BROOKLYN HEIGHTS—Word spread yesterday that actor Paul Giamatti paid $1.3 million for a 3BR co-op at 187 Hicks Street, and the place looked pretty put together in photos. It wasn't always like that, a tipster writes: "I looked at that apartment in September 2007 - the guy who owned it demolished the entire place (photos above), tried to merge two apartments and then ran into trouble with the co-op board about removing the structural wall. He was trying to sell it in this condition (I remember him asking $1.1mm). The new 'arches' are the end result of the structural wall not coming out and not being able to move the plumbing stack. They basically ended up rebuilding the apartment the way it was before demo. The corner window has an unexpected (distant) view of the Verrazano bridge due to the way the building sticks out on the block." [CurbedWire Inbox]

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS—How bad does a building have to be to have a judge boot the landlord from managing the property? Well, it happened at six-story, 52-unit 452 Ft. Washington Avenue, and the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development paints the scene: "In 2008, the owners of the building caused work to be done in the building allegedly to repair bathrooms in the 2-line of apartments. The contractors removed all fixtures and gutted the floors, walls and ceilings of the bathrooms – creating not only a great inconvenience but also unsafe conditions for the tenants residing in those apartments. These tenants were left without functioning showers and bathing facilities; they were forced to find alternate accommodations, including the use of bathroom facilities in vacant apartments within the building." Yikes! [CurbedWire Inbox]

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[Weekend rains send the Gowanus Canal over its banks, via PMFA]

· Toll Brothers to take Dumbo plans before CB 2 [Crain's]
· Another preview of MoMA's "Rising Currents" exhibit [Urban Omnibus]
· Even free breakfast doesn't get Upper East Siders sharing taxis [DNAinfo]
· A walk through an on the market Tribeca live-work space [NYM]
· After neighbors protest, Carroll Gardens school decides not to expand [PMFA]
· Pros and cons of buying near new construction [MLG]
· Telecommunications exec in contract to sell $19.6 million townhouse [NYO]
· 86th Street R station getting gussied up with murals [NYP]

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Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

There is no one High Line building but there is, however, a High Line Building, the name given to architect Morris Adjmi's glassy addition to a former warehouse that the elevated tracks run through at 450 West 14th Street. Helmut Lang has already signed on for two floors and construction on the Meatpacking District office building got underway many moons ago (we even got a look inside), but it's been a long slog without much visible progress. No longer! The Cuozz noted today that glass has started going up on the skeleton's south-facing side. Indeed, The Standard hotel now has some fresh glass reflecting all that naughtiness going on inside its rooms. Take a looksie.
· Realty Check [NYP]
· High Line Building [450w14.com]
· High Line Building coverage [Curbed]

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We recently launched a new occasional feature, The Six Digit Club, in which we take a look at a newish-to-market listing priced under $1 million, because nice things sometimes come in small packages.

Price: $735,000
Address: 210 West 21st Street #6RW
Size: 750 square feet
Maintenance/CC: $1,094

The listing places this co-op, which last sold for $700,000 in 2005, in the Chelsea/Flatiron DMZ, and there are a few identity issues where the layout is concerned, too. There's one clearly-defined bedroom, a smaller room labeled as a study, and a third small-bathroom-sized space that identifies itself as a home office. Plus separate but nearly equally-sized living and dining rooms. But who needs labels?! Poke around the 750-square-foot floorplan and knock down walls as you see fit.

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Sneaky Brownstoner tagged along on a food vendors' tour of Brooklyn Bridge Park's Pier 1 and took some cool photos photos of the yet-to-open grounds, including a nice reveal of the grand staircase made from recycled granite. Looks great, and should make for wonderful target practice for the pier's sole inhabitants.
· Brooklyn Bridge Park's Pier 1 Coming Together [Brownstoner]
· Pier 1 coverage [Curbed]

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Location: 606 Metropolitan Avenue, btwn Lorimer/Leonard
Size: 10 one- to three-bedroom units
Prices: $389,000 to $679,000
Architect: Hernan Galvis, G Ateliers Architecture
Sales & Marketing: Shaun Sanchez, Prudential Douglas Elliman
Lowdown: This newcomer on Metropolitan Ave. just hit the market in the high-$600s-per-square-foot range, and what timing! After all, it just got the New York Shitty tribute treatment. The elevator building has a common roof deck and lots of balconies and those weird duplexes now synonymous with the North Brooklyn boom and the portfolio of architect Robert Scarano. This appears to be the sister building to The Villas II over on Skillman Ave., and the LLC that purchased the property is called Villas III. About the property: Building permits actually refer to this as an "enlargement" of the previous building. So what did this building look like pre-Cialis?

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And now, the latest from Racked NY, covering shopping and retail from the sidewalks up.

[Construction watch: Chelsea Market's upcoming Anthropologie]

1) UWS: Hey, hipsters! Urban Outfitters will be opening a second UWS location at 2625 Broadway, between 99th and 100th streets, potentially calming neighborhood worries about empty storefronts. Opening's scheduled for this summer.

2) NYC: Also coming this summer: fashion-related public art! Specifically, designer-outfitted mannequins on Broadway. They'll be placed between Herald Square and Times Square and wearing one-of-a-kind designs from Tommy Hilfiger, Betsey Johnson, Diane von Furstenberg, and others. At least they won't be on top of buildings.

3) Paris: Over in Paris, Ikea has furnished Metro stations with snazzy sofas. Perhaps the fact that Ikea sofas can now double as subway benches explains why those renters at 50 Gramercy Park North were so upset?

· Racked [ny.racked.com]

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Welcome back to Tuesday Townhouse: A look at a new-to-market townhouse that is rocking our world. Today, Boerum Hill!

Most of our Brooklyn townhouse picks have been Brooklyn Heights, so for a change of pace this week, here's a 3,800-square-footer at 142 Dean Street in Boerum Hill. It's a Greek Revival townhouse, but it probably won't require quite as much renovation as Brooke Shields' house, since with the exception of a separate garden apartment, it's already a single-family place. Lots of outdoor options, including a deck, balcony, and actual yard. Asking $2.75 million.

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That the 60-story mixed-use tower now under construction by the Related Companies at 440 West 42nd Street will have a pod hotel is not the most interesting thing about the building. Nope, that title goes to the development's three theaters and adjoining lobby designed for the Signature Theatre Company by I-am-not-a-starchitect Frank Gehry. According to a Times story on the Signature's new home, the interiors will be built out beginning in August, and the show will go on in January 2012. The plywood look seen above in Gehry's models will carry through to the finished products. Gehry, the Times writes, "used plywood to create intimate, casual spaces with craftsmanlike elements." Clever and thrifty, now that's a starchitect! Oh crap, now he's coming to murder us in our sleep. Here's the breakdown of each new FOGgy creation, via a press release:

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Maybe the neighbors were a little starstruck when Brooke Shields purchased this four-apartment Greek Revival townhouse on West 10th Street, with plans for single-family mansion conversion, in 2008. But now the stardust is wearing off. And the construction dust is settling in! The Daily News reports that locals are starting to feel a bit peeved about the 6 a.m. construction starts and the closure of the sidewalk on Shields' side of the street, and some area renters are even threatening to move out. When a group of neighbors complained to construction workers, they were told to take it up with Shields herself. But maybe Shields has just been trying to get into character? Don't mess with the process!
· Brooke Shields' West Village neighbors fuming over noisy renovations at her $5.6M pad [NYDN via Gothamist]
· Celebrity Real Estate Rap: Brooke Shields Goes Greek [Curbed]

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