WILLIAMSBURG—The first Northside Piers tower has given us so much over the years, so it's weird that the Toll Brothers' Northside Piers 2 on the Williamsburg waterfront has been all but ignored. No longer! A tipster writes: "I attended the Tower 2 model residences unveiling at Northside Piers. They were showing a 1 bedroom apt and a 2 bedroom apt, both on the 15th floor. A construction worker told me they would be finished in April 2010. Both looked great." We'll have more on NP2 next week. [CurbedWire Inbox]

· Somebody's getting the paper delivered at E2E4 [EVG]
· Park Slope's J.J. Byrne Park revealed! [Brownstoner]
· Still board to death: model's husband says building staffers are just jealous [NYDN]
· Columnist: "wholesale gentrification deadens" [NYT]
· Units at Riverdale's Solaria to hit the block Sunday [WSJ]
· What it's like to meet with Donald Trump [NYT]
· Greenpoint's Viridian is two-thirds rented [Brownstoner]
· New York City's $2 million "ghetto" apartments [BU]

[Crosby Connection's new t-shirt design, via Eater]

1) New York City: A week in advance, Eater files a list of 20 places with reservations still available for Thanksgiving dinner.

2) MePa: The Department of Health may be out to get the New York slice. The owner of Gaslight Pizzeria received a warning not to serve reheated pizza slices from the display case, but only a few pizzerias are popular enough to avoid having to do so. Is DOH out to thin the pizzeria ranks?

3) Hell's Kitchen: Two Red Mango, one in Hell's Kitchen and one on Bleecker Street, have packed it in over the past two weeks. Both had Pinkberrys in the vicinity. Suspicious!
· Eater [ny.eater.com]

1) Yair Levy: The bucket-swinging developer is the big target here. The buyers say he failed to complete construction of the building (duh), converted reserve funds for his own use and failed to make the land-lease payments to the Battery Park City Authority. Oh, and he allegedly also sold a block of units to an Italian university for use as a dorm and rented apartments as extended-stay hotel rooms, both violations of local zoning laws.

2) Michael Shvo: His Shvoness gets hit up for "false advertising and misrepresenting the amenities, renovations to the building, construction schedule and otherwise acting in bad faith with the owners." But what renderings they were!

3) Cooper Square Realty: The former rental building's old management firm is accused of using cash from the building's reserve and working fund for "other purposes" and mismanaging other funds, like "co-mingling security deposits and move-in deposits with the building account and failure to monitor the use of these various accounts."

One hundred meeeeellion dollars! That may just buy enough chlorine for that pool.
· Rector Square unit owners sue Levy, Shvo, Cooper Square for $100 million [Real Deal]
· Rector Square coverage [Curbed]

Back in 2005, New York magazine asked three brokers what a duplex at South Williamsburg's pioneering condo conversion the Gretsch, asking $1.25 million, should sell for. David Maundrell, grand poobah of boutique Brooklyn brokerage Aptsandlofts.com, said $995,000, adding that the wide-open loft space would require a build out for a family-oriented buyer. It eventually sold to music video director Ed Steinberg for $1.047 million, and now, years later, Maundrell's brokerage is handling the resale. Steinberg apparently took Maundrell's advice: On its first time around #5Q was a 1BR, 2BA condo. Now it's listed as 2BR, 1.5BA (hmm?), and with a slightly curious increase in square-footage from 1,755 to 1,850 (double hmm!). Also up is the perceived value of the space. It's asking $1,349,500. But who can really put a price on that type of proximity to Peter Luger?
· Listing: 60 Broadway 5Q [Aptsandlofts.com]
· Triple Assessment [NYM, third item]

[Fancy a round of golf? Let's go out back.]

1) In addition to a best Hamptons houses of the decade list, our Curbed Hamptons counterparts have put together a roundup of the decade's 10 most important real estate deals. It's got everything: flips, Kennedy connections, and some of the most expensive houses in America.

