SOHO—The streets of Soho have its many protectors, especially around Howard Street. Today's gripe from a Curbed reader has nothing to do with Canal Street spillover, and everything to do with ConEd's recent underground repairs: "Where can someone like me denounce this scarring crime on Crosby Street between Howard and Grand? It is ridiculous how ConEd just removes the cobble stone and replaces it with asphalt. How can they get away with this! This is ridiculous!" We thought chicks dig scars? [CurbedWire Inbox]

UWS—Anger seems to be a common thread running through the CurbedWire today, as another reader writes, "OK. SO THE 20TH FL PENTHOUSE IN THE 'HOUSE' PORTION OF 15 CPW IS FEATURED IN THE APRIL 2010 ISSUE OF ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST. WHY HAVEN'T YOU REPORTED THIS !!!!" We're sorry! Our only magazine subscription is to Cracked. The AD website still has the March issue stuff up, which happens to include a rather lovely 45th floor apartment somewhere on the Upper West Side. Anyone care to identify that one while yelling at us? [CurbedWire Inbox]

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[Gowanus Yacht Club gets ready for the season, via Eater]

· Village standby Strip House gets upgrade to two stars [NYT]
· At small plates place Recette, plates are a little too small [TONY]
· Steve Cuozzo also dislikes small plates, but likes Faustina [NYP]
· City gets to keep the Tavern on the Green name [Crain's]
· Proposed State Assembly bill would ban all salt from restaurant cooking [NYSA]
· LES chef says Shang hasn't done well because we have boring palates [Toronto Sun]
· Michael Bao Huynh's planning a gourmet grocery in the EVill [IC]
· Ray's launches clothing and accessories line (yes, including thong) [EVG]

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Pricespotter is Curbed's asking price guessing game. We provide you with some details and pictures from an apartment listing, and you take a crack at the price in the comments. Tomorrow we reveal the answer. And hey, no cheating!

What/Where: 3BR, 2.5BA condo on Prospect Park West between 9th and 10th Streets
Square Feet: 1,800
Maintenance/CC: $507
The Skinny: There's a whole lotta green in this Park Slope unit. And we're not just talking about the paint colors! The apartment comes with a "semi-private" green roof deck, whatever that means, and park views. For the less environmentally preoccupied, there's also keyed elevator access. Plus, it's, uh, close to the F train. Okay, we're running out of steam, so we'll cut right to the question: how much?

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The scaffolding is coming down at 143 Spring Street, the 1818 Federal-era building taken over and extensively renovated by footwear company Crocs, and our history-loving homey Lost City has the pictures. The biggest change (other than the building going from selling BBQ to rubber sandals) is the re-bricked south wall, which Lost City thinks looks "a bit antiseptic, a tad too scrubbed clean. Is it me, or does that brick wall look like it could be on the side of a brand new condo in Queens?" Racked seems to agree, calling the botoxed beauty the "Nicole Kidman of Federal-era architecture." Ouch! Still looks better than what's going to be displayed on the inside, no?

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Giving this dude's downtown party central walk-up a run for its money is the basement condo at Tribeca's 109 Reade Street. A new lawsuit against the condo's owner, James McGown, charges that he turned the place into an "extreme party" zone, with "fire massages" and a stripper pole, the Post reports. Neighbors allege McGown and his tenant, Dimitri Dimoulakis, worked together to hold paid parties, charging $10 or $15 per person for one November party where "a woman [waved] a wand of fire over the bare back and legs of a man, who is lying down on what looks like a kitchen counter." Scandalous! An ACRIS search suggests McGown purchased the apartment for $1 million in 2006 and transferred the deed to his daughter in '07. Above the million dollar den of sin? A pediatrician's office.
· Condo dwellers claim neighbor's apartment is an 'extreme party spot': suit [NYP]

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Celebrities just can't stop pretending to call this epic five-bedroom penthouse in Chelsea's 129 West 20th Street home! The listing doesn't shy away from blabbing, pointing out that the 4,500-square-foot duplex "has been featured in the motion picture Last Night starring Kiera Knightly and Eva Mendes and in an AT&T ad campaign featuring Mariah Carey as the resident." Does it need to rely on star power to sell? The jury is still out on that one. Don't get us wrong, we're enjoying the 25' ceilings, 2,000 square feet of private outdoor space and the second level that's "the perfect place to host a dinner party for 2 - 50 friends." It's just that this penthouse has been down this road before.

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This morning brought the news that the city's getting control of Brooklyn Bridge Park. Now a press release from State Senator Daniel Squadron, who has been an outspoken opponent of using condos to finance the park, fills in more of the city's plans. No surprise, Squadron's still pretty opposed to creating new housing within the park's boundaries. He has veto rights over housing at the park's John Street site, and according to his press release, a new subcommittee "will conduct an open process to consider alternative financing mechanisms to housing in the park." But enough negativity! What does Squadron want to see happening at the park? A recreational bubble on Pier 5, an ice skating rink, rooftop tennis courts on the Maintenance and Operations Building, and a permanent floating pool. Good news for the thousands who spent the summer of 2007 waiting in line when the floating pool last passed by.
· For $55M, City Nabs Control of Delayed Brooklyn Bridge Park [Curbed]

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We said last month that recent Hell's Kitchen Development Du Jour Griffin Court would be launching sales on March 9, and a StreetEasy check reveals the building has indeed begun sales. Way to be on the ball! In fact, it looks like every apartment in the 95-unit two-building complex has been listed. The FXFowle-designed Griffin Court has quite the array of door prizes, like a free iPad or 42" flat-screen TV for buyers and their brokers who sign contracts by the end of March, and developer-paid transfer taxes and Mansion Tax for the first 15 buyers. But exactly how much change do buyers need to fork over to get those goodies? Prices range from $735,000 for a 636-square-foot studio to $3,860,000 for a 1,829-square-foot three-bedroom. Some units come with private rooftop cabanas, like the $1.95 million #2M. Hey, as long as the free iPads work up there!

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With a foreclosure spat leading to a halt in sales at One Madison Park, the Observer's Dana Rubinstein uses the time-out to recap the 60-story condo tower's tumultuous history up this point—including the lawsuits that now number in the double digits, and the latest shenanigans: Developer feuding! Marc Jacobs (not the designer) is accusing his Slazer Enterprises partner Ira Shapiro of fraudulently using his signature in more than 18 instances on promissory notes and other documents related to One Madison Park. Nasty stuff, and a new twist in the saga that will one day make a pretty decent screenplay. Rubinstein thinks it's a tale of inexperienced developers getting in way over their heads, two buddies wanting to make their names in the Big City who might now get shown the exit by their backers. But hey, it could've been worse. For us, that is:

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The Upper West Side's glassy newcomer at Broadway and 72nd Street, a luxury rental building dubbed 200 West, has dropped its construction shed and fully launched its website, showing off all sorts of goodies. Immediately we're drawn to that rooftop terrace, with major views, an open-air fireplace (perfect for cooking up some dogs and saving a trip to Gray's Papaya across the street) and a 12' misting wall and adjacent wet bar for keeping things cool. Along West 72nd Street is the lobby, "a sequence of three distinct spaces" and the way into the rental units at The Corner, as the gang at the Gotham Organization calls it. The foyer is topped by a ginormous chandelier with, count 'em, 1,750 LED-lit crystals. Further inside is reception, all brown and beige with travertine floors and limestone walls, plus a 15' bronze wall. That leads to the "glass corridor" that shuffles to the elevators, and up to a plethora of floorplan options given variety by the building's obtuse angle and wicked overhang.

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