Curbed is the flagship of the Curbed Network, a collection of neighborhood blogs. Our other sites are Curbed SF and Curbed LA; the restaurant blog Eater; the retail and fashion blog Racked; and, during the summer season, The Beach, which covers the Hamptons.
This week's top dish from Eater, Curbed's restaurant, bar, and nightlife blog...
[Crosby Connection's new t-shirt design, via Eater]
1) New York City: A week in advance, Eater files a list of 20 places with reservations still available for Thanksgiving dinner.
2) MePa: The Department of Health may be out to get the New York slice. The owner of Gaslight Pizzeria received a warning not to serve reheated pizza slices from the display case, but only a few pizzerias are popular enough to avoid having to do so. Is DOH out to thin the pizzeria ranks?
3) Hell's Kitchen: Two Red Mango, one in Hell's Kitchen and one on Bleecker Street, have packed it in over the past two weeks. Both had Pinkberrys in the vicinity. Suspicious!
· Eater [ny.eater.com]
The poor unfortunate souls who bought into Battery Park City's Rector Square are mad as hell, and they're not going to take it anymore! Well, everyone except Augusten Burroughs, that is. He's still cool with the place. A group of 45 unit buyers have filed a $100 million lawsuit against the parties involved in the failed/abandoned/foreclosed/auctioned condo conversion, our sixth most frightening building in NYC. The Real Deal has the details, and they're fairly epic. Here's who the Battery Park City Hell Building buyers are going after, and why:
1) Yair Levy: The bucket-swinging developer is the big target here. The buyers say he failed to complete construction of the building (duh), converted reserve funds for his own use and failed to make the land-lease payments to the Battery Park City Authority. Oh, and he allegedly also sold a block of units to an Italian university for use as a dorm and rented apartments as extended-stay hotel rooms, both violations of local zoning laws.
2) Michael Shvo: His Shvoness gets hit up for "false advertising and misrepresenting the amenities, renovations to the building, construction schedule and otherwise acting in bad faith with the owners." But what renderings they were!
3) Cooper Square Realty: The former rental building's old management firm is accused of using cash from the building's reserve and working fund for "other purposes" and mismanaging other funds, like "co-mingling security deposits and move-in deposits with the building account and failure to monitor the use of these various accounts."
Back in 2005, New York magazine asked three brokers what a duplex at South Williamsburg's pioneering condo conversion the Gretsch, asking $1.25 million, should sell for. David Maundrell, grand poobah of boutique Brooklyn brokerage Aptsandlofts.com, said $995,000, adding that the wide-open loft space would require a build out for a family-oriented buyer. It eventually sold to music video director Ed Steinberg for $1.047 million, and now, years later, Maundrell's brokerage is handling the resale. Steinberg apparently took Maundrell's advice: On its first time around #5Q was a 1BR, 2BA condo. Now it's listed as 2BR, 1.5BA (hmm?), and with a slightly curious increase in square-footage from 1,755 to 1,850 (double hmm!). Also up is the perceived value of the space. It's asking $1,349,500. But who can really put a price on that type of proximity to Peter Luger?
· Listing: 60 Broadway 5Q [Aptsandlofts.com]
· Triple Assessment [NYM, third item]
1) In addition to a best Hamptons houses of the decade list, our Curbed Hamptons counterparts have put together a roundup of the decade's 10 most important real estate deals. It's got everything: flips, Kennedy connections, and some of the most expensive houses in America.
2) Bridgehampton's Three Ponds Farm is not just on the market for $68 million -- it's also been named the number one "golf home" for sale in the U.S. How does a home get that honor? Well, it helps to have an 18-hole golf course and two-story clubhouse in the backyard.
3) A Water Mill mystery mansion didn't get any less mysterious when it took a $2 million PriceChop this week. The 10,000-square-foot manse is now asking $10.95 million. The all-important fireplace-to-bedroom ratio is 5:7.
