Redwood City architecture firm DES got a new logo and look on its 50th birthday

The Redwood City-based architectural firm DES Architects + Engineers has a new shorter name and a new brand identity, all to coincide with the company’s 50th birthday......»»

Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard, ArtsWestchester and the family of the influential hip-hop artist Heavy D joined the development team behind 42 Broad — a joint venture of Alexander Development Group, The Bluestone Organization and institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Global Alternatives — for the unveiling of Brooklyn-based artist... The post In Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop, Artist Eto Otitigbe Unveils Sculpture Honoring Rapper Heavy D and Mount Vernon’s Musical Legacy at 42 Broad  appeared first on Real Estate Weekly. Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard, ArtsWestchester and the family of the influential hip-hop artist Heavy D joined the development team behind 42 Broad — a joint venture of Alexander Development Group, The Bluestone Organization and institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Global Alternatives — for the unveiling of Brooklyn-based artist Eto Otitigbe’s Peaceful Journey, a monumental public art installation that celebrates the rapper’s music and legacy in Mount Vernon. “I wanted to pay homage to the Mount Vernon community that had such an important place in hip-hop with this work of art,” says Eto Otitigbe of Peaceful Journey. The artist explains that the Heavy D song the sculpture is named after “offers a thoughtful and complex picture of the lives of Black and Brown people [living] in places like Mount Vernon, the Bronx or Los Angeles” and that the Mount Vernon native’s music was transformative for him growing up.Inspired by various points of interest including architecture, physics and hip-hop, Otitigbe won a commission for a site-specific installation within the plaza at 42 Broad, a striking high-rise that will be one of the nation’s most energy-efficient residential buildings when it opens this spring. Situated at the corner of Broad Street and Fleetwood Avenue, Peaceful Journey will be on view for pedestrians, as well as drivers exiting and entering the Cross County Parkway. The sculpture, which was selected through an open competitive process managed by ArtsWestchester, a leading public art proponent, offers the hope of tranquility through turbulent times and represents how harmony and balance can be achieved even during times of change.“Otitigbe’s abstract artwork will add a spectacular focal point to a gateway to the City of Mount Vernon,” says Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard. “Not only my friend and a son of Mount Vernon, but Heavy D was also an integral part of making Mount Vernon the Jewel of Westchester; his influence in the creation of this sculpture makes it more meaningful. Although Heavy D has begun his ‘peaceful journey,’ Mr. Otitigbe’s sculptural arch is a true testament to the pride, resilience, and transformation of ‘Money Earnin Mount Vernon.’ I am sure this warms the heart of the Myers family and all Heavy D touched as not only an artist but a resident of Mount Vernon.” “We are grateful and honored to the City of Mount Vernon, ArtsWestchester, and the 42 Broad development team of Mark Alexander, Nicholas Alexander and the Bluestone Organization for commemorating the legacy of the groundbreaking album ‘Peaceful Journey’ by Heavy D & the Boyz during the 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop music and culture,” says Floyd Myers, brother of Heavy D. “Today’s sculpture unveiling is a testament to the impact of this album and the artistry of Dwight Myers (Heavy D), Troy Dixon (Trouble T-Roy), Eddie Ferrell (Eddie F.) and Glen Parrish (G-Wiz) had on the music industry. We hope this statue will inspire future generations to tap into their creativity as a means of expression and expanding the message of love, peace, and unity as voiced in the music of Heavy D & the Boyz.”  Otitigbe worked with the architect Michael DiCarlo to design Peaceful Journey. The archway offers an invitation for people to pass through its portal, which serves as a waymarker for a peaceful journey — whether for those leaving the building or the community, or for those returning home. The sculpture is made of Vermont Fantastico Marble, Stainless Steel and COR-TEN steel. The form cycles between stone and metal and appears to continue its path through the concrete. The hive-like steel structure references pointed archways from South East Asian and Islamic architecture, and were later made popular in Gothic architecture throughout Europe. “The hexagon is a signifier for strength and harmony,” explains Otitigbe. “As one passes under the archway and looks up the view of the sky is pixelated by a hexagonal grid. Even the surface of the metal will transform over time as the COR‐TEN steel weathers and changes color. The stone monolith also conveys a sense of balance and affirmation while its surface carries an organic fluid pattern; evidence of the stone’s transformation over time.” Designed by global architecture firm Perkins Eastman and built to meet the highest standard of sustainable design, 42 Broad is the world’s largest market-rate multifamily high-rise to achieve Phius passive house Design Certification. The building includes a collection of 249 modern residences and access to more than 20,000 square feet of programmed amenities. “Public art is integral to our development philosophy,” says Mark Alexander, co-founder and principal of Alexander Development Group. “At 42 Broad, we are allocating a sizeable budget for highly visible art to create a memorable place, promote community pride, and to raise the level of aesthetics and energy in the city.  Great public art should be transformational, and that is our intent with Otitigbe’s monumental sculpture. Peaceful Journey compliments the metalwork and brick masonry of the building, while inviting the public to walk through its dappled lit archway.”Janet T. Langsam, CEO of ArtsWestchester and public art partner to the project explains, “Public art like Eto Otitigbe’s sculpture will enhance the downtown offering a bit of the unexpected, a bit of the extraordinary into everyday life. Investment in public art is investment in a community because signature artwork like this helps create more livable, more creative communities and more enjoyable communities.” The post In Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop, Artist Eto Otitigbe Unveils Sculpture Honoring Rapper Heavy D and Mount Vernon’s Musical Legacy at 42 Broad  appeared first on Real Estate Weekly......»»

Jack Ma grew up poor in China, failed his university-entrance exam twice, and was rejected from dozens of jobs before finding success with Alibaba. Jack Ma.VCG/VCG via Getty Images Jack Ma, the billionaire founder of Alibaba and Ant Group, accepted a teaching role in Japan. Ant Group said Ma would give up control of the fintech company amid closer scrutiny from Beijing. He grew up poor and faced multiple job rejections but amassed billions. Here's a look at Ma's life. Alibaba and Ant Group founder Jack Ma, who disappeared from public view in 2020 and resurfaced in Thailand in January, has accepted a teaching role in Japan. Ma is expected to conduct research on sustainable agriculture and food production, Tokyo College said in an announcement on May 1.Jay Fai restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand, posted a photo of Ma when he resurfaced. The caption read: "Incredibly humble, we are honored to welcome you and your family to Jay Fai's."The billionaire faced a crackdown from Chinese regulators in 2020 that resulted in an antitrust investigation, a suspended IPO, and Ma losing $12 billion of his fortune in just a few months.The billionaire has reportedly been laying low amid intense scrutiny. His net worth is now estimated to be $33 billion, per Bloomberg Billionaires Index.This isn't Ma's first rodeo facing difficulties, however. He grew up poor in communist China, failed his university entrance exam twice, and was rejected from dozens of jobs, including one at KFC, before finding success with his third internet company, Alibaba.Here's how Ma got his start and made his fortune.Jillian D'Onfro, Charles Clark, and Taylor Nicole Rogers contributed to an earlier version of this post.Jack Ma — born Ma Yun — was born on September 10, 1964, in Hangzhou, southeastern China. He has an older brother and a younger sister.Jack Ma in 2014.REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson Source: 60 Minutes, USA TodayHe and his siblings grew up at a time when communist China was increasingly isolated from the West, and his family didn't have much money when they were young.Hangzhou, China, where Ma was raised.rongyiquan / Shutterstock.com Source: 60 Minutes, USA TodayMa was scrawny and often got into fights with classmates. "I was never afraid of opponents who were bigger than I," he recalls in "Alibaba," a book by Liu Shiying and Martha Avery.YouTube, Life NewsSource: USA Today, Business InsiderAs a kid, Ma liked collecting crickets and making them fight, and was able to distinguish the size and type of cricket just by the sound it made.Ma in 2016.REUTERS/Bobby YipSource: USA Today, Business InsiderAfter President Nixon visited Hangzhou in 1972, Ma's hometown became a tourist destination. As a teenager, Ma started waking up early to visit the city's main hotel, offering visitors tours of the city in exchange for English lessons. The nickname "Jack" was given to him by a tourist he befriended.Richard and Pat Nixon.APSource: 60 MinutesAfter high school, he applied to go to college — but failed the entrance exam twice. He finally passed on the third try, going on to attend Hangzhou Teachers Institute. He graduated in 1988 and started applying to as many jobs as he could.WEFSource: 60 MinutesHe received more than a dozen rejections — including from KFC — before being hired as an English teacher. Ma was a natural with his students and loved his job — though he only made $12 a month at a local university.ReutersSource: Business InsiderAt the World Economic Forum in 2016, Ma revealed he has been rejected from Harvard — 10 times.REUTERS/Jason LeeSource: Business InsiderMa had no experience with computers or coding, but he was captivated by the internet when he used it for the first time during a trip to the US in 1995. He had recently started a translation business and made the trip to help a Chinese firm recover a payment. Ma's first online search was "beer," but he was surprised to find that no Chinese beers turned up in the results. It was then that he decided to found an internet company for China. AP ImagesSource: Business Insider, USA TodayThough his first two ventures failed, four years later, he gathered 17 of his friends in his apartment and convinced them to invest in his vision for an online marketplace he called "Alibaba." The site allowed exporters to post product listings that customers could buy directly.Alibaba's headquarters in Hangzhou.ReutersSource: Business Insider, 60 MinutesSoon, the service started to attract members from all over the world. By October 1999, the company had raised $5 million from Goldman Sachs and $20 million from SoftBank, a Japanese telecom company that also invests in technology companies. The team remained close-knit and scrappy. "We will make it because we are young and we never, never give up," Ma said to a gathering of employees.Screenshot / The Crocodile in the YangtzeSource: Business InsiderHe was known for maintaining a sense of fun at Alibaba. In the early 2000s, when the company decided to start Taobao, its eBay competitor, he had his team do handstands during breaks to keep their energy levels up.The home page of Chinese e-commerce site Taobao.(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)Source: Business InsiderWhen the company first became profitable, Ma gave each employee a can of Silly String to go wild with.Dollar TreeSource: Business InsiderIn 2005, Yahoo invested $1 billion in Alibaba in exchange for about a 40% stake in the company. This was huge for Alibaba — at the time it was trying to beat eBay in China — and it would eventually be an enormous win for Yahoo too, netting it $10 billion in Alibaba's IPO alone.HYSTASource: TechCrunchIn 2014, Ma told Bloomberg he knew Alibaba had made it big when another customer offered to pay his restaurant bill. The customer, Ma said in the interview, had left Ma a note that read: "I'm your customer of Alibaba group, I made a lot of money and I know you don't make any money. I'll pay the bill for you."Andrew Burton/Getty ImagesSource: Business InsiderMa stepped down from his post as CEO in 2013, staying on as executive chairman.Alibaba Group Holding Ltd founder Jack Ma (2nd L) poses as he arrives at the New York Stock Exchange for his company's initial public offering (IPO) under the ticker "BABA" in New York September 19, 2014.REUTERS/Brendan McDermidSource: Tech CrunchAlibaba went public on September 19, 2014. "Today what we got is not money. What we got is the trust from the people," Ma told CNBC at the time.Ma arrives at the New York Stock Exchange in 2014.REUTERS/Brendan McDermidSource: CNBC, NYSEThe company's $150 billion IPO was the largest offering for a US-listed company in the history of the New York Stock Exchange. It also made Ma the richest person in China, with an estimated worth of $25 billion at the time.Ma after his company's initial public offering.Andrew Burton/Getty ImagesSource: BloombergMa's fortune comes from his 4.2% stake in Alibaba and a 10% stake in payment-processing service Alipay, which rebranded to Ant Group in 2014.Alipay logo is seen at a train station in Shanghai.Thomson ReutersSource: BloombergAlibaba employees threw a big party at the company's Hangzhou headquarters to celebrate the IPO. One employee even took the party as the perfect opportunity to propose. Ma told employees at a press conference that he hopes they use their newfound wealth to become "a batch of genuinely noble people, a batch of people who are able to help others, and who are kind and happy."QQ.com by TencentSource: QQ.com, USA TodayThe biggest day in the calendar for Alibaba is China's "Singles' Day" — a retaliation to Valentine's Day — which supposedly celebrates the country's singletons. In 2016, the site recorded nearly $20 billion in sales in 24 hours.Ma looks back at a giant electronic screen showing real-time sales figures on the "Singles' Day" online shopping festival.REUTERSSource: CNBCIn 2020, the total value of Alibaba orders placed on Singles' Day topped $56 billion.Taylor Swift performs at a show to mark Alibaba's Singles' Day global shopping festival in 2019.REUTERS/StringerSource: CNBCAlibaba's success may have made Ma an extremely wealthy man, but he has made very few flashy purchases, and he still has some pretty modest hobbies. "I don't think he has changed much, he is still that old style," Xiao-Ping Chen, a friend of Ma, told USA Today. He likes reading and writing kung fu fiction, playing poker, meditating, and practicing tai chi.Jack MaAssociated PressSource: USA TodayHis big splurge was a vineyard and a chateau in Bordeaux, France, in 2016.Ma's vineyard not pictured.Wikimedia CommonsSource: Forbes, CNBCIn March 2013, Alibaba spent a reported $49.7 million on a Gulfstream G550, mostly for Ma's use.Dean Morley / FlickrSource: China DailyOne of his greatest passions is the environment. According to Fortune, Ma developed an interest in environmentalism when a member of his wife's family became sick with an illness that Ma suspected was caused by pollution. He sits on the global board of The Nature Conservancy and spoke during a session of the Clinton Global Initiative in 2015. He has also, according to Fortune, been instrumental in funding a 27,000-acre nature reserve in China.Chelsea Clinton, left, and Jack Ma.Shannon Stapleton / REUTERSSource: FortuneMa has largely kept his family life out of the spotlight. He married Zhang Ying, a teacher he met at school, after they graduated in the late 1980s. They have two children — a daughter and a son.Alibaba founder Jack Ma in January 2018.Wang HE/Getty ImagesSource: BloombergIn 2017, Ma made headlines after meeting President Donald Trump. Despite Trump's protectionist attitude towards trade, Ma said China and the United States were not about to be drawn into a trade war. "Give Trump some time. He's open-minded," Ma told a panel at the World Economic Forum in January 2017.Donald Trump with Jack Ma.APSource: Business InsiderMa is something of a celebrity in China, and crowds of people show up to listen to him speak. The company also hosts annual talent shows, and Ma is a natural entertainer. At a company anniversary event, he dressed up as a punk rocker for a performance in front of 20,000 Alibaba employees.Steven Shi / REUTERSSource: 60 MinutesCompany lore has it that Ma came up with the name "Alibaba" while sitting in a San Francisco coffee shop. In "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," a secret password unlocks a trove filled with unbelievable riches. Ma's company has, in a way, revealed the potential of small and mid-sized businesses across the globe.AP ImagesSource: EntrepreneurMa stepped down as Alibaba's chairman on September 10, 2019, his 55th birthday. The company threw him a farewell party in an 80,000-seat stadium in Hangzhou, and Ma performed with other Alibaba executives.Courtesy of AlibabaSource: Business InsiderMa picked Daniel Zhang, who has been the CEO of Alibaba since 2015, to replace him as chairman. According to CNN Business, Ma decided to pivot to full-time philanthropy.AlibabaSource: Business Insider, CNN BusinessWhen the coronavirus pandemic brought the world to a halt in March 2020, Ma sourced and shipped N95 face masks and COVID-19 testing kits to over 100 countries dealing with shortages, including the US.Jack Ma/TwitterSource: Business InsiderIn May 2021, SoftBank announced that Ma would resign from the troubled investment fund's board of directors.Masayoshi Son, SoftBank's chairman and CEO.Reuters"Stepping down from SoftBank Group's Board, I believe, and he said to me actually, was something that he decided on his own," SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said during the firm's earnings announcement. "That's sad, but we still keep in contact directly and right before the COVID-19, we met face-to-face every month to have dinner, to talk about businesses, to talk about lives. And we will remain friends for the rest of our life, I believe."Source: Business InsiderIn October 2021, Ma made headlines again in relation to Ant Group's highly anticipated IPO. Ant Group was expected to raise $37 billion with a valuation reportedly surpassing $300 billion. But then, Ma publicly snubbed China's financial regulatory system, calling it 'an old people's club.'The mascot of Ant Financial.Zhang Peng/LightRocket via Getty ImagesSource: Business InsiderSoon after, regulators introduced new online lending rules that directly impacted Ant's business. Officials then said there were "major issues" with Ant's listing, and by November, the IPO was suspended.Ant Group's headquarters in Hangzhou.Chen Zhongqiu/VCG/Getty ImagesSource: Business InsiderOnce China's richest man, Ma's net worth has fallen by more than $25 billion since he disappeared from public view, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His net worth is now estimated at $34.1 billion, making him China's ninth-richest person.Jack MaShu Zhang/ReutersSource: Bloomberg,ForbesChinese regulators opened an antitrust investigation into Alibaba in December 2020, yet another crackdown on Ma's empire.ReutersSource: Business InsiderIn January 2021, Yahoo Finance reported that Ma hadn't been seen publicly in more than two months and had been replaced as a judge on the TV talent show he founded, which raised the question of whether Ma had gone missing.Bryan Thomas/Getty ImagesSource: Business Insider, Yahoo FinanceMa's absence mirrored similar situations where Chinese businessmen had disappeared after battling with regulators, but multiple sources said that Ma was not missing — he was simply "laying low" amid the government scrutiny and new regulations.Charles Platiau/ReutersSource: Business Insider, Business InsiderMa appeared to resurface in Thailand in January after Jay Fai restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand, posted a photo of him on Instagram. The caption read: "Incredibly humble, we are honored to welcome you and your family to Jay Fai's." A post shared by JAY FAI (เจ๊ไฝ)⭐️ (@jayfaibangkok)  Source: InsiderHis reappearance came as Ant Group said it was streamlining voting rights to prevent any one shareholder from having a controlling vote.A scene of AI technology and digital smart Life at the Booth of Alibaba and Ant Group at the World Intelligence Congress in Shanghai, China, in July 2021.CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty ImagesSource: InsiderOn May 1, Ma accepted a teaching role at Tokyo College and is expected to conduct research on sustainable agriculture and food production.Future Publishing/Getty ImagesSource: InsiderRead the original article on Business Insider.....»»

