Kim and Kanye are selling off their real estate holdings. (Patrick McMullan)

Most couples who are expecting their first child go in for nesting, but Kanye West and Kim Kardashian seem to be doing just the opposite. First, Ms. Kardashian sold her Beverly Hills home for $5 million, then Mr. West put his Hollywood Hills home on the market for $3.3 million and now, it appears, the recording artist/producer/fashion designer also wants to sell his condo at 25 West Houston Street.

Are Mr. West and Ms. Kardashian socking away cash for the baby's college fund? Pooling their resources for the renovation of the $9 Bel Air estate that they just bought? Or is selling off all your bi-coastal luxury real estate the rich "it" couple equivalent of painting the nursery?

Whatever the case, it seems that Mr. West may be having doubts about parting with his beloved New York bachelor pad.

25 West Houston Street.

On Wednesday, Mr. West's fourth-floor Soho condo ever-so-briefly hit the market for $4.5 million. The condo, which Mr. West purchased for $1.25 million back in 2006 and combined with the unit next door, appeared for just a short time on OLR, an online listings service, before vanishing from the database that same day. Just like a celebrity power couple ducking past a scrum of paparazzi! (Although who are we kidding? Kim Kardashian never ducked past a paparazzo in her life)

Was the listing simply premature? Or did Mr. West reconsider? We can't say for sure given that Corcoran broker Tamir Shemesh, who had the phantom listing, did not return The Observer's call. But maybe the prospect—however remote—of having to stay with the Jenners at their Calabasas mansion struck Mr. West as so unsavory that he wanted to make sure he had A, B, and C back-up plans.

(Riveting though the whole "Teen Mom" moving-in-with-the-parents drama was, we highly doubt that the duo would have been faced with a decision to crash with the Jenners or live out of their fleet of Range Rovers while they waited for renovations to finish on their new mansion. The Kardashian Wests reportedly have a $50,000 a month rental in LA, and unlike Lindsay Lohan, credit cards that are accepted at all luxury hotels.)

Unfortunately, no photos were posted with the listing and the few other details were generic: oversized windows, high ceilings, a powder room. The unit was listed as a one-bedroom, though that seems awfully small for $4.5 million. City records simply describe the two units as "single residential condo unit" and "condo unit without kitchen."

Mr. West bought the condo with an LLC—KW International. In 2011, he put the condo under the name of a trustee—wealth manager Charles Willhoit.

As for the potential buyer of Mr. West's possibly-listed apartment, at least an artist in residence permits won't be necessary to move into the 2004 condo. Though "Soho 25" (as the building sometimes likes to call itself) does not lack for artists (actress Julianna Margulies is a resident) or TV show reality stars. It may lose Ms. Kardashian if Mr. West's pad sells, but there's always Padma Lakshmi in the penthouse.

Despite Soho's artist-in-residence laws, we're guessing the co-op board would rather Mr. Cai not create gunpowder art at home.

Artist Cai Guo-Qiang is best known for blowing things up—he designed the opening and closing ceremony fireworks shows for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and once built a "10,000-meter barricade of fire [that] was sustained with 1300 pounds of gunpowder" in the middle of the Gobi Desert. But for the sake of his new neighbors, he might have to temper those artistic urges at home: the Chinese contemporary artist just bought the penthouse at 542 Broadway, in SoHo.

Mr. Cai and his wife, Hong Hong Wu, picked up the massive 4,120-square foot spread for $5.95 million—a price that would surely make his father, an ardent communist who "thinks Communism now is ruined," according to his son, by the cultural and economic freedoms that the country has experienced since over the past few decades, wish for a Cultural Revolution redux.

But for the capitalists among us, the four-bedroom duplex has much to offer. "The centerpiece of the loft," Sotheby's Robin Stein, who listed the unit with her husband, Jeremy, told The Observer, is the "double-height octagonal atrium dining room that the current owners inherited." Sellers Peter Douglas and Ulrika Ekman, are both lawyers whose "artist in residence" credentials, necessary to live in SoHo, are unknown. They have owned the unit for 15 years, so we're guessing they still made a healthy profit on the resale, despite not making their $6.25 million ask.