· Curbed Hamptons [hamptons.curbed.com]
Blog Harlem Condo Life uses the occasion of the opening of The Douglass (formerly called The Savannah, right) to anoint Frederick Douglass Boulevard as Harlem's Gold Coast. (And really, every neighborhood needs a Gold Coast, right?) In addition to the Douglass at #2110, there's 2280 FDB, Livmor, the Aloft and plenty of other new stuff sprouting. HarlemGuy writes:
"I’ve come to view Frederick Douglass Boulevard (F.D.B, which is Central Park West above 110th a.k.a 8the Avenue) between 110 and 125th as Harlem’s Gold Coast, from a resident’s perspective. ">I’ve come to view Frederick Douglass Boulevard (F.D.B, which is Central Park West above 110th a.k.a 8the Avenue) between 110 and 125th as Harlem’s Gold Coast, from a resident’s perspective.
* Nestled adjacent to two kid-friendly parks – Central and Morningside
* Easy access to the Hudson River, it’s great promenades and a wide variety of recreational and dining opportunities
* Accessible by all major local and express West Side subway lines (1,2,3,A,B,C,D)
* Several publish libraries
* Within walking distance to several magnet/charter schools
* Quick access to Metro North and LGA airport
* Down the hill from Columbia University and Broadway
* In the gateway to Harlem including all the shopping, entertainment and culture that Harlem has to offer for residents and tourists alike
* Is exploding with housing and restaurants
Is quick access to La Guardia what made Fifth Avenue a Gold Coast, too? That Andrew Carnegie must have had some Magic 8-Ball!
· New Condo Readies On Harlem’s Gold Cost [Harlem Condo Life]
This isn't the first time we've drooled over54 Bond Street, the landmark Bouwerie Lane Theater now carved up into three condos. But this is the first time we're seeing the building's new website, which gives us another opportunity to ogle Bond Street emperor Adam Gordon and architect Steven Harris's work on the beauty. The two smaller apartments' floorplans are narrow and still asking over $2,000 per square foot. But oh, that triplex penthouse! It's now asking a slightly slimmer$15.45 million (still more than the $15 million Gordon paid for the whole building in 2007). And the lowest floor can be either storage space (boring!) or a 1,510-square-foot lap pool.
· 54 Bond Street [54bond.com]
· 54 Bond Street [StreetEasy]
· Bouwerie Lane Theater Gutted, Chopped Up & On the Market [Curbed]
The Sperone Westwater Gallery from British starchitect Norman Foster has started to rise above the street, and Foster + Partners are showing off the goods in fuller detail on their website—including the gigantic red elevator that has everybody talking. The Lower East Side building at 257 Bowery has been digging out for months, getting everything below ground in order so the art can sprout above. What's to come is a facade of glass rods and a levitating gallery behind, all the better for viewing the Bowery below. With Lord Norm's other gallery gig good to go on the Upper East Side, we'll soon have a double dose of fresh Foster in our midst.
· Sperone Westwater [Foster + Partners]
· 257 Bowery coverage [Curbed]
Our end-of-decade examination series kicked off with a countdown of the best new buildings in New York City. Oh, building boom, you were so kind. And speaking of booms, it's now time for a look at the biggest deals of the '00s. Of course the biggest deal of the decade—and any decade, for that matter—was the $5.4 billion purchase of the 11,000+ apartments of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. Buyer's remorse, perhaps? We're more interested in the individual, single-family stuff—folks hashing it out over four walls, a roof and a toilet. Or in these cases, 20 rooms, private roof decks and his-and-her bidets. These are, to the best of our hard-working interns' knowledge, the biggest sales in an era fueled by excess. Flips of trophy properties were common. Records were set and immediately shattered. That's all gone, for now, but the memory lives in on this document. Got proof of a bigger deal we missed? The tipline is always open.
