Mayor Eric Adams softens his stance on a full return to office "Days after Mayor Eric Adams celebrated the lifting of some mask and vaccine restrictions as a key milestone in the city’s reopening, many business owners and experts remain deeply skeptical about workers resuming a five-day work week. The sluggish pace of the return, which was partly due to the omicron variant, underscores the belief that the pandemic has brought about a fundamental change in the ways people think about work and their desire to be in an office environment." (Gothamist)
A guide to the Gilded Age mansions of 5th Avenue’s millionaire row "The catalyst for Fifth Avenue’s transformation came in the form of the Astor family. Patriarch John Jacob Astor had purchased large swaths of Manhattan in the aforementioned land sales, allowing William Backhouse Astor Sr. to present his son and the new Caroline Astor (née Webster Schermerhorn) with a parcel of land on 34th Street and 5th Avenue as a wedding gift in 1854." (6sqft)
That’s using your head! MTA takes out ‘head knocker’ beams from Penn Station "Construction workers started removing massive low-hanging steel beams known as 'head knockers' from Penn Station’s 33rd Street concourse this week as part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $559 million renovation of the notoriously cramped corridor." (amNY)
Midtown Office-to-Apartment Conversion Concept Gains Hochul and Adams Support "Real estate industry seeks carte blanche to rework older office buildings, as the work-from-home revolution gives edge to neighborhoods with full-time residents" (NBC New York)
