Stephen Alesch and Robin Standefer, co-principals in the architecture and design firm Roman and Williams, have very definite opinions about the minimalist aesthetic that has prevailed in Manhattan for almost two decades.
“Take the Gehry building on the West Side,” said Mr. Alesch the other day, sitting at a table made from a reclaimed Read More
CVS Pharmacy is leasing a basement retail condominium in the Philippe Starck-designed condo on 23rd Street between First and Second avenues. Omnispective Management, the leaser, bought the condo for $22.2 million. Eastern Consolidatd represented both the buyer and the seller in the off-market transaction, and told The Observer of the deal.
It represents a homecoming Read More
Ettore Sottsass, the celebrated Italian designer, died at his home in Milan today. He was 90 years old.
Mr. Sottsass is primarily credited with founding the Memphis Group—an influential collective of Italian-based designers, who were primarily concerned with furniture and product—in 1980. Before disbanding in 1988, the work of Memphis scholars was Read More
Eccentric designer Philippe Starck apparently doesn’t think much of the Royalton Hotel’s new look.
“I think if you are lucky enough to own an icon, you shouldn’t kill the icon," Mr. Starck said of the hotel lobby’s recent redesign, during an interview with the New York Times.
Mr. Starck, of course, created Read More
Wall Street Journal columnist Bret Stephens had the exterminator come over to his lower Manhattan apartment one recent morning; as he left the exterminator to do his dirty work killing bed bugs, Mr. Stephens passed a sign put up by his landlord touting the "luxury rentals" in the building.
That got him thinking:
…[T]hanks Read More
“This is not a building opening—it’s just a party,” said luxury-property propagandist Michael Shvo.
He was standing along a black carpet runway with black velvet ropes and a big white backdrop bearing logos for the new Gramercy, a 21-story high-end apartment tower on East 23rd Street outfitted by eccentric French designer Philippe Read More
AIG Takes Risk in Big Downtown Lease
“If 2006 was a year that confirmed downtown’s renewed relevance, then what a way to finish. In one of the largest deals of last year, the insurance giant AIG has signed a 250,000-square-foot lease at Financial Square at 32 Old Slip.” Go to Commercial Breaks by Read More
Putting the High In Low,
Ducasse Mixes It UpThe smartly dressed man and woman at the next table had just finished a business lunch at Mix when their waitress appeared with a giant bottle of Nutella, the chocolate-hazelnut spread. Using a shallow silver utensil that was rounded at both ends, she spooned some of the Read More