The Age Of Average Authored by Alex Murrell, Introduction: In the early 1990s, two Russian artists named Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid took the unusual step of hiring a market research firm. Their brief was simple. Understand what Americans desire most in a work of art. Over 11 days the researchers at Marttila & Kiley Inc. asked 1,001 US citizens a series of survey questions. What’s your favourite colour? Do you prefer sharp angles or soft curves? Do you like smooth canvases or thick brushstrokes? Would you rather figures that are nude or clothed? Should they be at leisure or working? Indoors or outside? In what kind of landscape?  Komar and Melamid then set about painting a piece that reflected the results. The pair repeated this process in a number of countries including Russia, China, France and Kenya. Each piece in the series, titled “People’s Choice”, was intended to be a unique a collaboration with the people of a different country and culture. But it didn’t quite go to plan. Describing the work in his book Playing to the Gallery, the artist Grayson Perry said: “In nearly every country all people really wanted was a landscape with a few figures around, animals in the foreground, mainly blue.” Despite soliciting the opinions of over 11,000 people, from 11 different countries, each of the paintings looked almost exactly the same. Komar and Melamid, People’s Choice After completing the work, Komar quipped: “We have been travelling to different countries, engaging in dull negotiations with representatives of polling companies, raising money for further polls, receiving more or less the same results, and painting more or less the same blue landscapes. Looking for freedom, we found slavery.”  This, however, was the point. The art was not the paintings themselves, but the comment they made. We like to think that we are individuals, but we are much more alike that we wish to admit. 30 years after People’s Choice, it seems the landscapes which Komar and Melamid painted have become the landscapes in which we live. This article argues that from film to fashion and architecture to advertising, creative fields have become dominated and defined by convention and cliché. Distinctiveness has died. In every field we look at, we find that everything looks the same. Welcome to the age of average. Let’s dive in. Interiors all look the same In 2011, Laurel Schwulst was planning to redecorate her New York apartment when she began searching the internet for interior design inspiration. Before long, the designer had stumbled on the perfect research tool: AirBnB. From the comfort of her home the app gave her a window into thousands of others. She could travel the world, and view hundreds of rooms, without leaving her chair. Schwulst began sharing images to her Tumblr, "Modern Life Space". The blog became an ever-expanding gallery of interior design inspiration. But something wasn’t right. Laurel Schwulst: "The Airbnb experience is supposed to be about real people and authenticity. But so many of them were similar, whether in Brooklyn, Osaka, Rio de Janeiro, Seoul, or Santiago.” Schwulst had identified an AirBnB design aesthetic that had organically emerged and was quickly spreading through the platform’s properties. White walls. Raw wood. Nespresso machines. Eames chairs. Bare brick. Open shelving. Edison bulbs. The style combines the rough-hewn rawness of industrialism with the elegant minimalism of mid-century design. International Airbnb Style But Schwulst wasn’t the only one to identify the trend. Aaron Taylor Harvey, the Executive Creative Director of Environments at Airbnb had spotted something similar: "You can feel a kind of trend in certain listings. There’s an International Airbnb Style that’s starting to happen. I think that some of it is really a wonderful thing that gives people a sense of comfort and immediate belonging when they travel, and some of it is a little generic. It can go either way." This “Modern Life Space” or “International AirBnB Style” goes by a number of other names. It’s known as the Brooklyn Look, or according to the journalist Kyle Chayka, AirSpace: “I called this style “AirSpace”. It’s marked by an easily recognisable mix of symbols – like reclaimed wood, Edison bulbs, and refurbished industrial lighting – that’s meant to provide familiar, comforting surroundings for a wealthy, mobile elite, who want to feel like they’re visiting somewhere “authentic” while they travel, but who actually just crave more of the same: more rustic interiors and sans-serif logos and splashes of cliche accent colours on rugs and walls.” Perhaps this seems inevitable. Isn’t it obvious that a global group of hosts all trying to present their properties to a global group of travellers would converge on a single, optimal, appealing yet inoffensive style? AirSpace, however, isn’t just limited to residential interiors. The same tired tropes have spread beyond the spaces where we live, and taken over the spaces where we work, eat, drink and relax. In an in-depth investigation for The Guardian, Chayka documents how the AirSpace style of interior decor has become the dominant design style of coffee shops: “Go to Shoreditch Grind, near a roundabout in the middle of London’s hipster district. It’s a coffee shop with rough-hewn wooden tables, plentiful sunlight from wide windows, and austere pendant lighting. Then head to Takk in Manchester. It’s a coffee shop with a big glass storefront, reclaimed wood furniture, and hanging Edison bulbs. Compare the two: You might not even know you’re in different spaces. It’s no accident that these places look similar. Though they’re not part of a chain and don’t have their interior design directed by a single corporate overlord, these coffee shops have a way of mimicking the same tired style, a hipster reduction obsessed with a superficial sense of history and the remnants of industrial machinery that once occupied the neighbourhoods they take over.” And this isn’t just a trend that we can see in British coffee culture. The same trend has been identified in cities from Bangkok to Beijing and from Seoul to San Francisco. AirSpace According to The Verge: “The coffee roaster Four Barrel in San Francisco looks like the Australian Toby’s Estate in Brooklyn looks like The Coffee Collective in Copenhagen looks like Bear Pond Espresso in Tokyo. You can get a dry cortado with perfect latte art at any of them, then Instagram it on a marble countertop and further spread the aesthetic to your followers.” Once this interior design style became dominant in the world’s coffee shops, it began to spread throughout the wider hospitality sector. Anne Quito, for example, writes about how the hipster makeover has made its way to restaurants in Quartz: “Established restaurants are getting the hipster makeover. Traditional restaurants like Dickey’s Barbecue in Dallas, eateries in Toronto’s Chinatown and even the 47-year-old roadside diner chain Cracker Barrel—in the guise of its new biscuit joint Holler & Dash—are embracing chalkboard menus and reclaimed wood look to attract the affluent, design-savvy millennial.” So, the interiors of our homes, coffee shops and restaurants have begun to converge upon a single style. But when we move outside, the story doesn’t get much better. Architecture all looks the same The anthropologist Marc Augé coined the term “non-place” to describe built environments that are defined by their transience and anonymity. Non-places, such as airports, service stations and hotels, tend towards utilitarian sterility. They prioritise function and efficiency over a softer sense of human expression and social connection. In 1995, the Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at Harvard University, Rem Koolhaas, published an essay titled The Generic City: "Is the contemporary city like the contemporary airport— ‘all the same’? Is it possible to theorise this convergence? And if so, to what ultimate configuration is it aspiring? Convergence is possible only at the price of shedding identity. That is usually seen as a loss. But at the scale at which it occurs it must mean something. What are the disadvantages of identity, and conversely, what are the advantages of blankness? What if this seemingly accidental, and usually regretted, homogenization was an intentional process, a conscious movement away from difference toward similarity?" That opening question takes Augé’s idea of the sterile non-place and applies it to the city as a whole. Koolhaas, in effect, is arguing that soulless is becoming the default design direction of all urban architecture. The generic city Almost 30 years after the publication of The Generic City I think it’s clear Koolhaas’ fears were well founded. Architecture’s march towards blank homogeneity is perhaps most obvious in the quick build, low-cost apartment blocks that have rapidly spread across the United States. Justin Fox writing for Bloomberg: “Cheap stick framing has led to a proliferation of blocky, forgettable mid-rises. (…) These buildings are in almost every U.S. city. They range from three to seven stories tall and can stretch for blocks. They’re usually full of rental apartments, but they can also house college dorms, condominiums, hotels, or assisted-living facilities. Close to city centers, they tend toward a blocky, often colorful modernism; out in the suburbs, their architecture is more likely to feature peaked roofs and historical motifs. Their outer walls are covered with fiber cement, metal, stucco, or bricks.” This architectural style, characterised by boxy forms and unconvincing cladding, goes by names such as Fast-Casual Architecture and McUrbanism. But perhaps most commonly, these buildings are known as five-over-ones. When Justin Fox drove across the US, he realised that they were not specific to one city or state. They were everywhere. And they were proliferating:  “In 2017, 187,000 new housing units were completed in buildings of 50 units or more in the U.S., the most since the Census Bureau started keeping track in 1972. By my informal massaging of the data, well over half of those were in blocky mid-rises.” But why is this the case? Why are the majority of large American buildings succumbing to the same style? Coby Lefkowitz offers four reasons in his essay, “Why Everywhere Looks the Same”. First, unlike in the early 20th century, developers are increasingly constrained by building codes. Second, rapidly rising land costs cause developers to pack as many properties as possible into every site. Third, the rising barriers to entry have caused the industry to consolidate. And fourth, developers seek to reduce their costs by reusing the same plans across multiple sites: “It would be disappointing enough to fail in gracing a land as physically beautiful as the US with the built companions it deserves. But it’s downright shameful that we deprive ourselves of living in interesting, meaningful, and wonderful places, given the thousands of precedents for inspiration worldwide, and many hundreds within our borders. Instead, we’ve copied and pasted our society from the most anodyne, the most boring, and the most bleh. We’ve all seen them. Covered with fiber cement, stucco, and bricks or brick-like material. They’ve shown up all over the country, indifferent to their surroundings. Spreading like a non-native species.” America’s five-over-one architecture Cities once felt rooted in time and place. The Victorian grandeur of London. The Art Deco glamour of New York. The neon modernity of Tokyo. But with anodyne architecture spreading across the United States, cities are beginning to lose their contextual identities. They are all starting to look the same: “Institutional developers march forward, ignorant of what makes Portland, Maine different from Portland, Oregon, or Philadelphia from Kansas City. Unique local traditions? Completely different climates? Hah! Joke’s on us. A box fits just as well in any of these places.” And it isn’t just the design of our residential buildings but our professional ones as well. In an article for Grist, Heather Smith describes the homogeneity of the office parks she’d pass on the way to her mother’s place of work and how present day Silicon Valley feels so similar. “All the offices and factories along the way to my mom’s office were smaller versions of the same thing — set back from the road, behind deep rectangles of rolling green lawn, no sidewalks. Sometimes clusters of begonias added accent marks, or regimented little bushes pruned into spheres or squares.” Smith continues: “I thought about this recently when I went driving through Silicon Valley, because I was surprised at how similar it was to the neighborhoods that I had grown up in. Not that it was an exact replica (…). But the architecture was the same — the same low-slung buildings, set back from the street by parking lots, each complex its own self-contained bubble, separated from the road by a row of trees.” So, the places where we live and work have begun to converge upon a single style, but we’re also seeing the same trend occur in the way we travel between them. Cars all looks the same In 2015, the ex-Chairman of BBH London, Jim Carroll recalled his realisation 32 years earlier that aerodynamic tests had begun to make all cars look alike: “Some of you will recall the day in 1983 when we woke up and noticed that the cars all looked the same. There was a simple explanation. They’d all been through the same wind tunnel. We nodded assent at the evident improvement in fuel efficiency, but we could not escape a weary sigh of disappointment. Modern life is rubbish.” In Carroll’s opinion, because all vehicles underwent the same wind tunnel tests, manufacturers were independently converging on the same optimal set of forms, proportions and dimensions. And as a result, homogeneity in car design was increasing. What Carroll didn’t realise was that things were about to get a lot worse. Sat at a red light, Drew Magary took the opportunity to scope out some new car ideas. Suddenly he saw an SUV that looked attractive. But he couldn’t quite see the badge. Another car was blocking his line of sight: “Maybe it’s a Bimmer," I said to the dog. "It kinda looks like one." It wasn’t. It was a Hyundai Santa Fe, which kinda resembles the Acura RDX, which kinda resembles the Volvo XC60, which kinda resembles the BMW X3. (…) These four models are all 75 inches wide, 66 inches high (save for the Volvo, which is 65), and they only differ in length by a maximum of three inches. They all have rear quarter windows smaller than a porthole on a submarine. They all have chrome accents to increase the glam factor by, like, five percent. And they all abhor right angles, (…). They’re spiritual clones, and they’re not exceptions in being so.” The wind tunnel effect (original image source unknown) But why do so many modern cars look the same? Jim Carroll’s wind-tunnel theory is certainly one reason. Another is that the automotive giants increasingly share vehicle “platforms” between the many brands that they operate. And Ian Callum, who led design at Jaguar-Land Rover for two decades, provides a third theory. "There was a time when you could identify the country the car came from. But today, basically every company makes cars for basically every country (…). Cars are now designed for the broadest possible audience, across the broadest number of countries, to be manufactured in the most efficient possible way.” Callum continues: “Before the typical car designer can even begin sketching out a model, they’re given specs from the packaging department (…). The measurements might vary within millimetres. These strict dimensions are agonisingly chosen to please the needs of the wind tunnel, to adhere to government safety regulations, to properly accommodate the average American family’s collective weight of 78,000 lbs., and to allow for enough cargo space for all their crap.” These three theories explain why the three-dimensional design of cars has been converging over time. But they don’t explain why the colour of cars has converged as well. According to data shared by Jökull Solberg, around 40% of cars sold in 1996 were monochromatic (black, white, silver or grey). 20 years later that figure had increased to 80%. There are many suggestions for why this might be. Perhaps these colours come as standard and everything else is an optional upgrade. Perhaps brighter colours fade more quickly. Maybe people buy less vibrant colours when times are more turbulent. Maybe the resale market for monochromatic cars is more buoyant. Or maybe the paired-back design of smartphones informed stylistic trends in the auto industry.  Regardless, the result is the same. Where once carparks were a kaleidoscope of reds, blues and greens, today they capture a sea of desaturation. And what’s more? The visual identities of car brands seem to be following suit. In September 2020, Vauxhall released a modernised, minimal marque. According to Henry Wong at Design Week: “Vauxhall unveiled its new logo last week, a “confidently British” look, which reworks the griffin icon and introduces a blue-and-red colour scheme. Most prominent is its new flat styling — a simplified version of the logo’s previous 3D look. Vauxhall calls the redesign the “progressive face of the brand”.” The “blanding” of automotive brand identities Vauxhall had ditched a logo that looked like a chrome sculpted bonnet badge and replaced it with a flatter, thinner, altogether simpler execution. But they weren’t the only one. As Wong says, at least five other major manufacturers had charted a similar course: “It’s a familiar story within car branding of late. Audi first unveiled a minimalist-inspired rebrand in 2018, but it’s been followed by a host of other marques in the past year. Volkswagen, BMW, Toyota, Nissan have all revealed new branding and each with a flat logo.” So, the cars we drive, their colours and their logos have begun to converge upon a single style, but we’re also seeing the same trend occur in the way we look ourselves. People all look the same In December 2019 the journalist Jia Tolentino set about investigating a troubling trend. Many celebrities and influencers had started to resemble each other.  “This past summer, I booked a plane ticket to Los Angeles with the hope of investigating what seems likely to be one of the oddest legacies of our rapidly expiring decade: the gradual emergence, among professionally beautiful women, of a single, cyborgian face. It’s a young face, of course, with poreless skin and plump, high cheekbones. It has catlike eyes and long, cartoonish lashes; it has a small, neat nose and full, lush lips. It looks at you coyly but blankly, as if its owner has taken half a Klonopin and is considering asking you for a private-jet ride to Coachella.” The look that Tolentino is describing is the result of (at least) three conspiring trends. The growing market for injectable treatments is driving a trend for physical enhancements. The rise of apps such as FaceTune is driving a trend for digital enhancements. And make-up techniques such as “strobing” and “contouring” are driving a trend for cosmetic enhancements. Over the last decade, these trends have developed in parallel, each feeding and fueling the other. Starting at the top, Tolentino discusses the rising accessibility of beauty treatments such as Botox and fillers: “Twenty years ago, plastic surgery was a fairly dramatic intervention: expensive, invasive, permanent, and, often, risky. But, in 2002, the Food and Drug Administration approved Botox for use in preventing wrinkles; a few years later, it approved hyaluronic-acid fillers, such as Juvéderm and Restylane, which at first filled in fine lines and wrinkles and now can be used to restructure jawlines, noses, and cheeks. These procedures last for six months to a year and aren’t nearly as expensive as surgery. (…) You can go get Botox and then head right back to the office.” But the cost of achieving this look, which has become known as “Instagram Face”, is even lower than one may imagine. Whilst the average price per syringe of filler is $683, social sharers can now use apps to achieve similar results. Instagram Face Rebecca Jennings writing for Vox: “Instagram Face is so ubiquitous that there are now special filters that give you the look digitally if you can’t afford the real thing. (…) Almost no one is born with Instagram Face — by virtue of it being associated with a digital platform, the look is always mediated and performed — and even those who have it naturally still use tools like FaceTune to enhance their already algorithmically perfect features.” Finally, these physical and digital enhancements are complemented by a third, altogether less dystopian, trend: cosmetic enhancements. Here make-up, and an almost endless supply of YouTube tutorials, are used to alter the perceived bone structure of a face. Julia Brucculieri for the Huffington Post: “Social media influencers these days are starting to look like beauty clones. You know the look: a full pout, perfectly arched eyebrows, maybe some expertly applied eyeliner, topped off with a healthy dose of highlighter and cheek contouring. With a few makeup brushes, a contour palette and some matte lip color, you can be well on your way to looking like everyone else.” So where did all of this begin? According to the make-up artist Colby Smith, Kim Kardashian is patient-zero of Instagram face. Ultimately, he says, every social media star’s goal is to look like her. And Smith isn’t the only one to hold this opinion. Writing for The Cut, Kathleen Hou offers a similarly provocative opinion. “Instagram’s beauty posters tend to look like they’re all the same woman, and that woman is Kim Kardashian. Thanks to hundreds of “Get the Look” tutorials, it’s never been easier to strobe and contour yourself into a facsimile of the star. So, no wonder there’s a cloning effect.” This may seem like an exaggeration. There is, however, a truth at the centre of the assertion. When The New Yorker interviewed Beverley Hills based plastic surgeon Jason Diamond, he claimed around a third of all his patients aspire to become a Kardashian doppelgänger: “I’d say that thirty percent of people come in bringing a photo of Kim, or someone like Kim—there’s a handful of people, but she’s at the very top of the list, and understandably so.” And we haven’t only started to look alike from the neck up. Dame Vivienne Westwood, the late fashion designer best known for bringing the counter-cultural punk scene onto the catwalk, comments on the way clothing has started to conform: “Everybody looks like clones and the only people you notice are my age. I don’t notice anybody unless they look great, and every now and again they do, and they are usually 70. We are so conformist, nobody is thinking. We are all sucking up stuff, we have been trained to be consumers and we are all consuming far too much. I’m a fashion designer and people think, what do I know? But I’m talking about all this disposable crap.” So, the way we look and the way we dress has begun to converge upon a single style. But when we look at the content we consume, the story doesn’t get much better. Media all looks the same In the early 2010s, French blogger Christophe Courtois began curating movie posters that conformed to strikingly similar formulas. Rom-coms often used a guy and a girl standing back-to-back against a white background. Horror films featured a close up of an eye. Action films opting for a lone character, dressed in black with their back to the camera. Courtois’ series perfectly illustrates how, in the 21st Century, every genre of film sticks to a relatively narrow set of clichés, codes and conventions that promoters slavishly abide by. Christophe Courtois’ cinematic clichés In Hadley Freeman’s book Life Moves Pretty Fast, Oscar winning director Steven Soderbergh argues that this is the natural result of testing: “If you've ever wondered why every poster and every trailer and every TV spot looks exactly the same, it's because of testing. It's because anything interesting scores poorly and gets kicked out. (…) I've tried to argue that maybe the thing that's making it distinctive, and score poorly, actually would stick out if you presented it to these people the way the real world presents it. And I’ve never won that argument.” But is the homogenisation of Hollywood a new phenomenon? To find out Adam Mastroianni analysed the top 20 grossing films in every year since 1977 and coded whether each was part of a “multiplicity” (i.e. a sequel, prequel, franchise, spin-off, reboot etc.). What he found was surprising:  “Until the year 2000, about 25% of top-grossing movies were prequels, sequels, spinoffs, remakes, reboots, or cinematic universe expansions. Since 2010, it’s been over 50% ever year. In recent years, it’s been close to 100%.” Mastroianni continues: “In 2021, only one of the ten top-grossing films (the Ryan Reynolds vehicle Free Guy) was an original. There were only two originals in 2020’s top 10, and none at all in 2019.” A further finding for the research was that the revenue generated by the top 20 movies was, until 2015, around 40% of that generated by the top 200. Since then however that 40% figure has begun to climb even higher, crossing the 60% threshold in 2021. In short, the top 20 films are becoming both bigger and more alike. But this isn’t just happening in film. In every corner of pop culture, a smaller number of “blockbusters” is claiming a larger share of the market. What were once creative powerhouses have become factories of the familiar. Take books. “It used to be pretty rare for one author to have multiple books in the top 10 in the same year. Since 1990, it’s happened almost every year. No author ever had three top 10 books in one year until Danielle Steel did it 1998. In 2011, John Grisham, Kathryn Stockett, and Stieg Larsson all had two chart-topping books each. (…) In the 1950s, a little over half of the authors in the top 10 had been there before. These days, it’s closer to 75%.” You can see this creative convergence for yourself when you next visit a bookstore. In fiction you’ll see many popular books following a “girl with…” naming convention. Of course, there’s Larsson’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, but we’ve also seen Paula Hawkins’ “The Girl on the Train”, M. R. Carey’s “The Girl With all the Gifts” and A. J. Grayson’s “The Girl in the Water”. In non-fiction, if you visit the self-help category, you’ll notice that every book title seems to include a swear word. We have Mark Manson’s “The Subtle Art of not Giving a Fuck”, Sarah Knight’s “The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a Fuck” and Alexis Rockley’s “Find your Fuck Yeah.” Sweary self-help books Video games are no different. In the late 1990s, 75% or less of the best-selling video games were franchise instalments. Since 2005, it’s been closer to 100%. I’ll quote Keith Stuart, writing for The Guardian, at length: “The absence of the E3 expo in Los Angeles for the past two years has left a gigantic vacuum in the video game calendar. Last week, the industry did its best to fill that gaping content maw with three online events – the Summer Game fest, the Xbox and Bethesda showcase and the PC gaming show. They were underwhelming for many seasoned players. Major reveals included a remake of The Last of Us, a remake of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Street Fighter 6, Final Fantasy XVI and news about the reimagining of the classic role-player System Shock.” So, our movies, books and video games have all begun to look the same. But it’s not just the content we consume. When we look at the content brands produce the story doesn’t get much better. Brands all look the same In 1982 the American fashion photographer Irving Penn shot an ad for Clinique that became known as “the shelfie”. The advert is simply a photograph of the inside of a medicine cabinet. A bright white background. Glass shelves. Bottles of pills. And a few well branded Clinique products. Since this iconic 80s ad, many other brands have created their own shelfies, including Selfridges, e. l. f. and Billie. But this isn’t the only tried and tested trope. Here’s AIGA Eye on Design: “There are many more oft-mimicked setups like the shelfie currently bouncing around the zeitgeist; one omnipresent shot includes objects placed on a mirror reflecting the sky, giving the illusion of a product floating in midair. Another example uses a dense pattern of water droplets to refract a single item into a series of psychedelic miniatures, while yet another places subjects in front of faux scenic backdrops reminiscent of a low-budget Sears photo studio. Each of these distinct setups is utilized broadly and across industries, with the same composition and concept seen on the Instagram feeds of a major beverage syndicate and an indie skincare brand alike.” Shelfies In an article for The Cut, titled The Tyranny of Terrazzo, Molly Fischer pushes this thought one step further. Whilst there is the shelfie trope and the mirror trope and the water droplet trope, these layouts all seem to share a surprisingly consistent style of art direction. They might be compositionally different, but they are conceptually alike: “And then there are advertisements, making up a visual world of their own. The products on view (cookware, supplements, stretchy clothes) occupy blank pastel landscapes manipulated by a diversity of hands. These aren’t ads that bellow or hector; they whisper, in restrained sans-serif fonts, or chastely flirt, in letters with curves and bounce. They’re ads, sure, but they’re so well designed. In this era, you come to understand, design was the product. Whatever else you might be buying, you were buying design, and all the design looked the same.”  Whilst Clinique’s original Shelfie hails from the 80s, it wasn’t until the 2010s that it became a more widely adopted style. And the majority of companies who did so were digital-first, DTC brands. Elizabeth Goodspeed argues this is because these brands are more likely to draw inspiration from the same vast online sources. The result, she says, is a “moodboard effect”:  “This kind of visual homogeneity is a common occurrence in the art direction world, where ubiquitous styles operate less like trends and more like memes; remixed and diluted until they become a single visual mass. In today’s extremely-online world, the vast availability of reference imagery has, perhaps counterintuitively, led to narrower thinking and shallower visual ideation. It’s a product of what I like to call the “moodboard effect.” So, designers use the same online platforms, draw inspiration from the same sorts of imagery and, in turn, create broadly the same types of adverts. But it isn’t just advertising that is causing brands to all look the same. Their visual identities are converging as well. In December 2018, Thierry Brunfaut and Tom Greenwood published an article in Fast Company where they coined a new word: Blanding. “The worst branding trend (…) is the one you probably never noticed. I call it blanding. The main offenders are in tech, where a new army of clones wears a uniform of brand camouflage. The formula is sort of a brand paint-by-numbers. Start with a made-up-word name. Put it in a sans-serif typeface. Make it clean and readable, with just the right amount of white space. Use a direct tone of voice. Nope, no need for a logo. Maybe throw in some cheerful illustrations. Just don’t forget the vibrant colors. Bonus points for purple and turquoise. Blah blah blah.” Companies like AirBnB, Spotify and eBay have all dropped colourful logos with expressive typography for a straighter, stricter, altogether more muted, alternative. The homogeneity of modern brands Ben Schott writing for Bloomberg: “Visually, blands are simple, neutral and flat. The palette is plain and pastel (with the occasional vibrant splash); the mood is upbeat and happy, or pensive and cool, but never truly real; the dress-code is smart-casual. Bland people are stock-photo attractive (or quirkily jolie laide). (…) Complex products and technical processes are illustrated by cute cartoons or Noun Project icons. Bland logos are confident but cute, utilizing an array of tweaks and twists to provoke the all-important “smile in the mind”.” While the tech sector has led the way on blanding, we see the trend towards flatter, more lifeless, identities playing out in categories from the high-end world of fashion to the more mass world of personal care. In a November 2021 article, title Distinction Rebellion, Contagious claimed that more and more brands seem content to drift along in a sea of sameness: “Look up any new corporate brand identity unveiled over the past decade and you will almost certainly find yourself staring at a flattened and simplified version of the company’s old logo. The aesthetic has become so ubiquitous that it’s acquired its own name – blanding.” So, advertising and brand identities are becoming more and more alike. But so too are the taglines brands employ. Shai Idelson, Strategy Director at ad agency BBH, collected a list of 27 brands whose taglines follow the “Find Your X” sentence structure. These include Lucozade’s “Find Your Flow”, Rightmove’s “Find Your Happy” and Volvic’s “Find Your Volcano”. Idelson says: “I love end-lines. The delicate art of capturing a meaningful thought about a brand or a product in as few words as possible. A great end-line will touch my heart and stay in my memory forever. I still remember some from my childhood. But in the last few years, something happened to end-lines. (…) The linguistic similarity is staggering.”  The same “insight” that sits behind the 27 taglines (that young consumers celebrate individuality above all else) has also led to the “X, Your Way” end line construction. We have Nespresso’s “Indulge, Your Way”, Sonos’ “Sound, Your Way”, Dunelm’s “Dun, Your Way” and many, many more. And so brand adverts, identities and taglines are all starting to look the same. But where does this all leave us? Conclusion So, there you have it. The interiors of our homes, coffee shops and restaurants all look the same. The buildings where we live and work all look the same. The cars we drive, their colours and their logos all look the same. The way we look and the way we dress all looks the same. Our movies, books and video games all look the same. And the brands we buy, their adverts, identities and taglines all look the same. But it doesn’t end there. In the age of average, homogeneity can be found in an almost indefinite number of domains. The Instagram pictures we post, the tweets we read, the TV we watch, the app icons we click, the skylines we see, the websites we visit and the illustrations which adorn them all look the same. The list goes on, and on, and on. UGC all looks the same There are many reasons why this might have happened. Perhaps when times are turbulent, people seek the safety of the familiar. Perhaps it’s our obsession with quantification and optimisation. Or maybe it’s the inevitable result of inspiration becoming globalised. Regardless of the reasons, it seems that just as Komar and Melamid produced the “people’s choice” in art, contemporary companies produce the people’s choice in almost every category of creativity. But it’s not all bad news. I believe that the age of average is the age of opportunity. When every supermarket aisle looks like a sea of sameness, when every category abides by the same conventions, when every industry has converged on its own singular style, bold brands and courageous companies have the chance to chart a different course. To be different, distinctive and disruptive. So, this is your call to arms. Whether you’re in film or fashion, media or marketing, architecture, automotive or advertising, it doesn’t matter. Our visual culture is flatlining and the only cure is creativity. It’s time to cast aside conformity. It’s time to exorcise the expected. It’s time to decline the indistinguishable. For years the world has been moving in the same stylistic direction. And it’s time we reintroduced some originality. Or as the ad agency BBH says. When the world zigs. Zag. Tyler Durden Tue, 03/28/2023 - 23:05.....»»

Woman-owned leading real estate company MAG Partners today announced the launch of leasing at Ruby, a residential development located at 243 West 28th Street in Chelsea. Located across the street from the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, within New York City’s Garment District, Ruby offers... The post MAG Partners Launches Leasing at its First New York City Building, Ruby appeared first on Real Estate Weekly. Woman-owned leading real estate company MAG Partners today announced the launch of leasing at Ruby, a residential development located at 243 West 28th Street in Chelsea. Located across the street from the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, within New York City’s Garment District, Ruby offers 480 studio to three-bedroom residences amongst two towers – 30 percent of which are reserved for affordable housing – in addition to 8,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space.  Named after fashion designer Ruby Bailey, an expressive visual and performance artist and master beader, Ruby is MAG Partners’ first New York City project and the first in a portfolio of residential buildings to be named after historical and influential women. “MAG Partners is built upon the principles of beauty, diversity, inclusion and sustainability, all of which are reflected within the living experience at Ruby,” said MaryAnne Gilmartin, Founder and CEO of MAG Partners. “As a firm founded in New York, we couldn’t be more excited to open this passion project in our own backyard. We are proud that our first building is providing much-needed housing in our city and offers thoughtfully designed residences focused on health and wellness.” Designed by globally renowned architecture firm COOKFOX Architects, the 22-story and 23-story towers’ architectural expression is inspired by the historic fabric of the turn-of-the-century Garment District neighboring buildings, incorporating biophilic elements throughout its amenities. The thoughtful design pays tribute to creatives in the garment industry like Bailey, a Bermudian immigrant who led an artistic life in NYC. In addition to her eclectic fashion and clothing designs, she also created a series of doll-sized “mannequins” which today are part of the permanent costume collection in the Museum of the City of New York. She lived in Harlem until her death in 2003 at the age of 97. “Our design for Ruby was inspired by the forms and patterns of Garment District masonry structures and the warp and weft of woven textiles. These historical elements lend a sense of authenticity to the new residences and elevate residential design in the neighborhood,” said Rick Cook, Founding Partner of COOKFOX Architects. “The attention to craft and amenities at Ruby that connect residents to outdoor space and gardens brings nature-connected living into one of the busiest areas of Manhattan.” Each of the residences within Ruby are thoughtfully appointed with sophisticated details. Kitchens are designed with integrated Bosch appliances with herringbone backsplash, harkening back to the textile context. The bathrooms also feature porcelain herringbone tiles, with ceramic subway tile walls and extra-wide built-in medicine cabinets. All units include a Bosch stacked washer and dryer, three-layer, 5-inch-wide engineered oak wood flooring, keyless unit entry door hardware, Nest thermometers, solar shades throughout (including blackout shades in the bedrooms) and generous closet space. Approximately 10 percent of units have private outdoor space.   The approximately 19,000-square-foot robust amenity package includes an array of indoor/outdoor offerings. In addition to a rooftop pool, roof lounge and grilling terrace, there is a club lounge with dining and entertainment areas, a library lounge with coworking and meeting spaces, a landscaped courtyard and lobby garden, a 5,000-square-foot, two-floor fitness center with cardio and weight training facilities, and more.  The Ruby facade is contextual masonry inspired by the rich historic architectural fabric of the neighborhood featuring hand-laid brick, richly patterned surfaces and narrow setbacks. While the exterior evokes the neighborhood’s industrial past, the interior lobby and amenity spaces provide tranquil moments promoting wellbeing including warmly-lit wood panels, angled millwork, custom panels and diffused interior lighting. The two towers are anchored by a courtyard – a private sanctuary overlooking a landscaped lobby garden, connecting the residents to nature.   Ruby incorporates high-performance building systems that optimize energy performance, enhance indoor air quality, and improve acoustic performance to provide residents with the ultimate luxury – an urban sanctuary. Along with all of the outdoor spaces, daylighting of corridors, and the use of natural materials and patterns in design, the sustainability strategies will contribute to the building’s LEED Silver certification. “We are thrilled to be a part of MAG Partner’s inaugural project. The thoughtfully designed and constructed development brings much-needed affordable and market-rate housing to Chelsea,” said Andy D’Amico, president and CEO of Urban Atelier Group, which is leading the construction management of the project. “Ruby is the perfect model for housing in the 21st century with a design rooted in the neighborhood’s architectural fabric and sustainable strategies that connect residents to nature. The project’s success would not have been possible without the trust and transparency between our partners to help bring the vision to life.”  To further honor Bailey, MAG Partners has partnered with The Social Justice Center at FIT – a first-of-its-kind initiative in higher education seeking to address the systemic problems faced by BIPOC youth, college students, and working professionals in the fields that drive the creative economy – to offer a scholarship for BIPOC FIT students. “We are proud to honor the life of Ruby Bailey and the contributions she made as a Black female artist who built a lifelong career in New York City,” Gilmartin added. “The partnership with FIT will allow her legacy to live on through the lives of the next generation of BIPOC creatives looking to make their mark in the city.”  Founded by seasoned real estate professional Gilmartin, MAG Partners was formed in 2020 as a 21st century national urban development company dedicated to diversity and inclusivity in the real estate industry. The Ruby announcement comes on the heels of MAG Partners’ 2022 successful launch of its Baltimore Peninsula project in Baltimore, Maryland, a 235-acre master plan designed for impact on a post-industrial waterfront peninsula in central South Baltimore. The project is being developed in partnership with Sagamore Ventures, Urban Investment Group within Goldman Sachs Asset Management and MacFarlane Partners.  Other NYC projects in the works for MAG Partners include nearby 335 Eighth Avenue, a mixed income, 190-unit apartment building with ground floor commercial space; 300 East 50th Street, a 194-unit multifamily building with ground floor retail at the corner of Second Avenue; and 122 Varick Street, a 175,000-square-foot boutique office development. The female names of the future residential buildings will be unveiled closer to their launches.  Ruby is conveniently located within walking distance to Penn Station which includes access to nearly every NYC subway line in addition to the Long Island Railroad, New Jersey Transit, PATH and Amtrak. Residents will enjoy easy access to the city’s leading restaurants, entertainment venues, shopping and more.  “Having worked with MAG Partners and the entire design team from inception, Douglas Elliman Development Marketing is proud to represent Ruby and bring to market this best-in-class rental development,” said Matthew Villetto, Executive Vice President, Douglas Elliman Development Marketing. “The integration of wellness, biophilic aspects, high design and finishes, unparalleled amenities and services, contextual architecture, stunning views and more have resulted in an end-product and experience that will undoubtedly stand out in the marketplace and exceed renter expectations.”    The project is a joint venture between MAG Partners, Safanad, Atalaya Capital Management and Qualitas. MAG Partners previously announced that it has secured a $173 million construction loan from Madison Realty Capital for the project. Market-rate studios at Ruby begin at $4,330 per month. Douglas Elliman Development Marketing is the exclusive marketing and leasing agent for Ruby. For more information, please visit rubychelsea.com or (212) 551-RUBY.  The post MAG Partners Launches Leasing at its First New York City Building, Ruby appeared first on Real Estate Weekly......»»

