Too handsome to be a criminal
Real estate investment group Leslie Dick Worldwide is suing Macklowe Properties for $750 million, alleging a “bid-rigging conspiracy” behind the sale of the stately GM Building. According to Dick, the September 2003 auction was “a fraud and a sham”–because its own $1.5b offer was passed over for Macklowe’s $1.4, and because George Soros gave Macklowe $350m for its purchase. If Google search hits are any indicator, Soros and Macklowe have a combined 4,820,000-point advantage over Leslie Dick. (AP, via NY Daily News)
Who said The Times was unpatriotic? Frank Bruni celebrates freedom: “from making a reservation a month in advance; from stuffy dress; from stilted etiquette; from a compulsory prix-fixe sequence of amuse-bouche, appetizer, main course.” Liberation is found, of course, in the magic lounges of New York’s haute eateries (Del Posto, the Modern, Perry St. and more.) (New York Times)
Construction on Richard Meier’s 15-story, $1,200-per-square-foot, 119-unit Brooklyn tower reaches the great halfway point. Grand Army Plaza never looked so glassily modern. (Curbed)
Cool, hard South Korean cash finally pours into the US real estate market. Corcoran senior VP Neal Sroka gushes: the money “is astronomical.” (Wall Street Journal)
Video of the Day: NBC’s Roseanne Colletti takes a very hard look at 1,000 Brooklyn listings, finds that DUMBO has gotten expensive, and suggests Brownsville as a cheap alternative. Somehow Ms. Colletti also found the time this week to uncover the news that Manhattan is still pricey. (WNBC)
Just because a Brooklyn Assemblyperson tried to get a $500,000 home by bribing a developer with city-owned land doesn’t mean we all have to toss around cruel phrases like “crime wave.” Or does it? (New York Sun)
– Max Abelson