2) Bridgehampton's Three Ponds Farm is not just on the market for $68 million -- it's also been named the number one "golf home" for sale in the U.S. How does a home get that honor? Well, it helps to have an 18-hole golf course and two-story clubhouse in the backyard.

3) A Water Mill mystery mansion didn't get any less mysterious when it took a $2 million PriceChop this week. The 10,000-square-foot manse is now asking $10.95 million. The all-important fireplace-to-bedroom ratio is 5:7.
· Curbed Hamptons [hamptons.curbed.com]

"I’ve come to view Frederick Douglass Boulevard (F.D.B, which is Central Park West above 110th a.k.a 8the Avenue) between 110 and 125th as Harlem’s Gold Coast, from a resident’s perspective. ">I’ve come to view Frederick Douglass Boulevard (F.D.B, which is Central Park West above 110th a.k.a 8the Avenue) between 110 and 125th as Harlem’s Gold Coast, from a resident’s perspective.

* Nestled adjacent to two kid-friendly parks – Central and Morningside
* Easy access to the Hudson River, it’s great promenades and a wide variety of recreational and dining opportunities
* Accessible by all major local and express West Side subway lines (1,2,3,A,B,C,D)
* Several publish libraries
* Within walking distance to several magnet/charter schools
* Quick access to Metro North and LGA airport
* Down the hill from Columbia University and Broadway
* In the gateway to Harlem including all the shopping, entertainment and culture that Harlem has to offer for residents and tourists alike
* Is exploding with housing and restaurants

This isn't the first time we've drooled over 54 Bond Street, the landmark Bouwerie Lane Theater now carved up into three condos. But this is the first time we're seeing the building's new website, which gives us another opportunity to ogle Bond Street emperor Adam Gordon and architect Steven Harris's work on the beauty. The two smaller apartments' floorplans are narrow and still asking over $2,000 per square foot. But oh, that triplex penthouse! It's now asking a slightly slimmer $15.45 million (still more than the $15 million Gordon paid for the whole building in 2007). And the lowest floor can be either storage space (boring!) or a 1,510-square-foot lap pool.
· 54 Bond Street [54bond.com]
· 54 Bond Street [StreetEasy]
· Bouwerie Lane Theater Gutted, Chopped Up & On the Market [Curbed]

The Sperone Westwater Gallery from British starchitect Norman Foster has started to rise above the street, and Foster + Partners are showing off the goods in fuller detail on their website—including the gigantic red elevator that has everybody talking. The Lower East Side building at 257 Bowery has been digging out for months, getting everything below ground in order so the art can sprout above. What's to come is a facade of glass rods and a levitating gallery behind, all the better for viewing the Bowery below. With Lord Norm's other gallery gig good to go on the Upper East Side, we'll soon have a double dose of fresh Foster in our midst.
· Sperone Westwater [Foster + Partners]
· 257 Bowery coverage [Curbed]

20) $33,654,000
Building: 845 United Nations Plaza
Buyer: Chu Chinh
The Skinny: The massive spread (reportedly 12 bedrooms and 16.5 bathrooms) bought by the Blackstone exec on the 89th and 90th floors of the Trump World Tower—just above Derek Jeter!—was practically a bargain at less than $1 million per room!

19) $34,000,000
Building: 777 Washington Street
Buyer: Noam Gottesman
The Skinny: Big-time hedge-funder (get used to seeing those on this list) paid this crazy amount for photographer Albert Watson's 20,000-square-foot West Village studio and townhouse, then promptly tore the whole thing down.

18) $35,000,000
Building: 36 East 75th Street
Buyer: Russian Federation
The Skinny: This 25-foot-wide Georgian mansion now belongs to Russia, which chose it over the more-popular-in-the-fatherland Vision Mashine for its new UN consulate.

