1) The Times reports that developers are getting rid of fancy amenities because construction costs have soared and buyers don't want to pay huge common charges. Even so, it seems like every new building still has them, from Crescent Club's putting green in Long Island City to Jasper's fireside pool lounge in Murray Hill to District's amenity overdrive down in the FiDi. We are perplexed! ['Back to Basics'/Lisa Keys]
2) Michael Andalaro is like a one-man gentrification army, and with wit like this, any neighborhood should be proud to get his money. On why he left Avenue B after 25 years: "On Thursday nights, it was like spring break in Orlando." On the South Bronx: "I flirted with SoBro for a while, but there is really no housing stock. The houses are so narrow that you have to go outside to change your mind." On his move to Bed-Stuy: "I always figure that a bleak or notorious neighborhood translates into cachet one day." Obvs, he found some actors, models and designers to live in his building. [Habitats/Dan Shaw]
3) "For years, I lied about where I lived. At parties in neighborhoods like Williamsburg or the East Village, I would pretend that the apartment I occupied on East 74th Street actually belonged to my grandmother, not to me. New acquaintances would nod sympathetically at my sad predicament, at my being forced to live on the Upper East Side." We understand. [My Neighborhood/Lynn Ermann]
4) Speaking of the Upper East Side, we haven't had a good religious-institution-wants-to-build-condos feud in a while. A synagogue on 85th Street and Lexington wants to erect a 28-story tower with 18 floors of condos, which would be 100 feet taller than what zoning allows. Needless to say, neighbors are pissed. [The City/Gregory Beyer]
5) Is there a secret underground pipeline that runs from the University of Michigan to Manhattan? And is that pipeline only open to girls? Seems like it sometimes. [The Hunt/Joyce Cohen]
6) There's a hipster fireman in Williamsburg. Is anyone surprised? [The City/Saki Knafo]
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