LOWER EAST SIDE—Seward Park's court battle with Greater New York Mutual Insurance Company over a 1999 parking garage collapse (aftermath, right) has been decided, and the news ain't pretty for the co-op. A self-described concerned shareholder writes, "The appeal has been won by the insurance company. There is a lot of money involved here. Seward Park Housing has $20 million in the bank held against this claim. We might have to give some or all of it back, pending more litigation. Between the lines of the decision, we can read that part of the appeal was that the Board dinked around for years apparently waiting for the insurance money before borrowing and rebuilding." The LoHo blog and the ever-lively LES Forum add to the coverage, including the detail that Seward Park definitely has to return $2.3 million to Greater New York and could wind up owing much more, pending further appeals. Good times. [CurbedWire Inbox]
LOWER EAST SIDE—On top of all those BLUE rentals hitting the market, some BLUE glass may be hitting the trash piles. A tipster emails, "I live in the area, and I am pretty sure I have noticed them changing windows too. From the ugly blue ones to the clear ones. It's changed the mosaic pattern on the outside so it looks like a bad patch job now." [CurbedWire Inbox]
SOHO—Chaos on Broadway! Emails a tipster, "There was a bomb scare on Broadway between Houston and Prince in front of Dean and Deluca. Ended up just being a suitcase that someone forgot for an hour." Gawker's got coverage from the scene. [CurbedWire Inbox]
WILLIAMSBURG—Party Alert! Northside Piers (below right, as seen last weekend) is ready to top off, and after the recent PriceChop and national sales slide, beleaguered builder Toll Brothers is taking the opportunity to celebrate. Someone buy Bob Toll a drink for us. [CurbedWire Inbox]