Streeteasy VP predicts a downturn in 2013, NGKF closes $81M portfolio trade … and more

To bankroll $230 million in repairs, the Brooklyn Public Library considers liquidating some of its real estate holdings
To bankroll $230 million in repairs, the Brooklyn Public Library considers liquidating some of its real estate holdings

1. Despite other experts’ optimism, Streeteasy vice president Sofia Song predicts that city real estate will see a downturn in activity this year [NY1]
2. Newmark Grubb Knight Frank closes $80.55 million deal for five Citibank retail branches [NYP, 3rd item]
3. In desperate need of capital for long-delayed repairs, the Brooklyn Public Library weighs letting go of some of its more than 1 million square feet in property holdings [WSJ]
4.  Brookfield Office Properties kicks off the construction of deck over an Amtrak rail yard, the start of its $4.5 billion development between Ninth and Dyer avenues. [NYP, 1st item]
5. Times columnist counts the ways the government has botched the foreclosure crisis [NYT]
6.  The Royal Bank of Scotland could be the next bank to face major fines from regulators [NYP]
7. Thirty years after Ada Louise Huxtable damned the architecture of the apartment buildings of 800 Fifth Avenue and 1001 Fifth Avenue, they are still “awful to look at” [NYT]
8. Joseph Lhota, former MTA chair, prepares to make mayoral run official [Crain’s]
9.  A look at REBNY in the new year [NYO]
10. Edward Minskoff ‘s 51 Astor Place sends “mixed messages;” critic weighs pros and cons  [WSJ]
11. The Wall Street Journal has bed bugs [Gothamist]

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