1) The 21-floor Drake Swissotel at Park and 56th (right), built in 1926 and last renovated in 1991, was sold for $440 million to developer and Martha Stewart neighbor Harry Macklowe. The Macklowe Organization will knock the building down (as previously reported) and stick a luxury condo building in its place. They can build up to 70 stories high. [Braden Keil/Gimme Shelter]
2) The two-bedroom duplex penthouse at posh 740 Park Avenue, considered by some to be the best two-bedroom apartment in New York City, has hit the market at a price of $27.5 million. By our advanced calculations, if the apartment had just six additional bedrooms, it would have sold for $110 million. [William Neuman/Big Deal]
3) This is kinda awesome. Using an algorithm that tracks words and phrases in the media, the top real estate buzzword is revealed! It's "soft landing." "Pause" was second and "housing bubble" was, sadly, seventh. Poor little bubble. [NYTimes]
4) The Post talks to the anonymous developer behind the Don't Build Schlock blog. "In the last few years, any developer with a pulse was successful," he says. A defamation lawsuit filed by the Zombie Developers Rights Association (ZDRA) is pending. [Dakota Smith/NYPost]
5) So what's up with the old-timey neighborhood of Peck Slip now that the Fulton Fish Market is gone? A lot, actually. Take, for example, the new coffee shop called "DO DO." Do you think it's weird when one Peck Slipper says to another Peck Slipper, "Yeah, meet me at DO DO." We assume that it is. [NYPost]
6) The Times does some more digging on the whole Vegas condo situation. Five buildings have been cancelled in the past year, and more are expected not make it to the breaking ground stage. Needless to say, people who put down deposits aren't pleased. And the bigger question: Will there be a nationwide domino effect? And the even bigger question: What will become of the Vegas East Village? [NYTimes]
7) In this week's Hunt column, Joyce Cohen spins the tale of a woman seeking a large studio for under $400,000. After suffering numerous heartbreaks over her lack of funds, she shrugs off Queens-Midtown Tunnel traffic and nabs an underpriced place on East 36th Street for $329,000. We especially enjoy these types of Hunts?the realistic ones that give us all hope. [Joyce Cohen/The Hunt]
8) By the way, here's the scoop on that weird Costas bust in Park Slope that's been a mystery for a while. The answer, as always, is a contractor with an ego. [TONY]
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