By Stephen Jacob Smith 4/01 3:05pm

R.I.P.

Photo courtesy Gowanus Lounge.

Park Slope Guard Dog Owner Said to Have Jumped Off Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

During the depths of the Great Recession, Angelo Biondo, owner of K-9 Powerhouse Kennel in Park Slope, was doing great business. Mr. Biondo rented out his guard dogs to developers who needed someone—or some animal—to watch over their stalled sites, but couldn’t afford a full-time human guard.

He told The Observer in 2009 that he charged $1,750 to $2,000 a month for the service—a steal compared to what a guard of the primate species would cost. “Brooklyn is the No. 1 area,” he said at the time, though neighbors near stalled sites guarded by Mr. Biondo’s dogs were not always so pleased—two dogs at a Robert Scarano site once escaped and bit a neighbor and his dog.

The market has since rebounded—there aren’t many stalled sites left to guard—but when the next crash inevitably arrives, Mr. Biondo won’t be around to rent out Great Danes and Rottweilers to unlucky builders. Read More

By Bonnie Kavoussi 8/19/09 6:08pm

The Finger Will Be 14 Stories and Will Be Called the Tree

It’s become a cliché now: for the past few years, the Finger Building has been getting the finger from Williamsburg residents, the guy who sued (Scott Spector), HSBC, and even from its new owners, who have changed its name to the Albero (“the Tree” in Italian).

Though construction had stalled and the building had Read More

By Staff 3/23/07 6:19pm

The Afternoon Wrap: Friday

  • Horrifyingly, the basement lounge at the Chelsea Hotel (where Leonard Cohen remembers you well) has been transformed into “an offbeat retreat.” Designer Richardson Sadeki even had the gall to drop in some dead-Sex Pistols references. [Interior Design]
  • After taking seven bad hits of L.S.D., Robert Scarano reimagines Stuy Town as Read More

    • By Staff 8/29/06 1:37pm

    Yassky and Scarano Night

    Tonight, David Yassky is holding a fundraiser on York Street with Robert Scarano, a well-known Brooklyn real estate developer who just gave up his right to self-certify architectural work after a series of complaints were filed with the city’s Department of Buildings.

    “The city said that many of his buildings were larger than Read More

    By Staff 8/04/06 2:05pm

    Brownstoner’s Schadenfreude

    The New York Times reports today that Robert M. Scarano Jr.–whom has been an object of ridicule (rightfully so, IOHO) on Brownstoner lately for dubious zoning interpretations and near-constant injuries on job sites –has given up self-certification. His designs will now have to be certified by city examiners.

    -Matthew Grace