After 21 years in business, beloved David's Bagels on 1st Avenue and 14th Street closed at the end of August. According to Vanishing New York, the landlord opened a Hot & Crusty franchise next door and refused to renew David's lease. In retaliation, a group of devastated neighbors have banded together to hit the Crusty where it hurts, with a weblog BLAZING WITH CAPS: "It is TERRIBLE and a downright SHAME...It hurts that they are......

Fleet Foxes Seem Nice Fleet Foxes came to town this week, riding a wave of slightly understated buzz into a sold-out Bowery Ballroom. The band was excellent, playing jams off their critically acclaimed record and constantly thanking the crowd for showing them so much love. Those in attendance were remarkably supportive of the act, especially considering the often indifferent attitude our local crowds often take. Between songs, they hooted and hollered from the first note,......

TREE LIGHTING: Earlier this year, New Yorkers Fountains of Wayne transformed Demetri Martin into a lonely suit living in Brooklyn in this video. Tonight the band will be rockin' around the Stuy Town Christmas tree. A reader writes in:I just happened to see this flyer hanging up for the annual christmas tree lighting. And what the hell is this...7:30-8:00pm, FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE. Seems like it's top secret, but there are flyers everywhere.Random! But if you're......

With the $5.4 billion purchase of the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village apartment complex by Tishman-Speyer, some longtime rent-stabilized tenants have been worried about whether they will be able to stay. Well, now tenants are complaining that Tishman-Speyer has been spying on them. Some residents have received non-renewal letters, with Tishman-Speyer explaining that since the tenants do not use their Stuy Town-Peter Cooper apartment as a primary residence, then their lease can be over. The......

New York City's budget surplus just got a little bigger. The previously projected surplus of $3.9 billion has been upped to a projected $4.4 billion for the fiscal year ending June 30th. Despite the additional projected surplus, Mayor Bloomberg is being prudent with the extra money. While there's a projected surplus for this year, Bloomberg is going to use the extra money to pay down expected future debt. $1.3 billion is going towards the projected......

It looks like some advances in technology are causing some problems at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. The $5.4 billion complex of buildings is replacing all its regular old keys with fancy electronic key-cards - in the case of Peter Cooper Village, the cards are already being used. The Post reports that Stuy Town residents could be using the new key system as early as next week. This is somewhat of an issue for......

When you shell out $5.4 billion for thousands of apartments in Manhattan, some of them rent-regulated, clearly the next course of action is to oot out the illegal subletters. The NY Sun reports that private detective Fred Knapp has been hired by Tishman-Speyer to find out if tenants are violating rent stabilization rules. The Real Estate Board of New York says this is exactly what landlords should be doing, but housing advocates point out that......

We got this email:I was just curious if you guys heard anything about the noise coming from the Con Ed plant at 14th Street and D last night. I live in Stuy Town, on 14th between B and C (well, I'm actually inside a bit, but between those blocks). Last night a little before 11 there was a ridiculously loud roaring sound coming from the plant. It seemed to be controlled because it would be......

With the record setting $5.4 billion sale of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village to Tishman Speyer last year, many residents suspected that the new owners would shake things up. But we doubt few tenants would have anticipated the rent increases sent in lease renewal papers. The NY Times speaks with some tenants about their sticker shock. The verdict? A lot of people are moving out. Check out these rents and the increases: - Two bedroom......

Sometimes people just don't like dogs, and one of those people is Jeanne Farley. Farley is suing her apartment's management company to, as she tells the Daily News, "get rid of the dogs and play by the rules." Sixty-four year old Farley has a fear of dogs (cynophobia) points out that the rules at Penn South does have a ban on dogs and her lease says "no animals of any kind" (!!) are not allowed.......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a police car MVA on the West Side Highway and Spring Street, a jumper down on Broadway and Havemeyer in Brooklyn, and car vs. building in Greenpoint. Scary: "About one hour ago I was walking down Washington Place and at the corner of Avenue of the Americas, an SUV pulled up onto the sidewalk right in front of me. Two guys jumped out, maybe three, I was kind of......

Bwahaha! Crain's New York reports that the monster $5.4 billion deal Met Life made to sell Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village to Tishman Speyer could be derailed by a "little-known provision." Apparently the provision says MetLife cannot make more than a 6% annual profit on the complex! From Crain's: Trautman Sanders, a law firm representing the tenant group that lost its bid to purchase the complex, discovered the condition in a 1942 agreement with New......

It's not a deal of Stuy Town proportions, but the sale of the Apthorp building on Broadway between West 78th and 79ths Streets on the Upper West Side is still a big deal. According to the NY Times, Maurice Mann agreed to pay more than $425 million for the building that takes up the entire block (Broadway to West End, 78th to 79th). Mann called it "the greatest trophy building on the Upper West Side."......

+ Derek Jeter claims there's no air to clear with Alex Rodriguez and says reporters don't know about what's really going on + In the trial of a cop accused of killing his federal agent girlfriend, a letter she wrote suspecting he might do something to her was read in court + Jared Leto hurts Stereogum's blogging finger! + Hey, doesn't everyone need a Post-9/11 shirt? + A Guineanese immigrant and high school student......

What an embrace of Long Island City! The city announced that it will buy waterfront property in Long Island City to build up to 5,000 units of affordable housing for families. The city is paying the Port Authority a total of $146 million for the 24 acres - $100 million for the property and $46 million for "remaining obligations" to the site. From the press relase: Mayor Bloomberg: "Middle-income families are facing housing affordability......

Yesterday, the City Coucil held a hearing to discuss the sale of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village. And while tenants of the complex were there, Met-Life, who hopes to sell the parcel of land and buildings for $5 billion, was not. Metro reported that Met-Life's chairman sent a statement:We are deeply concerned that some members of the City Council and other public officials view our decision to review our strategic options with regard to our......

There may be some high-flying developers and investors interested in buying Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village, but the underdog bidders to capture the public's heart of the sale might just be the tenants of STPCV themselves. Really: The Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association reports that tenants are interested in forming an investor group to make a bid. A tenants-investor group would try to preserve stability for tenants - both market rate and rent-stabilized. Now, how......

As news of what could be the biggest real estate deal in history spread, residents of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village - and the rest of New York City - wondered what this could mean for the real estate market. Though selling the 110 building complex and changing over ownership of all the units would probably take years, questions about what Mayor Bloomberg will do about the city's housing policy arose, as well......

As usual, Thursday morning finds us trolling the Stuyvesant Town Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association bulletin boards, looking for tasty morsels of real estate gossip. Today's find was a doozy-- one of the tenants posted a note asking for people to anonymously post their rents, and a frenzy of revelation ensued: I'm paying nearly $2600 for a renovated one-bedroom on a high floor. I am paying $3,200 for a 2br and wondering what I......

Speaking of great photographs, the NY Post has had some beauties the past two days. First, in Stuyvesant Town pet battle where landlords are offering employees $150 to snitch on tenants illegally harboring pets, the Post talks to a pet owner but goes to lengths to hide their identities (above left). But now, the CEO of Meow Mix, Richard Thompson is offering employees $160 NOT to rat out the tenants, plus free Meow Mix......