Ward, Daniel Liebeskind, Michael Arad and pretty much every other person working at the World Trade Center site, held a construction update in the new 10th-floor leasing office inside 7 World Trade Center yesterday.

There wasn’t much news, but it was impressive to see the efforts being made to attract more tenants to the site (Condé’s in, but UBS is out). There are interactive touch screens with neighborhood amenities and transportation news—as though there were any question Tribeca and FiDi is a worse place to work than Midtwon—plus a 12-foot model of the finished site. It’s so big, the 1 WTC antenna is clipped to fit under the soaring ceilings. Silverstein even produced a Future World Trade Center video mixing live action and CGI that would make James Cameron proud, which has been posted by The Architect’s Newspaper. Grab some popcorn and enjoy. Read More

By Matt Chaban 9/07/11 2:48pm

Tales of Retail

Big time.

Century 21, Tourist Horde's Favorite Department Store, Expanding Just in Time for Ground Zero Crowds

It may be the worst shopping experience after the Trader Joe’s in Union Square. Still, when Century 21 is good, it’s really good. Dress shoes, bow ties, and some of the best clearance deals in town—if you can stand slapdash shelves and crammed clothes racks, the flood of tourists fighting for clothes and the woefully indifferent staff, the store can be a goldmine.

These problems could be disappearing as Century 21 plans to expand its downtown flagship in the coming months, according to Crain’s. Well, everything except for the rudeniks behind those red aprons. Read More

By Tom Acitelli 9/06/11 8:14pm

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

By Elise Knutsen 9/06/11 5:27pm

Manhattan Transfers

960 Fifth Avenue (Photo from StreetEasy)

960 Fifth Spread, Out to Stud, Nails $6.8 M. Sale

The estate of prominent horse breeder and philanthropist Edward “Ned”  Evans has sold his Fifth Avenue apartment. According to an obituary by the New York Racing Association, Evans ranked seventh among the most successful American racehorse owners the year he died, 2010, raking in over $3 million in prize money. (At one time the C.E.O. of Macmillan publishers as well, Evans recently donated $50 million to the Yale School of Management. Boola Boola, indeed.)  Read More

By Jotham Sederstrom 9/06/11 4:00pm

lease beat

Upscale Footwear Walks Into 807 Washington

Fashionable club-goers and maybe even a few hog butchers will be able to navigate the brick roads of the meatpacking district in style now that Nicholas Kirkwood, the upscale designer footwear brand has inked a 1,572-square-foot retail deal at 807 Washington Street.

Located between Gansevoort and Horatio streets, the ground-floor boutique is scheduled to open by winter of 2012, broker said. As with most space—office and retail alike—asking prices have risen in the area since the High Line park opened two years ago, although specific prices at 807 Washington Street were not immediately available. Read More

By Thornton McEnery 9/06/11 2:52pm

House Porn

7 Photos

The bath with a view of Chase's operations offices and so much more of Metrotech... sexy.

Where to Take a Relaxing Bath with An Expensively Expansive View of Metrotech

CORE has a listing for five-bed, five-bath, 5,100-square-foot condo, with luxurious accents of a very certain taste, that looms above downtown Brooklyn from a decidedly un-luxurious location.

But if you love the idea of living in downtown Brooklyn while peering down on it imperiously from above, but don’t like a lot of tempered glass in your interior design or living at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge, we’ve got some bad news… Read More