Watch your head when crossing the High Line: "A key stretch of the lavishly landscaped, tourist-friendly walkway that runs through Manhattan’s Meatpacking District near the Hudson River has been quietly shuttered for a month now — and when it reopens next week it will look like a construction zone, The Post has learned. That’s because The Standard hotel is belatedly putting up a 450-foot stretch of scaffolding over the High Line to protect pedestrians from falling debris after an 8-foot hunk of cement-and-fiberglass paneling fell off the swanky hotel’s façade on Jan. 2." (NY Post)
The cost of incarceration continues to rise: "The New York City Department of Corrections spent $447,337 per inmate in fiscal 2020, a third more than a year ago and more than double the fiscal 2015 mark, according to a report released Wednesday by New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer." (Crain's)
The colorful Marsha P. Johnson State Park plaza featured in our "New York City's newest parks" post has been halted: "On Thursday, the Parks Committee of Brooklyn Community Board #1 met to discuss the situation to hear from those concerned. The family of Johnson attended the meeting to express their issues about the project. James Carey, cousin of Marsha, spoke about how his family was not included in the discussion of the construction" (Brooklyn Eagle)
Manhattan office values remain at rock-bottom: "The value of office space in the city remains deeply depressed and still below the dark days of the Great Recession in certain cases, even after accounting for the recent vaccine-fueled surge that the share prices of landlords such as Vornado Realty Trust and SL Green Realty have experienced. That means investment pros, many of whom are big Manhattan commercial tenants, don’t see large numbers of workers returning to the office on the horizon." (Crain's)
Despite efforts to save the Flatbush Savings Bank Building, demo commenced this week: "A new, mixed-use building is expected to rise at the location, which is adjacent to the Kings Theatre." (Bklynr)
Landmarked Downtown Brooklyn abolitionist house is now property of the city: "The recently-landmarked abolitionist home at 227 Duffield St. in Downtown Brooklyn has been sold to the city, which comes after the property’s historical designation caused the home’s value to 'plummet,' according to a lawyer for the developer." (Brooklyn Paper)
Mapping the history of New York on Instagram: "Taillon’s Instagram account has become essential viewing for anyone interested in New York’s heritage, the effects of gentrification on cities, period architecture, American history, and what the past can tell us about the future." (Surface)
