West Village mainstay Left Bank Books gets new lease on life, Staten Island elder care home being demolished … and more

1. West Village mainstay Left Bank Books gets new lease on life [NYT]
2. Brooklyn’s Community Board 6 adopts new “responsible development standards” [Brownstoner]
3. Brooklyn and Queens see more construction stalls than other boroughs
[Crain’s]
4.  New Chinatown spot, the Hotel Mulberry, steeped in controvery [Curbed]
5. Judge Judy buys $6.75M Manhattan co-op [Cityfile, 1st item]
6. Staten Island elder care home being demolished [SI Advance]
7. Columbia University eminent domain concerns debated [NYT]
8. Houses in Manhattan for less than $1M: they do exist [NY Mag]
9. Closings taking place — quietly — at 15 Union Square West [Curbed]
10. Queens performance arts space rides out recession thanks to safety net
[Crain’s]
11. Chicken House restaurant renovations taking longer than expected [Midtown Lunch]
12. Gehry’s former pad on the market [Curbed]
13. Lenox Hill Hospital to swap independence for merger partner [Crain’s]
14. Green houseboat unveiled in Greenwich Harbor [Greenwich Time]
15. FDIC shutters three more banks, bringing total 2009 closures to 133 [American Banking News]
16. Amendment to potential Consumer Financial Protection Agency targets reverse mortgages [National Mortgage News]
17. Fed Governor says “roadmap” needed for Fannie and Freddie [The Real Estate Bloggers]
18. November foreclosure figures signal possible future recovery [The Mortgage Reports] 
19. Zell, Sternlicht say private equity has come back to the market [GlobeSt]
20. When looking at a home as an investment is a good thing [Seeking Alpha]
21. Roubini says gold is a sinking ship [Business Insider via Yahoo! Finance]
22. Home value distorts impact of recession, Zillow chief economist says [Zillow]