The review process for the Riverside Center development is a long one for Extell- a bit like walking too many blocks on a hot day this summer. There is the city’s rezoning process, public hearings, and CB7.

Community Board 7 held a special 4 hour meeting just to talk about Extell’s project, finalizing their own recommendations. They voted 36 to 2 to disapprove of Extell’s plan unless Extell builds according to CB7’s “modifications.” In essence, CB7 wants more school space and affordable housing and less buildings overall. You can see a concise breakdown of the differences since the original 1992 plan, good visuals, and the core principles CB7 is working from in this report.

• Extell has already agreed to fund construction for the “core and shell” of 75,000 square feet of school space- the School Construction Authority will have to pay for the rest. CB7 wants Extell to pay for all of it.
• Extell has already agreed to make 12% of the units affordable for 20 years. CB7 wants 30% affordable forever.
• CB7 wants Extell to make a “substantial contribution” to potential future reconfiguration of the Miller Highway.

At the end of the meeting, an Extell representative handed out a statement that read, in part: “While we recognize the Board’s hard work, they clearly do not recognize the difficulty in developing projects in this uniquely challenging economic environment. However, this is just the beginning of a long process. We look forward to the next round of the process.”

But before that, it’s off to the City Planning Commission and the City Council for Extell.

Photo Credit: NYC.gov

Want to live in the mansion Mae West once graced? Her former Upper West Side residence at 266 West End Avenue is listed at $30 million, pending the complete restoration currently in progress.The building is 28 feet wide with 14,000 square feet of space. It was built in 1896 seemingly out of limestone and pure elegance.

The five floors plus a garden and roof deck, will eventually boast a ball room, library, conservatories, sauna, steam room, elevator and radiant heating. Add to that the touches like a carved oak staircase, solid bronze windows, carved fireplace mantles, tiger oak floors, mosaics, and… you get the idea. It’s amazing.

Current owner Todd Wider, a documentary filmmaker and plastic surgeon, seems to be combining his two passions in bringing this mansion back to beauty. And he knows how to work a deal: he bought the house in 2004 for $1.2 million- from one Jedd Wider, attorney for the seller’s estate.

Photo Credit: Curbed

Did they just Google you?

Doormen see a lot of clues going in and out of the lobby, but how curious do they get and how much further will they go to find out about the tenants in the buildings where they work? BrickUnderground opened a door to the reality that some doormen just may be Googling the people in their building. Here is the exchange they got from an interview with Rafat Ali, who founded and then sold ContentNext Media in California before moving to New York 6 months ago:

“Ali walked into his Murray Hill building yesterday morning [and] stopped to alert the doorman that he was expecting some guests for a housewarming party.

“His first reaction was, ‘You can’t go on the roof,’” says Ali, who immediately bristled at the doorman’s tone. “I said, ‘Okay, but now that you said that I might.”

The doorman accused Ali of having an “attitude,” then, according to Ali, blurted out: “You think you’re better than us. I Googled you and because you sold your company for however many millions of dollars, you think you are a bigshot.”

In the ensuing exchange, the doorman apparently threatened to have Ali kicked out of the building.

“I said ‘I don’t want to deal with this, I have guests coming over,’” says Ali.

So what do you do if you founded a new media company and somebody Googles you? You release your shock and awe on Twitter. That’s what Ali did and that’s how BrickUnderground found him.

According to the story, Ali has now received a written apology from the doorman, but it may be too late for the doorman to salvage a reputation with Ali. And as one person pointed out on twitter:

“Suppose it would be useless to point out that ‘sold company’ = ‘better holiday tip’?”

Photo Credit: garryknight

A 15 Central Park West condo has gone on the market, and while it’s For Sale By Owner (FSBO), it’s still selling for over $4,000 per square foot. And in this case it’s not what’s on the inside that counts- it’s all form, no substance. Curbed calls it the ugliest apartment in the building, and unless you like purple more than anyone this side of Medieval royalty, you may just forget about the price and start thinking about how to redecorate.

#2D, currently owned by Amy Kit Ming Mak, is listed at $8.5 million, almost double the $4.327 she paid for it. The apartment is 2,200 square feet with 2 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms, and is located at the back of the second floor, so no luck on the Central Park view. The best thing about the interior design may be that whatever the next buyer does will look stunning and, doubtlessly, modern.

Photo Credits: NY Curbed

It’s the moment we’ve been waiting for. Time to shed those winter parkas and grab your flip flops, the picnic season is back again.

It takes serious planning for a perfect picnic in the park and The Hoch Group wants you prepared. Best brunch places? That’s so…February. Here are the top 10 Upper West Side ‘Picks-for your-Picnic’ no matter what park entrance you are going in on. Sorry East Siders, that list is still to come.

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Top 10 Upper West Side ‘Picks-for your-Picnic’

Whole Foods – Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle (also the new 97th/Columbus location if you’re uptown!)

This one is a given…prepared food is perfect for throwing in you enviro-sack.  Also, location is perfect right at the South West tip of the park. Salads, sandwiches, brown rice sushi.  You can’t go wrong here.

Lansky’s – 235 Columbus Avenue (between 70 & 71 St.)

This Jewish style deli offers a Central Park Picnic basket special with two overstuffed sandwiches, two sodas, 2 fruit pies or cookies. And if you’re really a lazy, they deliver to Central Park free!

Shake Shack –  366 Columbus Ave (77^th St)

Does much really need to be said here? Just the best damn fast food burger and shakes on this coast.