Not caryatids, you philistine!

The living room, with its 15-foot, 7-inch high ceiling, is no slouch, either. And if even this is too constricting for Mr. Cai and Ms. Wu, the apartment comes with rooftop access, most of which is reserved for the penthouse owners. And if the owners are still not satisfied, "there is actually an additional area on the front of the roof that isn't decked," but could be.

And it's not just the interior and rooftop that dazzle—the apartment also comes with a trio of goddesses guarding the façade: Panacea, goddess of universal remedy; Athena, goddess of wisdom; and Ceres, goddess of agriculture, flank the sixth-floor windows. And for the philistines among us who wouldn't know the difference between a cymatium and a caryatid, Tom Miller at the architecture blog Daytonian in Manhattan sets us straight: "Because their heads clearly do not touch the cornice brackets above them, they politely decline to do the work of caryatids, preferring to be art."

It is, however, a large lawsuit, filed by Famous Ben’s current co-owner, John Notaro, against the pizzeria’s original owner (and widow of the real-life Famous Ben), Debbie Aliotta. According to Mr. Notaro, Ms. Aliotta violated the non-compete agreement she made when she sold her slice of the business to him in 2011.

According to the non-compete agreement, Ms. Aliotta originally promised that she would not involve herself with a business that "sells individual pizza slices, individual square pizza slices, or round or square pizza pies greater than 12 inches in diameter within a five-block radius of [Famous Ben's]" until November 2014.

But in August 2011, Ms. Aliotta opened Bella Donna Café and Pizzeria at 191 Prince Street—just two blocks away from Famous Ben’s. And from what we can deduce from Bella Donna’s online pizza menu, Ms. Aliotta is selling round and square slices and pies. We’ll admit it: that might have been a cheesy move.

The lawsuit currently filed against Ms. Aliotta states, “As a result of [Ms. Aliotta’s] wrongful conduct, [Famous Ben’s] has lost substantial business and customers,” DNAinfo reports.

But Ms. Aliotta, who founded Famous Ben’s with her late husband in 1979, insists that Mr. Notaro and his fellow co-owners, John and Ronald Pasquale, are just being really crusty.

"They took something that was originally mine and my husband's and they forced me out," Ms. Aliotta told DNAinfo. "I'm 59 years old and I don't know what they want from me. They got everything." Ms. Aliotta also maintains that Famous Ben’s current owners are still using her late husband’s old recipes.

"They would have never done this to my husband," she said. "And if it had been him who died instead, we wouldn't have done this to his wife."

We’re no professional mediators, but it seems to us like these feuding SoHo pizza vendors should just head on over to Rice to Riches and make up over a tub of Hazelnut Chocolate Bear Hug.

Not much of a downgrade.

When The Epoch Times reviewed celebrity chef Michael Symon's new Greek restaurant in the Flatiron District, Parea, in 2006, it wrote that it "might improve after Mr. Symon gets more experience in the New York restaurant world." Parea shut down the next year and Mr. Symon has refocused his efforts on the Midwest and his hometown of Columbus, Ohio (he once described his cuisine as "meat-centric"), but he's still taking The Epoch Times' advice to heart: he's staying in New York.

Mr. Symon and his wife Elizabeth just picked up a full-floor unit at 316 East 22nd Street, a boutique loft building built by David Howell Design. The six-unit building went up around the time the market crashed, and the Symons' sixth-floor unit (which is not actually the penthouse) is the first to be resold. The sellers, Neil Barve and Davray Aditi, picked up the pad in 2010 for around $2.24 million, and resold it to the Symons for $2.75 million—a tidy profit for not even three years of ownership.