Jack Ma grew up poor in China, failed his university-entrance exam twice, and was rejected from dozens of jobs before finding success with Alibaba. Jack Ma.VCG/VCG via Getty Images Jack Ma, the billionaire founder of Alibaba and Ant Group, resurfaced in Thailand on Friday. Ant Group said Ma will give up control of the fintech company amid closer scrutiny from Beijing. He grew up poor and faced multiple job rejections but amassed billions. Here's a look at Ma's life. Alibaba and Ant Group founder Jack Ma has appeared to resurface on Friday in Thailand after he disappeared from public view in 2020. Jay Fai restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand, posted a photo of Ma, which he appeared to have just visited. The caption reads: "Incredibly humble, we are honored to welcome you and your family to Jay Fai's."The billionaire faced a crackdown from Chinese regulators in 2020 that resulted in an antitrust investigation, a suspended IPO, and Ma losing $12 billion of his fortune in just a few months.The billionaire has reportedly been laying low amid all the scrutiny he faced. His net worth is now estimated to be at $34.1 billion.This isn't Ma's first rodeo facing difficulties, however. He grew up poor in communist China, failed his university entrance exam twice, and was rejected from dozens of jobs, including one at KFC, before finding success with his third internet company, Alibaba.Here's how Ma got his start and made his fortune.Jillian D'Onfro, Charles Clark, and Taylor Nicole Rogers contributed to an earlier version of this post.Jack Ma — born Ma Yun — was born on September 10, 1964, in Hangzhou, southeastern China. He has an older brother and a younger sister.Jack Ma in 2014.REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson Source: 60 Minutes, USA TodayHe and his siblings grew up at a time when communist China was increasingly isolated from the West, and his family didn't have much money when they were young.Hangzhou, China, where Ma was raised.rongyiquan / Shutterstock.com Source: 60 Minutes, USA TodayMa was scrawny and often got into fights with classmates. "I was never afraid of opponents who were bigger than I," he recalls in "Alibaba," a book by Liu Shiying and Martha Avery.YouTube, Life NewsSource: USA Today, Business InsiderAs a kid, Ma liked collecting crickets and making them fight, and was able to distinguish the size and type of cricket just by the sound it made.Ma in 2016.REUTERS/Bobby YipSource: USA Today, Business InsiderAfter President Nixon visited Hangzhou in 1972, Ma's hometown became a tourist destination. As a teenager, Ma started waking up early to visit the city's main hotel, offering visitors tours of the city in exchange for English lessons. The nickname "Jack" was given to him by a tourist he befriended.Richard and Pat Nixon.APSource: 60 MinutesAfter high school, he applied to go to college — but failed the entrance exam twice. He finally passed on the third try, going on to attend Hangzhou Teachers Institute. He graduated in 1988 and started applying to as many jobs as he could.WEFSource: 60 MinutesHe received more than a dozen rejections — including from KFC — before being hired as an English teacher. Ma was a natural with his students and loved his job — though he only made $12 a month at a local university.ReutersSource: Business InsiderAt the World Economic Forum in 2016, Ma revealed he has been rejected from Harvard — 10 times.REUTERS/Jason LeeSource: Business InsiderMa had no experience with computers or coding, but he was captivated by the internet when he used it for the first time during a trip to the US in 1995. He had recently started a translation business and made the trip to help a Chinese firm recover a payment. Ma's first online search was "beer," but he was surprised to find that no Chinese beers turned up in the results. It was then that he decided to found an internet company for China. AP ImagesSource: Business Insider, USA TodayThough his first two ventures failed, four years later, he gathered 17 of his friends in his apartment and convinced them to invest in his vision for an online marketplace he called "Alibaba." The site allowed exporters to post product listings that customers could buy directly.Alibaba's headquarters in Hangzhou.ReutersSource: Business Insider, 60 MinutesSoon, the service started to attract members from all over the world. By October 1999, the company had raised $5 million from Goldman Sachs and $20 million from SoftBank, a Japanese telecom company that also invests in technology companies. The team remained close-knit and scrappy. "We will make it because we are young and we never, never give up," Ma said to a gathering of employees.Screenshot / The Crocodile in the YangtzeSource: Business InsiderHe was known for maintaining a sense of fun at Alibaba. In the early 2000s, when the company decided to start Taobao, its eBay competitor, he had his team do handstands during breaks to keep their energy levels up.The home page of Chinese e-commerce site Taobao.(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)Source: Business InsiderWhen the company first became profitable, Ma gave each employee a can of Silly String to go wild with.Dollar TreeSource: Business InsiderIn 2005, Yahoo invested $1 billion in Alibaba in exchange for about a 40% stake in the company. This was huge for Alibaba — at the time it was trying to beat eBay in China — and it would eventually be an enormous win for Yahoo too, netting it $10 billion in Alibaba's IPO alone.HYSTASource: TechCrunchIn 2014, Ma told Bloomberg he knew Alibaba had made it big when another customer offered to pay his restaurant bill. The customer, Ma said in the interview, had left Ma a note that read: "I'm your customer of Alibaba group, I made a lot of money and I know you don't make any money. I'll pay the bill for you."Andrew Burton/Getty ImagesSource: Business InsiderMa stepped down from his post as CEO in 2013, staying on as executive chairman.Alibaba Group Holding Ltd founder Jack Ma (2nd L) poses as he arrives at the New York Stock Exchange for his company's initial public offering (IPO) under the ticker "BABA" in New York September 19, 2014.REUTERS/Brendan McDermidSource: Tech CrunchAlibaba went public on September 19, 2014. "Today what we got is not money. What we got is the trust from the people," Ma told CNBC at the time.Ma arrives at the New York Stock Exchange in 2014.REUTERS/Brendan McDermidSource: CNBC, NYSEThe company's $150 billion IPO was the largest offering for a US-listed company in the history of the New York Stock Exchange. It also made Ma the richest person in China, with an estimated worth of $25 billion at the time.Ma after his company's initial public offering.Andrew Burton/Getty ImagesSource: BloombergMa's fortune comes from his 4.2% stake in Alibaba and a 10% stake in payment-processing service Alipay, which rebranded to Ant Group in 2014.Alipay logo is seen at a train station in Shanghai.Thomson ReutersSource: BloombergAlibaba employees threw a big party at the company's Hangzhou headquarters to celebrate the IPO. One employee even took the party as the perfect opportunity to propose. Ma told employees at a press conference that he hopes they use their newfound wealth to become "a batch of genuinely noble people, a batch of people who are able to help others, and who are kind and happy."QQ.com by TencentSource: QQ.com, USA TodayThe biggest day in the calendar for Alibaba is China's "Singles' Day" — a retaliation to Valentine's Day — which supposedly celebrates the country's singletons. In 2016, the site recorded nearly $20 billion in sales in 24 hours.Ma looks back at a giant electronic screen showing real-time sales figures on the "Singles' Day" online shopping festival.REUTERSSource: CNBCIn 2020, the total value of Alibaba orders placed on Singles' Day topped $56 billion.Taylor Swift performs at a show to mark Alibaba's Singles' Day global shopping festival in 2019.REUTERS/StringerSource: CNBCAlibaba's success may have made Ma an extremely wealthy man, but he has made very few flashy purchases, and he still has some pretty modest hobbies. "I don't think he has changed much, he is still that old style," Xiao-Ping Chen, a friend of Ma, told USA Today. He likes reading and writing kung fu fiction, playing poker, meditating, and practicing tai chi.Jack MaAssociated PressSource: USA TodayHis big splurge was a vineyard and a chateau in Bordeaux, France, in 2016.Ma's vineyard not pictured.Wikimedia CommonsSource: Forbes, CNBCIn March 2013, Alibaba spent a reported $49.7 million on a Gulfstream G550, mostly for Ma's use.Dean Morley / FlickrSource: China DailyOne of his greatest passions is the environment. According to Fortune, Ma developed an interest in environmentalism when a member of his wife's family became sick with an illness that Ma suspected was caused by pollution. He sits on the global board of The Nature Conservancy and spoke during a session of the Clinton Global Initiative in 2015. He has also, according to Fortune, been instrumental in funding a 27,000-acre nature reserve in China.Chelsea Clinton, left, and Jack Ma.Shannon Stapleton / REUTERSSource: FortuneMa has largely kept his family life out of the spotlight. He married Zhang Ying, a teacher he met at school, after they graduated in the late 1980s. They have two children — a daughter and a son.Alibaba founder Jack Ma in January 2018.Wang HE/Getty ImagesSource: BloombergIn 2017, Ma made headlines after meeting President Donald Trump. Despite Trump's protectionist attitude towards trade, Ma said China and the United States were not about to be drawn into a trade war. "Give Trump some time. He's open-minded," Ma told a panel at the World Economic Forum in January 2017.Donald Trump with Jack Ma.APSource: Business InsiderMa is something of a celebrity in China, and crowds of people show up to listen to him speak. The company also hosts annual talent shows, and Ma is a natural entertainer. At a company anniversary event, he dressed up as a punk rocker for a performance in front of 20,000 Alibaba employees.Steven Shi / REUTERSSource: 60 MinutesCompany lore has it that Ma came up with the name "Alibaba" while sitting in a San Francisco coffee shop. In "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," a secret password unlocks a trove filled with unbelievable riches. Ma's company has, in a way, revealed the potential of small and mid-sized businesses across the globe.AP ImagesSource: EntrepreneurMa stepped down as Alibaba's chairman on September 10, 2019, his 55th birthday. The company threw him a farewell party in an 80,000-seat stadium in Hangzhou, and Ma performed with other Alibaba executives.Courtesy of AlibabaSource: Business InsiderMa picked Daniel Zhang, who has been the CEO of Alibaba since 2015, to replace him as chairman. According to CNN Business, Ma decided to pivot to full-time philanthropy.AlibabaSource: Business Insider, CNN BusinessWhen the coronavirus pandemic brought the world to a halt in March 2020, Ma sourced and shipped N95 face masks and COVID-19 testing kits to over 100 countries dealing with shortages, including the US.Jack Ma/TwitterSource: Business InsiderIn May 2021, SoftBank announced that Ma would resign from the troubled investment fund's board of directors.Masayoshi Son, SoftBank's chairman and CEO.Reuters"Stepping down from SoftBank Group's Board, I believe, and he said to me actually, was something that he decided on his own," SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said during the firm's earnings announcement. "That's sad, but we still keep in contact directly and right before the COVID-19, we met face-to-face every month to have dinner, to talk about businesses, to talk about lives. And we will remain friends for the rest of our life, I believe."Source: Business InsiderIn October 2021, Ma made headlines again in relation to Ant Group's highly anticipated IPO. Ant Group was expected to raise $37 billion with a valuation reportedly surpassing $300 billion. But then, Ma publicly snubbed China's financial regulatory system, calling it 'an old people's club.'The mascot of Ant Financial.Zhang Peng/LightRocket via Getty ImagesSource: Business InsiderSoon after, regulators introduced new online lending rules that directly impacted Ant's business. Officials then said there were "major issues" with Ant's listing, and by November, the IPO was suspended.Ant Group's headquarters in Hangzhou.Chen Zhongqiu/VCG/Getty ImagesSource: Business InsiderOnce China's richest man, Ma's net worth has fallen by more than $25 billion since he disappeared from public view, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His net worth is now estimated at $34.1 billion, making him China's ninth-richest person.Jack MaShu Zhang/ReutersSource: Bloomberg,ForbesChinese regulators opened an antitrust investigation into Alibaba in December 2020, yet another crackdown on Ma's empire.ReutersSource: Business InsiderIn January 2021, Yahoo Finance reported that Ma hadn't been seen publicly in more than two months and had been replaced as a judge on the TV talent show he founded, which raised the question of whether Ma had gone missing.Bryan Thomas/Getty ImagesSource: Business Insider, Yahoo FinanceMa's absence mirrored similar situations where Chinese businessmen had disappeared after battling with regulators, but multiple sources said that Ma was not missing — he was simply "laying low" amid the government scrutiny and new regulations.Charles Platiau/ReutersSource: Business Insider, Business InsiderMa appeared to resurface in Thailand on Friday after Jay Fai restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand, posted a photo of him on Instagram. The caption read: "Incredibly humble, we are honored to welcome you and your family to Jay Fai's." A post shared by JAY FAI (เจ๊ไฝ)⭐️ (@jayfaibangkok)  Source: InsiderHis reappearance comes as Ant Group said Saturday it was streamlining voting rights to prevent any one shareholder from having a controlling vote.A scene of AI technology and digital smart Life at the Booth of Alibaba and Ant Group at the World Intelligence Congress in Shanghai, China, in July 2021.CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty ImagesSource: InsiderRead the original article on Business Insider.....»»

230 Fifth Rooftop Bar An exceptional space for meetings and events, 230 Fifth is New York’s largest outdoor rooftop garden and enclosed penthouse lounge. One floor is fully enclosed, while its rooftop garden is open to the sky. It has large umbrellas for sunny or rainy days and is partially heated on colder nights. Located in the Flatiron District of Manhattan, 230 Fifth boasts breathtaking views of the Manhattan skyline, including the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building. Offering guests high-speed Internet, state-of-the-art audio and visual equipment, and large screen projectors and TVs, it can accommodate private functions for 25 to 1,200 guests in its 33,000-square-foot space. Every event, regardless of its size or style, is custom tailored to each client’s needs and tastes. Inquiries are welcome, and a contact person will be pleased to answer any questions that clients—current and potential—may have about the New York City penthouse space. Address: 230 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10001 Phone: 212-725-4300 Email: info@230-fifth.com Website: 230-fifth.com 3 WEST CLUB Both historic and timeless, the 3 West Club offers everything one could want in an event space—and much more. Centrally located off Fifth Avenue and steps away from Rockefeller Center, it is one of Manhattan’s hidden gems. With six event and meeting spaces, along with a stunning rooftop area, the 3 West Club is extremely flexible, as it accommodates 10 to 350 people. And, with 28 well-appointed rooms, it provides guests the option to stay overnight as well. Whether you are planning a corporate event, an intimate meeting, a gala dinner, a conference, or a nonprofit reception or fundraiser, the 3 West Club has the versatility to create a customized, memorable and extraordinary experience. Address: 3 W. 51st St., New York, NY 10019 Phone: 212-582-5456 Email: events@3westclub.com Website: 3westclub.com 583 PARK AVENUE Located on Park Avenue and 63rd Street, 583 Park Avenue, a New York City event space, is a landmark building that has been restored and made available for private events, alongside corporate and nonprofit events. Built in 1923 and designed by the renowned architectural firm Delano & Aldrich, 583 Park Avenue is reminiscent of a bygone era. Complete with a grand, pre-function space, including floor plans like the Arcade, the Ballroom and the Balconies, it also offers guests a remarkable amount of flexibility for all types of special events. Address: 83 Park Ave., New York, NY 10065 Phone: 212-583-7200 Email: events@583parkave.com Website: 583parkave.com/ APELLA BY ALEXANDRIA Apella is New York City’s most innovative meeting and event space. Located within The Alexandria Center for Life Science, Apella offers 10 thoughtfully designed rooms with contemporary interiors, advanced technology and expansive East River and city skyline views. Providing up to 20,000 square feet of event space, Apella features 10 private suites, in order to accommodate two to 300 attendees, as well as upwards of 1,250 guests for large-scale celebrations. Furthermore, Apella’s thoughtfully appointed spaces provide an open, yet highly secure setting for executive board meetings, industry conferences, corporate retreats and product launches, while also offering on-site technology that ranges from 250 Mbps high-speed WiFi to 11,000-lumen, 1080p laser projectors. Address: 450 E. 29th St., Second Floor, New York, NY 10016 Phone: 212-706-4100 Email: info@apella.com Website: apella.com/ BARCLAYS CENTER Positioned at the crossroads of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues, Barclays Center is Brooklyn’s world-class home for sports and entertainment. The arena features one of the most intimate seating configurations displayed in a modern, multi-purpose arena, and has first-class amenities, including 101 luxury suites, as well as numerous premium club spaces, including the 40/40 CLUB & Restaurant by American Express and Qatar Airways Courtside Club. Whether guests are hosting a corporate outing or company meeting, along with a press conference, product launch or fundraising event, Barclays Center can accommodate groups of a wide array of sizes—from hundreds to thousands upon thousands. And it has a variety of concessions, ranging from hot dogs and cheesesteaks, to lobster rolls and barbeque, as well as four bars. Address: 620 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11217 Phone: 917-618-6100 Email: guestservices@barclayscenter.com Website: barclayscenter.com BEACON THEATRE The legendary Beacon Theatre is a historic New York City landmark, renovated to its original glory during the late 2000s, thereby returning it to its initial Roaring Twenties grandeur. A venerable rock room for generations of New Yorkers, the Beacon Theatre is equipped with advanced technology and mystical charm, enabling it to provide guests an intimate setting for unforgettable concerts and events. A 2,600-seat venue, the theatre was built in 1929 and designed in the art deco style by architect Walter Ahlschlager. It was also designated a New York landmark building by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1979 and acquired by Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. in 2006. Address: 2124 Broadway, New York, NY 10023 Phone: 212-465-6500 Email: msgepr@msg.com Website: msg.com/beacon-theatre BOWLMOR CHELSEA PIERS Located at Pier 60, just off the West Side Highway, Bowlmor Chelsea Piers is New York City’s ultimate entertainment destination—a place where the party-inspired glow of 40 blacklight bowling lanes and massive lane-side video walls meets the flashing lights and lively sounds of your favorite arcade games. After you hit lanes, it’s time to suit up and experience the thrilling fun of Urban Mission Laser Tag in Bowlmor’s state-of-the-art arena. The perfect place to play, party and partake, Bowlmor Chelsea Piers features a private, eight-lane bowling suite in addition to a semi-private loft space that features flat-screen TVs, lounge seating and vintage games. Let Bowlmor’s talented party professionals help plan your next event—and experience (or relive) the fun of the city’s best venue for office parties, private parties, kids’ birthday parties and every occasion in between. ddress: Chelsea Piers-Pier 60, New York, NY 10011 Phone: 212-835-2695 Website: bowlmor.com/location/bowlmor-chelsea-piers BOWLMOR TIMES SQUARE Enter Bowlmor Times Square’s 90,000-square-foot venue and discover 48 lanes, featuring HD video walls, brilliant blacklights and posh lane-side seating, in addition to an all-star arcade that has some of the city’s coolest interactive games. A tribute to the New York City of yesterday and today, it boasts seven uniquely themed bowling lounges—each one depicting a particular place and time in the history of New York City. Guests can bowl, dine and celebrate amid the scenery of a Prohibition-era speakeasy, an art deco palace, a Pop Art-inspired gallery or an iconic city neighborhood like Chinatown, Central Park or Coney Island (featuring graffiti murals by renowned street artist Jonas Never). Address: 222 W. 44th St., New York, NY 10036 Phone: 212-680-0012 Website: bowlmor.com/location/bowlmor-times-square BROOKLYN MUSEUM The Brooklyn Museum, one of the country’s most extensive and comprehensive art museums, is an extraordinary venue located in the heart of one of the world’s most creative and exciting urban centers: the borough of Brooklyn. The museum’s spaces provide stunning, one-of-a-kind backdrops for private events, including wedding ceremonies and receptions, cocktail parties and corporate events. Address: 200 Eastern Pkwy., Brooklyn, NY 11238 Phone: 718-638-5000 Email: information@brooklynmuseum.org Website: brooklynmuseum.org/ CENTRAL PARK ZOO The Central Park Zoo is a unique event space that’s perfect for cocktail receptions and seated dinners. With the capability to seat up to 700 guests, the zoo’s open space has the flexibility for any event, as it provides a nearly 200-foot-long, clear-top seasonal tent, along with options to add on connecting tents. Furthermore, it offers guests moss-covered colonnades, which provide them additional covered space, along with a tranquil backdrop to any of their photos. Exclusive access to exhibits is also available for guests, depending on sunset times. Address: 64th St. & Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10021 Phone: 212-439-6500 Email: events@wcs.org Website: centralparkzoo.com   CITY CRUISES ANCHORED BY HORNBLOWER Bring your event to life with a picture-perfect backdrop and experience the iconic New York skyline from a whole new perspective! Whether you’re planning an employee outing, a corporate milestone or an elegant business dinner, our professional planners, flexible packages and superior guest services will help effortlessly execute your event. City Cruises delivers a wide range of experiences, characterized by high-quality cuisine, onboard entertainment and spectacular skyline views. Cruising year-round from both New York and New Jersey, guests can savor the moment and connect with each other, while sailing past the Empire State Building, One World Trade Center, the Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty and more! Meet our New York Fleet: Premier Cruises Step aboard the all-glass European-inspired Bateaux New York for an upscale and unforgettable dining experience, featuring a chef prepared three-course plated meal, live band entertainment with an acoustic trio, a vocalist and grand piano, a refined atmosphere, personalized service and unobstructed views of the iconic city skyline. Signature Cruises Whenever you’re looking for a fun and festive way to get out on the water, a signature cruise is your answer. Come aboard and experience breathtaking New York City skyline views, delicious buffet-style meals, attentive service, DJ entertainment, a rooftop lounge and onboard games. Private Yachts With sensational skyline views and completely customizable options, the Atlantica, Manhattan Elite and Lexington offer great ways to host a unique event aboard your own private yacht. Guests will enjoy an upscale experience that’s characterized by elegant, high-quality cuisine and an intimate atmosphere. Address: Pier 61, Chelsea Piers, West 23rd and 12th, New York, NY 10011 Phone: 866-817-3463 Contact: Veronica Caverly, team market manager Email: veronica.caverly@cityexperiences.com Website: citycruises.com/NewYork CLASSIC CAR CLUB MANHATTAN Interested in hosting an event that’s located within a truly unique waterfront setting? Welcome to Classic Car Club at Pier 76 in Hudson River Park. Conveniently located across from Jacob Javits Center and Hudson Yards—and one block from the 7 train on Manhattan’s west side—the venue features 8,000 square feet of unobstructed space, 30-foot ceilings and 20-foot operable glass doors that open up to a sprawling, 3,200-square-foot outdoor terrace, which overlooks the Hudson River. A fleet of classic and exotic cars can either be made available for display or cleared out, depending on your preference. Classic Car Club has hosted events for groups as few as 30 people, as many as 1,400—and everything in between. And an open floor plan allows the space to accommodate as intimate and intricate of an event as you wish to have. Address: 1 Pier 76, 408 12th Ave., New York, NY 10018 Phone: 212-229-2402 Email: info@classiccarclub.com Website: classiccarclubmanhattan.com DAVE AND BUSTER’S Dave and Buster’s is a multifaceted entertainment venue that features creative cuisine, custom cocktails and team-building activities, along with multiple meeting room options, complete with state-of-the-art audiovisual technology. A one-stop shop for all your needs, Dave and Buster’s is conveniently located in Times Square and accessible to a majority of New York City’s transit options. It infuses fun with the necessity of teambuilding for companies who are looking to build relationships, inspire competitiveness and offer the gift of fun to their employees and clients. And it is the perfect setting for meetings, cocktail events, product launches, and client and employee appreciation events. Address: 234 W. 42nd St., Third Floor, New York, NY 10036 Phone: 646-495-2015 Email: pete.thornfield@daveandbusters.com Website: daveandbusters.com/locations/new-york-city-times-square EMPIRE STEAK HOUSE Empire Steak House stands out from the rest when it comes to food, service and ambience, as it provides guests the finest cuts of steaks, the freshest seafood and an extensive wine and cocktail list. Empire Steak House has two restaurants conveniently located on the east and west sides of Midtown Manhattan—on 50th Street and 54th Street. Also offering dedicated private dining coordinators, guests can plan and personalize their events, leading to unforgettable experiences. Whether guests are hosting a corporate event or celebrating a special occasion, Empire Steak House’s goal is to ensure quality and hospitality, so that planners will enjoy their event as much as their guests do! Addresses: Empire Steak House East: 151 E. 50th St., New York, NY 10022 Empire Steak House West: 237 W. 54th St., New York, NY 10019 Phone: 212-582-6900 (east side) 212-586-9700 (west side) Email: info50@empiresteakhousenyc.com Website: empiresteakhousenyc.com LIBERTY SCIENCE CENTER Planning an intimate dinner, a conference or a company holiday celebration? Gather in a soaring open atrium or a dramatic, glass-enclosed private room overlooking New York City and the Statue of Liberty. Liberty Science Center is just minutes from Manhattan. Its meeting spaces and theaters are fully equipped for multimedia presentations, and its staff will expertly handle every detail. Host your next unforgettable event at Liberty Science Center. Address: 222 Jersey City Blvd., Jersey City, NJ 07305 Phone: 201-253-1378 Email: specialevents@lsc.org Website: lsc.org/about-us/plan-an-event   MANHATTAN CENTER Modern and Versatile Infrastructure with World Renowned Elegance 50,000 square feet of flexible space conveniently located on 34th street between 8th and 9th avenues State-of-the-Art Technology to include audio, video, lighting, and television facilities Perfect for any event ranging from galas, receptions, and conferences to product launches, televised events, and large scale productions Mention this ad for special pricing. Address: 311 W 34th St (Between 8th and 9th Aves), New York, NY 10001 Neighborhood: Midtown Phone: 646-293-1077 Contact: Jessica Rothstein Berman, vice president of sales Email: jrb@mc34.com Website: mc34.com   MANHATTAN MANOR Situated in the heart of bustling midtown, the Manhattan Manor holds one of Times Square’s best kept secrets. An independent, dedicated special events space for 20 years with one of the newest, most modern, divine spaces in New York. 7,000 square feet of luxurious space with gorgeous French doors, skylights, exposed brick, chandeliers, and spectacular views from Central Park to Times Square. Manhattan Club is located on the second floor of Manhattan Manor with beautiful wooden paneling, custom lights, a classic oak bar, views along seventh avenue, silk curtains, and two built-in screens and projectors. It offers the perfect balance of elegance and practicality. Skylight Room is the newest member of Manhattan Manor having been completed in 2019. Complete with skylights on three sides, 7 original chandeliers, a fireplace, mahogany floors, French Doors overlooking 52nd street and Seventh Avenue and views of the Ball Drop, it offers an original space that can be completely adapted to your unique event. Combined with the professional in-house Catering staff and exquisite cuisine, this is most certainly a place to discover and experience. Venue Capacity: Manhattan Club– 250 Seated, 200 with Dance Floor Skylight Room – 260 Seated, 210 with Dance Floor Address: 201 West 52nd Street. Between Broadway and 7th Avenues Neighborhood: Times Square/Midtown Phone: 212-489-9595 Contact: Amanda Pilar Smith Email: amanda@manhattan manor.com Website: manhattanmanor.com THE ALTMAN BUILDING The Altman Building is proud to celebrate over 22 years as a premier New York City landmark and historic