HBO snagged “W.” director Oliver Stone to direct a new telepic on Robert Moses, according to The Holywood Reporter.
The premium cable channel will base the film on the Pulitzer Prize-winning, 1974 book, “The Power Broker,” written by Robert Caro. Moses, once dubbed the city’s “master builder,” was critical to shaping the city at the start of the 20th century. Star Trek screenwriter Nicholas Meyer will pen the script. [The Hollywood Reporter]
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Donald Trump’s idea to build a “Trump on the Ocean” restaurant on Jones Beach still faces staunch opposition from local residents, and Trump is not happy. The Donald has been trying for four years to replace a landmark restaurant at the beach with what he calls “the finest dining and banquet facility in the world,” according to the Daily News. The main point of contention is the size and scope of the project, which is planned to be 76,000 square feet, to be built at the site of a 1930s restaurant at Jones Beach State Park, conceived by legendary urban planner Robert Moses. “I was going to build a magnificent building on the boardwalk that would have made Robert Moses envious and proud,” Trump told the Associated Press. The beach has had only a small snack bar since the restaurant was torn down in 2004. Trump is hoping to create a facility with sweeping views of the Atlantic and beachfront dining for as many as 1,400. But critics argue that such a large project in a flood zone could be hazardous to workers and that it could create traffic problems. [NYDN via Gawker]

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Kathy Rudney, a broker with Prudential Douglas Elliman, is handling rentals at Columbus Square

From the February issue:
It’s away from the heart of the Upper West Side. Its rents are up to 30 percent higher than the competition’s. And its shops more closely resemble strip-mall offerings than what’s typically found on city blocks. But Columbus Square, a mega mixed-use complex that spans six blocks from West 97th to 100th streets between Amsterdam and Columbus avenues, is posting enviable rental and retail numbers in a down market, according to brokers familiar with the project and the neighborhood. Since May, the project has leased 290 of 454 apartments in two buildings at the site, where five buildings are planned, for a rental rate of 64 percent. One-bedrooms there list for about $3,400, which dwarfs the $2,300 average that postwar equivalents in the neighborhood usually command, brokers said. Once complete, Columbus Square will have 710 apartments. Of course, with the housing market still weak, tenants are receiving generous extras from the co-developers, Stellar Management and the Chetrit Group. Those incentives include up to three months of free rent, plus coverage of the broker’s fee, for signing a 14-month lease, according to Kathy Rudney, the Prudential Douglas Elliman broker handling rentals. But the base rents, she noted, are firm.  [more]