In the News: The Trump Soho Stink

••• “The Peebles Corporation and Elad Group settled a legal dispute that threatened to derail their $400 million-plus Clock Tower condominium conversion in Tribeca, the companies announced Wednesday.” —Real Deal

••• “A spurned state Senate candidate is attacking Manhattan’s Democratic Party boss where it hurts—his wallet. Downtown district leader and one-time state Senate hopeful Paul Newell pushed reforms at a Manhattan Democratic county committee meeting on Sept. 26 that would force former Assemblyman Keith Wright to make a choice between losing his job as a lobbyist, or his post as the Big Apple’s Democratic Party county leader.” Seems like a logical conflict of interest. —Downtown Express

••• An interesting ProPublica article about the disturbing way that possible charges against Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump regarding the Trump Soho hotel were dropped.

In a meeting with the defense team, Donald Trump, Sr., expressed frustration that the investigation had not been closed. Soon after, his longtime personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz entered the case.

Kasowitz, who by then had been the elder Donald Trump’s attorney for a decade, is primarily a civil litigator with little experience in criminal matters. But in 2012, Kasowitz donated $25,000 to the reelection campaign of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., making Kasowitz one of Vance’s largest donors. Kasowitz decided to bypass the lower level prosecutors and went directly to Vance to ask that the investigation be dropped.

On May 16, 2012, Kasowitz visited Vance’s office at One Hogan Place in downtown Manhattan [….] Dan Alonso, the chief assistant district attorney, and Adam Kaufmann, the chief of the investigative division, were also at the meeting, but no one from the Major Economic Crimes Bureau attended. Kasowitz did not introduce any new arguments or facts during his session. He simply repeated the arguments that the other defense lawyers had been making for months.

Ultimately, Vance overruled his own prosecutors. Three months after the meeting, he told them to drop the case.

••• “Vance Returned Trump Lawyer’s Donation After Reporters’ Questions.” —New York Times

••• “The Battery Park City Authority has contracted with the nearby Borough of Manhattan Community College to conduct a first-ever comprehensive usage study and analysis of how all public spaces in BPC are utilized, and gain insight in how they might be improved.” —Downtown Express

••• “Tomiño Taberna Gallega has opened at 192 Grand Street, from siblings Phil, Marco, and Victor González. For the menu, they’ve hired consulting chef Lucia Freitas of A Tafona in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and will be serving Spanish and Galician fare via tapas and share plates.” Maybe it’s because I’m planning a trip to Barcelona—Catalonian separation movement be damned!—but I’ve been craving Spanish food. —Eater

••• 1 White Street has been listed as a rental. —6sqft UPDATE: Let the renter beware. From James: “The post about the listing at 1 White Street states ‘Perhaps the nicest perk of the home is the 750-square-foot private roof terrace, which comes with beautiful views out over Tribeca.’ I guess they did not tell the listing broker that the building’s alteration application Schedule A, however, states in relevant part: ‘IT SHALL BE CONTRARY TO THIS C OF O TO USE THE ROOF FOR ANY GATHERING OR USE OR OCCUPANCY OF ANY KIND, OTHER THAN FOR MAINTENANCE PURPOSES.'”

••• An article about the financing of the 30-story building coming to 537 Greenwich (between Charlton and Vandam) has a new rendering. (Click on it: The façade looks like it’s covered in diamond plate, but I’m sure that’s not right.) The six-story building from 1909 that’s currently there will be torn down. —Real Estate Weekly

 

1 Comment

  1. The post about the listing at 1 White Street states “Perhaps the nicest perk of the home is the 750-square-foot private roof terrace, which comes with beautiful views out over Tribeca.”

    I guess they did not tell the listing broker that the building’s alteration application Schedule A, however, states in relevant part: “IT SHALL BE CONTRARY TO THIS C OF O TO USE THE ROOF FOR ANY GATHERING OR USE OR OCCUPANCY OF ANY KIND, OTHER THAN FOR MAINTENANCE PURPOSES.”

    http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JB2ScheduleAServlet?requestid=4&passjobnumber=121191851&passdocnumber=01&allbin=1001987

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