event venue. Established in 1896 as the carriage house for the B. Altman department store, The Altman Building is now a versatile, private event space, boasting 14,000 square feet over two floors. And its venue entrance is ground level and virtually column-free, providing unparalleled flexibility in event production—from large conferences and summits, to intimate social events and weddings. Offering a capacity of 400 to 750 guests, the unique Chelsea venue also strives to implement its motto daily: “Our Venue, Your Vision.” Address: 135 W. 18th St., New York, NY 10011 Phone: 212-741-3400 Email: sales@altmanbldg.com Website: altmanbldg.com THE GLASSHOUSE Opened in summer 2020, The Glasshouse offers guests breathtaking views, cutting-edge technology and impeccable service. Its 75,000-square-foot space holds up to 1,850 guests and features waterfront-facing outdoor terraces, sweeping 360-degree views of Manhattan, pre-function spaces, VIP lounges and a state-of-the-art production infrastructure. In addition, its penthouse space has been designed as a canvas without bounds, as it provides guests the flexibility to host an array of large and small corporate, social and nonprofit events. Featuring a built-in production infrastructure—AV, lighting, rigging, broadcast ready conduit, ultra-high bandwidth Internet and power distribution—The Glasshouse also has soundproof partitions that enable multiple room configurations for various event sizes. Address: 660 12th Ave., Floor 6, New York, NY 10019 Phone: 212-242-7800 Email: info@theglasshouses.com Website: theglasshouses.com/the-glasshouse   TUDOR CITY STEAKHOUSE Space and privacy are prized, key components for a private party, yet they’re also rare commodities in New York City. Luckily, Tudor City Steakhouse offers the best of both worlds, allowing you to host your events in the heart of Manhattan—with various private dining options that will comfortably accommodate your party. Tudor City Steakhouse has the space, along with the taste, to exceed your events’ needs. We’re looking forward to making your party the most memorable and enjoyable experience possible! Venue Capacity: Indoor seated capacity: 150; standing: 250; outdoor patio area: seated and standing 40; roadway area: seated: 60, standing 75 Address: 45 Tudor City Place, New York, NY 10017 Phone: 212-682-4000 Contact: Aida Lekic Email: events@tudorcitsteakhouse.com Website: tudorcitysteakhouse.com 3D Virtual Tour and Aerial Video | Tudor City Steakhouse | Steakhouse in Midtown East, New York UPSTAIRS AT THE KIMBERLY HOTEL As The Kimberly Hotel’s highly regarded rooftop lounge, Upstairs at The Kimberly is a 3,000-square-foot space that boasts 360-degree views, retractable glass ceilings and walls, and ambient heated floors. Additionally, it has a main room that promises to be as elegant and inviting in the winter months as it is sunny and sophisticated during the summer season. Upstairs offers customizable menus, creative cocktails, indoor and outdoor space, and the perfect ambiance, ensuring it is a great location for any event. An evening “Upstairs” will be an experience like no other, as the lounge is focused on providing guests a refined service in a relaxed, luxurious setting. And it also offers a one-of-a-kind rooftop experience, leading to their desires to come back again and again. Address: 145 E. 50th St., New York, NY 10022 Phone: 212-702-1685 Contact: Jordana Maurer, director of sales and events Email: jmaurer@kimberlyhotel.com Website: upstairsnyc.com WAVE HILL A year-round destination with stunning views of the Hudson River and Palisades, Wave Hill is an extraordinary venue located just 30 minutes north of Manhattan. Due to the serene beauty of its celebrated gardens, along with its modern amenities, Wave Hill is an ideal location for your conference, corporate retreat or full-garden rental. Furthermore, Wave Hill House—its historic Hudson River mansion—fully engages your attendees’ senses by “bringing the outside in.” The mansion can accommodate 10 to 200 guests and is ADA-accessible; pricing includes flexible conference furniture, a wireless sound system, basic AV and high-speed Wi-Fi for your attendees. Additionally, multiple spaces (with varying capacities) are available at one of New York City’s most serene, beautiful locations. Enhance your retreat experience with an after-hours cocktail hour or dinner. Address: 675 W. 252nd St., Bronx, NY 10471 Phone: 718-549-3200 x 209 Contact: Carolyn Liv, director of corporate partnerships and conferences Email: carolynl@wavehill.org Website: wavehill.org YANKEE STADIUM Yankee Stadium is a cultural icon whose legacy is as rich as its character, and whose history is as striking as its façade. A year-round venue, this storied stadium has more than 60,000 square feet of event space for both publicly ticketed and private events. In addition, it offers you a part in its future, as it’s available to host corporate and social gatherings—from upscale parties to intimate get-togethers. Share in the tradition of Yankees greatness by hosting a legendary event, amid a backdrop in which legends are made. Address: E. 161st St., Bronx, NY 10451 Phone: 646-977-8400 Email: events@yankees.com Website: yankees.com/events.....»»

Tucker Carlson's journey from prep school provocateur to Fox News flamethrower, according to his friends and former classmates. Tucker Carlson during a CNN National Town Meeting on coverage of the White House sex scandal, on January 28, 1998.Richard Ellis/Getty Images Tucker Carlson is remembered as a provocateur and gleeful contrarian by those who knew him in his early days. His bohemian artist mother abandoned her young family and cut Tucker and his brother out of her will. At a Rhode Island prep school and at Trinity College, classmates remember him as a skilled debater who could both amuse and infuriate his audiences. On Oct. 29, 1984, New York police killed an elderly Black woman named Eleanor Bumpurs in her own home. Bumpers, who lived in a public housing complex in the Bronx, had fallen four months behind on her rent. When officials from the city housing authority tried to evict her, she refused, and they called the police. Five officers responded by storming into her apartment. Bumpurs, who had a history of mental illness, grabbed a butcher knife as two officers pushed her against a wall with their plastic shields and a metal pole. A third officer fired two shots from his 12-gauge shotgun, striking Bumpurs in her hand and chest.Eleanor Bumpurs' death dominated the city's news for two months and led the NYPD to revise its guidelines for responding to emotionally disturbed individuals.At St. George's prep school, some 175 miles away in Rhode Island, the incident deeply haunted Richard Wayner. He was one of the school's few Black students and had grown up in a residential tower not far from where Bumpurs had lived. He earned straight As and was so admired that in 1984 his peers elected him senior prefect, the prep equivalent of student body president, making him the first Black class leader in the school's 125-year history. Harvard soon beckoned.Wayner was frustrated with how the St. George's community seemed to ignore the conversations about racial justice that were happening outside the cloistered confines of Aquidneck Island. It bothered Wayne that almost no one at St. George's seemed to know anything about Bumpurs' killing. "You had your crew, you put your head down, and you tried to get through three or four years of prep school with your psyche intact," Wayner said of those days.As senior prefect, one of the duties was to deliver an address each week at the mandatory Sunday chapel service. One Sunday, perched from the chapel podium, Wayner described the shooting as a sea of white faces stared back at him. He concluded with the words: "Does anyone think that woman deserved to die?"Near the front of the chapel, a single hand went up for a few brief seconds. It was Tucker Carlson.Eleanor Bumpurs was shot and killed by the New York Police Department on October 29, 1984APThen a sophomore, Tucker had a reputation as a gleeful contrarian – an indefatigable debater and verbal jouster who, according to some, could also be a bit of a jerk. "Tucker was just sort of fearless," said Ian Toll, a St. George's alumnus who would go on to be a military historian. "Whether it was a legitimate shooting may have been a point of debate but the fact was that Tucker was an underclassmen and the culture was to defer to the seniors." Wayner himself never saw Tucker's hand go up, and the two kept in touch over the years. (Note on style: Tucker Carlson and the members of his family are referred to here by their first names to avoid confusion.)  Four decades later, glimmers of that prep school provocateur appear on Tucker's Prime Time show on Fox, which garners an average of between 3 to 4 million viewers a night. His furrowed visage and spoiling-for-a-fight demeanor are all too familiar to those who have known him for decades. In the words of Roger Stone, a Republican political operative, frequent guest, and longtime friend of Tucker's: "Tucker Carlson is the single most influential conservative journalist in America… It is his courage and his willingness to talk about issues that no one else is willing to cover that has led to this development."Tucker's name has even been floated as a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2024. "I mean, I guess if, like, I was the last person on earth, I could do it. But, I mean, it seems pretty unlikely that I would be that guy." he said on the "Ruthless" podcast in June, dismissing this possibility.Tucker's four decades in Washington, and his transition from conservative magazine writer to right-wing television pundit, have been well documented. But less well known are his early years and how they shaped him: his bohemian artist mother, who abandoned her young family and cut Tucker and his brother out of her will; the Rhode Island prep school where he met his future spouse; and his formation into a contrarian debater who could both amuse and infuriate his audience with his attention-getting tactics.Tucker declined to participate in an interview with Insider, saying in a statement. "Your level of interest in the boring details of my life is creepy as hell, and also pathetic," he wrote. "You owe it to yourself and the country to do something useful with your talents. Please reassess."California roots Tucker Carlson's West Coast roots burrow as deep as a giant redwood. He was born in San Francisco in May 1969 as the excesses of the Sixties peaked and the conservative backlash to the counterculture and the Civil Rights movement started to take shape. Tucker's mother, Lisa McNear Lombardi, born in San Francisco in 1945, came from one of the state's storied frontier families. Lisa's mother, Mary Nickel James, was a cattle baron heiress. Her great-great-grandfather had owned 3 million acres of ranchland, making him among the largest landowners west of the Mississippi. Her father Oliver Lombardi was an insurance broker and descendant of Italian-speaking Swiss immigrants. Lisa enrolled at UC Berkeley, where she majored in architecture. She met Richard Carlson, a San Francisco TV journalist from a considerably less prosperous background, while still in college. Lisa and Richard eloped in Reno, Nevada in 1967. The couple didn't notify Lisa's mother, who was traveling in Europe with her new husband at the time. "Family members have been unable to locate them to reveal the nuptials," a gossip item published in the San Francisco Examiner dished.Tucker arrived two years later. A second son, Buckley, was born two years after that. As Richard's career began to flourish, the family moved first to Los Angeles and then, in 1975, to La Jolla, a moneyed, beach-front enclave about 12 miles north of San Diego. When Lisa and Richard divorced a year later, in 1976, Richard got full custody of their sons, then 6 and 4. According to three of Tucker's childhood classmates, Lisa disappeared from her sons' lives. They don't recall Tucker talking about her, or seeing her at school events. Marc Sterne, Tucker's boarding school roommate who went on to be executive producer of the Tony Kornheiser Show, says the two didn't talk much about Tucker's relationship with his mother and he got the impression that Tucker and Richard were exceptionally close. When Sterne's own parents split up that year, he said Tucker was supportive and understanding. Lisa spent the next two decades as an artist – moving first to Los Angeles, where she befriended the painter David Hockney, and later split her time between France and South Carolina with her husband, British painter Michael Vaughan. In 1979, Richard Carlson married Patricia Swanson, heiress to the Swanson frozen foods empire that perfected the frozen Salisbury steak for hassle-free dinners. She soon legally adopted Tucker and Buckley.  When Lisa died in 2011, her estate was initially divided equally between Tucker, his brother Buckley, and Vaughan. But in 2013, Vaughan's daughter from another marriage found a one-page handwritten document in Lisa's art studio in France that left her assets to her surviving husband with an addendum that stated, "I leave my sons Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson and Buckley Swanson Peck Carlson one dollar each." A protracted battle over Lombardi's estate involving Vaughan and the Carlson brothers wound up in probate court. The Carlsons asserted the will was forged but a forensic witness determined that Lisa had written the note. The case eventually went to the California Appellate Court, which allowed the Carlson brothers to keep their shares in 2019."Lisa was basically sort of a hippie and a free spirit," said one attorney who  represented the Vaughan family and recalled having conversations about the case. "She was very liberal and she did not agree with Tucker's politics. But she stuck the will in the book, everyone forgot about it, and then she passed away."In a 2017 interview with The New Yorker, Tucker described the dissolution of his family as a "totally bizarre situation — which I never talk about, because it was actually not really part of my life at all." Several pieces of art produced by Tucker's mother, Lisa Lombardi, and her then-partner Mo Mcdermott in the home of a California collector.Ted Soqui for InsiderLisa When Lisa left her husband and two young sons, she was escaping suburban family life in favor of the more bohemian existence as an artist. One of Tucker and Buckley's former teachers said their mother's absence "left some sour grapes." "I felt they sided with the father," Rusty Rushton, a former St. George's English teacher said. After the divorce, Lisa returned to Los Angeles and tried to break into the city's thriving contemporary art scene. She befriended Mo McDermott, an LA-based British sculptor, model, and longtime assistant to David Hockney, one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. A few years before he met Lisa, the scene was captured in Jack Hazan's 1974 groundbreaking documentary "A Bigger Splash," which followed Hockney and his coterie of gay male friends idly lounging around the pool in his Hollywood Hills home."When love goes wrong, there's more than two people who suffer," said McDermott, playing a slightly exaggerated version of himself, in a voiceover in the documentary.Lisa and McDermott became a couple and Lisa won admission into Hockney's entourage. Hockney lived a far more reclusive lifestyle than his pop art compatriot Andy Warhol but some four dozen or so artists, photographers, and writers regularly passed through his properties."She was more like a hippie, arty kind of person. I couldn't ever imagine her being a mother," said Joan Quinn, the then-West Coast editor of Andy Warhol's Interview Magazine, who knew Lisa during those years and still owns several of her works. "She was very nervous all the time… She was ill-content."The pair were often seen at Hockney's Hollywood Hills home and at Friday night gallery openings on La Cienega Boulevard. They collaborated on playful, large-scale wood sculptures of animals, vegetables, and trees. A handful of their pieces could be seen around Hockney's hillside ranch."Hockney had me over to meet them. He wanted a gallery to handle their work," said Molly Barnes, who owns a gallery in West Hollywood and gave the pair shows in 1983 and 1984. "They were brilliant and David loved Mo. He thought they were the best artists around.""She was quiet and intellectual and somewhat withdrawn," Barnes said. "She had come from a lot of money and that reflected on her personality. She wasn't a snob in any way but she had the manners of a private school girl and someone who was fighting the establishment."A sculpture by Tucker's mother, Lisa Lombardi, and her then-partner Mo Mcdermott in the home of a California collector.Ted Soqui for InsiderNone of them recall Lisa discussing her two sons. McDermott died in 1988. After his death, Hockney discovered that McDermott had been stealing drawings from him and selling them. Hockney said the betrayal helped bring on a heart attack. "I believe I had a broken heart," Hockney told The Guardian in 1995. (Hockney did not answer multiple inquiries about Lisa or McDermott.)In 1987, Lisa met Vaughan, one of Hockney's peers in the British art scene known as the "Bradford Mafia." They married in February 1989 and for years afterward they lived in homes in the Pyrenees of southwest France and South Carolina's Sea Islands.Lisa continued to make art, primarily oversized, wooden sculptures of everyday household items like peeled lemons and dice, but she exhibited her work infrequently. She died of cancer in 2011, at which point Carlson was a decade into his media career and a regular contributor on Fox News. Richard In contrast to Lisa's privileged upbringing, Richard's childhood was full of loss. Richard's mother was a 15-year-old high school girl who had starved herself during her pregnancy, and he was born with a condition called rickets. Six weeks later, his mother left him at an orphanage in Boston called The Home for Little Wanderers. Richard's father, who was 18, tried to convince her to kidnap the infant and marry him, but she refused. He shot and killed himself two blocks from her home.A Massachusetts couple fostered Richard for two years until he was adopted by a wool broker and his wife, which he described in a 2009 reflection for the Washington Post. His adoptive parents died when he was still a teenager and Richard was sent to the Naval Academy Preparatory School. He later enlisted in the Marines and enrolled in an ROTC program at the University of Mississippi to pay for college.In 1962, Richard developed an itch for journalism while working as a cop in Ocean City, Maryland at the age of 21, and the future NBC political correspondent Catherine Mackin, helped him get a copy boy job at the Los Angeles Times. Richard moved to San Francisco three years later and his career blossomed. He started producing television news features with his friend, Lance Brisson, the son of actress Rosalind Russell. They filmed migrant farm workers in the Imperial Valley living in cardboard abodes in 110 degree weather, traipsed the Sierra Nevada mountains to visit a hermit, and covered the Zodiac Killer and Bay Area riots (during one demonstration in 1966, they sent television feeds from their car where they trapped for four hours  and a crowd roughed up Brisson, which required four stitches under his left eye). Another time, they rented a helicopter in search of a Soviet trawler but they had to jump into the Pacific Ocean when the chopper ran low on fuel near the shore and crashed.In 1969, Richard and Brisson co-wrote an article for Look Magazine that claimed San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto had mafia ties. Alioto sued the magazine's owner for libel and won a $350,000 judgment when a judge determined the article's allegations were made with "actual malice" and "reckless disregard for whether they were true or not." (Richard was not a defendant in the case and has stood by his story. Brisson declined an interview.)Richard moved back to Los Angeles to join KABC's investigative team two years later. One series of stories that delved into a three-wheeled sports car called the Dale and the fraudulent marketing practices of its founder, Geraldine Elizabeth Carmichael, won a Peabody award in 1975. The series also outed Carmichael as a transgender woman. (Richard's role in Carmichael's downfall was explored in the HBO documentary "The Lady and the Dale.") Soon after arriving as an anchor for KFMB-TV, San Diego's CBS affiliate, Richard ran a story revealing that tennis pro Renee Richards, who had just won a tournament at the La Jolla Tennis Club, was a transgender woman."I said, 'You can't do this. I am a private person,'" Richards, who years later would advise Caitlyn Jenner about her transition, urged the television journalist to drop his story, according to a 2015 interview. "His reply? 'Dr. Richards, you were a private person until you won that tournament yesterday.'" By the time he left the anchor chair in 1977 to take a public relations job with San Diego Savings and Loan, Richard had soured on journalism. "I have seen a lot of arrogance and hypocrisy in the press and I don't like it," he told San Diego Magazine in 1977. "Television news is insipid, sophomoric, and superficial… There are so many things I think are important and interesting but the media can be counted on to do handstands on that kind of scandal and sexual sensation."Years later, Richard said that he never tried to encourage his eldest son in politics or journalism, but that Tucker had a clear interest in both from an early age. "I never thought he was going to be a reporter or a writer. I never encouraged him to do that," Richard told CSPAN of his eldest son in 2006. "I actually attempted not to encourage him politically, either. I decided those are the things that should be left up to them."A LaJolla, California post card.Found Image Holdings/Corbis via Getty ImagesA La Jolla childhoodAfter the divorce, Richard and his boys stayed in La Jolla in a house overlooking the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club. Friends of Tucker's would later say that the trauma of their mother's absence brought the three of them closer together.  "They both really admired their dad. He was a great source of wisdom. He's one of the great raconteurs you'll ever meet. They loved that glow that came from him," said Sterne, Tucker's boarding school roommate. "They both looked up to him, it was clear from my eyes."In an essay included in his book "The Long Slide: Thirty Years in American Journalism," Tucker described Richard as a kind parent who imbued family outings with a deeper message.One of Tucker's earliest memories, he writes, was from just after the divorce, when Tucker was seven and Buckley was five: the brothers gripping the edge of a luggage rack on the roof of his family's 1976 Ford Country Squire station wagon, while their father gunned the engine down a dirt road."I've sometimes wondered what car surfing was meant to teach us," Tucker wrote. "Was he trying to instill in us a proper sense of fatalism, the acknowledgement that there is only so much in life you can control? Or was it a lesson about the importance of risk?... Unless you're willing to ride the roof of a speeding station wagon, in other words, you're probably not going to leave your mark on the world."More often, the boys were left unsupervised and found their own trouble. Tucker once took a supermarket shopping cart and raced it down a hill in front of their house with Buckley in its basket. The cart tipped over, leaving Buckley with a bloody nose. He also recalled building makeshift hand grenades with hydrochloric acid and aluminum foil – using a recipe from their father's copy of "The Anarchist Cookbook"  and tossing them onto a nearby golf course."No one I know had a father like mine," Tucker wrote. "My father was funnier and more outrageous, more creative  and less willing to conform, than anyone I knew or have known since. My brother and I had the best time growing up."Richard sent Tucker to La Jolla Country Day, an upscale, largely white private school with a reputation as one of the best in Southern California, for elementary and middle school. In his book, "Ship of Fools: How a Selfish Ruling Class Is Bringing America to the Brink of Revolution," Tucker described his first grade teacher Marianna Raymond as "a living parody of earth-mother liberalism" who "wore long Indian-print skirts," and sobbed at her desk over the world's unfairness. "As a conservative, I had contempt for the whiny mawkishness of liberals. Stop blubbering and teach us to read. That was my position," he wrote. "Mrs. Raymond never did teach us; my father had to hire a tutor to get me through phonics.""I beg to differ," Raymond countered in an interview, saying that she was also Tucker's tutor during the summer after first grade and was even hired again. "I'm a great teacher. I'm sure he liked me." For her part, she remembered Tucker as a fair-haired tot who was "very sweet" and "very polite." (When The Washington Post reached out her her, she said Carlson's characterization had been "shocking.")  Friends from La Jolla remember that Tucker loved swimming the mile-and-a-half distance between La Jolla Shores Park and La Jolla Cove, jumping off cliffs that jut out into the Pacific Ocean, riffing on the drums, and playing Atari and BB gun games at the mall with his friends. "He was a happy kid. We were young, so we used to go to the beach. We did normal kid stuff," said Richard Borkum, a friend who is now a San Diego-based attorney. When they weren't at the beach or the mall, Borkum and another friend, Javier Susteata, would hang out at the Carlson home listening to The Who, AC/DC, and other classic rock bands. Borkum said the adults at the Carlson household largely left them alone. "I'm Jewish and Javier was Mexican and I'm not sure they were too happy we were going to their house," Borkum said.Another friend, Warren Barrett, remembers jamming with Tucker and going snow camping at Big Bear and snorkeling off Catalina Island with him in middle school."Tucker and I literally ate lunch together every day for two years," Barrett said. "He was completely the opposite of now. He was a cool southern California surfer kid. He was the nicest guy, played drums, and had a bunch of friends. And then something must have happened in his life that turned him into this evil diabolical shithead he is today."LaJolla is a upscale beach community outside of San Diego. Carlson and his family moved their in 1975.Slim Aarons/Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesSan Diego's next mayorRichard, meanwhile, was exploring a second career in public service. By 1980, he had risen to vice president of a bank headed by Gordon Luce, a California Republican power broker and former Reagan cabinet official. The following year, Richard's public profile got a boost when he tangled with another veteran television journalist, CBS's Mike Wallace. The 60 Minutes star had interviewed Richard for a story about low-income Californians who faced foreclosures from the bank after borrowing money to buy air conditioners without realizing they put their homes up for collateral. Richard had his own film crew tape the interview, and caught Wallace saying that people who had been defrauded were "probably too busy eating their watermelon and tacos." The remark made national headlines and Wallace was forced to apologize.Pete Wilson, the U.S. Senator and former San Diego mayor, encouraged Richard to run for office. In 1984, Richard entered the race to challenge San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock's re-election. "He was a very well-regarded guy," Hedgecock told Insider. "He had an almost Walter Cronkite-like appearance, but because he was in local news he was all about not offending anybody. He didn't have particularly strong views. He was nice looking, articulate, and made good appearances, but what he had to say was not particularly memorable other than he wanted me out of office."Sometimes Tucker tagged along for campaign events. "He would always show up in a sport coat, slacks and a bowtie and I thought that's really nice clothing for someone who is a kid," Hedgecock remembers. He was a very polite young man who didn't say much."Five days before voters went to the polls, Hedgecock went on trial for 15 counts of conspiracy and perjury, an issue that Richard highlighted in his television campaign ads. Richard still lost to Hedgecock 58 to 42 percent despite pouring nearly $800,000 into the race and outspending Hedgecock two to one. (Hedgecock was found guilty of violating campaign finance laws and resigned from office in 1985 but his convictions were overturned on appeal five years later.)People are seen near a beach in La Jolla, California, on April 15, 2020.Gregory Bull/AP PhotoPrep school In the fall of 1983, a teenaged Tucker traded one idyllic beachfront community for another.At 14, Tucker moved across the country to Middletown, Rhode Island, to attend St. George's School. (Buckley would follow him two years later.) The 125-year-old boarding school sits atop a hill overlooking the majestic Atlantic Ocean, and is on the other side of Aquidneck Island where Richard Carlson went to naval school. The private school was known as a repository for children of wealthy East Coast families who were not as academically inclined as those who attended Exeter or Andover. Its campus had dorms named after titans of industry, verdant athletic fields, and a white-sand beach.Senators Claiborne Pell and Prescott Bush graduated, as did Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, and poet Ogden Nash. Tucker's class included "Modern Family" actor Julie Bowen; Dede Gardner, the two-time Oscar-winning producer of "12 Years a Slave" and "Moonlight"; and former DC Entertainment president Diane Nelson. Billy Bush – "Extra" host, and cousin to George W. Bush – was three years behind him.Tuition at St. George's cost $13,000 per year in the 1980s (it's now up to $67,000 for boarding school students) and student schedules were tightly regimented with breakfast, classes, athletics, dinner, and study hall encompassing each day. Students were required to take religion classes, and attend chapel twice a week. Faculty and staff would canvass the dorms on Thursdays and Sundays to ensure no one skipped the Episcopal service. Tucker impressed his new chums as an hyper-articulate merrymaker who frequently challenged upperclassmen who enforced dorm rules and the school's liberal faculty members."He was kind of a California surfer kid. He was funny, very intelligent, and genuinely well-liked," said Bryce Traister, who was one year ahead of Tucker and is now a professor at the University of British Columbia. "There were people who didn't like Tucker because they thought he was a bullshitter but he was very charming. He was a rascal and a fast-talker, as full of shit as he is today."Back then Tucker was an iconoclast more in the mold of Ferris Bueller than preppy neocon Alex P. Keaton, even if his wardrobe resembled the "Family Ties" star. Students were required to wear jackets, ties, and khakis, although most came to class disheveled. Tucker wore well-tailored coats and chinos, pairing his outfit with a ribbon-banded watch and colorful bowtie which would later become his signature. "He was always a very sharp dresser. He had a great rack of ties. He always knew how to tie a bowtie but he didn't exclusively wear a bowtie," said Sterne, Tucker's freshman year roommate. "He always had great clothes. It was a lot of Brooks Brothers." Their crew crew held court in each others' dorm rooms at Auchincloss, the freshman hall, kicking around a Hacky Sack and playing soccer, talking about Adolph Huxley, George Orwell, and Hemingway, and dancing to Tom Petty, the Grateful Dead, and U2 on the campus lawn. Televisions weren't allowed so students listened to their Sony Walkman swapping cassette recordings of live concerts. Tucker introduced several bands to his friends."He loved classic rock and he was and still is a big fan of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead," said Sterne, who saw a Dead show with Tucker at RFK Stadium in 1986.Sometimes the clique got slices at Aquidneck Pizza and played arcade games in town, hung out in history instructor William Schenck's office, and smoked pot and Marlborough Red cigarettes on a porch in the main building's common room that faced the ocean, according to multiple sources. When the school administrators banned smoking indoors the following year so they congregated behind the dumpster behind the dining hall. Vodka (often the brand Popov) mixed with Kool-Aid was the drink of choice and students stockpiled bottles under their beds.Tucker was an enthusiastic drinker, half a dozen classmates recall. In his book, "The Long Slide," Tucker credits Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" for enticing him to try drugs in 10th grade, The experience gave him "double vision and a headache." By the time he got to college, Tucker writes, "I switched to beer."By the late 1990s Tucker stopped smoking. He eventually cut alcohol too in 2002 after drinking so much while covering George W. Bush in New Hampshire during the 2000 primary that he accidentally got on the wrong plane, according to a friend.Most of Tucker's fellow students remember him best as a skilled speaker."He was always eager to take the less palatable side of the argument and argue that side," said Mahlon Stewart, who attended prep school and college with Tucker and is now a geriatric specialist at Columbia University. "Back then it was comedic. I thought it was an act.""His confidence was just amazing. He could just put out some positions and be willing to argue anything no matter how outlandish," Keller Kimbrough, a former classmate who's now a professor at the University of Colorado. "We were talking about politics and religion one time Tucker pulled this card out of his wallet and said, 'Well actually I'm an ordained minister, I'm an authority on the subject.' This was a stunt. He could literally play the religion card." "When he got the job at Fox I just thought 'Wow that's perfect for him, that's exactly what he can do.'"Their dorm room discourses were never serious. Tucker would pick a side in a debate between whether the color red or blue were better, and the crowd would erupt whenever he made a good point, friends said.  "Even at age 15 he was verbally dexterous and a great debater," Ian Toll said. "His conservative politics was fully formed even back then. He believed in strong defense and minimal government."His teachers saw a pupil who was primed for law school."Language and speaking came naturally to him. He took pleasure in it," said Rusty Rushton, Tucker's former English teacher. Tucker's politics, though, "seemed fluid to me," Rushton said. "I don't think of him as a deeply ensconced ideologue."He ditched soccer after sophomore year to act in a school theater production of Ayn Rand's courtroom thriller "Night of January 16th" (Julie Bowen starred as the prosecuting attorney. Tucker played a juror). But Tucker found his voice in competitive debate when he eventually joined the school's debate club. The team traveled to other private school campuses to compete against schools like Andover, Exeter, and Roxbury Latin in tournaments."He won some debate and basically did a victory lap afterward and got in the face of all the faculty there," one alum from a rival school who debated against Tucker said. "After defeating the student team, he started challenging the faculty, and said, 'Do any of you want to take me on? Are any of you capable of debating me?'"SusieIn the fall of Tucker's sophomore year, a new headmaster arrived at St. George's, Rev. George Andrews II. Andrews' daughter, Susie – who Tucker would eventually marry – was in Tucker's class. According to school tradition, a rotating group of underclassmen was charged with serving their classmates dinner and, one night in late September, Tucker and Susie had the shift at the same time. "They were sitting at a table at the far end of Queen Hall just leaning in, talking to each other," Sterne recalled. "You could see the sparks flying, which was cool."Susie floated between the school's friend groups easily. When she was seen mingling with Tucker, some questioned what she saw in him."People were saying, 'Come on Susie, why are you dating Tucker?' He's such a loser slacker and she was so sweet," Traister said. The pair started dating at the age of 15 and quickly became inseparable. Tucker gained notoriety on campus for repeatedly sneaking into Susie's room on the second floor of Memorial Schoolhouse, the school's stately administrative office that housed the headmaster's quarters. He had less time for his dumpster buddies now that the couple hung out on the campus lawn, attended chapel and an interdenominational campus ministry organization called FOCUS. His senior yearbook included a photo of Tucker squinting in concern to a classmate, with the caption "What do you mean you told Susie?While Susie was universally liked within the St. George's community, her father was polarizing.Andrews led the school during a turbulent period – it was later revealed – when its choirmaster Franklin Coleman was accused of abusing or having inappropriate conduct with at least 10 male students, according to an independent investigation by the law firm Foley Hoag in 2016. (Two attorneys representing several victims said 40 alumni contacted them with credible accounts of molestation and rape accusations at the hands of St. George's employees between 1974 and 2004 after a 2015 school-issued report detailed 26 accounts of abuse in the 1970s and 1980s. (Coleman was never criminally charged and he has not responded to Insider's attempts to reach him.) Over his eight-year tenure as school music director, from 1980 to 1988, Coleman invited groups of boys to his apartment for private parties. Sometimes he shared alcohol and pot with some of them, gave them back and neck rubs, showed pornographic videos, traveled with them on choral trips and stayed in their hotel rooms, and appeared nude around some of them, the report found. Several of Tucker's classmates and former faculty said they had no reason to believe he would have been aware of the accusations. "There were rumors circulating wildly that Coleman was bad news. The idea was he would cultivate relationships with young men," Ian Toll, a St. George's alum, said. "Anyone who was there at that time would have likely been aware of those rumors."Andrews told Foley Hoag investigators he was not aware of any complaints about Coleman until May 1988 (by then, Tucker had finished his freshman year in college) when school psychiatrist Peter Kosseff wrote a report detailing a firsthand account of misconduct. But Andrews acknowledged to investigators the school could have been aware of "prior questionable conduct" before then, the report said. Andrews fired Coleman in May 1988 after the school confronted Coleman with allegations of misconduct and he did not deny them. According to the investigation, Andrews told students Coleman resigned due to "emotional stress" and that he had the "highest regard and respect for him." On the advice of a school attorney, Andrews did not report the music teacher to child protective services. He also knew that his faculty dean wrote Coleman a letter of recommendation for a job at another school, according to investigators. Andrews left the school a few weeks after Coleman departed. By September 1989, he was named headmaster at St. Andrew's School in Boca Raton, Florida which he led for 18 years. (Andrews declined to speak about Tucker or his tenure at either school.) St. George's, meanwhile, reached an undisclosed settlement with up to 30 abuse survivors in 2016. Coleman found work as a choir director at Tampa Preparatory School in Tampa Bay, Florida before he retired in 2008. Tucker Carlson attended St. George’s School, a boarding school starting at age 14.Dina Rudick/The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesTrinity In the fall of 1987, Tucker enrolled at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, where Rev. Andrews had also attended.Nearly two-thirds of Trinity's student body back then originated from private schools and many came from wealthy backgrounds. Tuition in 1987 cost $11,700 plus an additional $3,720 for room and board—around $27,839 in today's dollars."When the Gulf War broke out" in 1990, one Trinity alum who knew Tucker recalled, "there was a big plywood sign in front of the student center that read, 'Blood for Oil,' and someone else threw a bucket of paint on it."The posh campus was situated in the middle of Hartford, Connecticut, the state's capital and one of its poorest cities. Discussions about race and inequality were sometimes at the forefront of campus politics, but many students avoided engaging in them entirely."There were issues about whether black students should only date other black students, that kind of thing," said Kathleen Werthman, a classmate of Tucker's who now works at a Florida nonprofit for people with disabilities. "My sophomore year, for new students, they had a speaker talking about racism, and one of the students said, 'I never met a black student, how are you supposed to talk to them?' And the idea that only white people can be racist was challenged too."Susie was at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee. His brother remained in Rhode Island and other prep school friends had fanned out across the East Coast. Tucker moved into a four-bedroom dormitory overlooking the main quad. One suitemate, Neil Patel, was an economics major from Massachusetts who played intramural softball. (They would co-found the Daily Caller together two decades years later.) Other roommates played on the varsity soccer team and they formed a tight-knit group."I remember being struck by him. He was the same way he is now," said Rev. Billy Cerveny, a college friend of Tucker's who's now a pastor at Redbird Nashville. "He was a force of nature. He had a sense of presence and gravitas. You might get into an argument with him, but you end up loving the guy."Tucker often went out of his way to amuse his friends. Once during the spring semester, several activists set up a podium and microphone beneath his dorm window to protest the CIA's on-campus recruitment visits. The demonstration was open-mic so Tucker went up to the stage and told the crowd of about 15 people, "I think you're all a bunch of greasy chicken fuckers.""I think people laughed. He did," Cerveny said. "There was always a small collection of people any time there was an issue who tried to stir the pot in that way. Some people were dismissive and other people loved it, thinking 'Oh we're getting a fight here.'"As a sophomore, Tucker and his friends moved into a dingy three-story house on Crescent Street on the edge of the campus. He ditched his tailored jackets, khakis, and bowties for oversized Levi jeans, t-shirts, and untucked oxford shirts. Tucker commandeered a low-ceilinged room above the front porch with so many windows he had to hang up tapestries to keep out the sun. The tiny alcove had barely enough space for an eight-foot futon and several bookshelves Tucker built himself stacked with books he collected. Friends remember Tucker receiving an 8-by-10 manilla envelope that his father sent through the mail once or twice a month containing dozens of articles from newspapers and magazines.One of Tucker's friends, Cerveny, remembered stopping by Richard's home in Washington, D.C. and finding evidence of his hobbies, including the world's second largest collection of walking sticks."His house was filled with rare canes he collected from all over the world," Cerveny said. "The hallways had really amazing rows of canes hung on hooks that were specially made to mount these things on the house. One used to be a functional shotgun, another one was made out of a giraffe. His dad would pull out newspaper clippings of WWII Navy aircraft carriers. It changed the way I thought about a lot of things. I had never seen anything like that. Who collects canes?"During sophomore year, Tucker's friends decided to rush Delta Phi, a well-to-do fraternity also known as St. Elmo's. The Greek scene had a large presence on campus — about 20 percent of men joined them even though Trinity was a liberal arts school — and St. Elmo's had a reputation as freewheeling scamps. Once a year, a St. Elmo's brother would ride his motorcycle naked through the campus cafeteria. (Faculty voted in 1992 to abolish Greek life saying they were sexist and racist, and school administrators instead forced fraternities to become co-ed.)But Tucker refused to come aboard. Some classmates thought it was because he didn't want to be hazed."Tucker was not a joiner like that," Mahlon Stewart said. "He wouldn't have set himself up for whatever humiliation would have been involved. He would not have put up with that." But Cerveny, who pledged the fraternity, said it was a matter of faith."I remember explicitly him saying 'Look, I want to focus on what my faith is about and I thought this would be a big distraction,'" Cerveny said. "But he was very much in the mix with us. When we moved to a fraternity house [on Broad Street], we asked him to live with us."Tucker occasionally dropped in on his friends' fraternity events and occasionally brought Susie when she visited or Buckley when he drifted into town. Other times they hung out at Baker's Cafe on New Britain Avenue. Mostly Tucker stayed in his room."He was basically a hermit. It wasn't like he was going to a ton of parties" one Trinity St. Elmo's brother said. "He was not a part of the organizational effort of throwing big parties, or encouraging me to join the fraternity." Susie, who didn't drink or smoke, was a moderating influence. "Tucker and Susie had their moral compass pointing north even back then," Sterne said. "Tucker's faith was not something he was focused on in his early years but when he met Susie and he became close to her family, that started to blossom and grow in him. Now it's a huge part of his life."By the time his crew moved to another house on Broad Street, they each acquired vintage motorcycles and tinkered with them in their garage. Tucker owned a 1968 flathead Harley Davidson that barely ran and relied on a red Jeep 4X4 to transport friends around town (the Volkswagen van he had freshman year blew up). He smoked Camel unfiltered cigarettes, sipped bourbon, and occasionally brewed beer in the basement, including a batch he named "Coal Porter," according to GQ.When he wasn't reading outside of his courses or tinkering with his carburetor, Tucker took classes in the humanities and ultimately majored in history. Tucker dabbled in other fields including Russian history, Jewish history, Women's Studies, and Religious Studies, sitting in the back of lecture halls with his friends. Ron Kiener, who taught an introductory level course in Judaism, recalled Tucker performing "poorly" but earning a credit. "He did not get a stellar grade from me," Kiener said. "Based on what he says now he surely didn't get very much out of my courses."But Leslie Desmangles, who led courses in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Myth, Rite, and Sacrament, said Tucker was engaged and likely did just enough to pass his courses even if he wasn't very studious or vocal in class discussions."He was interested in understanding the nature of religious belief and studying different cultures and religions but I'm not sure if he had an interest in diversity," Desmangles said. "He was genuinely interested in ritual since a lot of the Episcopal church is highly ritualistic."Tucker's fascination with religion extended to his extracurricular activities too. He and several friends joined Christian Fellowship, a Bible study group that met weekly and helped the school chaplain lead Sunday services. Some members even volunteered with ConnPIRG, a student advocacy group on hunger and environmental issues, and traveled to Washington D.C. to protest the Gulf War. But Tucker steered clear of campus activism. He spent his free time reading and seeing Blues Traveler, Widespread Panic, and Sting perform when they came through Connecticut. Sometimes he skipped school to follow his favorite band, the Grateful Dead, on tour.He took an interest in Central American politics too. At the end of freshman year, Tucker and Patel traveled to Nicaragua. "We did not have a place to stay or any set plans," Tucker told the Trinity Tripod, his college paper, in March 1990. "It was very spontaneous. We are both extremely political and we felt that getting to know the country and some of its citizens would give us a better perspective on the situation." In February 1990, Tucker returned with three friends to Managua for 10 days to observe Nicaragua's elections. The National Opposition Union's Violetta Chamoro, which was backed by the U.S. government, defeated the leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front Daniel Ortega who had been in power since 1979. A month later Tucker and his classmate Jennifer Barr, who was separately in Nicaragua to observe elections and distribute medical supplies to the Sandinistas, shared their perspectives about their visits to a small crowd at the Faculty Club for the school's Latin America Week. Tucker thought press coverage of the election was too left-leaning and criticized the media for skewing a conservative victory, according to Barr."I don't think it was necessarily true," Barr said. "He was dismissive [about my views]. I did get a sense that he believed in what he was saying, and it was very different from my experience and my understanding of the race."Tucker's stance on U.S. politics at the time was less didactic. As the 1992 presidential election loomed his senior year, Tucker touted the independent candidacy of Ross Perot, a Texas business magnate, to his friends although it did not appear that Tucker was an ardent supporter."Tucker would go on and on about how Ross Perot was the answer to this or that, as a joke, and every one would participate" one St. Elmo's brother said. "He liked the way Ross Perot was basically throwing a wrench into the system. He wasn't a serious Ross Perot proponent. He was cheering on somebody who was screwing up the system."In Tucker's college yearbook, below his tousle-haired, bowtie wearing thumbnail photo, was a list of his extra-curricular activities: "History; Christian Fellowship 1 2 3 4, Jesse Helms Foundation, Dan White Society." Neither of the latter two – named, respectively, after the ultra-conservative North Carolina Senator, and a San Francisco supervisor who assassinated Harvey Milk in 1978 – ever existed. Tucker admired Helms for being a "bull in the china shop" of Congress, one classmate said. Some friends believed Tucker slipped in the off-color references as a lark."It's like a joke you and a friend would put in a series of anagrams that only you and two friends would remember and no one else would," the St. Elmo's friend said. "It's so niche that only someone like Tucker is thinking things like that or would even know the name of the person who killed Harvey Milk. He paid attention to things like that."Others claimed Tucker was the victim of a prank."It would not at all surprise me if one of the other guys in the [fraternity] house filled it in for him, and not just an inside joke, but pegging him with something that he got grief for," another close friend said. Protesters rally against Fox News outside the Fox News headquarters at the News Corporation building, March 13, 2019 in New York City.Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesAn outsider among insidersBy the spring of 1991, Tucker's academic performance had caught up with him. He had accumulated a 1.9 grade point average and may have finished with a 2.1 GPA, according to one faculty member who viewed a copy of his transcript. Tucker would eventually graduate from Trinity a year late. Falling behind was not uncommon. About 80 percent of Trinity students completed their degrees in four years, according to Trinity College records. (A Trinity spokeswoman would not comment on Tucker's transcript due to FERPA laws, which protect student privacy.Tucker's post-collegiate plans fell through too. Tucker applied to the CIA that spring. The spy agency passed."He mentioned that he had applied and they rejected him because of his drug use," another college friend said, while declining to be named. "He was too honest on his application. I also probably should say I don't know whether he was telling the truth or not." Once the school year was over, Tucker and Neil Patel hit the road on a cross-country motorcycle ride. After that: Washington DC.  Tucker's family left Southern California for Georgetown after President Reagan named his father head of Voice of America. In June 1991, President George H.W. Bush appointed Richard ambassador to the Seychelles and the Carlson family upgraded to a nicer house in Georgetown with a pool in the basement. That summer, with Tucker's father and stepmother often out of town, the Carlson household was the center of Tucker's social lives, the place they retired to after a night drinking at Georgetown college dive bars like Charing Cross and Third Edition, and pubs like Martin's Tavern and The Tombs, immortalized in St. Elmo's Fire. In August, Tucker and Susie got married in St. George's chapel and held a reception at the Clambake Club of Newport, overlooking the Narragansett Bay. Back in Washington, Tucker's prep school, college, and his father's Washington-based networks began to mesh. Tucker took a $14,000-a-year job as an assistant editor and fact checker of Policy Review, a quarterly journal published at the time by the Heritage Foundation, the nation's leading conservative think tank. For the next three decades, Tucker thrived in the Beltway: He joined The Weekly Standard and wrote for several magazines before appearing on cable news networks as a right-of-center analyst and host at CNN, PBS, and MSNBC. His father embarked on a third career as a television executive where he ran the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and his brother became a political operative and a pollster. By the time Tucker reached the core of the conservative media sphere, a slot on Fox News's primetime opinion lineup, he shed friends from his youth who couldn't grapple with the hard-right turn he veered once he became the face of the network.One friend was not surprised with Tucker's act. In the spring of 2016, during the heat of Donald Trump's presidential campaign against Hilary Clinton and a few months before "Tucker Carlson Tonight" premiered on Fox, Tucker had lunch with his old prep school classmate Richard Wayner who made the speech about Eleanor Bumpurs all those years ago. Wayner believed Tucker's gesture from his pew was never serious. "As a 9th or 10th grader in a chapel full of people in a conversation, he was trying to get attention," Wayner said.The two stayed in touch over the years and Tucker at one point suggested he write a handful of pieces for the Daily Caller, the conservative news and opinion site that Tucker co-founded and ran in the 2010s. As they settled into their table at a Midtown Manhattan steakhouse, the two chatted about Wayner's experience on the board of St. George's (which Susie was about to join) and their respective careers. Tucker was floating around at Fox, and Wayner, now an investor and former Goldman Sachs investment banker, said the conversation drifted toward salaries."He was asking, 'How much do you make on Wall Street' and was like, 'Wow, Wall Street guys make a lot.'" Wayner said. When they left the restaurant and headed back toward the Fox News headquarters, several people recognized Tucker on the street even though he had jettisoned his trademark bowtie years ago. Wayner saw Tucker making the pragmatic decision to follow a business model that has made his conservative media counterparts a lot of money."I don't think he has a mission. I don't think he has a plan," Wayner said. "Where he is right now is about as great as whatever he thought he could be.""Tucker knows better. He does. He can get some attention, money, or both." he added. "To me, that's a shame. Because he knows better." Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Greenpoint Landing Associates today announced the launch of the affordable housing lottery at 35 Commercial Street, a new 374-unit, permanently affordable apartment building located within the 22-acre Greenpoint Landing master development along the waterfront in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.  Greenpoint Landing Associates closed on the construction financing in June of 2021 with... The post Greenpoint Landing Associates Announces Housing Lottery for 100 Percent Affordable Residential Tower, 35 Commercial Street  appeared first on Real Estate Weekly. Greenpoint Landing Associates today announced the launch of the affordable housing lottery at 35 Commercial Street, a new 374-unit, permanently affordable apartment building located within the 22-acre Greenpoint Landing master development along the waterfront in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.  Greenpoint Landing Associates closed on the construction financing in June of 2021 with New York City Housing Preservation & Development (HPD), New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC) and Wells Fargo Community Development Corporation. “This is a perfect example of a public private partnership delivering high-quality affordable housing in Greenpoint,” said Anne Carson Blair, spokesperson for Greenpoint Landing Associates. “These permanently affordable homes will offer a host of unparalleled amenities, striking architecture and access to sought-after waterfront open space, raising the bar for affordable housing development in New York City.” Designed by Handel Architects — the renowned architecture firm’s seventh project within Greenpoint Landing — the 22-story residential building spans 344,463 square feet including 7,600 square feet of retail space. Bound by Bell Slip to the west, Commercial Street to the south and the future Box Street Park to the north, the project’s design relates to the industrial tradition of the neighborhood. This includes its dramatic brick arched threshold entryway along Commercial Street, leading to one of three private landscaped courtyards for residents designed by local Greenpoint landscape design/build firm, Alive Structures. Apartments feature electric appliances. The use of Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) technology instead of Packaged Terminal Air Conditioner (PTAC) allows for oversized windows within the units. Additional amenities include close to 11,000 square feet of outdoor space, an indoor and outdoor children’s play area, fitness center, communal lounge, WiFi for all residents, onsite laundry room and bicycle parking. “In designing 35 Commercial, the team at Handel Architects wanted the resident experience to be paramount,” said Gary Handel, founder and managing partner of Handel Architects. “The building itself – with stacked brick volumes and finely detailed facades – relates to the industrial history of Greenpoint. The dramatic arched entryway leads to a landscaped courtyard and then the lobby itself, which becomes part of that portal, and the sinuous ceiling is designed to related to the curving waterfront nearby. Upstairs, hundreds of high-quality residential units will have views of the city.” All 374 residences within 35 Commercial Street will be income targeted through the ELLA program. The units will be available to New Yorkers earning between 30% – 110% of the area median income (AMI). Rents for studios at the 30% AMI level start at just over $400 per month. Additionally, there are 57 units that are set aside for formerly homeless applicants and will be serviced by Breaking Ground, who have partnered with Greenpoint Landing Associates on this project.  Prospective renters must meet income and household size requirements to apply for 35 Commercial Street, named “H1H2 Apartments.” Applications must be postmarked or submitted online no later than July 31, 2023.  The lottery is available now on NYC Housing Connect. Those who qualify can visit HousingConnect.nyc.gov to apply through the online portal or to get information about how to apply via mail. The post Greenpoint Landing Associates Announces Housing Lottery for 100 Percent Affordable Residential Tower, 35 Commercial Street  appeared first on Real Estate Weekly......»»

