The Afternoon Wrap: Monday

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 18:15:56 -0400

The boringly-named U.S. General Services Administration gives out annual prizes for public projects, and this year there was only one winner in New York among the 18 prizes. Jacob K. Javits Federal Building Entry Pavilion, rejoice! Also: We need cooler public architecture. [Arch. Record News]

At long last, Williamsburg finally becomes cool, getting a new "Asian-fusion" restaurant (appropriately named Scene). Tellingly, it's close to American Apparel. [Brooklyn Record]

Bad-haired Bon Jovi is a good guy. He's helping finish renovations on "an energy-efficient, three-story condo complex on Halsey Street" in Bedford-Stuy, where apartments will be rented to low-income locals. Viva Brooklyn-based 80's hair metal philanthropy. [Page Six]

Co-ops are so cruel these days, and doormen are so victimized: No more dog food treats; no more food-delivery work; no more watching rich people's babies! [NY Mag, D.I.]

- Max Abelson

The Afternoon Wrap: Monday!

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 16:13:09 -0400

Mr. YSL! [Teller]

Yves Saint Laurent's 75-acre estate, an 1874 doozy off the Normandy Coast, has been reduced from $25.6 million to $19.9. (Why? "It was too much.") We hope his old Fifth Avenue pad does a little bit better. (It can be fashionably yours for a mere $7.75 million.) [Forbes]

Realtor-Mocking Blog Post of the Month: A couple of weeks ago, the Freakonomics geniuses noticed the National Association of Realtors' ego-bruised response to a poll listing realty as the single least prestigious calling. (The NAR's retort doesn't exactly add to the profession's reputation.) "It can't feel good to come in dead last in anything," Freak-man Stephen Dubner wrote, "even a public-opinion survey." [Freakonomics]

Thankfully, the rental market is apparently cooling off after a hellish summer. Will renters have an easier time this winter? "The party might be over for the city's brokers and landlords," writes The Real Deal, "at least for now." [TRD]

Though the "U.S. General Services Administration" doesn't sound like an exciting bunch, they've filled their "influential chief architect post" with a young modernist instead of a classicist (who had been considered a shoe-in). Viva modernity! [Chicago Tribune, via Arch News Now]

- Max Abelson

Observer » U.S. General Services Administration

The Afternoon Wrap: Monday

The Afternoon Wrap: Monday!