New incentive program aims to slow rising mortgage defaults … and more

1. Shens cosmetics store opens on Court Street in Cobble Hill, replacing Ola Baby [Brownstoner]
2. Action will be in commercial real estate next year: experts [Reuter’s] 

3. Delaware AG asks BofA, JPMorgan and Ally Financial to suspend pending foreclosures [AP] 

4. New incentive program aims to slow rising mortgage defaults [Knowledge@Wharton] 

5. Taxpayers suffer from legal challenges threatening to delay foreclosures [Post]
6. Author Jonathan Ames says fellow writer Jonathan Lethem will stay in Brooklyn for five more years [NY Mag] 

7. Would-be buyer of 10 foreclosed Bronx properties refuses to close the deal [Crain’s] 

8. Julie Macklowe, wife of real estate mogul Billy Macklowe, will launch fashion-related company [NYO] 

9. Philadelphia takes in impoverished New Yorkers priced out of the city [NY Mag] 

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10. Citibank counts down to opening of new branch on 14th Street in Union Square, former location of Virgin Megastore [EV Grieve]
11. Commercial property values up 30 percent over 2009: REIT researcher Green Street [WSJ] 

12. People’s Pops to close at Chelsea Market, plans to open elsewhere in the spring [Village Voice] 

13. Owners of Brooklyn’s 205 Parkside Avenue get approval to build 19-unit apartment hotel [Q at Parkside] 

14. Work resumes at planned hotel at 163 Orchard Street [Bowery Boogie] 

15. New Yorkers’ income declines for the first time in 70 years [CNBC] 

16. Survey says developers shifting to more conservative designs for “smart growth” [NRDC]