Elise Knutsen of the New York Observer reports that the paper has received a letter from Brown Harris Stevens,the management company for 740 Park Avenue, firmly denying a source’s contention last week that it or the building’s board had any knowledge that one of BHS’s owners, Kent Swig, had borrowed against his 740 apartment (now occuppied by his estranged wife, the former Elizabeth Macklowe). “The suggestion that Brown Harris Stevens would somehow violate the rules of a building it manages, and thus its fiduciary duties, in order to accommodate a principal is absolutely untrue and very damaging to Brown Harris Stevens’ nearly 140 year old sterling reputation,” the firm wrote, leaving no doubt it feels itself innocent. As the loan document above from August 1997 indicates, the rules of the building were violated, however, quite long ago, when 845 shares of the co-op corporation stock and the Swigs’ proprietary lease were pledged as collateral. So the mystery lingers. How did Swig manage to borrow against an apartment in the city’s premier all-cash building? Did the Board breach its duty? Did the banks that loaned to the Swigs neglect to get Board recognition agreements? Inquiring cooperators want to know!

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Cash Still King at 740 Park (For Most)

Today’s WWD spotlights the re-release of Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women. “The book explores the lives of models and digs up dirt on the vast sums of money, sex, drugs, and back-stabbing that comes with the business,” says fashion’s leading trade newspaper.

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Model Scoop

Who’d have thought that the conquering hero who revived Ground Zero would turn out to be Si Newhouse? My latest column in Crain’s New York Business celebrates the mighty magazine mogul who represents just about everything Jihadists hate.

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Ah, the irony of it

I’m doing my first talk about Unreal Estate at a gourmet dinner in one of the favorite bolt-holes of Angelenos, Las Ventanas Al Paraiso in San Jose del Cabo on the Baja peninsula on October 22. As part of its Hot Type program, galleys–advance reading copies–are given to guests before the book’s release. You can read about the event here and see La Ventanas here. Y’all come down, hear?

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Exclusive Sneak Preview: Unreal Estate

A few months back a genius told me she was convinced that luxury real estate had run its course as a subject of fascination. So how come even the Daily Mail in London thinks the spurious tale of the possible foreclosure of Kent and Elizabeth Swig‘s apartment at 740 Park is big news? This story has legs, but will it stand? Stay tuned. Apparently, you won’t be alone.

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Who’s Afraid of Luxury Real Estate?

Yesterday, The New York Observer named several 740 Park households that were hit by the headwinds of economic distress in recent years. Today, there’s the first new listing in a long time at the storied tower, and none of the Observered names are involved. Computer gaming mogul Gregory Fischbach and wife Linda, a former fashion magazine editrix, have listed the former Thelma Chrysler Foy jewelbox (above) on the 17th floor of the trophy building, according to the New York Post, which hints that it’s a so-called pocket listing–i.e. not in the broker database open to all, but held tightly by one realtor. Alas, that realtor goes unnamed so there’s no way to know if the price–$29 million–is right. If it is, it’s either a sign of very good times, or of over-optimism on the part of the sellers. The best apartment in the building, Steve Schwarzman‘s 34-room duplex with mezzanine, just below, sold for a tad more than that about a little over a decade, but it has almost four times as much room.

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Guess Again at 740 Park

In today’s New York Observer, Elise Knutsen looks at 740 Park and some of the families there who’ve felt the effects of the Great Recession.

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The Never-Ending 740 Saga

In Crain’s New York Business this week, my column is a paean to summer in the city.

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The View From Here: Manhattan in August

Gripepad has a certain nostalgia for its old home on the rim of Washington Square Park, so it often follows events there. Now, Washington Square Park Blog reports a mysterious rash of tree deaths there (the one above was photographed yesterday), even as the never-ending renovation of the park continues. What–or who–is killing the trees? “These events were forecast by a landscape architect I encountered back in August of 2009 who predicted ALL the trees around the fountain would likely die and attributed this to the design,” says WSPB. “These young (now dead) trees replaced perfectly healthy living trees which were 40+ years old, axed because they got in the way of the Bloomberg Administration’s plan to move the famous fountain 22 feet east to align with the Arch at Fifth Avenue.” Rationalization=Arborcide?

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Is it Arborcide?

My first public appearance in support of Unreal Estate will be at the Upper East Side Barnes & Noble on November 2nd, pub date plus one. I hear I’m amusing. At least on the subject of the board of the Metropolitan Museum. November 2, 2012 at 150 East 86th Street.

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Like a Virgin