Despite his beloved standing among locals, Jerry Delekas is getting evicted by the city from the newsstand he’s operated for 24 years on Astor Place and Lafayette Street in Cooper Square. According to the Daily News, Delekas hasn’t owned the license for the newsstand, and instead leases it — for $75 a week — from a couple which has since passed away. One of the license owners, Sheldon Ashley, tried to renew the license shortly before his death but was denied because he wasn’t the one working at the newsstand. Delakas himself attempted to renew the lease, but the city denied him too because the arrangement was deemed illegal. [NYDN]

New York University,
which has a long-term expansion plan in the works, is giving up two
floors
at 38-50 Cooper Square. NYU will vacate the 46,000 square feet of space
in July 2011. NYU has been leasing it for 23 years, and the space is
currently
carved into 34 classrooms, offices and lounges for the university’s
School of Continuing Education. The building owner Hartz Mountain
Industries is now looking for another education tenant. NYU is expected
to unveil its long-term growth plans, which Greenwich Village residents
have been fighting, in the fall. [more]

Left to right: Andrew Cuomo, Rector Square, Yair Levy

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has opened an
investigation into the collapse of Rector Square, the Battery Park City
condominium conversion led by developer Yair Levy, according to three
officials familiar with the probe. Sources say that Cuomo, whose office regulates condo and co-op
conversions, is issuing subpoenas for financial records related to the
304-unit building, which has been in foreclosure proceedings since
early February after Levy defaulted on a $165 million mortgage with
Anglo Irish Bank. Investigators are looking into a possible diversion of funds during the
conversion, which collapsed after Levy failed to pay millions of
dollars in mortgage payments, construction costs, common charges and
PILOT payments to the Battery Park City Authority. [more]