20) $33,654,000 Building: 845 United Nations Plaza Buyer: Chu Chinh The Skinny: The massive spread (reportedly 12 bedrooms and 16.5 bathrooms) bought by the Blackstone exec on the 89th and 90th floors of the Trump World Tower—just above Derek Jeter!—was practically a bargain at less than $1 million per room!
19) $34,000,000 Building: 777 Washington Street Buyer: Noam Gottesman The Skinny: Big-time hedge-funder (get used to seeing those on this list) paid this crazy amount for photographer Albert Watson's 20,000-square-foot West Village studio and townhouse, then promptly tore the whole thing down.
18) $35,000,000 Building: 36 East 75th Street Buyer: Russian Federation The Skinny: This 25-foot-wide Georgian mansion now belongs to Russia, which chose it over the more-popular-in-the-fatherland Vision Mashine for its new UN consulate.
17) $36,630,000 Building: 720 Park Avenue Buyer: Peter and Jill Kraus The Skinny: Though the deed was only in Jill Kraus's name, odds are the cash for this classic co-op came from Peter, a former Merrill Lynch executive who received a $25 million bonus after working at the firm for just three months. The purchase price was nearly twice what the previous owner paid two years before.
16) $37,000,000 Building: 15 Central Park West Buyer: Novgorod & Novgorod Two LLC The Skinny: 15 CPW's first spot on the list goes to this penthouse, picked up by a mysterious buyer with Russian overtones. It sold post-Lehman, in September 2009, which is quite the achievement. But the penthouse, originally purchased for $21.5 million by a London-based investor, was listed as high as $80 million.
15) $37,000,000 Building: Time Warner Center Buyer: Andrei Vavilov The Skinny: Another post-Lehman surprise, the south tower penthouse was bought by the mysterious Russian oligarch and Plaza plaintiff. Vavilov snapped this baby up at a hefty discount from its original ask of $65 million.
14) $37,500,000 Building: 810 Fifth Avenue Buyer: Peter G. Peterson The Skinny: Seller David Geffen flipped this penthouse co-op apartment to a former Secretary of Commerce for a (comparatively) slim profit. He paid $31.5 million for it in 2006.
13) $42,250,000 Building: Time Warner Center Buyer: David Martinez The Skinny: Mexican moneybags David Martinez picked up his first TWC condo in 2003 for this amount, but later added another 4,200 square feet for millions more, giving him the full 76th and 77th floors in one of the towers.
12) $42,405,000 Building: 15 Central Park West Buyer: Sanford Weill The Skinny: Former Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill nabbed the building's largest terrace in this buy. Gives him some good 15 CPW bragging rights, but not the building's biggest buy.
11) $44,000,000 Building: 834 Fifth Avenue Buyer: Rupert Murdoch The Skinny: Ditching Soho, which never fit him anyway, Murdoch laid out a record amount (at the time, anyway) for the triplex penthouse in this traditional power building. He then gave the neighborhood an eyeful while renovating.
10) $45,000,000 Building: 15 Central Park West Buyer: Daniel S. Loeb The Skinny: Though he shelled out more for his "Tower" penthouse than Sandy Weill did on his "House" side penthouse (and briefly set a Manhattan record), hedge-fund king Loeb paid far less per square foot ($4,200 to Weiss's $6,200). Bargain!
9) $45,100,956 Building: The Plaza Buyer: Kayhil Holdings The Skinny: What is Kayhil Holdings? No clue, but it shelled out the cash outright for an 11,861-square-foot spread on the 11th floor of the Plaza. Five months later, amid the mortgage meltdown, Chase wrote a $20 million mortgage for the unit.
8) $46,000,000 Building: 1060 Fifth Avenue Buyer: Scott Bommer The Skinny: What made this record (at the time) purchase for a co-op so amazing was that the duplex was still technically two separate apartments. Hedgie Bommer then convinced the board to let him combine the floors into one penthouse. Yep, it was a $46 million fixer-upper. But Bommer didn't stick around for long.
