In the News: Bethenny Frankel’s Novel

••• New York Magazine [see comments for link] gave Atera four (out of five) stars. I’m not reading it until I’m done with my own review, which I’ll post tomorrow.

••• “A 4,523-square-foot development site at 15 Renwick Street in Soho, approved for a 65,000-square-foot, 12-story luxury building with 44 condominium units [and then stalled], is set to hit the foreclosure auction block May 23, according to data from PropertyShark.com, but the current owner of the property, Harry Jeremias of the Harch Group, will not be left out in the cold.” —The Real Deal

••• “What has changed at Cobblestone Lofts, 28 Laight Street, since 2005? To answer the headline question quickly (as if there were any mystery to it): nothing significant has changed since 2005 about the new-in-2001 multi-building residential loft conversion known as 28 Laight Street, the Cobblestone Lofts. It still sits in the crook of the Holland Tunnel spillway; it still sports fairly high-end finishes in spaces with many classic loft elements; it still has some inflexible layouts due to those thick walls between the original buildings. But the reason to ask the somewhat rhetorical question is that the ‘3,578 sq ft’ Manhattan loft #2E at 28 Laight Street just sold for $4.175mm, or $1,167/ft, after selling on November 8, 2005 at $3,575,000, or $999/ft, while the ‘2,687 sq ft’ Manhattan loft #2B sold on December 22, 2010 at $2.75mm, or $1,023/ft, after selling on June 23, 2005 at $2.7mm, or $1,005/ft.” Manhattan Loft Guy investigates….

••• “Bethenny Frankel never had a problem revealing intimate details to the public, but when it came to writing her first novel, she finally felt nervous. ‘I was a little intimidated’ Frankel says of Skinnydipping (Touchstone Books, $25), which hits stores Tuesday. […] A thinly veiled memoir packaged as a light beach read, Skinnydipping traces Frankel alter ego Faith Brightstone’s path from aspiring actress in L.A. to amateur baker and reality TV show contestant in New York.” If someone reads it, please tell me if any of it is in Tribeca. Judging from the cover, it appears to involve flooding, possibly due to global warming. —New York Daily News

 

8 Comments

  1. Seriously, Erik? It’s Sunday morning and you lead with the words and image of “Bethenny Frankly I Don’t Giv’a Damn?” It’s like watching a sex scene in Lena Dunham’s “GIRLS,” the Wes Craven of writing and directing sex scenes = disturbing and not aesthetically pleasing.

  2. Thank you, Jim, for your support!

  3. Re: Atera – waiting anxiously for the first real review (ahem) but FYI clicked on your nymag link which is broken and even a search on the website doesn’t reveal any star rating, just a rather brief written description.
    Assuming they pulled it waiting to see what Mr. Torkells thinks?!? ;)

    Oooh the Drama and intrigue :)

  4. @Rohin: No clue why, but the link won’t work even if I fix it. The review is here: http://nymag.com/restaurants/reviews/atera-2012-5/

    Mine is forthcoming…

  5. @StrollTriHott – which one are you: Bethanny, Lena, or Wes?

  6. Re: Skinnydipping: none of it is anywhere real. Which is to say it’s set in Los Angeles and environs, the site of the Martha Stewart, oops I mean Sybil Harris studios, offices, and reality-show holding pens/living quarters in an unknown part of New York City that has a view of the Hudson but could be anywhere on the West Side up to Trumptown, the Meatpacking District, and the Westchester estate of Ms., um, Harris that overlooks the Long Island Sound, Larchmont iirc.

    The only floods in the book is that of the heroine’s libido and her stupidity.

    Unless like me you get paid to read it, DON’T. Even if he hasn’t actually read the book, Smithers is right about the sex scenes in it (and there are many, alas).

  7. Oops, the Stewart-equivalent is not Harris; that’s the son’s first name. Not that it matters.

  8. And the building with the studios/living quarters is probably 601 West 26th Street, the Starrett-Lehigh Building, where MS Living is located.