F. Scott Fitzgerald’s former villa on the Cote d’Azur
With laundry rooms closed post-Sandy, Peter Cooper Village residents demand rent breaks. JDS Development’s 202 8th Street in Gowanus (finally) hits the market. Developers turn to “sliver hotels” to reduce costs, follow zoning rules. Hey ladies! Women outnumber men in Williamsburg, Upper West Side, according to a gender breakdown of U.S. cities. Click here for these stories and more.

Jean Nouvel and the Torre Verre

It seems like architect Jean Nouvel’s Torre Verre, or MoMA Tower, might be back on track, with a spokesperson for developer Hines admitting that the project was back on and imminent, the New York Observer reported.

Nouvel’s skyscraper, delayed by the financial crisis, was first introduced in 2007 to much critical acclaim. It was slated to be as high as 1,250 feet on land traded by the Musuem of Modern Art to Hines, for $125 million and three floors of galleries in the base of the new building. It would be tall enough to rival the Empire State Building.  City Planning Commission Chair Amanda Burden was less enamored with the tower than others and insisted that 200 feet be knocked off the top, making it smaller than even the Chrysler Building. According to the Observer, Hines has quietly filed a new set of plans with the Department of City Planning, compliant with two special permits that the commission and the City Council approved in 2009. … [more]

As though the release of the 200-page 2011 Zoning Handbook were not sufficiently exciting for wonkish sensibilities, the agency responsible, the Department of City Planning, has just released “Vision 2020: New York City Comprehensive Waterfront Plan,” which is an update and extension of a similar study published in 1992.

It takes stock of what has been accomplished and what still needs to be accomplished along the nearly 520 miles of waterway that surrounds the five boroughs. As the report points out, four of those boroughs are on islands, and the fifth, the Bronx, is on a peninsula.

It would not be exactly fair to say that Vision 2020 is a deeply original document…. [more]

From left: Jennifer Post, 100 11th Avenue and Jean NouvelThe designer hired to redo Jean Nouvel’s lobby at 100 11th Avenue is now claiming that developer Cape Advisors stiffed her. Architect Jennifer Post, who has done interiors for the likes of Simon Cowell and Jennifer Lopez, was brought on at the posh Chelsea condominium after residents complained that the original sparse, black design was too dreary and brokers at the building blamed it for sluggish sales. Post jazzed up the place with large onyx sculptures and new carpeting, but told Page Six today that Cape still owes her $10,000 for her work…. [more]

“It’s very French to cut the head, eh?” French starchitect Jean Nouvel said of his planned MoMa tower, now 200 feet shorter after community opposition forced a height chop. “A guillotine.” In an interview with CBS News over the weekend, Nouvel explained that he had “tried to play with the idea of a needle” in designing the original, 75-story version. He’s currently working on a redesign. “My buildings are more famous than me,” he said.

… [more]

Nouvel and 100 11th Avenue

Commercial real estate investment firm Pembrook Capital Management has
agreed to provide a $47.1 million, 24-month recapitalization loan for
the 100 11th Avenue condominium development in Chelsea, the lender
announced today. The new condo building on the corner of 19th Street,
where construction has been completed, is more than 50 percent sold,
according to Pembrook, with 26 of its 54 units closed. Closings began in November of last year, as The Real Deal
previously reported. The development previously had a $110 million loan
from Fremont Investment, which was inked in early 2007. TRD

… [more]

Paolo Zampolli is using a unique strategy to entice foreign clients to
purchase property: the Italian broker and founder of ID Model Management takes them apartment hunting

around Manhattan on his $800,000 boat, according to the New York Post.
“This is a way to give them a real feel of New York and the skyline
and where they want to be,” Zampolli said. From the boat, clients
point out the buildings they like. Then, Zampolli arranges a tour of
apartments for sale in those buildings. Since the boat tours began a
couple of weeks ago, Zampolli said he has already sold a $3.6 million
apartment in architect Jean Nouvel’s new building at 100 11th Avenue on

the West Side. While some brokers take clients on boat tours of
oceanfront mansions in Florida, he says the sales tactic is new for Manhattan.

So far, designer Roberto Cavalli has been on board. [Post]

… [more]

The retail space at 40 Mercer, the Jean Nouvel-designed condo developed by Hines Interests and Andre Balazs, has sold for $41.9 million to a company called GLL Real Estate Partners, city records show. The space, which has a street address of 465 Broadway, contains 9,400 square feet of space at the ground level. When it hit the market in June 2008, it was leased to high-end retailers Bose, Dermalogica and Vivienne Tam and to a Wachovia Bank. Studley’s Woody Heller reportedly had the listing, and at the time, he predicted that the retail condo would go for roughly $50 million. He declined to comment to the Observer yesterday. [NYO]

There could be more trouble brewing for the Jean Nouvel-designed MoMA tower at 53 West 53rd Street. Word has gotten out that the West 54-55th Street Block Association has filed an official petition to the New York State Supreme Court, citing environmental violations and the improper transfer of development rights, according to Curbed. Although it’s not yet clear when the court might make a decision on the petition, the document could put a temporary wrench in the works for the development.

Jenene Danenberg, Luxury Attache co-founder, and 100 11th Avenue, where closings began last week

In a residential market where most new developers are trying to cut costs, Jenene Danenberg is convinced she can still make them spring for an upgrade. And she has — most recently at 100 11th Avenue and 141 Fifth Avenue, both of which started move-ins last week. Cape Advisors brought in Luxury Attache during the development of its 72-unit Jean Nouvel project at 100 11th Avenue near 19th Street. David Comfort, a senior executive with Cape Advisors, said that the service was helpful in moving sales. “At the time we [began sales in February 2007], West Chelsea was not a [very] residential area, some of the niceties were not particularly known,” Comfort said. Luxury Attache helped educate buyers on attractions in West Chelsea, Comfort said, and even helped arrange travel plans for prospective residents. Luxury Attache, a four-year-old full-concierge service that developers and condo boards have on board to assist residents with everything from party planning to nabbing theater tickets, currently has a full-time station or at least dedicated services in place at 16 other Manhattan buildings. Those include Soho Mews, the Greenwich Club Residences, the Prudential Center, and Andre Balazs’ William Beaver House. Other clients include the National Hockey League, with whom they recently signed, and financial bigwigs like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley…. [more]