Volume One, Issue 30, April 13 - 19, 2007
The Buzz
TAKE A WALK ON THE HIGH LINE: Lou Reed, the veteran poet-singer whose 1970s beginnings were usually in seedier venues further downtown, will headline an $85-a-ticket opening night (April 30) of the HighLine Ballroom on 16th St. between 9th and 10th Aves., with backup from Mike Rathke (guitar) and Jane Scarpantoni (cello). The club, the baby of B.B. King’s and Blue Note owner Steven Bensusan, features a “minimal industrial décor” (read: unfinished) to allow clubgoers “open sightlines of the stage from every area,” according to their press release. And 25 cents from each ticket, as with all shows planned for the club, will go directly to Friends of the High Line, which even has a spot on the club Website. Friends’ Press Associate Katie Lora says the Ballroom approached them to suggest the donation, and that she thinks the Ballroom will become “another example of the terrific cultural institutions in the neighborhood—just as we hope the Park will be.” No word on whether there will be any cheap seats for the venue’s upcoming shows, with the likes of Amy Winehouse, Mos Def, Disco Biscuits, Talib Kweli and Me’shell N’degeocello lighting up the stage.
C.B. 4 PLANS AHEAD—WAY AHEAD: C.B. 4 Chairperson Lee Compton, like many of us, seems to have fond memories of the Operation Sail of July 4, 1976, when tall ships filled the Hudson in celebration of the U.S. bicentennial. Under the headline “[Very] NEW BUSINESS,” the board voted on April 4 to send a letter to Deputy Mayor Daniel E. Doctoroff, saying that C.B. 4 supports plans for a revived Operation Sail for the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial, marking 400 years since Henry Hudson’s and Samuel de Champlain’s voyages and the bicentennial of Robert Fulton’s steamboat voyage, which established steam commerce on the Hudson River. Of course, the event isn’t happening till summer 2009, but as the C.B. 4 letter signed by Compton points out, “A major tall ship operation requires considerable advance planning.” As the quadricentennial commission probably well knows, it takes awhile to book “dozens of Class-A tall ships from around the world, joined by many more dozens of smaller vessels, historic ships and educational vessels.” And, apparently, for locals to get ready. Mark your calendars now.
ALL OFFICE SPACE CREATED EQUAL?: Last week, City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden’s push for changes in local zoning got a boost when Crain’s New York Business reported a tightening market for Class B office space, meaning space in older buildings outside New York’s “trophy buildings.” As Crain’s reported April 3: “In lower Manhattan, rents for Class B buildings increased 11.4% to $40.10 per square foot, while Class A office space only grew 3.9% to $48.01 a square foot. In midtown south, Class B rents jumped 4.9% to $41.83 a square foot, while rents at Class A properties actually dropped 3% to $44.18 a square foot.” As the difference between the two numbers thins, the sound you may hear is the crunch felt by small-office renters, like accountants and consultants, who are squeezed for space. Not to mention the yowl of small manufacturers in the garment district and elsewhere, like Paul Cavazza and Michael d’Andrea, who currently pay under $30 a square foot and fear that zoning changes might crunch them, while it frees up more Class B space. Details in next week’s Chelsea Now.
CORRECTION: The April 6 obituary of Dr. Hartvig Dahl erroneously said his mother died when he was 6. In fact, she lived to the age of 95. Survivors in addition to his wife, Virginia Teller, include a son, Christopher, of Seattle, and a sister, Carol Kempf, of Minneapolis.
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