The Symons could be moving from their penthouse at 210 Lafayette Street, a building styled as One Kenmare Square (nevermind that there is no "Kenmare Square" in Manhattan), designed by Richard Gluckman and developed by hotelier André Balazs. They picked up their SoHo digs for just over $3 million last year, and are asking $3.5 million for it. So far, they've gotten two offers above that price. Not bad for a condo they've only owned for a year!

Though their latest buy is cheaper than their SoHo penthouse and isn't quite in prime Gramercy territory, it isn't much of a downgrade. The 40-foot-wide condo features 1,777 square feet of space, and also boasts a private parking garage. And while the building doesn't have the same pedigree as their SoHo pad, it must be well-designed, because architect David Howell told The Observer that he in fact lives in the building. So if there are any leaks, the Symons will know who to call!

Going, going, gone at a 35 percent discount!

They say that staging an apartment is a sure way to fetch a higher price. So imagine the markdown that Aby Rosen would have taken on his penthouse at 350 West Broadway if he hadn't decorated the walls of the building with his personal art collection.

Records show that the 5,912-square-foot spread has sold for $17.56 million, which looks impressive by itself and not bad compared to the most recent $20.65 million asking price. But consider that the sponsor-unit was asking $26 million when it came on the market in December 2009. Either Soho's appeal is dwindling in inverse proportion to the hordes of shopping bag-toting tourists mobbing the streets or real estate there isn't quite as valuable as Mr. Rosen had hoped.

It's not the first time that Mr. Rosen's ambitious asking prices have gotten the better of him. His townhouse at 22 East 71st Street lingered on the market for four years being listed for $75 million. It's in contract now, reportedly for $47 million to the Qatari prime minister. The deal has yet to close.

Who will this discounted paradise atop the building of glass and champagne aluminum (their words, not ours)? Why, an LLC of course! Weston Capital Partners will enjoy not only the sophisticated, modern layout, but 360-degree views and a huge rooftop terrace. A structurally reinforced rooftop terrace, we might add, which can accommodate a "future Jacuzzi or substantial art piece." Because what limited liability corporation doesn't love Jacuzzis and fine art?

kvelsey@observer.com

Fancy!

Now that all the neighborhood galleries have fled to Chelsea, one of the few places that you can still count on to view art is developer Aby Rosen's Soho condo development at 350 West Broadway.

Mr. Rosen outfitted the lobby and model unit of the high-end seven unit building with paintings from his own private collection. In the midst of a recession, not even staging the space with valuable art and sculpture was enough to move the pricey units. But what a difference a few years and a $6 million discount make: the penthouse, which was last asking $20.65 million, is now in contract.

The 5,912-square-foot penthouse, which first hit the market for $26 million back in 2009, is the kind of sleek, pared-down space that the first few waves of Soho gentrifiers would probably have felt a little too self-conscious to embrace. There is no rough hewn or reclaimed wood, no slightly scuffed floors, no exposed brick or slightly-off kilter layouts of the neighborhood's converted lofts. No, this is a building of glass and "champagne aluminum," fumed oak floors, Vermont Cold Spring Granite and lacquered wall panels, with interiors by William T. Georgis.

It's been a face-saving fall for Mr. Rosen, who also had his townhouse at 22 East 71st Street go into contract after four full years on the market. That one also saw a price cut—with a contract reportedly signed for $47 million, a steep discount from the $75 million that Mr. Rosen was asking when the unit hit the market.

Four other units at 350 West Broadway have also closed, according to Streeteasy, leaving the now-in-contract penthouse and the floor-throughs on the sixth and seventh floors (currently listed for $8.2 million and $8 million). Corcoran Sunshine, which is handling the sales and marketing for the development, did not return a request for comment.

As we've noticed lately, many of the condo conversions that hit the market in the days, weeks and months before Lehman are now disappearing from the market at a respectable rate. Although most are not commanding the optimistic figures they tried and failed to get in headier times.

