The owners of the trendy, 128-room Bryant Park Hotel are struggling to keep up with payments on their $89 million mortgage, according to the Wall Street Journal. Data from Realpoint LLC shows that the owners — investor Philip Pilevsky, Century 21 discount retail stores owner Raymond Gindi and Rainbow Shops owner Joseph Chehebar — were late on their March payment as a result of insufficient cash flow. They have since made the payment, and the loan is now current, but industry experts say the 40 West 40th Street hotel, converted from an office building in 2001, hasn’t been as successful as its creators originally anticipated. [more]

A selection of photos from Richard Berenholtz’s New York Deco, from left: the book’s cover, 40 West 40th Street, 181 Madison Avenue and the old GE tower. All photos copyright Richard Berenholtz from New York Deco.

The most recent real estate boom brought New York City eye-popping real estate prices and loans that still haunt developers and building owners.

An earlier economic boom in the 1920s, followed by another devastating bust, produced the opulent Art Deco designs of many existing New York City skyscrapers.

These buildings are highlighted in New York Deco, a forthcoming book of photographs by architect-turned-photographer Richard Berenholtz. The 130 photos (see a few samples, above) are accompanied by quotations from famous New Yorkers who lived in the city in the 1920s and 1930s.

The mosaics, murals and sculptures that adorned the city’s Art Deco buildings are particularly striking in contrast to the stalled construction fears and architectural scale-backs that have marked New York City over the past year.  More

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