From left: Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and a rendering of NYU’s plans for 370 Jay StreetWhile many New Yorkers were celebrating Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s selection of Cornell University to build a science school on Roosevelt Island, Brooklyn politicians were pinning their hopes on another phrase the mayor uttered during the press conference.

According to the New York Daily News, Bloomberg said he was still in talks with three other universities and could award grants for another graduate science school. Brooklynites hope that award goes to NYU so it can build a school at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s 370 Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn. [more]

From left: Governor Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a rendering of the Sept. 11 Museum

A $300 million dispute has nearly ceased construction at the Sept. 11 Memorial Museum, DNAinfo.com reported, and might need to be resolved in court. Now, it seems all but certain that the museum won’t open by its September 2012 target.

After initially making claims of being owed $156 million, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey recently updated the figure, saying the National September 11 Memorial & Museum Foundation actually owes it $300 million for cost overruns at the site. But Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is chair of the foundation, said the foundation believes the Port Authority is the indebted party at the site. [more]

Starting early in 2012, the city’s plans to invest more than $300 million to jump-start the transformation of Governors Island will come to fruition as workers break ground on the first phase of a major redevelopment of the 172-acre landmass, DNAinfo reported.

Projects scheduled to open by the end of 2013 include a new 14-acre play lawn, a refurbished 12-acre parade ground, a 10-acre hammock grove and an overhauled 6-acre liggett terrace, a gathering space with maze-like hedges, DNAinfo said. Repairs will also be made to buildings in the 92-acre historic district.

It’s a very exciting time on Governors Island,” said Leslie Koch, president of the Trust for Governors Island. [more]

Top New York real estate executives, including Thor Equities CEO Joseph Sitt, David LaPierre of CBRE Group, attended the International Council of Shopping Centers’ two-day annual retail trade show, the New York National Conference & Deal Making, held this week in Manhattan. More than 6,600 people were registered to attend as of Monday evening, compared with 6,100 attendees in 2010. On Monday, the first day of the show, keynote speaker Mayor Michael Bloomberg discussed the influence of his administration on retail development in the city. Yesterday, a group of retail panelists discussed the demand for parking at retail locations. See the slide show above for pictures from the floor. – Adam Pincus [more]

In a TechCrunch Web series discussing the founding of his eponymous company, Mayor Michael Bloomberg reminisced on his own office leasing strategy and dished out advice to growing tech companies on how to figure out how much office space to take.

Bloomberg acknowledged that many growing firms have a tough time striking the balance between taking enough space for the company to expand
without overspending on rent.

“My advice to an entrepreneur is don’t overextend,” Bloomberg said. “Not
having enough space is a nice problem to have — it’s a very bad
problem to have too much.”
[more]

Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s failed 2012 Olympic bid paved the way for the development of Manhattan’s Far West Side, which has given birth to 15 residential towers and 12 hotels since 2005, when the International Olympic Committee selected London to host the games.

According to the New York Times, the city rezoned and adjusted land use laws for the area to facilitate development for the Olympics and began planning the $2 billion extension of the 7 subway line to 34th Street and 11th Avenue. Though the Olympics didn’t follow, development has. In addition to the Related Companies’ Hudson Yards site, Avalon Bay is planning a 30-story rental development at 11th Avenue and 29th Street, and the Gotham Organization broke ground on a $520 million residential complex 15 blocks to the north. New parks and a boulevard between 10th and 11th avenues are also on the docket. [more]

Susan Bloomberg and the penthouse at One Kenmare Square

Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s ex-wife, Susan Bloomberg, got the $11.5 million she wanted back in 2009 for her Soho penthouse. But the $1.5 million price hike she implemented when re-listing the apartment earlier this year proved too ambitious.

Citing city records, the New York Observer reported that an LLC named Cirrus 210 snapped up the penthouse in the glassy condominium designed by Andre Balazs at One Kenmare Square. The apartment had been on the market since July for $13 million with Arlene Weidberg, a senior vice president at Halstead Property. [more]

From left: City Council member Jessica Lappin, Assembly member Micah Kellner and Roosevelt IslandThough the submission process is over for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s $100 million towards a new graduate science school, the lobbying process has just begun. Roosevelt Islander blog reported that City Council member Jessica Lappin and Assembly member Micah Kellner joined Roosevelt Island advocates at a press conference yesterday on the steps of City Hall pleading for Bloomberg to select a proposal that would build the campus on Roosevelt Island.

“I want Roosevelt Island to become Silicon Island,” Lappin said. She directed supporters to voice their support for Roosevelt Island on specified Economic Development Corporation social media outlets. [more]

From left: Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Z NYC HotelAt today’s opening ceremony for the Z NYC Hotel in Long Island City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the city will reach a record 90,000 hotel rooms by the end of the year, a 24 percent increase from five years ago.

According to the mayor, 2,500 hotel rooms have been added to the city’s inventory this year, 30 percent of which come from the outer boroughs. Additionally, 7,000 more rooms are in the pipeline, with approximately 2,800 of those outside of Manhattan. At the 11-01 43rd Avenue site of the 100-room hotel, which was built by Henry Zilberman and first opened its doors in July, Bloomberg noted that more visitors are coming to the city to experience neighborhoods beyond the traditional tourism hot spots. – Adam Fusfeld [more]

Lower Manhattan’s revival is certainly not confined to development at the World Trade Center site; indeed, an array of new businesses have opened in the neighborhood in the 10 years since Sept. 11, the New York Post reported.

“[It’s] one of the greatest comeback stories in American history,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday, addressing business, government and cultural leaders at an Association for a Better New York breakfast on Wall Street. “And I believe it will stand as our greatest monument to those we lost on Sept. 11 and to our unshakable faith in the moral imperative of protecting and preserving a free, open, democratic society,”

Bloomberg noted that the Financial District has added more residents over the last 10 years than Atlanta, Dallas and Philadelphia combined. The growing population has encouraged the development of 19 new hotels, more retail outlets than existed before the World Trade Center attacks, and schools.  [more]