Rental firm uses pranks, Web site to stay on youngsters’ radars
Rental firm Urban Hostess has turned fictitious Web persona Richard Nouveau from the equivalent of a modern day prank call into a money-making marketing tool.
Every week Richard Nouveau, the nonexistent talking head for Pocket Change, a newsletter affiliate of Urban Hostess, sarcastically delivers updates on the priciest items and services in Manhattan to around 60,000 email subscribers, the majority of whom are young professionals and first-time renters.
He’s also been known to take his self-deprecating attitude toward wealth out around town (Urban Hostess hires an actor to play the part) — throwing handfuls of pennies outside of clubs in the Meatpacking District and not showing up for dates he makes with women on the socializing Web site JDate.
“Our market is passionate about coming to the city and launching their careers — many are working in finance and media and all are in pursuit of professional and financial success which is often accompanied by materialistic consumption,” said Jeremy Abelson, president of Urban Hostess, which brokers rentals throughout the city. “They enjoy the writing; they enjoy the knowledge and look forward to the finer things.”
Pocket Change is Urban Hostess’ attempt to remain in the eye of its market of upwardly mobile young professionals craving nicer rentals in a tight rental market. The site launched in June.
An unabashed sense of materialism and the attraction of living big in the city keeps the Pocket Change team constantly looking for the most expensive shave ($65 at the Art of Shaving on East 62nd Street) or the priciest omelette ($1,000 for a caviar-filled creation at the Parker Meridian Hotel).
Pocket Change does cover some affordable items, says Abelson. “They might not be able to afford a $15,000 hotel suite but a $120 hamburger [the Double Truffle Burger served at DB Bistro Moderne] won’t make them go broke.”
Media moves on real estate beats
Two top New York real estate columnists are switching beats.
Last month, Michael Calderone left his spot as the New York Observer’s “Manhattan Transfers” columnist after two years to become the paper’s media reporter. “I enjoyed covering luxury real estate, but I’m happy to report on something new,” Calderone said.
He’ll be covering New York media under the Observer’s “Off The Record” column. Replacing him at “Manhattan Transfers” is Observer reporter Max Abelson.
This month, William Neuman, “Big Deal” columnist at the New York Times, is stepping away from real estate to cover the transportation beat at the paper.
Neuman spent two years filling readers in on the goings-on in the upper echelons of the New York market. Josh Barbanel, a real estate reporter at the Times, was rumored in late August to be Neuman’s “Big Deal” successor.
Gandolfini’s Tribeca plan sleeps with the fishes
Tony Soprano recently faced an angry mob of his own.
James Gandolfini, who plays the mafia boss on HBO’s “The Sopranos,” and his business partners recently proposed plans to build a nine-story residential building in a commercially zoned site in Tribeca, but the plans were rejected by the local community board.
Gandolfini wanted to build the 26-unit project with a two-story penthouse at 415 Washington Street, but the project touched off residents’ ire because they said it would be too tall and dense for the narrow street.
The developers originally proposed a six-story commercial building with a smaller floor area ratio, which was approved by the community board.
Gandolfini and his partners are now permitted to build the original commercial design or a smaller residential building without a penthouse.