7) $46,320,395 Building: 14-16 East 67th Street Buyer: Laurus Funds The Skinny: We know the double-wide Milbank Mansion as the "Guccione Mansion," because the Penthouse founder added Caligula-like touches to this limestone palace such as Roman statues around an indoor pool over his 30 years in the place. This deal was actually a transfer between creditors after Guccione lost the mansion.
6) $48,000,000 Building: 2 East 67th Street Buyer: Jonathan Tisch The Skinny: After selling a Fifth Avenue duplex to Starbucks CEO Howard Schulz, the billionaire Loews heir and chairman paid 20% above the asking price for the 11th floor of this historic, Oliver Stone-approved co-op.
5) $48,836,000 Building 1060 Fifth Avenue Buyer: Park View Trust The Skinny: Deciding maybe he didn't want to get into a renovation after all, Scott Bommer turned around and flipped his two separate floors for a co-op record price that still stands today. The buyer remained anonymous.
4) $49,000,000 Building: 14-16 East 67th Street Buyer: Philip Falcone The Skinny: The creditors that took over the Guccione Mansion put it on the market for $59 million and hoped for a townhouse record, but they fell short. Hedge-fund manager Falcone got the porn king's sloppy seconds despite already owning a townhouse on the block.
3) $50,000,000 Building: 15 East 64th Street Buyer: Len Blavatnik The Skinny: What's $50 million between friends? The wily Russian bought this townhouse from his buddy, Seagram heir and music executive Edgar Bronfman, Jr., even though Bronfman paid just $4.375 million for the place in the '90s. Hopefully the house is holding up better than his fortune.
2) $52,032,554 Building: The Plaza Buyer: Harry Macklowe The Skinny: Though it was rumored he was spending $60 million to combine most of the seventh floor of the landmark hotel, to the best of our knowledge developer Macklowe shelled out a bit less on seven apartments on the same June 2007 day (he was one of the first to close in the building). And so began his troubles.
1) $53,000,000 Building: 4 East 75th Street Buyer: J. Christopher Flowers The Skinny: The Harkness Mansion once held the record for the city's priciest sale after trading hands for $6.9 million in 1987. How times have changed! Investor Flowers was the first to break the $50 million mark when he picked up the 50-foot-wide house at the height of the market back in 2006. It had been listed for $55 million, and word was it sold for $46 million. Nah-ah. It was destined for greatness!
· Top of the Aughts [Curbed]
When developers build affordable-housing units within their new luxury projects to get tax breaks and zoning bonuses, it sometimes creates an uneasy mix of feelings within the building's walls. Luxury buyers get fancy finishes and SubZero, while "affordable" residents get basics and GE. Adding to the second-class-citizen vibe, sometimes the affordable portion of a building has a completely separate entrance—like at Tribeca's 101 Warren (aka the Whole Foods building), where the rental side of the building, which includes, 77 affordable units, is known as 89 Murray. But different lobbies may not be the only thing dividing the building's residents. The Downtown Express reports that one of the plans floating around for rezoning Lower Manhattan's elementary schools would cut the building in half, putting the offspring of the luxury condo owners in nearby powerhouse P.S. 234, while sending the renters half a mile away to the new Spruce Street School in the base of Frank Gehry's Beekman Tower. Going to school in a massive hunk of starchitecture sounds kind of cool, but the have-nots don't seem to agree.
"Tribeca is our neighborhood," said Ilya Mazur, who lives at 89 Murray and has a 2-year-old son. "A lot of us can see [P.S. 234] from our windows. We can hear the school. This breaks the neighborhood for us."
Mazur said that unlike the families in the adjacent luxury condos at 101 Warren St., families at 89 Murray cannot afford a nanny to help make the trek over to the Spruce Street School every day if they can’t go to 234. Mazur said the renters and condo owners live in the same complex and share the same courtyard, so they should not go to separate schools.
