Last November marked the completion of a two-year, $20 million renovation of the lobby of the Empire State Building—a pretty hefty sum just to retrofit such a particular space. While the cost was certainly of large proportions, it is no…
In the best of circumstances, qualifying an applicant for a co-op or condominium purchase can be a challenging process. Market conditions play a part in a board's consideration of applicants, and recent fluctuations have changed the wa…
The year 2008 is likely to go down in history as one of the most disappointing (or maybe flat-out alarming) for the U.S. economy in general. To be fair, the city hasn’t suffered as much as most of the nation has—but the co-op and condo …
The realities of a depressed real estate market have finally settled upon New York City. We’ve seen a significant drop in sale prices over just the past few months. This has been coupled with a rapid increase in inventory levels as unit…
Last January, not even television psychic, Ms. Cleo, could have predicted the events that were set to unfold in 2008. With the unraveling of the economy that we’ve already heard quite a bit about and forecasts for a gloomy start to 2009…
Examining a few pounds of freeze-dried goji berries in the Bowery neighborhood’s Whole Foods market, it is easy to forget that you might be standing in the exact spot where the Bowery Boys, clad terrifyingly in stovepipe hats and flared…
If only I had had an extra $100,000 25 years ago. (OK—an extra $100,000, today would be good too.) But that’s what I kept thinking as I sat chatting with Oliver Allen, a retired journalist and author who is now a regular contributor to h…
As prices for co-op and condo apartments in Manhattan continue to climb, and wealthy buyers continue to clamor for the next word in luxury real estate, one subset of house-hunters has set their sights on something different. They want on…
Emma Lazarus perhaps said it best in her immortal poem in which she spoke about the wave of immigrants that were welcomed to American’s golden shores. Generation upon generation of newcomers have chosen to settle in New York City and its…
Affordable apartments with fresh air, good light, and attractively landscaped grounds for middle-income people—those were the goods Park West Village was created to deliver in the late 1950s and early 1960s as part of a government-s…