 One of Boston’s most exciting developments in decades, Raffles Boston, is set to open later this summer and announced today that the hotel is now available for booking for stays beginning September 1, 2023. The property will mark the first mixed-use development in North America for the illustrious, world-renowned, 136-year old Raffles Hotels... The post Raffles Boston Shares Update Ahead of Summer Debut  appeared first on Real Estate Weekly.  One of Boston’s most exciting developments in decades, Raffles Boston, is set to open later this summer and announced today that the hotel is now available for booking for stays beginning September 1, 2023. The property will mark the first mixed-use development in North America for the illustrious, world-renowned, 136-year old Raffles Hotels & Resorts brand, and writes a new story for Boston’s hospitality and real estate industries alike. The 35-story, $400 million+ LEED Gold building will be an urban oasis where global cultures and local influences converge. Offering an unprecedented hotel experience in the heart of the city’s Back Bay, Raffles Boston features 147 guestrooms and 16 distinct gathering spaces. From top to bottom, Raffles Boston will showcase and celebrate what makes the Raffles brand so special: a sense of adventure and style, gracious and intuitive hospitality, and thoughtful, locally inspired design, all while enhancing the cosmopolitan charm of the Back Bay. The first Raffles property opened its doors in 1887 in Singapore, and for more than a century, it has been known and loved as one of the world’s most iconic hotels both for its luxurious design and its exceptional hospitality. At Raffles properties worldwide, visitors are said to “arrive as guests, leave as friends, and return as family.” As part of its storied history, Raffles is renowned for introducing private butlers, creating the Singapore Sling, and serving as a haven for writers, artists, film stars and royalty, from Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling to Elizabeth Taylor and Queen Elizabeth II. Raffles currently offers a collection of 18 individually unique and timeless properties in fascinating cities and vibrant destinations around the world: Singapore, Paris, Bali, Warsaw, Phnom Penh, and the Maldives to name a few.  Along with Raffles Boston, the brand has exciting upcoming openings in London and Macau this year with many more properties under development. Raffles Boston offers 147 hotel guestrooms, including 21 Signature Suites, 8 Premier Suites, and a spectacular presidential Raffles Suite. Guestrooms are found on the 6th through 14th floors. Award-winning hospitality design firm Stonehill Taylor fashioned all hotel rooms and the majority of hotel amenity spaces, infusing its work with an elegant and comfortable residential atmosphere. Stonehill Taylor took inspiration from the city’s Emerald Necklace and Raffles Boston’s historic cultural surroundings, carrying botanical influences throughout the property, emphasizing art and sculptural design, and choosing materials and patterns that play off of Boston’s iconic history and architecture. Copper accents are prevalent throughout the property, in a nod to Paul Revere’s copper plating company; historical illustrations adorn custom wall coverings; whimsical lighting is inspired by florals; and greenery references the window boxes found throughout the Back Bay.    In a first for the City of Boston, Raffles Boston features a Sky Lobby on the 17th, 18th and 19th floors. This three-story space is more than just a place to check-in for a hotel stay; it connects residents and guests with a diversity of amenity spaces. The three-story Grand Stair, one of Raffles Boston’s most memorable architectural features, spirals through the lobby’s atrium, making a dramatic impression with its curved oak stairs and copper balusters.  Throughout the Sky Lobby are four more distinct venues in which to find dining, cocktails and more. Acclaimed Chef George Mendes will launch the hotel’s signature restaurant and oversee its food program.A first-generation American born to Portuguese immigrants, Mendes grew up in Connecticut and graduated from the Culinary Institute of America. After years of honing his talent in the kitchens of David Bouley, Alain Passard’s Arpege in Paris and Tocqueville, he went on to open Aldea to critical acclaim and a Michelin star, which he maintained for more than a decade. Chef Mendes will launch the hotel’s signature restaurant, Amar, located on the Sky Lobby level, an intimate space featuring moody, softly lit walls and dazzling metal finishes. Amar promises to become a new gathering spot for guests, residents and members of the local community. It will feature modern Portuguese cuisine with influences from Boston’s seafaring culture and history in a space overlooking the Back Bay, Charles River, and Cambridge, allowing Chef Mendes to return to his New England roots while honoring his heritage. A dramatic Long Bar & Terrace pairs cocktails with expansive views of the South End, while a soon-to-be unveiled Signature Sky Bar will provide a dramatic space for drinks and small bites. In a hidden corner, tucked away from the surrounding bustle within the Sky Lobby, a clandestine Speakeasy seduces guests with a cocktail experience harkening back to an earlier era. On the 17th floor, guests and residents will also find a cozy enclave for relaxation in the Writers’ Lounge. This signature Raffles space, located within the flagship Raffles Singapore and a number of other Raffles hotels around the world, is named for the esteemed literati who have frequented and even composed works at Raffles worldwide, such as Ernest Hemingway, W. Somerset Maugham, and Noël Coward. Ascending the Grand Stair, Raffles Boston’s Sky Lobby offers two full floors of meeting and entertainment spaces. The hotel’s Ballroom is unique among Boston hotel event spaces in that it sits on the building’s 19th floor with views spanning from the Financial District to Cambridge. Spacious pre-function space and a variety of beautifully designed meeting rooms, from a Board Room to smaller breakout rooms, offer residents and guests yet more in-house options for entertaining and business events. Capping off this world-class array of amenities, guests and residents will also find a sanctuary on the 4th floor, which features an exclusive state-of-the-art gym, Raffles Spa and 20-meter indoor pool with expansive city views. As North America’s first Raffles hotel and residences, Raffles Boston will reinforce the Back Bay’s global reputation as a first-class international neighborhood. Situated next to The University Club and conveniently adjacent to Boston’s Back Bay train station, it is also within a block of Copley Square, Trinity Church, and premiere upscale shopping at Copley Place. Other notable Boston attractions, also within a short walking distance, include the world-renowned shops and galleries of Newbury Street and the Prudential Center, Fenway Park, the Museum of Fine Arts, Symphony Hall, the Charles River Esplanade, and dozens of restaurants, bars and cafes. The project will provide over $22 million in public benefits in total, including street and public realm improvements, seven on-site affordable housing units, and a contribution of over $13 million to the City of Boston’s affordable housing fund. A predominantly local team, united by its members’ deep appreciation for Boston, leads the project. At the helm is Trinity Stuart Development LLC, which is a partnership between two Boston entities: developer Jordan Warshaw of The Noannet Group and hotelier Gary Saunders of Saunders Hotel Group, alongside their equity partner Cain International, the privately held investment firm led by CEO Jonathan Goldstein. Accor, a world leading hospitality group and the Paris-based parent of Raffles Hotels & Resorts, is the hotel management partner, and Madison Realty Capital provided construction financing. For more information about Raffles Boston Hotel & Residences and to begin placing bookings for stays starting September 1, 2023, please visit www.raffles.com and follow @rafflesboston with hashtag #rafflesboston. The post Raffles Boston Shares Update Ahead of Summer Debut  appeared first on Real Estate Weekly......»»

The Fraying Of The Liberal International Order Authored by Ramesh Thakur via The Brownstone Institute, International politics is the struggle for the dominant normative architecture of world order based on the interplay of power, economic weight and ideas for imagining, designing and constructing the good international society. For several years now many analysts have commented on the looming demise of the liberal international order established at the end of the Second World War under US leadership. Over the last several decades, wealth and power have been shifting inexorably from the West to the East and has produced a rebalancing of the world order. As the centre of gravity of world affairs shifted to the Asia-Pacific with China’s dramatic climb up the ladder of great power status, many uncomfortable questions were raised about the capacity and willingness of Western powers to adapt to a Sinocentric order. For the first time in centuries, it seemed, the global hegemon would not be Western, would not be a free market economy, would not be liberal democratic, and would not be part of the Anglosphere. More recently, the Asia-Pacific conceptual framework has been reformulated into the Indo-Pacific as the Indian elephant finally joined the dance. Since 2014 and then again especially after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February last year, the question of European security, political and economic architecture has reemerged as a frontline topic of discussion. The return of the Russia question as a geopolitical priority has also been accompanied by the crumbling of almost all the main pillars of the global arms control complex of treaties, agreements, understandings and practices that had underpinned stability and brought predictability to major power relations in the nuclear age. The AUKUS security pact linking Australia, the UK, and the US in a new security alliance, with the planned development of AUKUS-class nuclear-powered attack submarines, is both a reflection of changed geopolitical realities and, some argue, itself a threat to the global nonproliferation regime and a stimulus to fresh tensions in relations with China. British Prime Minister (PM) Rishi Sunak said at the announcement of the submarines deal in San Diego on March 13 that the growing security challenges confronting the world—“Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, China’s growing assertiveness, the destabilising behaviour of Iran and North Korea”—“threaten to create a world codefined by danger, disorder and division.” For his part, President Xi Jinping accused the US of leading Western countries to engage in an “all-around containment, encirclement and suppression of China.” The Australian government described the AUKUS submarine project as “the single biggest investment in our defence capability in our history” that “represents a transformational moment for our nation.” However, it could yet be sunk by six minefields lurking underwater: China’s countermeasures, the time lag between the alleged imminence of the threat and the acquisition of the capability, the costs, the complexities of operating two different classes of submarines, the technological obsolescence of submarines that rely on undersea concealment, and domestic politics in the US and Australia. Regional and global governance institutions can never be quarantined from the underlying structure of international geopolitical and economic orders. Nor have they proven themselves to be fully fit for the purpose of managing pressing global challenges and crises like wars, and potentially existential threats from nuclear weapons, climate-related disasters and pandemics. To no one’s surprise, the rising and revisionist powers wish to redesign the international governance institutions to inject their own interests, governing philosophies, and preferences. They also wish to relocate the control mechanisms from the major Western capitals to some of their own capitals. China’s role in the Iran–Saudi rapprochement might be a harbinger of things to come. The ”Rest” Look for Their Place in the Emerging New Order The developments out there in “the real world,” testifying to an inflection point in history, pose profound challenges to institutions to rethink their agenda of research and policy advocacy over the coming decades. On 22–23 May, the Toda Peace Institute convened a brainstorming retreat at its Tokyo office with more than a dozen high-level international participants. One of the key themes was the changing global power structure and normative architecture and the resulting implications for world order, the Indo-Pacific and the three US regional allies Australia, Japan, and South Korea. The two background factors that dominated the conversation, not surprisingly, were China–US relations and the Ukraine war. The Ukraine war has shown the sharp limits of Russia as a military power. Both Russia and the US badly underestimated Ukraine’s determination and ability to resist (“I need ammunition, not a ride,” President Volodymyr Zelensky famously said when offered safe evacuation by the Americans early in the war), absorb the initial shock, and then reorganise to launch counter-offensives to regain lost territory. Russia is finished as a military threat in Europe. No Russian leader, including President Vladimir Putin, will think again for a very long time indeed of attacking an allied nation in Europe. That said, the war has also demonstrated the stark reality of the limits to US global influence in organising a coalition of countries willing to censure and sanction Russia. If anything, the US-led West finds itself more disconnected from the concerns and priorities of the rest of the world than at any other time since 1945. A study published in October from Cambridge University’s Bennett Institute for Public Policy provides details on the extent to which the West has become isolated from opinion in the rest of the world on perceptions of China and Russia. This was broadly replicated in a February 2023 study from the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).  The global South in particular has been vocal in saying firstly that Europe’s problems are no longer automatically the world’s problems, and secondly that while they condemn Russia’s aggression, they also sympathise quite heavily with the Russian complaint about NATO provocations in expanding to Russia’s borders. In the ECFR report, Timothy Garton-Ash, Ivan Krastev, and Mark Leonard cautioned Western decision-makers to recognise that “in an increasingly divided post-Western world,” emerging powers “will act on their own terms and resist being caught in a battle between America and China.” US global leadership is hobbled also by rampant domestic dysfunctionality. A bitterly divided and fractured America lacks the necessary common purpose and principle, and the requisite national pride and strategic direction to execute a robust foreign policy. Much of the world is bemused too that a great power could once again present a choice between Joe Biden and Donald Trump for president. The war has solidified NATO unity but also highlighted internal European divisions and European dependence on the US military for its security. The big strategic victor is China. Russia has become more dependent on it and the two have formed an effective axis to resist US hegemony. China’s meteoric rise continues apace. Having climbed past Germany last year, China has just overtaken Japan as the world’s top car exporter, 1.07 to 0.95 million vehicles. Its diplomatic footprint has also been seen in the honest brokerage of a rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia and in promotion of a peace plan for Ukraine.  Even more tellingly, according to data published by the UK-based economic research firm Acorn Macro Consulting in April, the BRICS grouping of emerging market economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) now accounts for a larger share of the world’s economic output in PPP dollars than the G7 group of industrialised countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, USA). Their respective shares of global output have fallen and risen between 1982 and 2022 from 50.4 percent and 10.7 percent, to 30.7 percent and 31.5 percent. No wonder another dozen countries are eager to join the BRICS, prompting Alec Russell to proclaim recently in The Financial Times: “This is the hour of the global south.” The Ukraine war might also mark India’s long overdue arrival on the global stage as a consequential power. For all the criticisms of fence-sitting levelled at India since the start of the war, this has arguably been the most successful exercise of an independent foreign policy on a major global crisis in decades by India. Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar even neatly turned the fence-sitting criticism on its head by retorting a year ago that “I am sitting on my ground” and feeling quite comfortable there. His dexterity in explaining India’s policy firmly and unapologetically but without stridency and criticism of other countries has drawn widespread praise, even from Chinese netizens. On his return after the G7 summit in Hiroshima, the South Pacific and Australia, PM Narendra Modi commented on 25 May: “Today, the world wants to know what India is thinking.” In his 100th birthday interview with The Economist, Henry Kissinger said he is “very enthusiastic” about US close relations with India. He paid tribute to its pragmatism, basing foreign policy on non-permanent alliances built around issues rather than tying up the country in big multilateral alliances. He singled out Jaishankar as the current political leader who “is quite close to my views.” In a complementary interview with The Wall Street Journal, Kissinger also foresees, without necessarily recommending such a course of action, Japan acquiring its own nuclear weapons in 3-5 years. In a blog published on 18 May, Michael Klare argues that the emerging order is likely to be a G3 world with the US, China, and India as the three major nodes, based on attributes of population, economic weight and military power (with India heading into being a major military force to be reckoned with, even if not quite there yet). He is more optimistic about India than I am but still, it’s an interesting comment on the way the global winds are blowing. Few pressing world problems can be solved today without the active cooperation of all three. The changed balance of forces between China and the US also affects the three Pacific allies, namely Australia, Japan, and South Korea. If any of them starts with a presumption of permanent hostility with China, then of course it will fall into the security dilemma trap. That assumption will drive all its policies on every issue in contention, and will provoke and deepen the very hostility it is meant to be opposing. Rather than seeking world domination by overthrowing the present order, says Rohan Mukherjee in Foreign Affairs, China follows a three-pronged strategy. It works with institutions it considers both fair and open (UN Security Council, WTO, G20) and tries to reform others that are partly fair and open (IMF, World Bank), having derived many benefits from both these groups. But it is challenging a third group which, it believes, are closed and unfair: the human rights regime. In the process, China has come to the conclusion that being a great power like the US means never having to say you’re sorry for hypocrisy in world affairs: entrenching your privileges in a club like the UN Security Council that can be used to regulate the conduct of all others. Instead of self-fulfilling hostility, former Australian foreign secretary Peter Varghese recommends a China policy of constrainment-cum-engagement. Washington may have set itself the goal of maintaining global primacy and denying Indo-Pacific primacy to China, but this will only provoke a sullen and resentful Beijing into efforts to snatch regional primacy from the US. The challenge is not to thwart but to manage China’s rise—from which many other countries have gained enormous benefits, with China becoming their biggest trading partner—by imagining and constructing a regional balance in which US leadership is crucial to a strategic counterpoint. In his words, “The US will inevitably be at the centre of such an arrangement, but that does not mean that US primacy must sit at its fulcrum.” Wise words that should be heeded most of all in Washington but will likely be ignored. Tyler Durden Sun, 06/04/2023 - 21:30.....»»

Slate Property Group and non-profit RiseBoro Community Partnership today broke ground on one of the most sustainable affordable housing developments ever constructed in New York City. The mixed-use project at 326 Rockaway Avenue in Brownsville has been designed as an all-electric passive house that uses zero fossil fuel for heating... The post Slate and RiseBoro Join Brownsville Community to Break Ground on One of NYC’s Most Sustainable Affordable Housing Projects Ever appeared first on Real Estate Weekly. Slate Property Group and non-profit RiseBoro Community Partnership today broke ground on one of the most sustainable affordable housing developments ever constructed in New York City. The mixed-use project at 326 Rockaway Avenue in Brownsville has been designed as an all-electric passive house that uses zero fossil fuel for heating and operations, and includes a rooftop solar array to offset energy use. City officials including Chief Housing Officer Jessica Katz joined the ceremony to mark the start of construction. The building will provide 215 permanently affordable apartments to low-income New Yorkers, including 130 units serving formerly homeless young adults and their families. Completion on the innovative project is scheduled for summer 2025 with leasing anticipated to begin next year. 326 Rockaway Avenue will offer residents amenities like a roof terrace, classroom space, extensive on-site social services, as well as benefits for the surrounding community like ground-floor retail and a community space. “New York City is facing a housing crisis. Every new apartment and new building we can build means giving more of our neighbors a safe, affordable and stable home. That’s especially true of 326 Rockaway Avenue, where we’ve worked with our RiseBoro partners to design a building that will feel like a true community. This is a project that’s going to make its residents and its neighbors here in Brownsville proud,” said John Valladares, Managing Director at Slate Property Group. “All New Yorkers deserve housing they can afford and be proud of and 326 Rockway provides both. At a time when affordability and climate change are two of the biggest issues facing our city, we’re proud to work with Slate to chip away at both of these existential crises,” said Scott Short, CEO of RiseBoro Community Partnership. “326 Rockaway Avenue demonstrates how we are able to create housing for low-income and formerly homeless New Yorkers while also working toward our City’s climate goals,” said Chief Housing Officer Jessica Katz. “Our city colleagues at HPD and HDC working with Slate, RiseBoro, and Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group have delivered an incredible project that will welcome over 200 New Yorkers home. Creating affordable, sustainable housing for communities most in need is key to the Mayor’s housing and homelessness blueprint, and we’re proud to see this project come to fruition.” The project is Slate and RiseBoro’s second major collaboration, following last month’s announcement of the conversion of a large hotel near JFK airport into more than 300 permanently affordable apartments. Sustainability was a major priority for the design of 326 Rockaway Avenue. The building, designed by Aufgang Architects, will be 100 percent electric and will incorporate rooftop solar PV equipment. It will meet Enterprise Green Communities, ensuring a rigorous level of energy efficiency while also creating comfortable indoor living spaces for residents.  It has been designed to Passive House standards, and Slate is targeting PHIUS Certification for the project. Building amenities will include a community room, recreation room, a children’s playroom, classroom space, bike storage, large laundry room, yoga and fitness studio, and outdoor recreational areas including a roof deck. The architecture firm OSD has designed exterior spaces that form the heart of the shared community experience, including gardening, outdoor nature play and social spaces.  Supportive housing services will be provided by RiseBoro’s expert staff, including person-centered case management and service planning, counseling and crisis intervention, life skills and needs assessments, support for families’ referrals for employment and education opportunities, and opportunities for community engagement and leadership. Additionally, staff will provide mentoring and empowerment services in collaboration with RiseBoro’s education program. The supportive housing program is funded through the NYC 15/15 Program, a New York City-funded rental assistance program that assists eligible families or individuals that are homeless or at risk of homelessness by providing an affordable apartment and supportive services to help them move toward the goal of long-term stability. The project was financed through a combination of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, tax-exempt bonds, and support from the New York City Housing Development Corporation, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and the Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group within Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Goldman Sachs). The new homes at 326 Rockaway Avenue are also made possible through an acquisition loan from the Corporation for Supportive Housing, which was repaid at the closing of the construction loan. “326 Rockaway not only provides much-needed affordable housing and services for the Brownsville community, but will also be designed to Passive House standards, reducing carbon emissions in one of the City’s most climate vulnerable neighborhoods,” said Dan Alger, a Managing Director and Co-Head of the Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group within Goldman Sachs Asset Management. “This important project is a model of public and private sector collaboration and we are thrilled to be partnering with Slate, RiseBoro and our public partners.” 326 Rockaway Avenue at a Glance 216 total apartments 130 supportive units for formerly homeless young adults, including those with young families 85 affordable apartments 34 units for families earning below 60% of Area Median Income (AMI) 51 units for families earning below 50% of Area Median Income (AMI) Preference for residents of Brooklyn Community Board 16 1 unit for a live-in superintendent Studios to 3-bedroom apartments Total development costs: $146 million Size: 181,324 sf 3,800 sf community facility and 1,600 sf ground-floor retail Architect: Aufgang Architects General contractor: SD Builders and Construction LLC The post Slate and RiseBoro Join Brownsville Community to Break Ground on One of NYC’s Most Sustainable Affordable Housing Projects Ever appeared first on Real Estate Weekly......»»

