From left: 111 Central Park North (credit: PropertyShark) and the Cooper-Hewitt

Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, is slated to open an East Harlem space next month as the museum’s Upper East Side headquarters undergoes a renovation, the Wall Street Journal reported. The move, to 111 Central Park North at Malcolm X Boulevard, comes as part of a campaign to give the museum new venues around the city, according to the Journal. The museum recently held an exhibit at the United Nations and will hold another one on Governor’s Island. [more]

Though the recovering market has brought a new wave of buyers snapping up high-priced homes in luxury condominiums, down at sea level that tide hasn’t turned. According to the New York Times, retail space on the ground floor of these new developments has been slow to find tenants. River Lofts in Tribeca, 165 Charles Street, 100 11th Avenue, One Jackson Square, 111 Central Park North and be@schermerhorn are just a few of the relatively new developments saddled with significant retail vacancies. But the Times said that fact is not necessarily a bad thing. [more]

Residents of Harlem’s most expensive condo building, 111 Central Park
North, are considering banding together to rent or buy the building’s
ground-floor space to prevent a McDonald’s from moving in, the New York
Post reported. Residents are concerned about the fast-food joint’s
potential effect on property values and about odors that might travel
up to the building’s terraces, said Gary Davis, president of the
building’s board. The commercial space on the building’s ground floor
has been empty since it opened in 2007. Tom Shapiro, the owner of the
space, said he has been talking with McDonald’s and other fast-food
chains about moving into the building. [more]

Neil Breslau and designer Nancy Fire Breslau, who sold a co-op at 333
Central Park West for $4.6 million in February 2008, are now trying to
flip their penthouse condo at 111 Central Park North. They purchased
the 2,897-square-foot, four-bedroom unit in May 2007 for $4.975
million, and it’s now back on the market for $6.4 million. Jill Sloane
and Jeffrey Berger of Halstead Property have the listing. [more]