1) Fiscal 2008, which ended in June, wasn't a good year for many outside the scaffolding industry. Emergency sheds were placed around 75 buildings at a cost of $10,000 per site, nearly triple that in fiscal 2007, according to HPD. Meanwhile, the city was forced to seal off 47 abandoned sites (compared to zero in 2007) to fend off squatters for $2,000 a pop, and 75 structures were demolished for what sounds like a bargain cost of $49,000 a building. ['The sky is falling: Debris peril up as hi-rise projects stall'/NYP]
2) Condo buyers looking to back out of deals and get their deposits back have filed a flurry of complaints with the state attorney general's office, but are they succeeding? Not at Soho Mews, where developer Albert Laboz is taking a victory lap over a series of decisions that have gone his way. He's undefeated in seven complaints so far, and his lawyer says, "The attorney general is starting to realize that some of the arguments being made have no merit." Developers 1, Buyers 0? [Big Deal/'A Partly Cloudy Resolution']
3) One of the most bitter real estate feuds in town has come to an end, as the sons of late financier Lionel Pincus reached an agreement with Pincus's longtime companion Princess Firyal of Jordan giving her control of a 7,000-square-foot duplex in the Pierre Hotel. Will the duplex, once asking $50 million, be back on the market soon? Our floorplan porn radar is monitoring the situation. [Big Deal/'Princess Prevails in Duplex Wrangle']
4) The main reason to read this Astoria edition of the "Living In" column is to meet the most Astoria-sounding Astorian of all time, a real estate broker named, get this, Odysseas Odysseos. But Astoria isn't all about the Greeks anymore (it's "the united nations of Astoria" now), but it is about plenty of new housing. Prices are now in the $550 to $650 a square foot range, down 20% from 2007. ['Living In: Astoria, Queens']
5) Good lord, this week's Hunt is a downer. A married couple signs a top-of-the-market contract for a 1BR at Williamsburg's 125 North 10th, right before the recession decimates their flower shop business and they find out a baby is on the way. They negotiate hard and upgrade to a 2BR, but then new buyers in the building get 15% price cuts. Now they're worried about raising a kid in Williamsburg, and ruing missing out on the raging Burg nightlife. Happy Thanksgiving? [The Hunt/'Shifting Priorities']