One writer disses most of New York's new skyscrapers over 984 feet, arguing that both they look bad and don't serve the city's everyday residents. Billionaires' Row.Bruce Katz Courtesy of PA Press New York City is home to 17 supertall towers measuring over 984 feet, the most of any metropolis. Writer Eric P. Nash claims the towers alter the skyline but add little to the city's character. Instead, he said, these towers are an ugly reflection of billionaires' social and political power. A person walks in Central Park with Billionaires' Row towers looming in the background.Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty ImagesThe 21st century has seen real estate stretch to new heights. Enter the "supertall" skyscraper, defined by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat as a tower that clocks in at or above 984 feet — or about twice the height of the Washington Monument in DC. Billionaires' Row.C. Taylor Crothers/Contributor/Getty ImagesIn "Sky-High: A Critique of NYC's Supertall Towers from Top to Bottom," out from PA Press on June 27 and with photography by Bruce Katz, writer Eric P. Nash dives into the current state of Manhattan development, in which the supertall reigns supreme. It's a generation of architecture he is less than impressed with. He gamely takes turns explaining New York City's new skyline by plucking out its newest additions and dunking on what architect Steven Holl called "profane spires."Nash argues this moment's infatuation with supertalls has choked resources for civic buildings and affordable low-rise housing, and turned big-name architects' attention away from projects that would benefit a larger population because they lack the prestige that supertalls offer.The Vessel, a sculpture designed by architect Thomas Heatherwick at Hudson Yards.Business Insider/Jessica Tyler"It's not that the intellectual groundwork for attractive public housing hasn't been laid out," Nash writes, "it's just that there is no fame or money in it for careerists."Nash believes the race to complete supertalls has often zapped New York City of its urban character, making it less for the public and more for a select few.The 2019 opening of 30 and 35 Hudson Yards, both reaching over 1,000 feet and built atop a platform over a rail yard on Manhattan's west side, characterized that shift for Nash.Hudson Yards.Related-OxfordNash has few kind words to spare about the neighborhood on the city's far west side, saying it is "nothing if not completely consumed by the dollar.""Hudson Yards," Nash writes, "the largest private development in the history of the United States, is the unacceptable face of quintessential capitalist production of space."He goes on: "Cities designed from the top down like Hudson Yards emit a decaying whiff of totalitarianism." They are not, he said, spaces designed for public use.On top of that, he adds, the cluster of new supertalls and skyscrapers are so disjointed that "[a]esthetically, Hudson Yards resembles a random assortment of chess pieces."One Manhattan West.Michael Lee/Getty ImagesOne Manhattan West on the easternmost edge of Hudson Yards is a 995-foot office tower that was completed in 2019. Its 67 floors are home to consulting firm Accenture, accounting giant Ernst & Young, and the National Hockey League. One Manhattan West.Bruce Katz Courtesy of PA PressHowever, Nash calls the building, by revered architecture firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, "slouchy" and "eminently forgettable."Billionaires' Row.Bruce Katz Courtesy of PA PressTwenty minutes north by subway, a cluster of supertall buildings — currently four towers with a fifth slated to join — make up Manhattan's so-called Billionaires' Row.The sky-high spires dot the southern border of Central Park and have permanently altered the New York City skyline.    Billionaires' Row.francois-roux/Getty ImagesNash traces Billionaires' Row's roots back to developers' discovery that the superrich would forgo the tasteful, palatial classic six-style apartments of yore for a seven-figure "pied-a-terre in the clouds, in what amounts to a safe-deposit box in the sky, mostly with foreign equity in untraceable nested shell companies."111 West 57th Street with its fluted siding stands in the foreground.Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesOne of the Billionaires' Row spires, 111 West 57th Street, stands as the world's "skinniest" skyscraper. Completed in 2020, the residential tower tops off at 1,400 feet and features an 82-foot lap pool with a limestone deck and luxury cabanas.Currently, a $66 million, four-bedroom triplex penthouse is for sale, with two private elevators — one for direct building access and another to glide between all three floors — and 1,300 feet in private outdoor space overlooking Central Park.111 West 57th Street.Bruce Katz Courtesy of PA PressHowever, because it's perched atop the landmarked concert venue Steinway Hall, Nash finds the "lavish, expensive detailing" of 111 West 57th Street's exterior, an intricate terracotta fluting by lauded architecture firm SHoP, completely "lost on the man on the street."Billionaires' Row.Bruce Katz Courtesy of PA PressCentral Park Tower, another addition to Billionaires' Row, reached 1,550 feet and is now the world's tallest residential building. Condos currently on the market range from a three-bedroom seeking $9.5 million to a 17,500-square-foot penthouse seeking $250 million.Central Park Tower.Bruce Katz Courtesy of PA PressAlthough it claims the title of the world's tallest residential building, Nash notes, "a full fifth of the building's height is unoccupied vanity height." Of the 131 floors of Central Park Tower, only 98 are residential, creating empty floors potentially for the sake of a title."The stats on Central Park Tower have been fudged by the developer for marketing superlatives," writes Nash.53 West 53.Bruce Katz Courtesy of PA PressSix blocks south of Central Park but nonetheless part of the extended Billionaires' Row, the 77-floor 53 West 53 opened to residents in 2021 and reaches 1,050 feet. A four-bedroom penthouse is currently listed for sale at $63 million.Residents of the tower can access VIP concierge services like in-home visits from celebrity hairstylist John Barrett and helicopter rides to the airport. 53 West 53.Bruce Katz Courtesy of PA PRessNash actually finds 53 West 53 "sophisticated" and "respectfully contextual" for how architect Jean Nouvel integrates the tower at street level with other buildings and incorporates setbacks.He finds the "quilt-like" patterns on the tower to have a sense of playfulness that's missing in other projects. It's just about the only building in the book he praises. Central Park Tower.Bruce Katz Courtesy of PA PressNash argues that New York City's infatuation with supertalls has "shamelessly pandered to the one percent instead of aiding the public." Substantial tax breaks were given away to developers for buildings that serve only as "billionaire's playgrounds."The spire of the Chrysler Building.Bruce Katz Courtesy of PA PressIn time, Nash argues, supertalls will be seen like the Chrysler Building — as living chapters of the city's history. This chapter, however, will be about the social and political power of billionaires in the 21st century.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

People moved to Portugal for sea views and a European passport, but the country's popularity is making it harder for others to move themselves. Dan and Michelle Bagby sold their house in Austin, Texas, and moved to Lisbon, Portugal.Honeymoon Always Americans have been moving to Portugal for years, and the pandemic accelerated the trend further. They've enjoyed a relatively easy visa-application process, affordability, and universal healthcare. Now, some said, the country is becoming more crowded and expensive, and it's getting harder to move. Dan and Michelle Bagby were worn out. They had succumbed to the United States' round-the-clock work mentality, pulling extra-long days in their digital marketing and project management jobs. They wanted a more laid-back lifestyle, and decided Portugal would give it to them."The climate in the US is a bit intense sometimes," Dan Bagby, 36, told Insider. "There's the hustle culture of working the corporate nine-to-five, so we wanted to try the European lifestyle out and see what the difference was and how we would like it."In 2021, they sold their house in Austin, Texas, and moved to Portugal's capital, Lisbon. They plan to stay for at least three more years, when they'll be able to qualify for citizenship. The Bagbys are part of a wave of Americans who have moved to Portugal, a country roughly the size of Indiana, seeking a more affordable and easygoing culture, and who are attracted by its relatively seamless visa process. Remote workers, digital nomads, and retirees from the US flooded the Western European country during the early stages of the pandemic. Close to 10,000 Americans were living in Portugal in 2022, according to data from the Portuguese government, as reported by The New York Times — an increase of 239% since 2017, or a little fewer than 7,000 people.While buyers from countries like Brazil and Finland are also on the rise, Americans have taken a particular shine to Portugal's lifestyle, said Gonçalo Roxo, the cofounder of Your Property Advisor, a real-estate consulting company that helps foreign citizens buy homes in Portugal."In 2020, maybe out of 10 clients, one would be American," Roxo told Insider. "Now, out of 10, maybe five are Americans."According to data from the Portuguese Immigration and Border Service, 216 of the 1,281 foreigners granted permanent residence in Portugal during 2022 came from the United States, the most of any country.Lisbon, Portugal.Alexander Spatari/Getty ImagesPortugal made its borders more accessible to foreigners to give its economy a shot in the arm, and Americans have taken advantage — so much so that it's turbocharging the real-estate market and creating issues for locals like rising home prices.Eurostat, the European Union's statistics agency, found that house prices in Portugal rose 157% between 2020 and 2021, with rents rising 112% between 2015 and 2021. And much of that rise has been fueled by outsiders like foreign investors and tourists seeking short-term rentals, the Associated Press reported.In an effort to stem the tide of monied outsiders, Portugal is sunsetting its "golden visa" program, which grants foreigners a residency permit when they purchase real estate worth at least €500,000, or about $541,125. Still, there are other ways for foreigners to seek out residency in Portugal, and as long as the country continues to offer the perks that many Americans have moved there for — like a lower cost of living and universal healthcare — they will come. But as housing prices rise, those perks are a little less sweet than they used to be.Portugal's accessible residency program made it a popular choice for foreigners looking to migrateStill, people are intrigued by the prospect of moving to Portugal. They're taking advantage of companies that have propped up to help them relocate, and joining Facebook groups by the thousands where movers to the country share tips and tricks.Applications for the golden visa are open until July 1, according to second-citizenship firm Savory & Partners. Americans are also finding their way to Portugal through a D7 visa — nicknamed the digital nomad visa, used by the Bagbys — which allows non-EU citizens with passive or independently earned monthly income of at least €760, or about $818, to receive a temporary residence permit.Judi Galst, the associate director of private clients at investment and migration consultancy firm Henley & Partners, said that the pandemic motivated Americans to seek out passports that allow for easier travel, particularly those in the Schengen Zone, like Portugal's. Passport holders of countries in the Schengen Zone can move freely between 27 European Union member countries. But, she noted, the political climate in the US also played a part."Things have become very divisive," Galst said of the United States. "Regardless of which side you're on, and I talk to clients on both sides, people feel unsettled, and it's prompting them to want to understand what their options are."Galst said there are other ways to secure a residency permit than through the "golden visa" program.She told Insider that investing the same amount of money into one of a few dozen qualified private equity or investment funds, or a bank deposit of €1.5 million, or about $1.6 million, into a Portuguese bank, will also put foreigners on the pathway to permanent residency.The country offers perks that are no longer affordable in the United StatesJanet Zaretsky and her husband, Lee, bought a house in Nazaré, Portugal, a coastal city 75 miles north of Lisbon known for its huge waves that draw surfers.Janet Zaretsky and her husband, Lee, bought a house in the beachy town of Nazaré, Portugal.Janet ZaretskyZaretsky, 67, plans to retire at the end of the year, but got a head start by moving to Portugal in January.Two of her requirements for retirement were a house with an ocean view and good medical care — two features available to her in Portugal at a lower price than in the US.Portugal has universal healthcare coverage, financed through taxation, that's available to citizens and legal residents, at no cost. In the US, the average annual premium was $7,911 for single coverage in 2022, according to a report from health care non-profit KFF.On top of the lower expenditures on healthcare, Zaretsky said day-to-day costs are more affordable, too."It's a very reasonable cost of living," Zaretsky told Insider. "We could buy an ocean-view house that we couldn't afford in California," where Zaretsky lived for 10 years before moving to Texas.Zaretsky paid €600,000, or about $648,741, for the house in Portugal after selling her Austin, Texas, home for $676,000. So far she and her husband prefer the lifestyle change."We love Europe, we love history, we love diversity, we love culture, and architecture," she said, all of which they find in abundance in their new home.Rising real-estate prices are squeezing some people outSome Americans who have relocated to the Western European country say it isn't without its faults. Portugal has a strong tourism economy and its shoulder season draws large crowds, making the petite coastal country feel tight. And while the slow pace can be inviting, Zaretsky and Bagby agree that it takes a while to get things done. Americans are used to 24/7 convenience and the ability to access anything at all times. Europeans have a more relaxed approach to business, with many shops closing for hours in the middle of the day for lunch — or closing just because."My wife was looking to frame a picture and wanted to get a custom frame," Bagby said. "She walked to a framing shop that has hours posted and then on the door it just says, 'Oh sorry, we're closed today.'"The cost of living is also soaring as an international crowd makes Portugal their home.Jack Epner, a 42 year old in sales and marketing who has visited three continents while working remotely, wanted to finally settle down.Jack Epner tried moving to Portugal, but couldn't afford the recent rent hikes.Jack EpnerAfter leaving Vail, Colorado, in 2018, he spent two years bouncing around Asia, Europe, and South America before landing in Portugal in 2020.His plan was to establish himself there."I went through several steps of the residency process," Epner told Insider. "The plan when I went there was to stay long-term and have residency."Epner was renting and living in Airbnbs, but had a hard time finding an affordable place as rents started to increase. "There were really small places people were asking a lot of money for — two or three times what it would've been just months earlier," he said.Bagby agreed that Portugal isn't as affordable as it once was and is advertised still, and thinks potential movers should do more research before making the transatlantic leap.Bagby locked in a three-year lease for €1,700 a month, or about $1,830, but said that the same three-bedroom apartment would go for €2,500, or about $2,691, or more now."When it comes to looking at Portugal as an affordable place to live or not, it just really comes down to what your lifestyle is," Bagby said. "If you live in New York or San Francisco, pretty much anywhere in Portugal is going to be a cost break for you. But people just assume that everywhere in Portugal is really affordable.""That's the main misconception I see out there," he added. "People end up not being able to stay for the long term because they weren't really prepared for the difference in living here."Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

 The transcript from this week’s, MiB: Robyn Grew, Man Group CEO, is below. You can stream and download our full conversation, including any podcast extras, on iTunes Stitcher, Bloomberg, Spotify, Google, and YouTube. All of our earlier podcasts on your favorite pod hosts can be found here. ~~~ ANNOUNCER: This is Masters in Business… Read More The post Transcript: Robyn Grew appeared first on The Big Picture.  The transcript from this week’s, MiB: Robyn Grew, Man Group CEO, is below. You can stream and download our full conversation, including any podcast extras, on iTunes Stitcher, Bloomberg, Spotify, Google, and YouTube. All of our earlier podcasts on your favorite pod hosts can be found here. ~~~ ANNOUNCER: This is Masters in Business with Barry Ritholtz on Bloomberg Radio. BARRY RITHOLTZ, HOST, MASTERS IN BUSINESS: This week on the podcast, another extra special guest, Robin Grew, President of Man Group, $145 billion publicly traded hedge fund in the UK, and soon to be Man Group’s CEO. This is a fascinating conversation about business growth and leadership and management and how to run a team. How to recruit and retain the best people and how to use technology as a tool to give you an edge, not just in investing but in the ability to offer clients various solutions improving your efficiency, effectiveness and productivity as a company. I — I found this to just be a fascinating masterclass in running a giant financial organization. And I think you will also. So with no further ado, my conversation with Man Group’s incoming CEO, Robyn Grew. ROBYN GREW, PRESIDENT, MAN GROUP: Thank you for having me, Barry. RITHOLTZ: I — I have been looking forward to this for a while. And when we first booked you, you were like a junior analyst. Then suddenly in the ensuing weeks, you get tagged to be CEO. That has to be a little bit of a surreal experience. GREW: It is nothing short of surreal. This is obviously new news for this particular podcast, and it is — you hear the words that people say, you know, it’s an honor and it’s a privilege. And it sounds a little trite. I mean you find yourself in one of these rare positions where somebody is asking you to take on the CEO. And I have to tell you, I mean it very authentically, it’s an honor and it’s a privilege. And it is slightly surreal. RITHOLTZ: And — and to — for a little context, maybe for some of the audience in America who may not be that familiar with Man Group, this isn’t like a startup. This traces its roots back to 18th century sugar trading, right? How old is Man Group? GREW: Well, it’s 240 years old. Put it that way, 1783. And you’re right, it traces its way back to sugar trading and at one point being the monopolistic supplier of rum to the Royal Navy, which — and in those days, that was important because everybody had a ration in the Royal Navy, and everybody wanted to use it. And it’s the journey isn’t’ it? It’s the journey of organizations to continue to be relevant. So, 240 years ago, there’s a conversation I have with people which is, if we didn’t keep changing, we’d still be making barrels on the side of the River Thames and trading sugar and hoping that the Royal Navy still needed a lot of rum. So that’s not where we are today. But the roots are deep. And now we, you know, we’re just shy of $145 billion of assets on the management across the entire credit curve. Trading through our CTAS and Quant and discretionary and private markets, reaching investors all over the world. RITHOLTZ: So, we’re going to spend a little more time delving deep into Man Group’s practice. Let’s start with your background. GREW: Sure. RITHOLTZ: Which doesn’t quite go back 274 — GREW: Thank — thank you very much for that. RITHOLTZ: You went to law school. Were the plans to become a solicitor or a barrister? That’s not the thought process of someone who wants to go into finance. GREW: You — you’re spot on. I actually qualified as a barrister, which is the fun words of I went to the bar. People use that all the time to describe me. And you’re right, I had thought I was going to be an advocate, quite frankly, a barrister, you know the one with the wigs and gowns, that you see on TV. My — my roots were very more reasonably humble. My dad was a public GP, you know, in the National Health Service in England and my mom was a public school teacher. And quite frankly, I didn’t know what financial services was. It was this — this thing that existed somewhere else. And so, when I went to law school and went to the bar, I had every — every thought that I was just going to be a barrister and be another vocational professional in my family. RITHOLTZ: When did it enter your mind that, hey, this finance stuff looks kind of interesting? GREW: It entered my mind when very early on I found myself in a position where I was looking at brief that had come to me. And it was yet another sort of sketchy criminal defense piece, where I had to go and interview a client who had been arrested because he had been out on bail and escaped bail. And I went to a very old magistrates’ court in London, at Bow Street. It’s very close to Covent Garden and very old cells. And the doors of these cells were built for men. And you — you, Barry, you have the benefit of seeing how short I am or tall I am. RITHOLTZ: You’re five foot nothing, right? GREW: I’m five foot nothing. And so I couldn’t see through the little window. I just couldn’t reach it. Right, I just wasn’t able. So, the guards had to actually stand, sort of open the door and stand on either side of me. And they were worried about me because my client was so out of his head on whatever it was he had taken, that they were actually worried for my safety. And I went home that night, and I went, do you know what, I might not want to do this forever. This might not be — this might not be a good idea. And I thought, I know what I’ll do, I will go into commerce. That’s what I thought. I’ll go into commerce. I’ll go into business. And then I will go back, and I will be a commercial barrister where they don’t have to get this into cells and see whether — RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: — I’d be worried about the safety that have to do with people like me now. So that’s — that’s what the plan was. And so, it was a plan to get into this space, get experience from being an insider, in business and go back. And I got hooked. I just never went back. RITHOLTZ: What — what was the first job in — in commerce, so to speak? GREW: In commerce? So, there was an advertisement in the newspaper. That’s a thing. That’s how old I am. There was an advertisement in the newspaper for Fidelity. And I thought, well, that sounds interesting. They wanted — they wanted to have new kind of graduates, postgraduates type people to come and do a round robin. And that’s also an expression that gets used with me a lot. And so I applied and I sent in a letter and I said yes, it sounds terribly interesting. Can you give me a shot at this? And I got invited to this interview thing. And it was a thing. So I turned up, and there are 150 people in a room. RITHOLTZ: Right. Cattle call. GREW: It was a cattle call. And I – totally new to me and I had no idea that this is what happened. So I just chatted to everybody I met. I just chatted — RITHOLTZ: Online while you’re waiting to go for the interview. GREW: Yeah, you just — you don’t know when you’re being interviewed or when you’re not being interviewed quite frankly. RITHOLTZ: Oh. Okay. GREW: I was one of the come and meet these people. And it was, I had a great time. I’m a chatty kind of individual. And off I went round the room, chatted for a couple of hours and then left and, you know, drove home. And I was rung the next day, and they said we really — really — would you like to come and join us and I said, well, yes, for sure. Let’s do that then. And I bounced around. Yes, I did some legal stuff and rank stuff but I, you know, I went in on the weekends when we did the stock certificate count. RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: And counted share certificates, that it was that long ago. And I did early tech kind of pieces. I manned client call phones. I did everything. And it was a bit of a blast. It was this kind of thing of being in the center of Fidelity’s brokerage arm at that point. Not its asset management, its brokerage piece. And then — RITHOLTZ: This — this is late ‘80s or early ‘90s? GREW: Yeah, and — and then I was, necessarily (inaudible) — and I was called into — I was called in ’91 so – in that ‘90s period. And then I was called by a headhunter, by a recruiter, who said, listen, there’s this — spent a couple years at Fidelity by this time — there’s a role at this thing called LIFFE or LIFFE. RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: Um, and they really need somebody who understands a criminal law. And they need it because when they conduct interviews, it’s undertaken under this police and criminal evidence act (ph) thing. We — in other words it’s done in a way that whatever is said in that interview could be brought as evidence in a court. And I said, well, I know — I know that bit of it. I’ve done — I’ve done that bit. And so I turned up to LIFFE. RITHOLTZ: What was the commerce side of LIFFE? GREW: So, it’s an exchange. It’s an open outcry exchange. In fact, at that time, the biggest open outcry exchange in Europe and we had — it was a time when LIFFE was biggest in the bond contract (ph). RITHOLTZ: So, I have to ask, why the concern about future criminal evidence? It seems sort of at odds. GREW: I know, right. So, what happens is, when you work in an open outcry (ph) environment, there are trade practices — RITHOLTZ: Okay. GREW: — that get investigated. And those trading practices are quite — they’re fun. They’re interesting and they’re complex because it’s all about hand signals. RITHOLTZ: Right. And everybody’s word is their bond or their gestures, their bond. GREW: Exactly right. And so, you’re looking at, at that point, very forward thinking videotaped evidence. RITHOLTZ: Mm-hmm. GREW: You’ve got pit observers. And you are trying to piece if there are malpractices or going on, you need to piece that all together. And so, at that point, you are building a case. You are running a market (ph) investigations team, which is looking at ensuring proper conduct. From a regulatory perspective, you are the regulator. You are managing the efficacy of those markets, and across futures and options. And so, I went to an interview. And they said how much do you know about futures and options? And I said, not a lot. In fact, I said, and there’s a chap who I’m still in touch with who repeats this at regular intervals to my embarrassment, he says, you said you know a postage stamp and you know really large writing. That’s how much I know. But I’m a super quick learner. RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: And, for good or for bad and for my benefit, they hired me. RITHOLTZ: How long did you stay with LIFFE? Or LIFFE as in — GREW: LIFFE — a couple of years, just over again. And then I got another call. RITHOLTZ: Uh-oh. GREW: I know, this seems to be a process. RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: So, I got a call and this one was ultimately from a recruiter who’s working for Lehman Brothers, an investment bank, a bond house. RITHOLTZ: Another one that’s a few hundred years old as well. GREW: Another one that — RITHOLTZ: At least was. GREW: Was a few hundred years old. Again, set up by, you now, brothers and all the rest of it. So, and that was another conversation where they were looking for somebody, quite frankly, who had some sort of futures, options, star LIFFE (ph) experience, because they wanted somebody to go and sit on a fixed income floor. RITHOLTZ: Right. And I want to say the criminal background turned out not to hurt either. GREW: No, they — thanks for that. We’ll talk about that later, Barry. So, the — so the sense of again, another opportunity just sort of thrown in my way. And as I joined Lehman Brothers, it was the first time that Russia had a — had a little bit of a crisis. RITHOLTZ: ’98, something like that. GREW: Correct. Correct, spot on. And I was thrown at a, okay, we now need to know what have we got in Russia, what’s our exposure, what are our legal contracts, how does this work? And I was one of many, many people. But it — it talked about landing and the rubber hitting the road. RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: And at that point Lehman share price had its first sort of crumbs moment. And that was fascinating to just be in the inner workings. Baptisms by fire, I sort of enjoy — I shouldn’t probably admit that. RITHOLTZ: That’s the phrase that popped into my head as soon as you described — GREW: It is — it is sort of baptism of fire. And it was something which was phenomenal to actually be part of but for the fact that you’re living it. Does that make sense? RITHOLTZ: Sure. GREW: As an academic exercise, marvelous. When you’re in the middle of it, you – you’re kind of so caught in it. And I ended up on working on the fixed income floors until — RITHOLTZ: You’re working in London not in New York at the time. GREW: Correct, working in London. And again, the first time I’d worked in the South Side. And that’s where I sort of feel I had my biggest growth and my growing up was in that Lehman Brothers phase. In part because I again benefited from being in the mix when we were the second bank that was raided by the Japanese regulators after they’d gone into Credit Suisse. And the Japanese regulators were having a tough time with cross collateralization and issues about whether there were balance sheet accounting issues. RITHOLTZ: Is this how you ended up living in uh, Tokyo? Is that right? GREW: It is — it is. RITHOLTZ: And how long were you there for? GREW: So, well, for the year of the first year of the investigation, I flew back and forth to London. This is becoming a theme with me, flying back and forth to London. RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: And then after that another two and a half years where we actually lived in Japan. Fabulous. RITHOLTZ: Tokyo, it’s supposed to be an amazing city. GREW: It was extraordinary and brilliant. And the things you learn when you live overseas, I’m not sure I can ever really put on value on those experiences. Being responsible for a region in which you are very much alien in that space. RITHOLTZ: Mm-hmm. GREW: Where you have to learn cultural cues in ways that you’ve never had to understand it before. Where you’re navigating different countries and different relationships between those countries, which — all so tricky. Lehman had its headquarters for AsiaPac unusually in Tokyo. RITHOLTZ: Mm-hmm. GREW: Most of us had a kind of Hong Kong piece — RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: — or Singapore piece and then ex-Japan piece of it. That wasn’t how Lehman did it. So being responsible for AsiaPac was — from a Tokyo base, was brilliant. RITHOLTZ: Huh, quite fascinating. (BREAK) RITHOLTZ: So, you were very successful at Lehman. You kind of worked your way up the ranks there. What else did you focus on outside of putting out fires in Japan? GREW: Well, after running and building up that, sort of, that team, I hired my successor. By the way, fabulous thing to do, I suggest everybody does that actually. I mean genuinely, we can talk about it later. But that ability to hire tremendously strong, quality people around you, is I think been an enormous opportunity to provide you with opportunity to move on and do more. So, I got a call. I got a call from the U.S. who said, hey, how do you fancy coming to the U.S.? And that again was to work at Lehman’s headquarters — fabulous opportunity. So off we went from Japan to — to New York. That was a cultural change. RITHOLTZ: Yeah, to say the very least. Lehman was very much a hyper aggressive, macho culture, Dick Fuld’s nickname was the “Gorilla.” GREW: It was. RITHOLTZ: What was it like working in that sort of, you know, very much bro culture? GREW: And I’m — and I’m slightly worried I’m going to disappoint you with this answer. But it was fabulous. I had the best time. And I never encountered that sense of being overwhelmed by a — a masculine overtly bullying kind of culture. In fact, some of the early work that I did on diversity and inclusion was at Lehman in New York. RITHOLTZ: Huh. GREW: And was sponsored by people like Joe Gregory, who was just a real champion of that — of that content. So that, maybe I’m — maybe I’m thick skinned or something. But the truth of the matter is I loved it. I enjoyed it. And I think Lehman was — I owe a lot to my experiences in that organization. RITHOLTZ: As much as Lehman spectacularly crashed and burned in the financial crisis, everybody I know who worked there really liked it. It was a pure meritocracy. GREW: Absolutely. RITHOLTZ: They didn’t care if you made money, it didn’t matter. GREW: That’s right. RITHOLTZ: And, yeah, it was a little sharp elbowed. It was a tough place to work. But people who came through that said it was the best experience professionally of their lives. GREW: Absolutely right. And you know, they had a phrase. which I still use. You know when you get to that point in — in investment banking, you ended up with those loose sites, with, you know, various things that you’re supposed to, you know, mouse (ph) match with something as well. RITHOLTZ: Sure, all the little banking things, yeah. GREW: All the little banking things from whatever. And they had one phrase, and I — I still use it which is be smart, be dumb. And it’s kind of a curious — RITHOLTZ: Be smart, be dumb. GREW: Be smart, be dumb. And what that retranslated into was, if you don’t understand something that is going on, if you’re in a meeting and you don’t get it, if you’re