He’s exactly right, of course. Office rents have never been higher, and tenants in need of a big block of space have nowhere else to turn.

Well, to every real-estate problem a solution! This week, Mr. Fiddle and CB Richard Ellis, which represents the landlord LeFrak Organization, will launch a campaign to market a contiguous block of 184,000 square feet on floors 27 through 34 at 40 West 57th Street.

As a sure-fire sign of how far this market has come, minimum taking rents—not asking—will be $125 per square foot for floors 27 through 32, and $140 per square foot on floors 33 and 34, Mr. Fiddle said.

Add this large swath of space to those pricey rents and this should represent the most expensive block of Manhattan office space available this summer.

The marketed rents at 40 West 57th Street are what you might expect in 399 Park Avenue or for a new tower like One Bryant Park. In this surging market, however, these are the sorts of rents one will evidently find in the 35-year-old 40 West 57th, which is just off Sixth Avenue (in a building where a lease was signed for about three times less than those prospective rents just last year).

Mr. Fiddle, who said he’s already received calls on the space, said he hopes to have a deal wrapped up this summer. Move-in will be fall of 2008.

“This is a big block of space, which is in short supply,” he said. “The views are drop-dead. Looking north, there are unbelievable views of Central Park, and there are unbelievable cityscape views.”

The tower, which was built by the LeFraks in 1972 and where the LeFrak Organization maintains its headquarters, has gone through an expansive makeover. New elevators and glittery tenants are just a few byproducts of the renovation (Nobu’s midtown home is in the basement of the building.)

The floors come to the market as a result of Bank of America’s forthcoming exodus to its tower at One Bryant Park. The financial giant moved into 40 West 57th only five years ago, so the available space comes with the extra bonus of keeping Bank of America’s furniture, which Mr. Fiddle described as “tastefully done and impeccably maintained.”

Mr. Fiddle said there’s still some debate over whether the LeFraks will take on one big tenant or divvy up the floors between well-heeled tenants like hedge funds.

Even though it hasn’t formally hit the market, the space’s size and its robust rents are already the source of conversation among brokers.

Topic A: Last year, Nautica signed a lease in the base of the building for rents at $45 per square foot, according to a source familiar with that deal. Nautica’s rents represent about three times less than what CBRE is looking for.

Mr. Fiddle disputed the rent number—he claimed it was a bit higher—and said that Nautica’s deal in the bottom of the building can’t be compared to the tower floors.

“Candidly, when that deal was done, it was below-market then—and those floors don’t have the same views down there,” he said. “It’s a very different space and it’s a good-credit tenant, and the LeFraks like to keep their tenants.”

To be sure, the Manhattan office market has made a massive leap in the last 18 months. So far this year, more leases have been signed for at least $125 per square foot than have been signed for between $100 and $124.99, according to the brokerage Cushman & Wakefield.

Even if leasing activity has slowed, tenants understand that they’ll have to pay big if they want prime Manhattan space, Mr. Fiddle said.

“This space is not even on the market and it hasn’t been advertised at all, but people are starting to learn about it and we’re already getting a number of phone calls,” he said.

With views on all four sides, a hugely respected landlord in the Lefraks and rents—no matter how high—that are still a discount from some pre-eminent Manhattan palaces like the G.M. Building or 9 West 57th Street, deep-pocketed tenants may be advised to schedule tours quickly.

You’ll Never Guess What’s Selling for $2,200 a Foot

The gems of midtown like 666 Fifth Avenue may sell for $1,200 per square foot, but what about those buildings that exceed even that staggering clip?

Sure, the buildings might be 5,000 square feet, but they’re setting new standards for retail buys.

A pair of buildings at 714 and 720 Lexington Avenue, at the corner of 58th Street, sold for $22 million, or $2,200 per square foot. The buyer is Stanley Chera’s Crown Acquisitions and the investment team of Robert Cayre and Alex Adjmi. Taken together—though they’re not connected—the buildings total 9,956 square feet, according to CoStar.

Mr. Adjmi is getting used to setting retail standards. He is in contract to buy 600 Broadway at the corner of Houston for more than $1,000 per square foot, the first four-digit mark in Soho’s history.

The retail component that’s driving the $2,200-per-foot price tag on Lexington Avenue, meanwhile, is controlled by Steve Madden Shoes and the Body Shop (who knew that buying that $8 container of cocoa butter went so far?). The Steve Madden lease is a new one, and the store will open at 720 Lexington soon.

The broker who handled this deal, Lisa Singer, is a newbie to real-estate circles. Prior to arriving in this fine profession, she was the casting director for television shows like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and The Bachelor. (Wading through the disheveled, tousled candidates for Queer Eye no doubt prepared her for the sweaty, testosterone-laden terrain that is commercial real estate.)

Ms. Singer, who has been working with HaysVentures, a boutique brokerage that represents buyers, has been brokering for only a few months. And she is surely proud of her first deal.

