"Any neighborhood in Manhattan that is home to several warehouses including 'Tuck-It-Away self storage' definitely deserves to be called 'blighted.' This guy is a selfish joke. How inconsiderate Columbia must be to pay him millions of dollars for dilapadated warehouses and replace them with state of the art medical facilities, schools and dormitories. Shame on you, Columbia." ["Columbia Holdout: Eminent Domain 'Not Necessary or Appropriate'"]

Columbia holds only public hearing on $6 billion expansion plan. [NY Times]

Rangel earned more than $75,000 from tourists renting at his villa in the Dominican Republic—all unreported to the IRS. [NY Times]

“Experimental” Bronx bus route saves passengers significant time. [NY Times]

Brokers offering popular home/wine pairings to aspiring second-home buyers. [NY Times]

Stocking up on second-home staples. [NY Times]

Latin America rife with affordable second-home opportunities. [NYDN]

A Caribbean island’s architectural paradise. [NYDN]

Deutsche Bank still smoking. [NYDN]

Former Credit Suisse broker returns to U.S. to face charges. [NY Post]

City Council Speaker Stringer urges the construction of more schools to meet a rising, condo-fed population. [NY Sun]

Lehman Brothers may off-load $32 billion in assets to a “bad bank.” [NY Sun]

Struggling firm Residential Capital, owned by GMAC, plans to shave a full $1 billion off expenses by cutting jobs and shuttering offices. [WSJ]

Canadians make up the largest percentage of foreign real-estate investors in the country. [WSJ]

Private Properties: NBA stars cut mansion prices; Mathew Modine grabs a $1.7 million Chelsea condo; Hearst estate no longer on the market. [WSJ]

Construction worker falls 48 stories to his death while working on Larry Silverstein’s Silver Tower. No cranes appear to be at fault. [City Room]

NYPD and Hollywood go in for a little “cross-platform marketing.” [City Room]

A new look at André Balazs' Standard New York. [Curbed]

Williamsburg is toxic… but not for the reasons you think. [Curbed]

Video deconstructs a crucial vote by Community Board 7 on the city’s Willets Point plan. [WPIRA]

The power of a good skylight. [NY Sun]

New state subprime laws seeking to deter foreclosure scams now in effect. [Newsday via TRD]

New York’s biggest property flips. [Daily Intel via TRD]

Olympic medalist endorses the Carlyle’s “Breakfast of Champions”—a $25 meal complete with a copy of Sports Illustrated. [Daily Transom]

Here's a statement from Astroland co-owner Carol Hill Albert on the Coney Island amusement park's impending closure for good this Sunday. It was sent to the Save Coney Island listserv.

I am making this statement today to set the record straight. I have not "given up on Coney Island" as Thor Equities has stated. I have given up on trying to get Thor to negotiate which I have attempted to do every month since June, and numerous times in August. Each time their response was, "We have no answer." The safety of our customers and our commitment to employees means our time has run out. Ride parts must be ordered a minimum of eight to 10 months in advance. My employees cannot live in a state of limbo any longer. It takes six months to pack up a three-acre amusement park that has been in operation for 46 years, so a January 31st deadline means start packing yesterday. We are out of time.  read more »

The last remaining major private landowner in the footprint of Columbia University's planned West Harlem expansion issued a lengthy critique of the state's use of eminent domain to acquire his property, laying the groundwork for a legal battle that will likely lie ahead.

Nicholas Sprayregen, owner of Tuck-it-Away Storage, released the critique as the state today holds its second of two hearings on the proposed use of eminent domain. A wealthy landlord and developer who said he expects to fund a lengthy challenge, Mr. Sprayregen owns multiple warehouses in the footprint.

In the documents submitted to the Empire State Development Corporation today--the state agency that uses eminent domain--Mr.  read more »

Coney Island's Astroland will have its last day this Sunday. Then it's over for the iconic amusement park, according to reports out this afternoon. A deal couldn't be reached by 1 p.m. today between Astroland's operator and its landlord Joseph Sitt, who has big plans for the area (if the city doesn't get its way first).

Here's the Post's take. Here's an emailed statement from Lynn Kelly, president of the Bloomberg administration's Coney Island Development Corporation:

Today’s announcement that Astroland will close after 46 years should be a serious wake-up call to those who have stood back and watched as the fate of Coney Island has been left in limbo without any safeguards for its future.

 read more »

The above is a chart from research site PropertyShark, which tracks the number of new city foreclosure auctions per month. It shows the 15 zip codes with the most new foreclosures in August. Here's more on the numbers.

The Federal Reserve released on Wednesday its every-six-weeks anecdotal take on the national economy called The Beige Book. Here's a grab-bag of ultimately meh numbers for New York City:

• Broadway theaters report that business "improved moderately" in July and early August compared to the six weeks before. Attendance and ticket revenues increased 1 to 2 percent annually in July and 3 percent in the first half of August.
• Average Manhattan apartment asking rents declined 2 to 4 percent in July and August compared to the same months last year (more on falling rents here). And: "The rental vacancy rate, though still below 2 percent, is reported to have climbed noticeably over the past year."
• More home sales are falling through due to tighter financing. The sales markets in Brooklyn and Queens were worse for sellers than in Manhattan.
• The number of construction permits issued in June for multi-family buildings was four times greater than in the same month in 2007. And the first half of 2008 saw 63 percent more multi-family building permits issued than the first half of 2007.

A few minutes ago, the deed for that spectacularly, mind-bogglingly amazing $48,836,000 penthouse sale at 1060 Fifth Avenue was filed in city records. According to the deed, the deal was signed on July 29, which means the hedge fund manager Scott Bommer and wife Donya took exactly six months and six days to flip their $46 million penthouse for $2,900,000 more than they'd paid in January.

"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, is what I’m saying," the investor Glenn Greenberg, who used to live in the apartment, told The Observer earlier this week when asked about the Bommers' sale. "Sometimes it’s no more complicated than somebody changes their mind and the opportunity presents itself. And they go live in something that suits them better.”

The buyer is listed anonymously on the deed as Park View Trust.

A while back, the developer of a new condo called the Hit Factory, a legendary recording studio that's, sadly, been turned into multimillion-dollar condominiums, told this reporter that the music world had more or less moved on from New York, and that real estate had taken its place. "Frankly," he said, "I think it's had its day." (Still, his building kept the old rock 'n' theme: "People will tell their friends, won't they, 'Hey, I'm locating to the Hit Factory!'" the developer offered.)

Real estate salesmen will be using the hip kids and their music to sell real estate until the end of time, but today the Web site  read more »