The Year of the Mega Deal November 25, 2006
Posted by Geri in commercial real estate, General, In The News, Long Island, New York, News, Real Estate, Uncategorized.add a comment
With another huge real estate portfolio on the block, Morris Sosnow’s estate has offered up 400,000 square feet of commercial space, most of it in Long Island’s Nassau County. This was certainly the year of the mega deal in New York, with the $5.4 billion sale of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village so recently consummated. Though hardly in the same class, this promises to be another interesting transaction. If I were to venture a guess, I’d bet the going price is higher than $80-100 million suggested for the commercial properties. Being sold also are close to 600 co-op units, most of them in Queens.
Some of the space to be sold is Birchwood Plaza North and South, sitting on the periphery of the affluent community of Birchwood Park East in Jericho. With a relatively new Whole Foods Market, having replaced an aging Waldbaums as an anchor store and a sizable Marshall’s occupying space at the other end, this is some prime real estate.
For more of the story, read Dawn Wotapka Hardesty’s article in Long Island Business News.
Just In Time For A Christmas Miracle November 17, 2006
Posted by Geri in Dogs, family, feelings, General, Home, In The News, Long Island, News, Pets, Uncategorized.3 comments
There had to be divine intervention for two miracle pups rescued by Little Shelter on Long Island. Magic and Merlin, three week old mixed breed puppies born with severely cleft palates would have had no chance at survival without the intervention of the caring people at Little Shelter, one of the island’s oldest no kill facilities.
As so often happens when good samaritans hear about the plight of others, there was an outpouring of offers of assistance. They came from far and wide and included Plastic Surgeons, Veterinarians and the public at large. Reported in Newsday, they’re waiting for the dogs to be old enough for the first of multiple surgeries to set them on the path of hopefully long and happy lives. They will remain in my prayers.
How EZ Is It? Ask Eppraisal or Zillow October 31, 2006
Posted by Geri in General, Internet, News, Real Estate, Selling Your Home, Uncategorized.4 comments
With Zillow sitting in water hot enough to reach a rolling boil, another online appraisal service breaks the surface of the market in its beta stage. If one of Zillow’s problems was offering a finite price in their determination of value, Eppraisal with its huge range could be just as problematic. Zestimates were found to be so far off in many cases as to be worthless to a naive public. Eppraisal, on the other hand, based upon some observations on a very local level, is indeed in the ballpark when it comes to suggested valuations, but the ballpark is Yankee Stadium. It’s a little like trying to buy clothing for a woman, being told she’s somewhere in the range of 6 to 16. What size would you buy?
One of the big differences I see is Eppraisal’s offer of some information with an orientation of connecting the consumer with real estate professionals should a real life transaction loom somewhere in the foreseeable future. I’m interested to see where their business model takes them — and us.
Plane Hits New York Building — Again October 12, 2006
Posted by Geri in General, In The News, New York, News, Uncategorized.add a comment
New Yorkers are resilient, but we’re also skittish after 9/11, so when the first reports of a plane crashing into an apartment building on Manhattan’s upper east side started to fill the airwaves, we were frightened. Could it happen again? How vulnerable as a city and a nation are we?
Thoughts flooded my brain as I listened, second hand, to a conversation one of my co workers was having with her husband. “Oh no,” she gasped, turning to tell us about the crash. “Not again!” was my first thought. Needing more information, we tried to access the news media, first on a television and when that failed, on the computer.
Early reports were sketchy but clearly showed a hit on what turned out to be the 40th floor of a residential building on East 72nd Street, scattering debris onto the street below, and sending smoke and flames billowing up into an overcast sky. Logic suggested it was not a terrorist attack (the first thought in the minds of many) because of it’s location, but we needed proof.
It would be hours before we knew the true nature of the tragedy. Yankee pitcher, Cory Lidle with barely 75 hours of experience under his belt had taken off from Teterboro airport in New Jersey at 2:30 on what appeared to be a sightseeing flight around Manhattan. A short 12 minutes later a call came in to 911 reporting the crash into the Belaire. As of this moment nobody knows what went wrong, but in the midst of this incomprehensible event, there is the incredible good fortune that nobody in the building or on the street below was killed.
To all those mourning the loss of the 34 year old Cory Lidle, our prayers are with you.
All About Long Island 