The buyer of the duplex penthouse (let's hope it's not 350 West Broadway LLC or somesuch when the sale closes) will get a three-bedroom, 4.5-bath condo with 360-degree views (until the next building project comes along, that is) and a huge rooftop terrace structurally reinforced for a "future Jacuzzi or substantial art piece." Why not add both?

"Bill Georgis is one of the best out there right now. It's nice to see his design work affirmed," said Donna Olshan, of the eponymous boutique brokerage, when we called her to chat about the impending sale. Ms. Olshan also noted that Mr. Georgis did the interiors for another Rosen project at 530 Park, which is selling briskly right now.

Sales are booming in waning days of 2012, she added, with 16 contracts as of Thursday morning, six of them above $10 million.

"The market is doing very well this month in the face of the fiscal cliff," Ms. Olshan said.

kvelsey@observer.com

When trendy, chic restaurants can no longer afford to stay in Soho, who can?

The say that New York is not the city it once was is a statement so obvious and oft-repeated that it is all but meaningless. And yet, even for the blasé, who view negative neighborhood change as a losing battle, there are occasionally startling changes, changes that suggest the city has reached an altogether different stage in its gentrification and development.

Like the impending closure of a hip Soho hot spot that has consistently studded its small, intimate tables with celebrities over its 20-year run. And, less than a mile away in the West Village, the opening of a juice bar.

Boom, at 152 Spring Street, is going out of business after Hurricane Sandy flooded the basement kitchen, causing some $100,000 worth of damage. But the real reason is that Soho has turned a corner when it comes to gentrification. The trendy eatery, once a symbol of how much Soho had changed from the gritty, industrial district it once was, cannot afford to rebuild and pay the $150,000-a-month rent.

“The rents are just ridiculous. It has become really hard for smaller restaurants and shops to survive when big luxury brands want flagships in Soho, the Chanels and Louis Vuittons of the world, even though there are never people in those stores,” former Boom partner Rocco Ancarola told the Post. “It’s just too costly to fix things up from the hurricane and fight the high rents.”

It's enough to make a person nostalgic for the earlier waves of gentrification that washed over the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, in the West Village, Elixir Juice Bar is opening its only storefront at 434 Avenue of the Americas between West Ninth and West 10th Streets, Crain's reports. Specializing in juice cleanses, Elixir has outposts in 10 Equinox gyms around the city, but this was apparently not enough to sate New Yorkers' cravings for juice and/or the dubious health benefits of juice cleanses. It will replace a lo-cal dessert shop. We're not sure if that's an improvement or not, but not all hope is lost: an Elixir at 532 Hudson Street closed down earlier, despite offering occasional specials like $5 smoothies. Maybe not all hope is lost?

kvelsey@observer.com

Steve Ashkinazy of the Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City discusses the house's history at a press conference today. (Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation)

It turns out that the federal-style rowhouse at 186 Spring Street has lots of friends in high places. Unfortunately, it may not have made them soon enough.

Today, in the latest bid to save the Soho townhouse from demolition, gay rights activists and local politicians rallied in front 186 Spring Street, highlighting the building's role in gay rights and AIDS activism. The house served as a kind of gay commune for activists and organizations in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz sold the house earlier this year to Canadian developer Stephane Boivin, who claimed he wanted it for "personal use," then hastily submitted an application to the Landmarks Preservation Commission asking to demolish the property. The $5.5 million property is in fine condition, but it seemed that Mr. Boivin never had any plans to live there. It was, after all, right next door to the seven-story, mixed-use property that he was already planning.

The house may be historic, but it's not yet landmarked, and the LPC promptly approved Mr. Boivin's application.

But now gay activists have emerged to urge the house's preservation on grounds of not only architectural history (built in 1824, it’s the last structure of its kind that has remained more or less intact in the also-nonlandmarked South Village area), but social history. Because the building housed both gay rights heavyweights Bruce Voeller and Jim Owles, activists claim that it played a key role in the post-Stonewall gay rights movement and the early days of the fight against AIDS.

