1) Elad Properties cut a deal with the Landmarks Preservation Crew to add some penthouse units to the O'Neill, a five-story building at 20th and Sixth Avenue built in 1887 as Manhattan's first department store. In return, they're installing replicas of the building's long-lost 30-foot domes. Sure, they'll look great, but will they still feel real? [NYPost]
2) Hot models? Boring. Super high-tech chandeliers? Geeky. Putting greens? Played out. Putting greens with milk-and-cookies? Zzzzz. Dudes: moon gardens. [Dennis Hevesi/Postings]
3) Of the 5,000 vacant lots seized by the City from tax baddies in the 70's and 80's, only 248 remain. And starting yesterday, the last of the lots have been put up for sale. Most are in Brooklyn, Queens and Upper Manhattan, and the hot market and scarcity of land has put the city in a comfy position: developers willing to build more than the required minimum of low-income units are getting top priority. [NYTimes]
4) Looking to renovate to boost your market value? Start with the kitchen, the Post says. The standard Manhattan one-bedroom apartment kitchen cab be completely overhauled for about $25,000, adding $50,000 to the resale value. First round of mojitos are on you. [NYPost]
5) On the hunt for a family pad in a good school district in Stamford, one couple finds that their $700,000 initial budget wasn't quite cutting it: "It looked like the 1970's exploded in there." [Joyce Cohen/The Hunt]
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