17) $36,630,000
Building: 720 Park Avenue
Buyer: Peter and Jill Kraus
The Skinny: Though the deed was only in Jill Kraus's name, odds are the cash for this classic co-op came from Peter, a former Merrill Lynch executive who received a $25 million bonus after working at the firm for just three months. The purchase price was nearly twice what the previous owner paid two years before.

16) $37,000,000
Building: 15 Central Park West
Buyer: Novgorod & Novgorod Two LLC
The Skinny: 15 CPW's first spot on the list goes to this penthouse, picked up by a mysterious buyer with Russian overtones. It sold post-Lehman, in September 2009, which is quite the achievement. But the penthouse, originally purchased for $21.5 million by a London-based investor, was listed as high as $80 million.

15) $37,000,000
Building: Time Warner Center
Buyer: Andrei Vavilov
The Skinny: Another post-Lehman surprise, the south tower penthouse was bought by the mysterious Russian oligarch and Plaza plaintiff. Vavilov snapped this baby up at a hefty discount from its original ask of $65 million.

14) $37,500,000
Building: 810 Fifth Avenue
Buyer: Peter G. Peterson
The Skinny: Seller David Geffen flipped this penthouse co-op apartment to a former Secretary of Commerce for a (comparatively) slim profit. He paid $31.5 million for it in 2006.

13) $42,250,000
Building: Time Warner Center
Buyer: David Martinez
The Skinny: Mexican moneybags David Martinez picked up his first TWC condo in 2003 for this amount, but later added another 4,200 square feet for millions more, giving him the full 76th and 77th floors in one of the towers.

12) $42,405,000
Building: 15 Central Park West
Buyer: Sanford Weill
The Skinny: Former Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill nabbed the building's largest terrace in this buy. Gives him some good 15 CPW bragging rights, but not the building's biggest buy.

11) $44,000,000
Building: 834 Fifth Avenue
Buyer: Rupert Murdoch
The Skinny: Ditching Soho, which never fit him anyway, Murdoch laid out a record amount (at the time, anyway) for the triplex penthouse in this traditional power building. He then gave the neighborhood an eyeful while renovating.

10) $45,000,000
Building: 15 Central Park West
Buyer: Daniel S. Loeb
The Skinny: Though he shelled out more for his "Tower" penthouse than Sandy Weill did on his "House" side penthouse (and briefly set a Manhattan record), hedge-fund king Loeb paid far less per square foot ($4,200 to Weiss's $6,200). Bargain!

9) $45,100,956
Building: The Plaza
Buyer: Kayhil Holdings
The Skinny: What is Kayhil Holdings? No clue, but it shelled out the cash outright for an 11,861-square-foot spread on the 11th floor of the Plaza. Five months later, amid the mortgage meltdown, Chase wrote a $20 million mortgage for the unit.

8) $46,000,000
Building: 1060 Fifth Avenue
Buyer: Scott Bommer
The Skinny: What made this record (at the time) purchase for a co-op so amazing was that the duplex was still technically two separate apartments. Hedgie Bommer then convinced the board to let him combine the floors into one penthouse. Yep, it was a $46 million fixer-upper. But Bommer didn't stick around for long.

7) $46,320,395
Building: 14-16 East 67th Street
Buyer: Laurus Funds
The Skinny: We know the double-wide Milbank Mansion as the "Guccione Mansion," because the Penthouse founder added Caligula-like touches to this limestone palace such as Roman statues around an indoor pool over his 30 years in the place. This deal was actually a transfer between creditors after Guccione lost the mansion.

6) $48,000,000
Building: 2 East 67th Street
Buyer: Jonathan Tisch
The Skinny: After selling a Fifth Avenue duplex to Starbucks CEO Howard Schulz, the billionaire Loews heir and chairman paid 20% above the asking price for the 11th floor of this historic, Oliver Stone-approved co-op.

5) $48,836,000
Building 1060 Fifth Avenue
Buyer: Park View Trust
The Skinny: Deciding maybe he didn't want to get into a renovation after all, Scott Bommer turned around and flipped his two separate floors for a co-op record price that still stands today. The buyer remained anonymous.

