Volume 18 • Issue 19 | Sep. 30 – Oct 06, 2005
No early hat toss
It seems like every Downtown political observer expects Community Board 1 chairperson Julie Menin to run for City Council four years from now when term limits will force Councilmember Alan Gerson to give up the seat, but Menin avoided engaging in any speculation this week, regardless of how the question was asked. “I am really focused on the community board,” she kept telling UnderCover. Menin knows the district well as she was on the committee that made small adjustments to the boundaries a few years ago.
Pit Bull Jerry
Is our man in Congress, U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, one of Freddy Ferrer’s “attack dogs?” A day after the Dems’ hope for City Hall said he would not debate Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s “attack dogs,” the Ferrer campaign released a statement Tuesday from Nadler taking on U.S. Rep. Vito Fossella — who said Ferrer would mean a return to the Dinkins era, a period when Fossella thinks his home borough, Staten Island, was ignored. Nadler said the Islander’s “attempt to divide New Yorkers from one another by smearing the legacy of David Dinkins’ good work is one step too far. Freddy Ferrer rejects the divisive views of people like Vito Fossella.”
The Hereafter
The evangelical church at 441 Greenwich St. that has been inundated with criticism from nearby neighbors might have more problems on the way. Norman F. Levy, the building’s owner, died two weeks ago. The landmark building is now on the market and has piqued the interest of more than a few potential buyers, said Alice Hughes, the longtime building manager. “It’ll probably be sold,” she said. As for the fate of the tenants: “I don’t know what will happen. We’ll see when it’s sold.”
The 93-year-old real estate mogul left behind a hefty portfolio of buildings and shopping centers along the East Coast. “He was a great man, a perfect boss, the best anyone could ask for,” said Hughes.
Fall bawl
Poor Rebecca Moore of L.O.C.O. (Ludlow-Orchard Community Organization). Now that it’s fall, the bar noise on her Lower East Side block has gotten so bad she now sits in her building’s hallway on a phonebook on the stairs and reads and writes until 4 a.m. “just trying to stay up past the noise.” “I have actually been dreading the fall — much worse than summer — as in the summer some days are so hot everyone stays inside with the A/C or goes out of town,” Moore laments. “In the winter we get everyone drinking to stay warm and all the drunk people playing in the snow — which, most nights, I manage to find somehow endearing…. But fall is the most intense difficult time down here. Really over the top.”
Soho Sales
David Slaven of Red Brick Properties just scored a pair of 19th century cast iron Soho buildings for about $23 million. Slaven purchased the 72-86 Greene St. property from Gary Barnett of Extell Development Co., who had bought it only three years ago. The building is currently leased to retail, residential and office tenants. Slaven intends to convert the property into residential condominiums, according to Deborah Gutoff, who represented Slaven in the sale.
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