1) Don't you just love it when mind-exploding architectural reveals are tucked away in seemingly small-potatoes stories? This little ditty on developers building schools in exchange for more air rights includes info on the boring Azure on East 91st Street and the very very not boring SOM-designed 59-story condo tower planned for 250 East 57th Street (right). Wow. That's a lot to process without fair warning. [Posting/C.J. Hughes]
2) Josh Barbanel reports that in November, "the number of closed sales just about matched the number closed in November 2006, and prices were considerably higher, but roughly flat compared with the prices in the previous quarter." And inventory seems to still be flying off the shelves, he says. Merry Christmas, real estate brokers. [Big Deal/Josh Barbanel]
3) Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff is often criticized for serving no other purpose than breathlessly praising the work of starchitects, and he's had it! But instead of hitting back, the man who once nearly had an orgasm over a Gehry stairwell instead fires off a defense of his precious starchitects. Booyah, haters! [Critic's Notebook]
4) Speaking of starchitects, the Times offers up a very interesting look at Robert A.M. Stern's run as the dean of Yale's architecture school. People thought the old-school Stern would put the whole place to sleep, but Bobby A.M. had some tricks up his sleeve. ['Building Respect at Yale'/Robin Pogrebin]
5) Speaking of starchitects, some Philip Johnson fanboys paid way too much for the late legend's old one-bedroom pied-a-terre in the Museum Tower. But they're cool with it. [Big Deal/Josh Barbanel]
6) Propsect Heights is wealthier than ever and crime is way down, but some residents worry that it won't last. OK, one resident worries that it won't last. [The City/Jake Mooney]
7) A 20-something couple looks to buy for the first time with a budget of $500,000-$600,000. It comes down to Co-Op Village on the Lower East Side and, uh, Douglaston, Queens. One co-op board was a bunch of dicks and wouldn't see them, and the other board was warm and welcoming. Can you guess which was which? [The Hunt/Joyce Cohen]
8) The Related Companies may buy the Miami Dolphins for somewhere north of $1 billion. Hey, maybe they'll move the team to the Hudson Yards! A football stadium over the West Side Rail Yards ... now that's an idea! [Bloomberg]
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