The managers of L’Ecole at 212 East 47th Street have ignored health complaints about dangerous levels of the carcinogen crystalline silica in apartments, according to court papers, the New York Post reported.

Resident Steven Rosenhaus said the management of the condominium and rental building had shown a “total disregard for human life,” and said he has had serious breathing problems since his apartment was covered with dust containing pulverized fiberglass and other material while the facade was being redone in 2008. Tests on Rosenhaus’ apartment showed the dust was rife with crystalline silica, a carcinogen found in mortar that can cause lung disease. [more]

The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously signed off today on a gut renovation of the Carlton House Hotel, according to an announcement from Extell Development, which is overseeing the project with partner Angelo Gordon & Company.

The partners picked up the property from the Helmsley estate last March for $170 million, closing it this past February in order to prepare for a conversion.

Originally built in 1951 as the Helmsley Carlton House, the building at 680 Madison Avenue currently contains 157 hotel and residential units, which were being vacated by the developers as their leases expired. Among the changes now planned: a two-story addition and two new infill buildings on the building’s north and south sides, an upgrade to its 32,000-square-foot retail space and a restoration of the exterior façade, Extell said today. – Sarabeth Sanders [more]

The Kleier klan dropped in on “Live with Regis and Kelly” this morning to teach departing host Regis Philbin the tricks of the real estate trade. Where to start? Your typical New York City apartment, of course: Michele Kleier’s $27.5 million listing on the 16th floor of the former Stanhope hotel. Watch the clip above as the matriarch of the self-described “First Family of Real Estate” shows him the ropes of New York City showings. Among her tips: don’t say “entryway,” say “gallery;” “den” is a dirty word — it’s a library here; and we never, ever say “his and hers” anymore (this is New York, after all). Regis flubbed the “his and hers” bit on his first-ever showing, but Kleier said she thinks he’s “trainable” — good news in case he ever needs any cash post-retirement.

From left: David Tobon, Alon Chadad, Moshe Balalo, Andy Kim and Michael Arcos of the firm Blu

Blu Realty Group, the new 100 percent commission residential brokerage launched in Midtown by five Nest Seekers alumni earlier this year, is expanding its business to the Upper West Side, where it plans to open its second office in mid-July.

Alon Chadad, one of the firm’s co-founders, told The Real Deal that Blu has leased a roughly 1,600-square-foot space at Trump Place, at 120 Riverside Boulevard and 67th Street, chosen because of its proximity to the burgeoning new developments market in the area.

“We’ve been doing a lot of business with Extell [Development] and at Trump Place,” Chadad said. “The Rushmore, the Avery… all of those. The neighborhood is picking up tremendously.” [more]

Extell’s Gary Barnett and a rendering of Riverside Center

The city’s School Construction Authority has tapped Dattner Architects to design the Riverside Center School (P.S./I.S. 342), the new public school at Extell Development’s massive Upper West Side development site. An announcement from Dattner provides more details about the upcoming “green” pre-K-through-8th grade-school, which will contain more than 20 classrooms as well as art and music rooms, a science suite, library, gym and cafeteria. It will be housed on the first four floors of Atelier Christian de Portzamparc and SLCE’s planned high-rise tower on West End Avenue, between 60th and 61st streets, and is slated for completion in time for the 2015-2016 school year. — Sarabeth Sanders [more]

1. Gary Barnett’s Extell gets $13M mortgage for Hudson Square luxury hotel
[NYO]
2. Downtown rents surge in anticipation of Sept. 11 memorial
[Post]
3. Outdoor equipment retailer busy renovating space in Puck Building at 295 Lafayette Street
[Post]
4. Subway sandwich chain aims to add 100 Brooklyn stores
[Post]
5. South Pointe takes over former RdV East nightclub in the Hamptons
[Guest of a Guest]
6. American Institute of Architects elects 2013 officials from New York and Florida
[MediaBistro]
7. French jewelry designer gets 824 Madison Avenue bargain
[crain's]
8. Jennifer Aniston closes on second West Village apartment for $2M
[Curbed]
9. Time Square sets a fast pace for retail recovery
[Post]
10. CoStar to offer 3.8 million shares in public offering
[CNBC]

11. Disney store to add 40 sites nationally
[WSJ]
12. Gothamist signs lease at 20 Jay Street
[Crain's]
13. Ian Schrager’s new hotel to be named PUBLIC
[Hotel Chatter]
14. Town Residential scores job as exclusive agent for three Moinian properties
[Crain's]
15. U.S. economy has reached rock bottom, Marcus & Millichap report [CP Executive]
16. Whitney Museum breaks ground on new home in Meatpacking District [Curbed]

17. Aloft Hotel at 216 Duffield Street sports signage [Brownstoner] [more]

The board of the Upper West Side’s Ariel West condominium has voted overwhelmingly to ban smoking inside the building because, as board president Gideon Stein put it, “people do not have a constitutional right to smoke.” According to the New York Times, it’s among the more intense smoking bans ever for a residential building in the city, because even smoker residents already living in the building won’t be grandfathered in under the new rules. Last year, several rental buildings introduced bans but allowed current tenants to continue to smoke in their apartments. [more]

From the April issue: In the tight quarters of Manhattan real estate, cobbling together space by assembling blocks of adjacent land has long been one of the go-to strategies to make room for something bigger.

Now there’s good indication that, after a recession hiatus, developers are again turning their attention back to assembling properties.

Real estate firms such as the CIM Group, the Rockefeller Group and Extell Development are betting that as the economy improves, the investments made in these sites will pay off in the same one-plus-one-equals-three way they have for other companies in the past (see the Durst Organization’s One Bryant Park, for example).

In addition, brokers say that increased activity has happened faster than many expected. [more]

Extell Development is following through with its plans to begin vertical construction at the site of its future International Gem Tower with or without a construction loan. The Wall Street Journal spotted workers erecting the 34-story tower’s steel base yesterday, and noted that despite its lack of construction financing, it is now one of just two New York City sites where large-scale office buildings are going up. (The other being, of course, the World Trade Center). According to Raizy Haas, Extell’s senior vice president, the Diamond District project, on 47th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues, will be complete by the end of next year. [more]

A parcel of land adjacent to the West Side rail yards that once belonged to Extell Development is back on the market, according to Real Estate Weekly. The seller, lender Barclays, seized the parcel at 350-366 10th Avenue from Extell last August, after the developer defaulted on its $28.8 million loan in 2009. Extell had planned to build a 600,000-square-foot mixed-use tower on the site, which the developer spent more than $40 million to assemble, sources say. [more]