4) $49,000,000
Building: 14-16 East 67th Street
Buyer: Philip Falcone
The Skinny: The creditors that took over the Guccione Mansion put it on the market for $59 million and hoped for a townhouse record, but they fell short. Hedge-fund manager Falcone got the porn king's sloppy seconds despite already owning a townhouse on the block.

3) $50,000,000
Building: 15 East 64th Street
Buyer: Len Blavatnik
The Skinny: What's $50 million between friends? The wily Russian bought this townhouse from his buddy, Seagram heir and music executive Edgar Bronfman, Jr., even though Bronfman paid just $4.375 million for the place in the '90s. Hopefully the house is holding up better than his fortune.

2) $52,032,554
Building: The Plaza
Buyer: Harry Macklowe
The Skinny: Though it was rumored he was spending $60 million to combine most of the seventh floor of the landmark hotel, to the best of our knowledge developer Macklowe shelled out a bit less on seven apartments on the same June 2007 day (he was one of the first to close in the building). And so began his troubles.

1) $53,000,000
Building: 4 East 75th Street
Buyer: J. Christopher Flowers
The Skinny: The Harkness Mansion once held the record for the city's priciest sale after trading hands for $6.9 million in 1987. How times have changed! Investor Flowers was the first to break the $50 million mark when he picked up the 50-foot-wide house at the height of the market back in 2006. It had been listed for $55 million, and word was it sold for $46 million. Nah-ah. It was destined for greatness!
· Top of the Aughts [Curbed]

When developers build affordable-housing units within their new luxury projects to get tax breaks and zoning bonuses, it sometimes creates an uneasy mix of feelings within the building's walls. Luxury buyers get fancy finishes and SubZero, while "affordable" residents get basics and GE. Adding to the second-class-citizen vibe, sometimes the affordable portion of a building has a completely separate entrance—like at Tribeca's 101 Warren (aka the Whole Foods building), where the rental side of the building, which includes, 77 affordable units, is known as 89 Murray. But different lobbies may not be the only thing dividing the building's residents. The Downtown Express reports that one of the plans floating around for rezoning Lower Manhattan's elementary schools would cut the building in half, putting the offspring of the luxury condo owners in nearby powerhouse P.S. 234, while sending the renters half a mile away to the new Spruce Street School in the base of Frank Gehry's Beekman Tower. Going to school in a massive hunk of starchitecture sounds kind of cool, but the have-nots don't seem to agree.

"Tribeca is our neighborhood," said Ilya Mazur, who lives at 89 Murray and has a 2-year-old son. "A lot of us can see [P.S. 234] from our windows. We can hear the school. This breaks the neighborhood for us."

Mazur said that unlike the families in the adjacent luxury condos at 101 Warren St., families at 89 Murray cannot afford a nanny to help make the trek over to the Spruce Street School every day if they can’t go to 234. Mazur said the renters and condo owners live in the same complex and share the same courtyard, so they should not go to separate schools.

· City supported illegally subdivided homes, now cracks down post-fire [NYT]
· Housing Authority reverses controversial ban on certain dog breeds [Villager]
· Tommy Hilfiger finally moves into Plaza duplex [WSJ]
· $800,000 cocaine bust at Williamsburg hipster drug den! [BK Paper]
· After scandals, city may farm out construction licensing exams [NYT]
· Exxon, Chevron, others plan to pay for Newtown Creek investigation [NYDN]
· Ice skating rink on Battery Park City ballfields opening Nov. 27 [DE]
· More on the new, 10,657th lawsuit at Atlantic Yards [NYDN]
· 'Not a happy meeting,' but Port Authority greenlights new WTC bond sale [Globe St]
· Who lives in New Jersey's Greek Revival governor's mansion? Nobody [NYT]

