The New MGP Amphitheater

Downtown has Madison Square Garden. Now uptown will have Marcus Garvey Park Amphitheater.

http://harlembespoke.blogspot.com/2010/03/introducing-new-mcp-amphitheater.html

** want to upload rendering photo of the space***

Harlem Bakery Transforms into Restaurant

Settepani Cafe and Bakery, on Lenox Ave @ 120th street, is being transformed into a restaurant and lounge with Southern Italian cuisine.

http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/harlem-bakery-settepani-cafe-bakery-transforms-into-restaurant-at-196-lenox-avenue

Going Green and Saving Green

There seem to be more planters and planted areas in front of buildings of all kinds all over town, and as spring approaches, we will be able to see more and more evidence of the greening of New York City. These are the obvious signs, as some of the 50,000 or so acres of undeveloped open space in the city becomes another flower bed or community garden.

So, aside from making everything look pretty, what other benefits will arise from planting gardens, retrofitting insulation and building ever more green buildings? More plantings bring more oxygen into the air: cleaner air, healthier people – there is great savings potential there. Along with mitigating climate change, all of these efforts will save money over time, far beyond their initial costs: by increasing the amount of planted space in Manhattan, we reduce storm water runoff to the sewers, and the filtering action of soil in a healthy environment cleans the water as it travels through. Better natural water filtration takes a part of the burden off water treatment facilities.

The greening of buildings means more than environmental bling – the expensive solutions like wind turbines, solar panels and roof gardens. It also means updating HVAC systems, more and better insulation, and feedback metering to help save energy. In some rental buildings, just the replacement of lighting fixtures in hallways, the use of compact fluorescent bulbs, replacement of outdated kitchen appliances and updating heating systems has brought about significant energy savings. Buildings that take every possible measure to retrofit and find efficiencies can expect energy savings up to 20%.

Architects and developers are beginning to work together and more buildings are being planned and built to conform to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards. Architects working on these buildings have been able to show developers that building to these standards is no more costly than conventional construction, and indeed, such types of construction are ever more in demand. In the New York Times Real Estate Advanced Search, there is now a checkbox for “Green Building”!

What's Missing?

Real Estate marketing has one chance to make a good first impression. Missing or wrong information leads buyers and their agents to feel either the person responsible for the ad is either incompetent, dishonest or both.

Savvy buyers understand that others are also seeing this mistake and as a result are less likely to bid market price. They see one weakness in the seller's position and eagerly look for others to assess how low a price the property is likely to close for. If buyers think the ad is a deliberate attempt to mislead the public they will distrust other things the seller is saying i.e. what the actual maintenance is, building features etc. In either case the credibility of the asking price is compromised.

Real Estate marketing can be broken down into basic elements:

1) Facts. These include the asking price, monthly charges, minimum financing requirements, address, building type (Coop, Condo or Condop).

2) Description. These sentences describe the location, building and apartment's most desirable features.

3) Photos. If a picture is worth a thousand words then this is the most important and best value way to spend advertising money. Pictures are not only another way to show the apartments best features but in some cases the only option. If the description says the living room get excellent light all day and the pictures don't show this, what will the buyer think? Experienced agents know that if the photos don't show something, there's probably a good reason.

4) Floor Plans. It's important to show reasonably accurate dimensions and scale. This is also a chance for sellers to show the public alternate layouts - perfectly ok as long as they are labeled as such.

Alexander Hamilton's Harlem Home

Tuesday, December 15, 2009


Hamilton Grange, the only home ever owned by Alexander Hamilton has been moved to Saint Nicholas Park @ West 141st Street. The Federal style country home is temporaily closed due to phase 2 of construction and restoration project. Alexander Hamilton was the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, a Founding Father and political philospher.

To read more, click on the link.