Yup, she went there. A Department of Education spokesperson said the location of affordable housing units did not factor into the zoning, and even if it did, let's just assume the D.O.E. might not want to fess up to that.
· School zone option would cut building along income lines [Downtown Express]
· 101 Warren Street [Official Site]
· 89 Murray Street [Official SIte]
We recently espoused on the glory that is Jude Law's rented penthouse at the Novare, the condofied Washington Square Park-area church, and gave a shout-out to the duplex's roomy terrace—yours for a newly reduced $6.9 million. Well, now we understand the downside of having a large, lovely terrace in the heart of NYUville: peeping underclassmen. The Postreports that NYU students in a neighboring dorm have been tripping over themselves in a rush to the windows whenever Jude Law steps ourside to do crunches. They've been taking pictures and calling out to him, and Jude—can you blame him?—isn't pleased. In fact, on one occasion he threw oranges at their windows. Memo to this penthouse's eventual buyer: Keep fresh fruit stocked.
· Jude irked by NYU dorm's-eye view [NYP]
· On the Market: Jude Law's Sinful Village Hideaway [Curbed]
Another morning, another addition to the co-op board lawsuitannals. Christina Ambers, who has been called the "Heidi Klum of foot models," is suing her building, 340 East 74th Street, for $10 million, alleging that the board is trying to force her out for marrying one of the building's doormen. According to the reports in the Daily News and New York Post, the building's staff allegedly refuse to get cabs for the couple and don't tell them when messengers and packages arrive. There was also reportedly -- how to put this gently -- "a painful August encounter between Rotger's private parts and the handbag of the building superintendent's wife." Says Ambers, "I hope people can understand how awful it is to come home and to then be treated with hostility in a building where I have paid a lot of money to live. Nobody should have to live this way."
· Hand model Christina Ambers sues building for $10M over alleged mistreatment since she wed doorman [NYDN]
· UES gal: I face boot for marrying the help [Post]
HARLEM—Now that Frederick Douglass Boulevard has been dubbed Harlem's Gold Coast, it's time for folks to lodge their complaints! Writes one reader about the long-in-the-works Frederick Douglass Circle street project at the NW corner of Central Park that occasionally almost wraps up: "It's been 6 years and I'd like to know what they accomplished in those 6 years. As for me, in those 6 years, I bought 2 condo units, got married, traveled across Russia, got a dog and cat, completed a few work related projects in Africa, had a baby, and got a masters degree and PhD. I also saw at least 10 new buildings go up in the area, the opening of Whole Foods, and the gentrification of Harlem." Frederick Douglass Circle, you just got served! [CurbedWIre Inbox]
WILLIAMSBURG—The first Northside Piers tower has given us so much over the years, so it's weird that the Toll Brothers' Northside Piers 2 on the Williamsburg waterfront has been all but ignored. No longer! A tipster writes: "I attended the Tower 2 model residences unveiling at Northside Piers. They were showing a 1 bedroom apt and a 2 bedroom apt, both on the 15th floor. A construction worker told me they would be finished in April 2010. Both looked great." We'll have more on NP2 next week. [CurbedWire Inbox]
The poor unfortunate souls who bought into Battery Park City's Rector Square are mad as hell, and they're not going to take it anymore! Well, everyone except 
Blog 
Our end-of-decade examination series kicked off with a countdown of the 
20) $33,654,000
19) $34,000,000
18) $35,000,000
17) $36,630,000
16) $37,000,000
15) $37,000,000 
14) $37,500,000
13) $42,250,000
12) $42,405,000
11) $44,000,000
10) $45,000,000
9) $45,100,956
8) $46,000,000
7) $46,320,395
6) $48,000,000
5) $48,836,000
4) $49,000,000
3) $50,000,000
2) $52,032,554
1) $53,000,000
We recently espoused on the glory that is Jude Law's 
Another morning, another addition to the co-op board 
HARLEM—Now that Frederick Douglass Boulevard has been dubbed