WEST VILLAGE—For over a year and a half the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation has been pushing for a rezone in a small swath of the Far West Village still open to "oversize" commercial development (like the Inn on Perry Street). Now, GVSHP's Andrew Berman writes, "I am pleased to let you know that the City has now finally agreed to rezone this area of the Far West Village to the zoning district suggested by GVSHP and community groups. This will do a much better job of protecting the character of the neighborhood and preventing out-of-scale commercial development. Public hearings will be scheduled on the proposed zoning change in the coming weeks, and we will be sure to let you know when those are." [GVSHP]

· Subprime loans went to nabe's with lots of minorities, study says [NYO]
· Despite Cobble Hill group's outcry, LPC allows Norah Jones' new windows [Courier Life]
· In Fort Greene, people will make houses out of their bodies at upcoming event [OTBKB]
· People who work in green buildings don't call in sick as much [BusinessWeek]
· The MTA gets in on the fake Twitter game [FiPS]
· Don't even try adding a kiln to your co-op [Brick Underground]
· What's it like to live in a famous building [Archinect]
· Central Park, Bronx Zoo local candidates for Google Street View Trike [Lat Long Blog]

Location: 123 Boerum Place #G2
Asking: $1,795,000

This duplex in the Boerum Hill/Cobble Hill DMZ triggered some interesting conversation—about whether the big basement level should be used to grow hydroponic pot. As for the actual task at hand, there were no direct hits, but Curbed commenter PricedOut came pretty darn close: "The upper level is definitely the first floor and the lower level is half below grade. Appears to be newer construction but that doesn't mean water infiltration in the lower level won't be a problem. The really large common areas on separate levels, multiple bathrooms, backyard, and large laundry area would lend it to being a good house to raise children. Although the ground floor/basement levels are a drawback, I think they're asking $1.75 million." Next on The Hills, Heidi grabs a drink at Brooklyn Inn.
· Listing: 123 Boerum Place #G2 [Corcoran]
· PriceSpotter: How Much for a Garden Duplex in the Hills? [Curbed]

Who needs miles of metal mesh and gobs of glass to make a statement? Thom Mayne, that's who, and the architect's new Cooper Union building is fresh off a Top 5 finish on our Best Buildings of the Decade list. But not everything inside 41 Cooper Square is Maynestreamed. Performa 09, a non-profit arts group, is currently camped out in the street level retail space. For this temporary fun house, the Performa-ers brought in a truckload of two-by-fours and plywood and put together an urban piazza, mashing together an amphitheater, bookstore, screening room and more. The Bowery doors are open to all. Inside, the concrete core of Mayne's psychedelic pleasure palace is on full view, with great vistas from atop the steep stairs that push right up against the ceiling. The fun and viewing opportunities continue through this weekend.
· Performa [performa-arts.org]
· Cooper Union coverage [Curbed]

[Wired's pop-up store is in the works, via Racked]

1) Midtown East: A Racked operative checks the pre-holiday temperature at the corner of Lexington and East 56th Street, east of Madison Avenue's glam. And it's not looking promising. Four of six storefronts are vacant, the fifth is on the verge of closing, and the sixth is a psychic.

2) Gramercy/Flatiron: The Limelight Marketplace (the former church turned nightclub soon-to-turn mall) has found tenants for 45 of its 60 spaces, and perhaps the most awesome upcoming tenant is It's Sugar, a Dylan's Candy Bar rival that stocks, among other things, the world's largest gummi bear.

3) As the holiday shopping season approaches and many store landlords still remain without tenants (lookin' at you, corner of Lexington and East 56th), Racked has a map to all the holiday pop-up shops those landlords are using to fill vacancies this season.
· Racked [racked.com]

During its long and drawn out conversion to luxury condos, the historic 141 Fifth Avenue was hidden behind scaffolding that featured a large illustration of what the building would look like post-restoration. The wraps have been slowly coming off the Flatiron District building, and finally the cupola—there's a library and bedroom in there!—is peeking out. Only, blogger Restless writes, there's a problem:

The paint color on the penthouse dome at 141 Fifth Ave. looks off to me -- too creamy, lumpy and shiny -- but maybe they're not done, or they're hoping a hard winter will cut the greasy sheen down to a patina. Note that the rendering took the easy way out with night lighting.