Zabars – 2245 Broadway (80^th and 81^st)

Packed chicken caesar salads and containers of fresh watermelon, Zabars is not only the oldest, most reputable gourmet market, it’s one of the best.

E.J’s Diner – 447 Amsterdam Ave, (Btwn 81st & 82nd St)

Their sandwiches are delicious and their salads are huge. Our picks:  The Cobb Salad and Granny Smith’s Chopped Chicken Salad.

Blossom – 466 Columbus (82nd&83rd)

The perfect choice for all you veggies/vegans/raw foodies. Our picks: The Philly Cheese Sandwich made with pan seared seitan and The Blossom Burrito. They also make great smoothies perfect for sipping in the park. Take out is easy at the front bar of the restaurant.

Hampton Chutney – 464 Amsterdam Avenue (82^nd and 83^rd)

Dosas, Uttapas, mango chutney, and chai tea…a refreshing and portable twist to Indian cuisine. If you don’t know what a Dosas or Uttapas are, just think a paper thin crusty super light bread folded over and stuffed with whatever you like. How can you go wrong with that!

Artie’s Diner – 2290 Broadway (83^rd street)

Pastrami on Rye, huge salads perfect for sharing, not to mention sides of potato salad and cole slaw. This place is perfect for the classic picnic. Call ahead of time for prompt picnic pick up.

Popover Café – 551 Amsterdam Avenue (87^th street)

This restaurants menu has something for whatever mood you’re in. Pack a few of their famous ‘popovers’ with apple butter or strawberry preserves and you’re in business. I’m into the Granny. That’s turkey breast, granny smith apple, turkey, bacon, melted cheddar, red onion, watercress, raisin-horseradish dressing with a side of pasta salad. Gotta love it!

The Bagel Basket – 618 Amsterdam Avenue (90^th street)

This small family owned bagel shop is home of NY’s Original Rainbow Bagel and Flagel (a flat and crunchy version of the classic bagel).

*** Bring on the BOOZE!  My favorite wine store, West Side Wine on 83rd and Columbus is close to the park entrance and carries the new hip version of boxed wine.  Yellow and Blue’s certified organic wines are in environmentally friendly packaging, and they are actually good!  Try their Sauvignon Blanc…and don’t forget the cooler!

Photo Credits: crowbert & jonbell has no h

247 Central Park West: $32 Million

Keith Monda, former Coach co-president and chief operating officer, has put his five-bedroom townhouse at 247 Central Park West back on the market for $32 million. If it sells, it will once again break its own record as the highest-priced single-family townhouse sale on the Upper West Side. Abigail Disney, Walt Disney’s grandniece, sold it for $15.5 million in 2006 and last month the title sold for $19.3 million 26 West 76th Street.

History

247 Central Park West boasts two offices, two outdoor spaces, its own elevator, an indoor 60 foot lap pool, a domed entry parlor skylight and a roof terrace with views of Central Park. It was designed by Edward Angell and constructed by William Noble in 1887- it is one of only a few single-family homes on Central Park West still remaining. Had it not been for architect W. Gedney Beatty’s refusal to sell in the ‘20s, the building would have been demolished and replaced with an apartment building.

According to Mara Flash Blum of Sotheby’s International Realty, the new asking price reflects renovations, which include a new media room and gym. If you have any interest in this property give me a call and may god forever bless you.

Source: The Real Deal

Photo Credit: Curbed

Interiors at the Dakota

The Upper West Side’s historically important and legendary Dakota is timeless, full of history.  But Curbed tells another sad west side story of dramatic  price drop on Apartment #54 since it went on the market last December. It is a 3 bedroom, 2 ½ bathroom that started, just 2 months ago, $7.5 million. Just 6 weeks later at the end of January it was $6.25 million…now it’s down to $5.999 million.

That’s a 20% drop in just two months.

Part of the allure of #54 is the story of the West Side Story. It was in this apartment, where Ruth Ford (girlfriend of William Faulkner) was living, that Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents first bumped into each other and began telling the tale of the Jets and the Sharks, eventually leading to their work with another Dakota resident: Leonard Bernstein.

So why isn’t the place selling? Curbed ventures a guess at the $5,088 monthly maintenance but if any of you want your own West Side Story give me a call!

“…for a small fee in Amer-I-ca…”

Photo Credit: Curbed

Floorplan

Doormen are a classic symbol of Manhattan living. Almost as ubiquitous are the doormen’s chairs- which some condo boards seem to feel are a bit too luxurious of a distraction. Brick Underground tells the story of an Upper West Side condo board who took the doorman’s chair away after renovating the lobby and relocating the doorman’s station.

Photo Credit: Tony

The Doormen of New York City

New York City Doormen

“Usually there are more sensitive souls on the board. And if you take it away you have to take it away from everyone—not just the day guy but the midnight guy. It’s hard to go for eight hours without a chair and only two 15 minute breaks,” says Lynn Whiting, building property manager.

This time, though, the “more sensitive souls” were the residents. It turns out they wouldn’t… stand for it. The story goes on to say that the residents circulated a petition to bring the chair back.

“They didn’t do it to be mean or inhumane—they just wanted him to be more alert and pay more attention. They thought it was inhumane to have to stand for eight hours straight or in some instances the doorman was doing a double shift.”

Whiting also notes that the building is not alone in their “sense that if the doorman is sitting, he’s not that alert and not watching, and can’t quickly get the door.”

The board did bring back the chair, and the incident has certainly gotten the doorman to stand at attention.