Forest City Ratner spends on lobbying, builders divided over tax breaks … and more

1. Forest City Ratner spent $928,652 on lobbying in 2008 [AY Report]
2. MTA opens new South Ferry station [NYDN]
3. Treasury Secretary trying to sell suburban New York home [US News]
4. Restaurants and bars on the market in Nolita, West Village and Midtown [Eater]
5. Condo conversions and new construction units available on the Upper West Side [Post]
6. Builders divided over tax breaks [WSJ]
7. Mortgage fraud at all-time high [Mortgage Fraud Blog] and [CNN Money]
8. Homebuilder confidence near record low [CNN Money]
9. How much value do real estate brokers add? [BusinessWeek]
10. 1055 Park Avenue gets glassed [A Fine Blog]
11. Hamptons realtors using listings service to squeeze out smaller brokers, lawsuit claims [Post]
12. BJ’s taking over Home Depot space in Brooklyn [Crain’s]
13. Construction beginning at Brooklyn Bridge Park, planners say [Brooklyn Paper]
14. Both sides claiming victory in Stuy Town case [Crain’s] and [Post]
15. U.S. housing starts probably hit record low in February [Bloomberg]
16. Queens Museum of Art offering buildings in its city panorama for adoption [NYT]
17. BellTel Lofts gets tax abatement [Brooklyn Eagle]
18. Queens sewer system could be repaired with stimulus funds [NYDN]