Volume 18 • Issue 26 | November 11 – 17, 2005
Happy Birthday Mr. Councilman
City Councilmember Alan Gerson celebrated his birthday last week at a lofty Seaport apartment overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge. “Alan is a jewel,” declared New York State Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver, in a brief speech to the room of well-wishers. “And like all jewels, you need to insure it every once in a while.” Gerson then thanked his “perfectionist” host, Harold Reed, and the speaker. Meanwhile, Manhattan Youth executive director Bob Townley flaunted pictures of his kids outside the Nasdaq after they had closed the trading day. “We drove the market up!” he gushed like a proud pappy. Robin Forst told UnderCover that her recent item about Gerson and a Lower Manhattan Develop-ment Corporation meeting “was way out there.” “It must have been a slow news week,” she said.
Reno wants out
Tribeca performance artist Reno is subletting her Tribeca pad for the winter and inadvertently sent UnderCover an invite, equip with homage to Tribeca of yesteryear.
“When we moved in, it had been a gay male porn company. After saving the good stuff, several dumpsters worth of cheesy pin ups went out,” she mused. “It had black and orange oil painted walls, 9 small rooms, no bathroom or kitchen, you get the picture. The streets had no street or stop lights, no stop signs, no parking signs, and lots of empty lots. It has changed significantly for the _____________. You decide.”
We filled in the blank with “future” in the spirit of diplomacy.
Now resident Reno shares a block with Billy Crystal and “a secret service type detail in black Suburbans guarding new residents the ‘Olsen Twins’ all day long. Never saw them that I know of though, so…”
Pier pangs
Tribeca’s now-closed Pier 25 won’t be easy to forget. “Aren’t we going to go to the pier?” a boy asked his mother Saturday as he peered longingly through the fence. “I’m sorry honey, the pier’s closed,” the mother replied before the two turned around and headed back toward Battery Park City. Last week Hudson River Park Trust spokesperson Chris Martin told us the pier would stay open until this weekend, but the pier was closed earlier to give Manhattan Youth enough time to clear the decks of their stuff before preparation work can begin to build a sturdier pier for the park.
Hudson Sq. boom vs. Downtown bust
Sleepy Hudson Sq. is busting at the seams with newcomers these days. Nature America, publisher of Science mag Nature, just snatched up 52,000 sq. ft. on the ninth floor of 1 Hudson Sq. In August, the famous Twins of Tribeca, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, headed north for 27,000 sq. ft. at 345 Hudson St. and New York Sports Club opened a new locale on Varrick St.
Good thing things are swell north of Canal, because it looks like it’s going to be a long haul for Lower Manhattan, which is going to have a hard time hawking its commercial space for the next decade, according to a panel of real estate experts speaking at the Emerging Trends in Real Estate conference at the Harvard Club on Tuesday.
“It will take at least another seven years before all of the construction is complete Downtown, and it will be hard to attract tenants before that,” said Darcy Stacom, executive vice president at CB Richard Ellis, according to Crain’s New York Business. “I tell my clients, if you are prepared for the long haul, buy Downtown.” So much for a resurgence!
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