[Click to expand!]

This week I looked at the average number of sales for each quarter going back 20 years and came up with how much of the sales activity was concentrated in each quarter over time by property type.

I found that there were real differences in the way property types behave over the year, and I don’t really know whether this is causation or correlation.  Yes, the market generally is most active in the second and third quarters and less active in the fourth and first quarters, but when you drill down to the property types we track in our reports, the similarities seem to diverge.

Co-ops peak in the summer and see the least activity in the winter.  I wonder if that’s related to the board approval process.  Strangely, the 4th quarter closings (winter) edge out the second quarter (spring).  Condos peak in spring and see a sharp decline in the fall.

Luxury properties show a pronounced spike in summer while lofts are similar to the condo market pattern.

In other words, the rules of thumb for seasonality don’t apply to every property in the same way.
· Manhattan 20-Year Seasonal Sales, Market Share By Property Type [Miller Samuel]
· Three Cents Worth Archive [Curbed]

You missed Frank F’n Gehry this morning at the Beekman Tower topping off ceremony. The most classic one liner ever.

Bruce Ratner is giving his speech praising unions. Blah blah blah. Then he calls up the "great" Gehry to say a few words...

Frank gets up to the mic and pauses...

He looks up to the sky and the 76-story building for about 3 seconds...

Looks at everyone and says...

“NO VIAGRA”

1) Address: 41 East 70th Street, the Walter N. Rothschild mansion
Size: 11,256 square feet
Price Before: $29,995,000
Price Now: $25,500,000
Percent Chopped: 15 percent

2) Address: 4-8 East 94th Street
Size: 24,463 square feet
Price Before: $42,000,000
Price Now: $35,000,000
Percent Chopped: 17 percent

3) Address: 48 East 81st Street
Size: 6,200 square feet
Price Before: $18,750,000
Price Now: $17,500,000
Percent Chopped: 7 percent

4) Address: 313 East 58th Street
Size: 5,311 square feet
Price Before: $4,700,000
Price Now: $3,900,000
Percent Chopped: 17 percent

You may have heard that the 10 finalists in the Victoria's Secret nationwide model search have been staying in a penthouse at FiDi condo building District, an amenity-rich development we have a bit of a thing with. Fancy digs, but in this cruel game we call "the biz," five aspiring lingerie peddlers were quickly sent packing, and now the competition has been trimmed to two. The 2,141-square-foot penthouse is on the market for $2.695 million, and sure enough there's an online listing chock full of photos via Urban Marketing. But there's another way to see the penthouse, and that's with wannabe underwear models inside, taking a break from the no doubt rigorous "Angel Boot Camp." The photos above were sent to us by a District rep, and for a building pitched to master-of-the-universe Wall Street types, this might just be the best sales pitch ever. Insert "Do they come with the penthouse?" wisecrack here.
· Listing: 111 Fulton Street #PH-107 [Urban Marketing]
· District [Official Site]
· District coverage [Curbed]

Best Non-Building: High Line
This was, after all, a list of buildings, and some fresh landscaping and seating (and cool lights!) on top of old train tracks didn't quite fit the bill. That didn't stop many, many people from voting for the hyped/backlashed/backlashed to the backlash aerial promenade-in-the-sky. Best New Adaptive Reuse? Best New Urban Jungle? Best New Nudie-Ogling Lookout Spot? The High Line would easily top those lists.

[Photo via Flickr/roccocell.]

Best Building That's Not Quite Finished: 100 Eleventh Avenue
Like we've said, critical reaction to Jean Nouvel's Vision Machine has been mixed, but given the feedback we received, this actually would have placed in the top five—if we didn't disqualify it for not being finished yet. Sorry, this one won't wrap until 2010, so save it for the next Best of the Decade list. If we're still alive.