“Everyone is impressed that I did my first deal in my first three months,” she told The Observer. “They tell me that that never happens. They say it takes years.”

While Mr. Lemann is a highly respected and well-liked journalist, early indications of what came out of Mr. Bollinger's committee are not promising. In addition to sensible and somewhat obvious suggestions, such as giving students more grounding in economics and political theory (they needed six months and a 30-member committee to come up with that?), Mr. Bollinger intends to expand the current 10-month J-school program to two years. This is pure folly, the purpose of which can only be to double the J-school revenue for Columbia. Unlike the study of business or law or medicine, which require a substantial pool of basic knowledge before one embarks on a career, reporting and writing are crafts that one learns by doing. While an argument can be made that a year of postgraduate study to earn a master's degree in journalism is helpful, a second year is a waste of time that could be better spent burning up shoe leather for a small-town newspaper or local TV station. But if Columbia's board of trustees approves Mr. Bollinger's plan, students who previously saw merit in a year spent learning the basics of reporting may be forced to endure a second year of servitude while their peers are out in the world, reporting real stories and building a name for themselves. A two-year program will drive away the best, and attract those who want to linger in academia.

Frankly speaking, it's difficult to name a great journalist today who attended a graduate school of journalism. Maureen Dowd, Tom Brokaw, Frank Rich, Andrea Mitchell, Russell Baker, Ted Koppel, Thomas Friedman-none has a graduate degree in journalism hanging on his or her wall, yet each has risen to the pinnacle of print or broadcast journalism. And one can search among the storied names of journalism's past, such as H.L. Mencken, Edward R. Murrow, James Reston, Walter Lippman, Murray Kempton or Walter Winchell, without finding any formal training in journalism.

Mr. Lemann and Mr. Bollinger are in strong agreement that the Columbia J-school program should be lengthened to two years. Apparently, one irony has escaped them: Mr. Lemann himself never attended journalism school.

The Partisan Review : 1934-2003

With the closing of the Partisan Review , New York's intellectual community has lost a treasured friend, and the nation has lost a memorable voice. The Review's demise was announced on April 16, when the periodical's owner, Boston University, decided it could no longer afford the cost of publication. The university had supported the Review since 1978.

When the intellectual and cultural histories of the American Century are written decades from now, the Partisan Review will serve as a primary source for insight into some of the nation's greatest thinkers and writers. The journal provided a forum for people like Mary McCarthy, Dwight Macdonald, Norman Mailer, Irving Howe, Lionel Trilling and Susan Sontag. Left-wing intellectuals who saw Stalin not as a champion of the proletariat, but as the bloodthirsty dictator he was, poured out their passion and their arguments in the magazine's pages. It took courage to make that point in the 1930's and 40's, but there was never any shortage of courage at the Partisan Review . Though the quarterly magazine's circulation never exceeded 15,000, its influence among New York's intellectual elite was profound. It surely was one of the most influential periodicals in American history.

The Review's power and circulation in recent years was not what it had been. Times have changed, and so have the issues. Still, it's a shame that Boston University believed it could not make a go of the magazine after its remarkable co-founder and editor in chief, William Phillips, died last September.

Perhaps the Review will return in some form, or at least its spirit will live on in other brave and bracing publications. Regardless, the journal's place in American history is assured. The talented men and women who contributed to the Partisan Review will be read, their ideas debated, long into the 21st century. Their contribution to New York, and to the world of ideas, is eternal.

Sam LeFrak

"I gave the people what they wanted, at a price they could afford to pay."

That profoundly wise voice belonged to Sam LeFrak, the flamboyant developer who revolutionized middle-class housing in New York City and who passed away last week at the age of 85. Thanks to his stubborn belief that New Yorkers deserved decent, safe and affordable housing, thousands of the city's residents lived their lives in comfort and security. Sam LeFrak took over the family real-estate business in 1948, and proceeded to build over 150,000 apartments and houses in the New York area over the next 40 years. He demonstrated that the private sector can and must play a key role in maintaining New York as an attractive and affordable place to live. From six-story walkups to the vast LeFrak City in Queens, with its swimming pools and doormen, to the $10 billion residential and commercial Newport City in Jersey City, LeFrak made sure that his apartments were rented at reasonable rates and were outfitted with private security forces and high-tech safety equipment. And he put his name on his buildings not out of ego, but because he wanted his tenants to know that he was accountable. And he made it a good business-as The New York Times recently noted, he followed his parents' advice: "Just be smart and never get caught overleveraged."

Sam LeFrak's generosity to his tenants extended to other areas. In addition to being a noted art collector himself, he was a major philanthropist, funding a concert hall at Queens College, a sculpture terrace at the Guggenheim Museum, a learning center at Temple Emanu-El-not to mention helping finance the team that found the Titanic .

Sam LeFrak's zest and compassion will be missed, but his name will always remind New Yorkers that one individual still has the power to transform the world's greatest city.