City Planning approves Seward Park redevelopment plan, Pat Kiernan gets official Brooklyn welcome … and more

1. City Planning Commission votes unanimously to approve SPURA plan [Curbed]
2. MTA officials say yesterday’s underground blast at Second Avenue Subway site was stronger than expected [DNAinfo]
3. Existing home sales increase slightly, but major gain comes in prices [USA Today]
4. Cornell-Technion to accept applications for beta computer science class [Crain’s]
5. Mayor Bloomberg contests Markowitz’s Coney Island casino stance [Brooklyn Daily]
6. More information on Empire State Building IPO — including how the small shareholders got their shares in the first place [Bloomberg]
7. Bronx Beep Ruben Diaz Jr. backs ice-sports complex plan at Kingsbridge Armory [Crain’s]
8. Growing presence of cafes and beer gardens in publicly owned private spaces call zoning laws into question [DowntownExpresss]
9. Village Voice’s office to be replaced by black box theater next year [Local East Village]
10. Following Pat Kiernan’s move to Brooklyn, Marty Markowitz declares Aug. 21 to be “Pat Kiernan Welcome to Brooklyn Celebration Day” [NYO]
11. After over $1M in price cuts, 20 St. Mary’s Lane, Amagansett home gets buyer [Curbed]
12. Tampa will bring in $150M for hosting RNC, a return on its multi million-dollar investment to spruce up city facilities [Bloomberg]
13. Armani reportedly looking for new office space — 60,000 sf or more, to be precise [NYO]
14. Signs of progress at Oro 2 site [Brownstoner]
15. Architecture student to bring floating garden to LIC [DNAinfo]