Best Building That's Really Not Finished: HL23
Another leading contender for Best of the '10s. Finally, one of those futuristic-looking buildings that movie directors have been telling us would be around in 2010 actually shows up. Are flying cars finally next? (Yes!)

Robert Scarano Buildings Voted for by Robert Scarano: 4

Robert Scarano Buildings Voted for by People Who Aren't Robert Scarano: 1
The Bowery Hotel is looking nice, isn't it?

Best Ornament: The Apple Cube
Can Fifth Avenue's Apple Cube be considered a building, or is it just an idol to the Dark Lord Jobs? The actual store is the below-ground Apple Bunker, leaving the cube as nothing more than an eye-catching hollow tourist attraction. Still, it's awesome, right? And already part of the fabric of the city in one of its most trafficked areas. Said the New York Observer's Max Abelson: "This is the Kid A of New York stores. Or maybe it's the OK Computer? Either way it’s very cool, and Steve Jobs is a very evil genius."

Best Backhanded Compliment: One Madison Park
Said one unnamed architect of the new, glassed-up 23rd Street tower: "Good from afar…"

Best Other Museum: MoMA
Bowery's New Museum made the list, and the thorough renovation of the Museum of Modern Art nearly did as well, despite Bloomberg architecture critic James Russell's thinking that, "I'm maybe the only one who likes it." He added: "It is the only large institution of any kind in the whole city that managed to build anything new with real design integrity, with genuinely lovely moments (like the skylighted space outside the 6th floor galleries). Yoshio Taniguchi is also not given enough credit for taking a train wreck and making it quite navigable, and organized, unlike the scary dead ends a the Met museum."

Best Not Quite Best Enough: Three runner-ups that came closest to cracking the Top 10.

[Photo via Pavarini McGovern.]

40 Mercer: Poor Jean Nouvel. His 100 Eleventh gets disqualified and his castle of colored glass in Soho doesn't quite cut it. Still a more-than-worthy symbol of the glassitechture/starchitect era in NYC luxury condo building.

[Photo via New York Architecture Images.]

IAC Building: Frank Gehry's New York City debut nearly became the sole member of the West Chelsea Starchitecture District to make the list. Oh well, many believe his rising 76-story Beekman Tower in FiDi will be his real mark on the city (an early '10s favorite?).

[Photos via Renzo Piano Building Workshop.]

Times Tower: Renzo Piano's jungle gym was the last building left off the list. Besides, with Cooper Union already making it, that filled our quota on oversize playground equipment.
· The Best New Buildings of the Decade! [Curbed]

A tipster sent along this photo taken last night of the rapidly-approaching-completion Rubinstein Atrium at Lincoln Center, formerly the Harmony Atrium. Now we can finally get a visual on those promised 20-foot-high walls of plants (and coming soon: sandwiches!) designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects. We dug through the photo albums for a look at what used to be in the Harmony Atrium days.

The previous incarnation of the Harmony Atrium:

And here's one of the original Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects renderings for the new space. Compare!

· Atrium coverage [Curbed]

Last week, in a rare instance of politics overtly meddling with historic preservation, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 6-3 to designate the former B.F. Goodrich building at 1780 Broadway a landmark, but not its sister building around the corner, 225 West 57th Street. The LPC backed down after Extell, the developer that wants to demolish the 57th Street building (it's already shrouded) and construct a 50-story mixed-use tower in its place, enlisted some members of the City Council to campaign on its behalf—the implication being that if the LPC landmarked the property and jeopardized the project, than a City Council veto would be in the cards. The Times's Robin Pogrebin follows up on all this madness, and surprise, some folks are unhappy with what went down!

Commission member Christopher Moore is particuarly perturbed about the City Council messing in his business, and the way some of his fellow commissioners caved in:

"To me, it's embarrassingly transparent: 'We're not going to do this because the City Council has already notified us they're going to veto it.' We let the world know. The friction between the commission and its role and the City Council and its role needs to be exposed. My request is we don't do this again."

