1. French Prime Minister’s brother Oliver Sarkozy still trying to sell UES townhouse [Curbed]

2. Local businesses make the best of the Second Avenue Subway saga [Crain's]
3. New Yorkers should brace themselves for major bed bug infestations this summer
[DNAinfo]
4. Robert De Niro on Donald Trump
[HuffPo] 
5. Trump’s voting record isn’t squeaky clean
[Wdam.com]
6. Americans think real estate is a good long-term investment, but won’t buy right now
[247WallStreet.com]
7. Wine store and doggy spa move into One Brooklyn Bridge Park
[Observer]
8. 15 Union Square West boasts contemporary new design
[WSJ]
9. Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Block B is beyond repair
[Patch]
10. Vornado Realty hits 52-week high of $93.64
[TheStreet]
[more]

… “A wet raccoon doesn’t have seven billion f*@!ing dollars in the bank,” said Donald Trump (see video above), who lambasted “Jersey Shore” star Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino for his own hairstyle-related woes at last night’s Donald Trump roast on Comedy Central. Of course, Sorrentino didn’t take the dig too hard — and he noted that Trump is “the real deal.” The roast comes on the heels of Trump’s recent hinting at a possible presidential bid in 2012.

[more]

From the March issue: In 2001, given the choice between money and fame, Barbara Corcoran chose money. The self-made Queen of New York Real Estate cashed out — selling the Corcoran Group to NRT for $66 million — but quickly regretted losing her personal brand.

In “Shark Tales: How I Turned $1,000 into a Billion Dollar Business,” out last month, Corcoran writes of her post-business period as “secretly miserable” and without purpose. She missed, she writes, her legions of “adoring brokers.”

Now a “Shark Tank” judge, Corcoran — never one to miss a publicity opportunity — timed her book’s launch with the beginning of the TV show’s second season. The “Today” show contributor shares her best self-branding tips in “Shark,” co-written by Bruce Littlefield and published by Portfolio/Penguin.

The Real Deal combed the new sections (the book was previously published as “If You Don’t Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails” in 2004) for gems. [more]

Trump Soho and Prodigy Network’s Rodrigo Nino, who is heading up sales at the building

The developers of the Trump Soho hotel-condominium at 246 Spring Street are relaunching sales at the controversy-prone property, with units listed at an average of 21 percent below their original asking prices, according to Crain’s. Having recently reached a deal to restructure their $275 million loan at the project, Bayrock Group and the Sapir Organization are hoping that bargain buyers will emerge from the sidelines to take advantage of their new pricing schedule. As of last week, 279 of Trump Soho’s 391 units were still unsold. Since the project launched in 2007, only 45 units have closed for a total of around $55 million, while another 67 are in contract. [more]

Donald Trump and Tavern on the Green

Donald Trump may have only just announced his intent to take over the now-shuttered Tavern on the Green a few days ago, but the real estate tycoon is already laying out his vision for the staple Central Park eatery, according to the New York Post. If he is given the reins at the Tavern, Trump said he would demand that the now-demolished Crystal Room dining area be rebuilt, under a new design. “Without a new Crystal Room, you’d have 30 seats,” Trump said of the restaurant, in which he would invest upward of $20 million. [more]

Donald Trump, Alex Sapir and Trump Soho

The developers of the embattled Trump Soho condominium-hotel are offering to refund buyers as much as half of their deposits if they agree not to join a lawsuit that accuses them of “fraudulent misrepresentations and deceptive sales practices” at the 46-story Spring Street building, according to the Wall Street Journal. Only those buyers who haven’t yet closed would be eligible for the refund, though it is unclear how many have been offered. “They must think the fraud lawsuit has legitimacy and that they will
have to settle for more than 50 percent,” said attorney Pierre Debbas,
whose former client was offered a refund at the building. Or, he said,
the refunds could mean that the developers could be planning to convert
the entire project to a hotel. [more]

Are we looking at the future President Trump? As Americans began to digest the results of the midterm elections yesterday morning, The Donald told Good Day New York that he’s worried about the direction the country is going in and is now, “for the first time ever… considering” a run for the nation’s top political post in 2012. The real estate mogul, reality television star and outspoken Republican lamented that “everything is made in China,” (including many of the materials his company uses to construct their buildings), and wondered, “do we make anything anymore?”

[more]

After years of alluding to a possible presidential run, real estate tycoon Donald Trump may be considering a bid for the White House once again, according to CNN. A telephone poll last month quizzed New Hampshire voters about hypothetical presidential candidate match-ups in 2012, asking roughly 30 questions specifically about Trump. While Trump said that he has “never heard of this poll,” the developer did say that he is “anxious to find out what it says.” Officially, Trump said that he is not pursuing a presidential run. [CNN via NY Mag]

While Barbara Corcoran, founder of the Corcoran Group, found a welcome opportunity as the token female executive among male titans in last season’s reality show “Shark Tank,” the real estate maven said she had to fight her way into that spot. In fact, according to More magazine, she was initially turned down for the job, something that Corcoran said she wouldn’t take lying down. “What I learned in real estate sales helped me in the TV world,” Corcoran said, “perseverance, breaking through rejection and going back for another swing.” In a sharply worded letter to the show’s producers, Corcoran made her case for why she should be included on the show. “I do my best when my back’s against the wall,” the letter said, referencing one of Corcoran’s greatest battles: her legal kerfuffle with Trump. “There was The Donald himself who wrongly swore in court I’d never see a penny of the $4 million commission he owed me for saving his ass and making the largest land deal in the city’s history.” [More magazine]

[more]

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