1520 Sedgwick Avenue, the Bronx apartment complex labeled "the birthplace of hip-hop" thanks to DJ Kool Herc spinning at parties in its community room during the '70s, has been sold to a New York real estate developer after tenants' efforts to buy the building were rejected by a New York State Supreme Court. Residents are wary of the likely rent hikes that will come as the result of the developer, Mark Karasick, wanting a return on his $7 million investment, although Karasick's attorney noted that New York's rent-control laws are still in full effect. (Presumably his client had studied the lessons of
Stuyvesant Town very closely.) The building was declared an historic landmark in July 2007, and the president of the building's tenants association said that the residents "intend to keep fighting to preserve our homes and to preserve the historical significance of our building." [
NY Daily News]
A Long Island house owned by 50 Cent burned down this morning, and six people went to the hospital as a result of the blaze, according to
Newsday. 50 had been
trying to evict his ex-girlfriend, Shaniqua Tompkins, and their 10-year-old son Marquise from the six-bedroom house in Dix Hills after he demanded that she pay $4,500 a month in rent to stay; in response, Tompkins took Curtis to court, saying that the rent payment demand constituted breach of contract because 50 had promised to put the house in her name. It was unknown whether or not Tompkins was living in the house as of this morning; you may not be surprised to find out that, according to Suffolk County police, arson investigators were on the scene this morning, trying to figure out just how the fire started. [
Newsday]
From the "pouring your money into other assets before your company's stock price sinks below $5" department comes this item about
Warner Music Group's CEO: "MUSIC mogul Edgar Bronfman Jr. is stockpiling Manhattan apartments. The Post's Braden Keil reports the Seagram heir and his wife, Clarissa, who recently sold their East 64th Street townhouse for $50 million, have paid $18.75 million for a 10-room condo in the historic Carhart mansion on East 95th Street.... Last summer, the Bronfmans reportedly paid $19.5 million for a co-op at 1040 Fifth Ave., the building where Jackie Kennedy Onassis resided." [
NYP]
Menswear designer John Varvatos will apparently open a boutique at 313-315 Bowery sometime in the next few months. So why is this Idolator-worthy news—because Varvatos used a snake-bedecked
Alice Cooper as a model recently, and is a "fan of musicians and the rock scene"? Nope; it's because that address is better known as the former home of CBGB. [
Racked]
Idolator
We all figured it would happen eventually, but now it's been confirmed: Vornado will close the Times Square outpost of the Virgin Megastore during the first quarter of next year, in hopes of getting a rent much higher than the $54-a-square-foot rate being paid right now. "We bought the Virgin business to wind it down to get a hold of the real estate," Retail Real Estate Division head Sandeep Mathrani told Reuters. Well, at least they were honest about it. (Related, which holds the lease on the Union Square outpost of the store and co-owns Virgin Megastores with Vornado, hasn't announced its plans for that store yet, but the property's lease expires next February.) What tenant will go in there next remains something of a mystery—especially when you think about how the space that once housed the Dave & Bustery video-game-bar Bar Code, which is right next door to Virgin, has been vacant for a few years now—but we have some suggestions!
More »
