1) Who's buying all those available units throughout Brooklyn? Turns out it's single women. Developers like David Walentas say these single women have picked up 72 of 165 units in his building One Ten Livingston, accounting for $30 million in sales. More wild claims: these single women are less concerned with the market than men. They are also the great sales recruiters, immediately calling their friends from high school, camp and college and trying to get them to immediately buy into the same buildings where they just bought. [Christine Haughney/NYTimes]
2) The Hipster Battle Lines have been drawn between Williamsburg and Long Island City, with LICers taking to the QueensWest message board to rip on everything Williamsburg, from the weekend bar scene to the crowded L trains. How do the Williamsburger's feel about this challenge to their hipster throne? Like true hipsters, they didn't respond online and when asked directly, they remind LIC of its secondary status on the hip list. Williamsburg resident Robert Lanham explains: "Ever since I’ve been in New York, it seems like it’s always considered the neighborhood that’s going to be the next big thing. There’s just not much to do out there.” [New York Up Close/Jeff Vandam]
3) There's an even bloodier real estate battle being waged on East 73rd Street, where tenant James Couri has declared war on his landlord, George Pavia. Couri moved in to a rental above Pavia's brownstone in 1996, and the war trenches were dug soon after moving in. Couri has complained about his neighbors (too gay), rent increases (too high), mold and almost everything else under the sun. The dispute has been tied up in rental court for five years, and Mr. Pavia, who is an attorney, has been thwarted at each turn by his tenant. Its gotten so difficult that the Pavia's are considering just giving up, considering themselves no match for the determination of their tenant. Mrs. Pavia notes, “My husband is a very smart attorney, but he is up against a very shrewd and clever man.” [Uncivil War on 73rd/Ron Stodghill]
4) Hollywood set designers Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch have partnered with Broadway producer Peter Manning to redesign an apartment building at 16 Prince Street in Little Italy. The area's zoning has strict zoning restrictions, which restricts the design from being too flashy like other recent projects in the area. That doesn't bother Mr. Manning, who says, “We’re trying to create something that’s really going to stand the test of time and not fall out of fashion.” [Postine/David Scharfenberg]