Howard Milstein is the head of Milstein Properties.

From the February issue: On a winter afternoon last month, sunshine streamed through the windows on the 33rd story of 30 Lincoln Plaza, illuminating the cleaning supplies and paint cans that occupy the high-ceilinged space. Innocuous though it may seem, this out-of-the-way spot is at the center of a bitter dispute now raging between the building”s tenants and the developer, the Milstein real estate family. In their quest to prevent the Milsteins from converting the rental building into condos, tenants have filed a lawsuit claiming that when 30 Lincoln Plaza was constructed three decades ago, the developer ignored city permits and added an illegal extra floor — the 33rd. Litigation is nothing new for the Milsteins. They are one of the city’s oldest and most successful real estate families, but also among the most controversial.  [more]

From the October issue: Stupid, stupid, stupid cheap.” That’s how low prices have to fall before the commercial real estate market hits bottom, Steven Roth, the chairman of Vornado Realty Trust, predicted earlier this year. In a letter to shareholders in April, the square-jawed mogul confided, “I think we are now at the third and last stupid. Not that he’s buying yet. But in recent months, the 67-year-old real estate titan, along with CEO Michael Fascitelli, the other half of the so-called “Vornado Tornado,” has been building a war chest to go shopping. And when Vornado gets ready to shop, there’s good reason to pay attention. [more]

Madison Square Garden’s street level television studio is set to close
on Dec. 1 for renovations, according to a statement from MSG Media. The
studio, at 11 Penn Plaza, will be refurbished as part of Madison Square
Garden’s $500 million renovation project. While an official reopening
date hasn’t been set, an MSG spokesperson said it’s expected to open
its doors “in the near future.” A tipster told Crain’s that around 16
employees will lose their jobs as a result of the project. [more]

Amtrak has reached a preliminary agreement to move to the Pennsylvania Station annex planned for the James A. Farley Post Office Building, officials said yesterday. The agreement, reached after lengthy negotiations, would remove one of the most significant stumbling blocks for the Moynihan Station project: Amtrak remaining in its current location. The project aims to expand Penn Station with an annex in the post office building and create a more visible entrance to the station, which is below Madison Square Garden. In exchange for moving, Amtrak will receive some of the revenue from retail stores in the expanded station, though the details of the arrangement have not yet been fully decided. The project is likely to cost $1.1 billion to $1.5 billion, Senator Charles Schumer, an advocate of the renovations, said.

Speaker Christine Quinn (center) will push harder to redevelop Farley
Post Office (left) to replace Penn Station which she compared
unfavorably to Union Station in D.C. (right)

City Council speaker Christine Quinn told contractors and builders at a
morning breakfast today that the Moynihan Station planners need to
consider smaller or staggered plans, despite the fact that Pennsylvania
Station is an eyesore. “At this point we need to come up with a plan even if it is smaller or
phased in,” for the project located in her city council district, she
said. Quinn was speaking to members of the New York Building Congress at its
industry breakfast forum at the Hilton New York Hotel in Midtown today. The Moynihan Station plan envisions converting the James A. Farley Post
Office on Eighth Avenue and 33rd Street to a rail transit hub, part of
a wider vision to transform the Penn Station area, with a new Madison
Square Garden structure and office towers. [more]