“It is deeply disappointing to me that the Landmarks Preservation Commission has deemed 186 Spring Street unworthy of landmarking,” wrote New York State Senator Tom Duane in a statement.  “As the first openly gay and openly HIV-positive elected official in the New York City Council and the New York State Senate, I stand on the shoulders of legendary activists who called this 1824 federal-style row house home. I would not have not been able to accomplish all that I have—and the LGBT rights movement and fight against HIV/AIDS would not have come as far as they have—were it not for the incredible work done at 186 Spring Street by Jim Owles, Arnie Kantrowitz, Bruce Voeller and others who lived here.”

The LPC cited the building's highly-altered state and lack of architectural integrity in declining to landmark it, shortcomings that the house's supporters deny are significant enough to stop the landmarking process.

"The contributions this house and its residents made to shaping our culture and making our society fairer and more just are almost impossible to measure," said Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation director Andrew Berman in a statement.

kvelsey@observer.com

Uptown becomes more downmarket.

Once upon a time, different kinds of shops existed in different neighborhoods, catering to the different people who lived in those neighborhoods. Quaint, right? But that was then and this is now. And now every corner of Manhattan has been pretty thoroughly colonized, and homogenized, by upscale chain stores.

The transformation doesn't only happen to formerly-gritty, formerly-edgy neighborhoods, either. The New York Times reports that Madison Avenue is the latest location to undergo such delightful changes—changes that have helped the street shake off its post-recession malaise at the same time that retailers like Juicy Couture and J.Crew are not exactly brands that the most insular and upscale of all Manhattan shopping districts would have originally welcomed with open arms.

The changes are attracting a younger, less affluent crowd to the Upper East Side stretch—The Times notes that the strip that once mixed the poshest of stores with a smattering of cheap diners now includes a more diverse range of brands—albeit the diverse range of brands that can be found in just about every shopping district below 96th Street these days.

Nearly 50 stores have opened in the last 18 months, among them Tory Burch, Bottega Veneta, Alice + Olivia, Theory, Rag & Bone and Proenza Schouler.

The area is also benefiting from the arrival of boutiques that are fleeing the meatpacking district. Last month, Yigal Azrouël announced that he was leaving his flagship store in the Meatpacking District for a 1,800 square foot storefront on the Upper East Side. After all, once Patagonia moves in and Lululemon stakes out a spot (Azrouël's old spot, in fact), what's the point of even pretending that the Meatpacking District is edgy anymore?

It's only a matter of time before Madison Avenue turns into Soho: a tourist district of upper-middle class chain stores clogged with shoppers hell-bent on promenading three abreast and as slow as possible down the sidewalk.

“You can now buy a piece of art, some shoes and a panini,” LeAnn Nealz, the president of Juicy Couture told The Times. “It’s nice having old world New York mixed with some of these younger, hipper brands.”

And isn't that the new American dream? A panini place in every neighborhood?

kvelsey@observer.com

Mr. Levitas, a producer/photographer/actor/writer/painter, is a New York native who grew up equally immersed in the worlds of art and privilege, so a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in the now-rarefied Cast Iron District seems like a perfect fit for this man of many talents.

“Some days I wake up at four o’clock in the morning, go surf, write for a couple of hours, paint for a couple more, and then go out and shoot photos,” Mr. Levitas detailed his life in L.A./creative process to Interview Magazine. Has he met James Franco? They would totally be BFFs.

The loft is as rakishly handsome as Mr. Levitas: there's exposed brick, hardwood floors, what appear to be hardwood ceilings (we're sure there's reclaimed wood in there somewhere) and a high-end kitchen with teak and zinc. The fifth-floor spread also has several possible locations to put in a working fireplace, the listing, held by Prudential Douglas Elliman broker Anne Prosser, informs us. Even more perfect. Not that this kind of place comes cheap—Mr. Levitas paid $1.74 million, according to city records. And that's a fair amount less than the $2.1 million seller Stanley Gilula was asking for (he originally tried for $2.4 million when he listed it last September).

kvelsey@observer.com