We've sometimes wondered (hasn't everyone?) who would win in a face-off between the UWS's legendary Dakota and the more nouveau but no less extravagant 76 Crosby Street. And now we have our answer! The Post's Jennifer Gould Keil reports today that an apartment on the market in 76 Crosby provoked a bidding war, while one in The Dakota sold for less than ask even after some serious PriceChoppage. The 76 Crosby mystery buyer will move into the 2,578-square-foot Unit 2A (next door to Gawker Media's Nick Denton), which had a $4.35 million price tag and a 15-foot-wide gas fireplace. Over in the Dakota, where we assume the fireplaces wouldn't stand for anything less than real wood, real estate honcho Mark Fisch is nabbing a 5,000-square-foot, once $24 million apartment for $11.5 million. The ultimate sales price for the Dakota pad is almost certainly more, but still. 76 Crosby: buzz. Dakota: bargain bin.
· Go Fisch [NYP]
· On the Market: Rooms Available at Soho's Celebrity Dorm! [Curbed]
· Morning Massacre: Dakota Stares Down Chupi, Blinks [Curbed]

· The Deutsche Bank demolition has started again, allegedly [Broadsheet]
· Corcoran appeals ruling that it stole fired broker's client list [Crain's]
· Bill Thompson, still around, clashes with Bloomberg over Atlantic Ave. jail [NYDN]
· Many complaints against Bronx megalandlord, who is looking to expand [NYT]
· Lawsuits over condo and co-op trip-and-falls blur class lines [Brick Underground]
· Offbeat and evicted Coney boardwalk shop Lola Staar will return [NYDN]
· Inside Elie Tahari's Soho loft, which he bought from Rupert Murdoch [NYP]
· What does potential Shake Shack in Boston say about NYC's dominance? [NYT]
· MTA says no new fare hikes and service cuts in 2010 [NYP]
· College Point residents worried about new $1.5B police academy [NYDN]
· After lights burn out, Elmhurst Hospital become 'Im hurt' [NYT]
· Meet the guy who wants to bring electric trolleys to Red Hook [BK Eagle]

LOWER EAST SIDE—It was Cooper Square Hotel co-owner Matt Moss who once said that neighbors' hanging laundry is what the privileged class wants to see. If so, then the pricey real estate at BelDel obsession 30 Orchard Street is in great shape! A tipster writes: "The view from Apartment 6 at 30 Orchard St. This is what you get for $1,430,000????? Tiny bedrooms, non-existent closets. Give me a break!" Buddy, did you not get the Moss memo? [CurbedWire Inbox]

ATLANTIC YARDS—While the world awaits a court decision over the state's use of eminent domain at Atlantic Yards, a press release just went out announcing another AY lawsuit, the 936th. The details will be announced tomorrow morning, but the gist is it's a challenge to the ESDC’s approval of the Atlantic Yards Modified General Project Plan: "The suit contends that the plan was approved without sufficient study of the impacts of its extended construction schedule and completion risks. It also alleges that the ESDC has illegally delegated to FCRC much of its governmental power to determine the future content and configuration of the Project." A whole slew of local politicians and community groups are behind the suit. [CurbedWIre Inbox]

· Sam Sifton has two stars for "not entirely pleasant" Oceana [NYT]
· The Cuozz approves of A Voce Columbus [NYP]
· Gael Greene thinks Tanuki Tavern is "hit-or-miss but amusing" [IC]
· H & H Bagels owner indicted for tax fraud [NYT]
· EVill's Kurve decides it earned a Michelin Star [EVG]
· Shake Shack ponders expansion to Boston [Boston Herald]
· Grand Park gets approved despite Seward Park co-op protests [Lo-Down]
· Design surprise coming to Trump Soho's Quattro restaurant [Eater]