From left: Nicholas Ricci, Daniel Kozlov, Eric Liftin and Mark Martinez

From the September issue: New York City homeowners are doing far fewer gut renovations than in the past. Instead, many are opting for cheaper cosmetic upgrades like refinishing floors, installing new appliances and replacing countertops.
In this month’s Q&A, The Real Deal talked to residential contractors and architects about what kind of activity they’re seeing in the home renovation business in the city, given the touch-and-go economy.
Many said that while the wealthiest of clients are still breaking down walls, most others are sticking to kitchens, bathrooms and surface-level fixes. The one exception is for price-conscious young families that are leaving Manhattan for cheaper, farther-flung neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens, where they’re buying old, dilapidated homes and buildings as fixer-uppers. [more]

TV legend Norman Lear and 15 CPW (building photo source: PropertyShark)

An insurance company is battling a high-end interior contractor in court after a leaky pipe caused nearly $400,000 in damages to Norman Lear’s $10 million 15 Central Park West condominium unit. In February this year, workers renovating the penthouse apartment above Lear’s caused plumbing lines to fail, and the subsequent water flow damaged the TV legend’s 38th floor unit, a suit filed in New York State Supreme Court on Wednesday says. The $45 million apartment above Lear’s, known as penthouse 39, is the largest in the luxury tower and is reportedly owned by hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, who is not party to the suit. Lear’s insurance company, American International Insurance, paid Lear — behind hits like “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons” — and his wife Lyn $374,973 for the cost of repairs, and then filed suit against contractor Interior Management to recover the fee, the suit says. [more]