outside of the meeting and don’t get it, say something. Actually, ask the question. Because you’d be surprised how many people can answer the question by the way. RITHOLTZ: Uh-huh. GREW: But also, it’s okay not to know everything. It’s the only way you learn. And I still use that. I might have it — I don’t quite have it on a Lucite anymore, but I absolutely believe that to be the case. If you don’t get it ask the question. I’m not supposed to know everything in the room, that’s not the point. But I would like to understand what’s going on. RITHOLTZ: Huh. Really, really intriguing. So, let’s talk a little bit about the history for those listening who might not be familiar with uh, Man Group. What is its focus and specialties? Who are its clients? GREW: So, Man is a — as you said hundred million – 145-billion-dollar hedge fund. It’s there to –to and loan only (ph). It’s not just a hedge fund, it’s not just doing long shortcuts (ph) or loan only (ph). It’s got private markets, it’s through the credit curve it has core business engines which are driven by styles. So, we have large comp businesses. CTA and um, equity comp businesses. We have a discretionary business, what some of you might have already been familiar with in GOG, we have private markets business which is focused really on real estate. And the — that — that — the single family real estate ownership piece. Um, and community housing, and then we have something called solutions. And the solutions piece is the piece where we work with in effect our institutional clients or institutional client business, but those institutional clients are pension funds, their endowments, they are looking after the pensions and the savings of real individuals. The individuals that might — mom and dad right. The doctors, the teachers, the metal workers in Holland, wherever they may be. And we partner with those institutions to return value. And that’s our early goal. When we come in, in the morning, we think about who the real underlying clients are here. And how we partner and make sure that we’re returning Alpha. We’re an active manager and that solutions piece is how we create the spoke solution. So, we’ll take elements or particular strategies from each part of our discretionary strategy and match it with con strategy and return it to clients because we understand and we work with them on their portfolio, the exposure, what they need to achieve, their risk management to create something that is a spoke for them. RITHOLTZ: So that’s very interesting because the typical funds is this is our strategy — GREW: Take it or leave it. RITHOLTZ: Right, that’s pretty much it. You sort of have a one foot in the um, financial planning, asset management side and another side in actual fund management. What are the advantages of marrying those two together? GREW: I think the reality for me is that more and more institutional clients need something in a separate managed account. They want something that’s bespoke to them, and the portfolio risk or construction that they need answers to. These are long strategic relationships where we are investing time and effort in partnership within these institutions to understand what their portfolio construction needs to look like or what they want to achieve. And then we are part of helping them understand that. And helping them deliver a solution that we can provide to them to address certain issues. And maybe it’s the combination of strategies, maybe it’s a combination of strategies with additional transparency or additional liquidity? Maybe it’s leverage, maybe it’s a tele protection, maybe it’s an overlay hedge, maybe it’s any number of these things. The capability that Man has to do that, is what we have spent time and energy and money on. And technology on. Let’s be clear, we talk about tech and I’m sure we’ll cover it later, we talk about how we deploy tech, and we think about tech within that quant space. But we deploy technology throughout the organization to give us scale and capability, that we use to service our clients. RITHOLTZ: So, let’s stay with that, before we get to the tech side of it, all the entities that you referred to various uh, foundations and institutions and pensions, many of them have a future liability. Meaning they have an obligation to pay out a certain amount of money to a certain class of beneficiaries at some point in the future. So, when you’re describing bespoke strategies, I’m assuming your targeting those future liabilities for each of those — those entities? GREW: It can be that it can be anything that they want in reality. We are much more about understanding client needs. And remember they have, as you know, vast portfolios. Trillions of dollars that they are putting into that. We’re part of that and doing it abs — understanding what they’re trying to achieve, is less efficient potentially for them. So, let me give you an example of what I mean by this. I was um, speaking to a couple clients, in the last couple of days and they were talking to me and they say listen, what we would really like to do is sit down with you and there are two or three areas and I was like terrific, what do you want to talk about? And they said, well, first of all we’d like to understand data and how you manage data and how you manage your technology in that? I said great. And then they said the second thing is, we’d really like your help in understanding our portfolio construction and whether what we think it’s doing is what it’s doing or whether we’ve got correlation where we didn’t think we’d have correlation. Or how we’re positioned. And I said sure, we’ve got tools that can help you do that. And then the third thing they said, I really want to talk to you about how you’re achieving diversity and equity and inclusion. RITHOLTZ: Really? GREW: And I was like — RITHOLTZ: That comes up in these conversations? GREW: And so, I was like, okay, we can talk to you about that too. The point is, it’s not just about delivering a fund, here’s a product let me flog it to you. It’s about a much deeper relationship for us and it’s about delivering all of the firm, not just part of the firm. And that is important to us because I think we do a better job. And by the way, I’ll put this in there as well, we believe in making our, you know, our clients smarter and better because they make us smarter and better in return. There’s a – there’s an interesting piece on a Podcast listening to Fran Lebowitz actually the other day and she was talking about the massive loss we had in the ‘80’s with the AIDS crisis of artists. And she made this really great point which is, it wasn’t just the artists we lost, we lost the audience. We lost the decerning audience in that process too. And I — it resonated with me about how we think about Man. We want our clients to be smarter and better, and equipped with what we can give them because they hold us as we hold ourselves accountable. They’re the better audience that makes the better performance. RITHOLTZ: Huh, really quite interesting. So we’ll circle back to diversity, inclusion, ESG a little later. Let’s stay with technology for a minute. How is Man deploying new technologies, what are you using in your quant work, in your — your trading and how does this, um, infiltrate the entire organization? GREW: Well, it – it’s a similar one, let me say, you know we view technology and the adoption of AI technology as a fundamental part of innovation. And it’s useful across our entire organization, in the investment process, but also through trading and execution. It’s used in every single juncture. We’re constantly looking to align the latest technology and latest techniques with our underlying investment for philosophies, not the other way around. Does that make sense. So, it’s one of the tools that make us better at delivering what we do. And new technologies aren’t replacement. They’re for me — they’re rather a compliment to what we are trying to achieve. And we are never going to be reliant on one technology. This space is moving so quickly. RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: It’s about adopting the new, finding its application, seeing whether we can gain alpha from it whether it makes us smarter, allows us to monetize something which reduces cost, whatever it may be and making that happen. I think AI can do much for example, then just automate. Um, it — it’s innovative, it can increase productivity, we use it as part of our processing of data of our large data, of looking at our models, looking at portfolio construction. Um, it — we have used it for example for ESG prediction metrics. Let’s look about whether where we see weather cycles. Where we look at it um, use it in your linguistic programing to look at — to make sense of sentiment in um, annual reporting from example. RITHOLTZ: Mm-hmm. GREW: So many different applications by nature, as you know Barry, we are open source, um, space, we love it. Our developers love it. I mean I wish I was as smart as a developer, but our developers love open source. It makes them better. When you look at GitUp — RITHOLTZ: Sure. GREW: Which is one of these mechanisms which I’m sure most people know, I think we’re number two on GitUp, but it’s this sense of open-source technology um, where we use it as much as we can or we — we withing the organization but we’re always interested in what else is out there. So, we’re not frightened by tech development, we want to use it, but we don’t depart from philosophically where we start and what we need it for. RITHOLTZ: Yeah there — there’s been a little bit of a backlash against things like various AI and – and chatbots etcetera. To me it’s always been a tool, all this technology is a tool that makes people more productive, more effective, more efficient. Uh, I’ve never thought hey, ChatGPT is going to put all of us out of business it — it’s something that can be used to the betterment of our work product, and it sounds like that’s integral to Man’s philosophy. GREW: I kind of agree. ChatGPT is clearly the greatest disruptor we’ve had in the last year. I mean, it’s been — it’s been given some really quite momentous uh, bylines as well. But it’s certainly a massive disruptor from my perspective, if you think about it negatively, you’re missing the mark. RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: It’s — it’s — RITHOLTZ: I’m sure it hallucinates occasionally, but — GREW: But — but, well I was going to say something, who doesn’t, but that’s not true. Um, but it’s also not going to be the first or the last piece of AI technology. This isn’t well, I’ve got ChatGPT, therefore we’re done. RITHOLTZ: We’re done. Right. GREW: That’s not going to happen, this sort of semi-hysterical fear of it, I think is all wrong. There is — there are undoubtedly going to be benefits for us being able to use technology to capture large data sources, look at what we’ve done and I, you know, I’m talking to a man at Bloomberg’s so you will know this. We talked about open architecture a minute ago, and look at what we’ve done with this ArcticDB. So, this is a piece of technology that was developed at Man Group, which in effect is a super charged database. You know, it’s able to process large chunks of data which we’re all trying to deal with in a much more efficient and effective way. We actually open sourced it back in 2015, um, it’s first version, but in one of those moments where you’ve got to be careful you’re not drinking your own Kool-aid a little bit. RITHOLTZ: Uh-huh. GREW: We – I mean we talk about tech all the time, we went to Bloomberg and said we have this cool piece of kit, um, would you like to take a look at it? And we came to Bloomberg because if there’s one place that has a phenomenal tech — RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: Space and a Ka trillion developers, and all the rest of it, it’s Bloomberg. So we came here and we were testing ourselves. Back to that audience thing. RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: show me how, whether we can be better at this and show me where we’ve kidded ourselves, is this really – is this really the thing? RITHOLTZ: Mm-hmm. GREW: And after months and months it’s now in the hands of Bloomberg and it’s being — RITHOLTZ: Oh really? GREW: Endorsed as that as a program that is in the mix and is part of the Bloomberg offering in that space. So, we — we checked our audience. We worked out we weren’t drinking the Kool-Aid. But it shows you sort of the way that we think about tech. and how we think about it as something that makes us all better, but I will be super clear, it’s only part of what we have. We have a million models, we have our own technology, we have our own philosophical investment ideas within each of our engines and we use tech to make us better at that. RITHOLTZ: Huh. That sounds quite fascinating. Let’s discuss the major divisions at Man Group. I want to try and wrap my arms around, first what is Man AHL? GREW: Okay. So, think of, we have two, let me do it a slightly different way. We have two quant engines. One is numeric and one is AHL. CTA, macro, big trading hub. RITHOLTZ: When I hear CTA, I hear commodity trading. GREW: Right. RITHOLTZ: Okay. GREW: That’s where it’s originally coming at, from, but it’s much more than that. And then equities, resprimia (ph), Maloney (ph), piece and numeric which is also quant. GOG, third engine. Discretionary, human beings, people like you and me and by the way, the way I started at the firm was through GOG. That was an acquisition which is something that we — you know is part and parcel of how Man has grown over the years. So, GOG, discretionary portfolio management. Um, then you have what is FRM MSL. So that’s that solutions piece, we talked about earlier, although FRM was, and you’ve spoken to Luke before, so the fund to funds business. Um, which was also an acquisition, but that’s rolled into lucia (ph) as well and we have still got a fund to fund business where people might have thought in the past that that was a dying part, not so much, people need some help when it comes to their selection also of uh, managers that are out there and that is still something that we are part and part of. And then the fifth piece is that private market space where we have that real estate piece that we talked about earlier and we within each of those engines we also have credit offerings as part of that. RITHOLTZ: Huh, really quite fascinating. (BREAK) RITHOLTZ: So — so let’s talk a little bit about your approach to leadership. You’ve managed to distinguish yourself in a very competitive field. Tell — tell us how. GREW: Here’s the answer everyone, it’s not true. Um, I — I tell you and perhaps this is a way of thinking about it, what I have done perhaps is the better way of saying, do I and how I distinguish myself. What I’ve done is taken every single opportunity, that has come my way. And I — RITHOLTZ: So, no master plan and this just, you just stumbled blindly from one gig to the next, is that — GREW: I mean — I mean that’s the perfect way of summing it up. The um, the way of summing it up is this, if you’d have asked me 25 years ago, do you think you’ll be the CEO of an investment management company, I would have laughed. RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: I would have laughed. I didn’t have a grand master plan. What I did have was a somewhat insatiable desire to learn and have some fun doing so that I loved being a fixer, I loved being put on planes, or being sent into areas to solve things. I have innately hired people around me and built teams of highly credible quality people, um, who I have empowered and who I have loved to partner in achieving whatever it was that we needed to achieve better, faster, smarter than before. And that — that empowerment piece is huge. The ability to not have to be the smartest, in fact, let me do it a different way. If I am the smartest person in the room — RITHOLTZ: You’ve done something wrong. GREW: I — I worry, I mean that’s not okay. Um, so on that basis, leadership style, hire brilliant people, put great minds around you. Put people around you who are willing to disagree with you or better still stop you from careening off a cliff. If you’re headed in the wrong direction, I can’t tell you how many times that, that is just as important as sort of the rugby tackle TE’s bit. If you’ve suddenly got yourself into a frame of this is where we’re going and I have enormously benefited from that style of management which is inclusive, it’s about delegation, it’s about empowering people to sometimes be really horrible. RITHOLTZ: So, let’s stick with the delegation and the empowerment because those are key themes. You don’t sound like you’re a micromanager, you sound like you tell people this is what we want you to do, tell us what you need to get it done and now go do it. GREW: That’s our job. As great leaders I — I — that sounded arrogant. I don’t mean — RITHOLTZ: Any leader. GREW: Any leaders — RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: I think any great leader, any capable leader, maybe that’s a better way of phrasing it, any capable leader, that’s one of the hallmarks it feels to me. Migrate people, empower them. If they can’t deliver, if you’ve got the wrong person, change the person. Don’t micromanage. Don’t find the fix in making it, you do the job or somebody else. RITHOLTZ: Swap the people on board. GREW: That’s right. And so that has always been — I always find that really smart people want that. They want to be given the keys, they want to run these things and the smartest people know when they don’t know. The most frightening person is the person who doesn’t know that they don’t know. The best person who works for you is the one who goes, yep, don’t know the answer to this, leave it with me or we got to find the best solution here, not the perfect solution here. You’ve got to be able to move dynamically. You have to be able to think. You have to be able to find solutions and it be execution divine if you’re working with me. RITHOLTZ: So, you clearly have great insights and leadership skills, but you’ve said you’re surprised that you got named CEO of this large financial firm. Why the surprise? GREW: I was — RITHOLTZ: By the way I’m calling you out for a little false humility here. Defend yourself. GREW: Defend, excellent here I go – on goes the Barrister — RITHOLTZ: Barrister. GREW: Making cracks so we can get on. Let me say I — I think there are tremendously strong people. We have a great bench of senior management at Man Group. It is a bit of a privilege, and it sounds a bit trite, just happens to be true that we have a phenomenal bench of high-quality people. I don’t want to assume and didn’t want to assume that I’d be named the CEO. I am thrilled, let me tell you that I am going to be the CEO for the first of September. But it’s — there are so many capable individuals that it doesn’t do you any harm to step back and recognize the skills and the qualities of those people who you have worked with and who you want to work with going forward. So, that was, that has been something that I think has held me in good stead actually to have perspective and to keep my feet very firmly grounded. I think what perhaps surprised me in reality and yet it shouldn’t have done was the press coverage that the announcement garnered — RITHOLTZ: Meaning, and I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but I’ve read everything you’ve written. You were genuinely surprised people focused on you as a woman taking the CEO. I mean this is still a pretty — especially in finance, look there is a gender parody in business, generally and finance lags business and hedge funds lag finance. So why so surprised? GREW: At this point, I think this is where I call myself out and say why — you can’t go well obviously when you put it like that. I think perhaps I was so focused on the job. I was so focused on this being something that I looked at internally rather than I perhaps focused on the external ramification or impact of it. And it’s humbling when that happens, and it’s been heartening and, in some ways, overwhelming, and brilliant all at the same time. And of course, you get — one gets a thousand emails and a thousand messages and all of those things and some of the most touching are those from people who — who are really just saying, you know thanks — thank you Robyn but thank you Man for breaking that. For giving us somebody who is underrepresented, and it means that we all think we now, we’ve got more people, one more person sorry to — that’s broken through that barrier. Whatever that barrier may look like. And that was — that was touching I have to say. RITHOLTZ: It — it’s also when you’re on the inside, you see the changes that others won’t see manifest for years or decades, so you’re aware that things might be a little better than they appear from the outside. So maybe there’s a little surprise there. I have to mention at this point, that by the time you become CEO on September first, the Chairman replacing John Cryan, uh, will be Ann Wade. You’ll be not only led by women, the firm will be led by two women. There — there’s nothing like that in the hedge fund universe at all. GREW: It’s phenomenal, um, and Ann is a superstar. I’m very, very lucky to also work with board, we’re very luck to work with a board at Man that is — that is brilliant and engaged and highly qualified. And that with Ann has been, again, the master of transition, the master of how we think of succession at Man has been very deep in the way that the board has thought about the succession of the chair has also been a very, very in-depth, assessment and analysis. Buy happens stance we are in this position with Ann and myself, I’ve got to tell you it’s going to be brilliant, but it’s not because we’re women, it’s because we’re the best people to take these roles. RITHOLTZ: So, let’s talk about the best people, the firm is 144.7 billion in assets. Let’s round it up to 145 as much as my compliance people hate when I do that. How do you guys’ plan on growing the assets, do you have any targets in mind? Do you want to get to 200 billion. Is it a trillion-dollar firm a decade from now. What are you thinking about? GREW: And it’s — it’s a great question, it’s also an early question let’s be clear. So um, I’m going to perhaps not give you the satisfactory answer you want. Nevertheless, you’d expect me to do exactly just what I’m about to do. The firm is brilliant, I mean it has a cracking core business and my number one job apart from anything is not to break that because that is value and it’s real and it will continue to grow. We will continue to see the value of technology and we have 35 years, 40 years of quant and data and tech behind us and we will continue to invest in that space. We will continue to look for opportunities in an MLA format. We’ve made it very clear to the market. Um, can’t guess what they’re going to be. Couldn’t tell you if I did know. But I can’t guess what that’s going to be. What I will tell you is it will additive, and it will be additive for our clients. Ultimately this is about having deeper and better client offerings. It’s that piece about the solutions that we talked about earlier. How do I ensure that I’ve got each of the components that can provide a better offering for our institutional clients. And we’ll grow that. U.S. massively important to us. Deep capitol market, you’ll absolutely see us putting effort and time into building our presence here too. RITHOLTZ: Looking forward to that. Tell us a little bit about your background in environmental, social and governance-based investing. GREW: It certainly has become a little bit controversial here but yes, so let me talk — let me talk about our background. We — in the early 2000’s we had our first sort of um, involvement in creating on thinking about climate and signing up to various supplies of information when it came to climate data. Um, and but it really, let’s be clear, it’s ESG as a concept has really hotted up, if I’m allowed to use that phrase. RITHOLTZ: Sure. GREW: With ESG. In the last — RITHOLTZ: No pun intended? GREW: No pun intended, maybe a tiny pun intended. In the last five years or so, where you see the massive change in the European regulatory environment. We have these article eight and article nine funds which are responsible investing funds, you know, you have to have a certain percentage of responsive investing and um, investments within them that can differ between article nine and article eight. Um, where we’ve moved away from exclusionness where things are becoming more complex and where data points are becoming more interesting and where um, drive investment decisions. We have certainly seen an uptick of investment interest in RI in Europe. There’s almost a point where you can’t have a conversation with somebody in Europe without the client, without there being an RI piece to it. RITHOLTZ: RI meaning? GREW: Responsible Investing. RITHOLTZ: Okay. GREW: My apologies. And so ESG RI interchangeable in this space. Um, but — but a comment I would say more generally is, since when didn’t we take into account governance and risk in investment decision making? That’s — that’s the bit that I find quite interesting here. So when I answer your questions, I answered in the format of what you’re really asking me which is the ESG kind of concept. RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: When actually, you extract governance, and you say do we look like a governance of issuers. RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: Who doesn’t? RITHOLTZ: It’s a risk screen if any. GREW: It’s a risk screen. And so, the way that we think about ESG at Man, is not as an evangelical point where I soap box you into saying what is right and wrong. That’s not what we’re here to do. We’re here as product providers, solution providers to our clients. And so, if a client comes to us and says I want to have a portfolio which has – which uses its impact. If I want to look at biodiversity, if I want to invest in, and his has not happened by the way, but you know, it only boards which, I only want to invest in publicly listed companies where 50 percent of the boards are made up of diverse candidates. Doesn’t happen, but these criteria, that’s where we are placed. Now, the difference that Man has is that what is happening is that there is a chunk of data out there that is holy inconsistent, highly complex, multiply sourced, and damn right contradictory. And what we can do with that is apply those 35-40 years of data science, quants and tech capability. I can throw 500 people at that if I wanted to. Well, we don’t need to, to understand what the signals are in that space. But it isn’t that everything that we do at Man Group is now, has to be ESG, it’s what do clients want. And we certainly have clients who will only want something that is responsibly invested in some format, and we have a lot of clients who don’t. RITHOLTZ: When you say the data is contradictory, there’s been some studies that have shown that ESG doesn’t generate any form of alpha or alphaperformance, very often tied to how well oil companies are doing because if you pull those out it’s a major component. And there’s others that say we’ve mentioned the risk component, hey, if you have a lot of companies with bad governance, they have a disconcerting tendency to blow up and crash. Uh, how do you reconcile these different data points or is it all in the framing and the definition of what ESG is or, what diversity and inclusion means? GREW: Well, it — it great question Barry. I think what you are pulling out there is the complexity of the questions let alone the answer. So, fundamentally, yes it has something to do with strategy. If you were in a growth strategy last year that had ESG — RITHOLTZ: Didn’t matter. GREW: Didn’t matter. If right, so, some of this is also about extracting the ESG factor not just understanding and understanding it as against the strategy that ESG was attached to. Absolutely, you’re finding, if you’re a hydroelectric company, and where your hydroelectric base is, is now suffering from drought, every year. If you are a wind company and wind patterns for the last few years have been off considerably. These are climate change, but they take into account effectively the effectiveness of your business. RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: Now, so — so how do you — how do you extract the various points of that to make it a decent thesis. And the argument is what is it that you want to achieve as a client? What are you after? And are you willing, and some points of this, is the discussion out there that happens with some clients, is — is it all about P&L? Is it about alpha capture or is there a willingness here to actually say, actually, I’m more interested in, I want P & L, I want alpha capture and I actually want social impact. Or I want climate impact, or I want decarbonization. The other piece of this is, there are absolute strategies which are about transition. And transition is about recognizing the journey, between where we are between carbon and greenhouse gas vs. where a company might be going. So, you will have, and we have had clients who say I am interested in, I still want to look at all the gas and fossil fuels, but I’m interested in the transition. I’m interested in who is really putting money to work to transition from those fossil fuels into radiopuls (ph) for example. So, a complex question which then begets some fortunately, a complex answer. RITHOLTZ: Let’s talk a little bit about diversity and inclusion. How do you think about that as a manager and then how do you think about that as an investor? GREW: We turn a mirror on ourselves, let’s be clear. You know that — that’s important, we continue to put every effort into seeking and having difference in our organization. I mean real difference as well. I think this piece about, I’m not really interested in the person who is different on the outside but actually went through all the same educational processes and the same training. I think we need difference — RITHOLTZ: By the way, it’s funny you mention that. But there was just a study recently and I don’t remember if it was the Times or Wall Street Journal or Bloomberg, that had the story, the vast majority of economists were working in finance, went to the same six grad schools. So, what does it matter how they look, it’s the same widget coming out of the same factory. GREW: And we’ve got to get comfortable as well, let’s be clear. We have to be comfortable with discomfort. If you want real diversity — RITHOLTZ: Say that again, comfortable with discomfort. GREW: Comfortable with discomfort. When you are in a room and you can connect over your whatever it may be, it doesn’t really matter what your connections, your school or your experience in life, where you, your football team, your and by that I meant — RITHOLTZ: Soccer. GREW: Soccer. Anyway, that thing, that — that’s what we do as human beings. As human beings we try to connect with each other, that is how we smooth the conversations and how we move things forward. Actually, when you have real difference in the room it feels kind of uncomfortable. It feels a little bit jarring from time to time. Well, what do you mean you don’t understand, or you don’t get that or that wasn’t an easy conversation. We gravitate as human beings towards easier conversations where we find commonality. And what we’re asking of our organizations is to make it a little bit more friction full not friction less in that space. But I am 1,000 percent, I shouldn’t say that I know it’s a bad phrase, I’m 100 percent — RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: Um — RITHOLTZ: Thank you so much for that by the way, because my question is always, why 1,000, why not 2,000? GREW: Why not 2,000. 100 percent sure that we need, and there is a war for the best talent. And if we think, if the premise that — that only the best people come from um, certain demographics. RITHOLTZ: Your tribe. GREW: Your tribe. RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: Is when you say it out loud, nonsense. RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: So, how we get people into our organizations that feel, look and have difference and how we ensure that we give them the space to be that different in our organizations that’s the criticality to it. That bit of, yeah — yeah, it’s okay, we’ll have you and then please can you be like us. You’ve got to know how to create an organization which actually gives people the space to be different, because that’s what you’re getting them for. It’s a bit like an acquisition where you understand the commercial reality of it, you buy something because of its commercial differentiation and then you bring it in, and you try to squish it into something that degrades that commercial benefit. It’s the same with people, we’ve got to bring people in, you’ve got to let them fly and you’ve got to be comfortable, perhaps being a little bit more uncomfortable than you were before. RITHOLTZ: All the academic studies say if you want to avoid group thinking, if you want better decisions, the more diverse the group the more likely you are to — to reach a better decision. So even that discomfort, there’s some academic research that supports it right? GREW: Absolutely, over and over again you see the academic research and yet, it think there’s an arrogance that we’ve had in our industry a little bit, which has been that great people will come to us. And then we suddenly woke up a little while ago, especially as tech became so incredibly important to all of us, that there were other options for these very smart people. That they didn’t have to come and work at hedge funds, or maybe they weren’t interested in finance, what? How could that possibly, what, how could that be Barry? You and I — RITHOLTZ: Shocking. GREW: Shocking right? RITHOLTZ: I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’m a recovering attorney myself, so I — I get it. GREW: Right? So, it was attorney’s anonymous where you go to, anyway that aside. The so — so we suddenly found ourselves believing that we are great, therefore great people will come. RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: And actually, not so much. The — the — that — those new generations have many more choices on how to deploy that expertise and actually, they look at us and they say why would I come and work for an organization where you don’t look like me, you don’t feel like me, you don’t understand me, and you’ll make me do stuff I don’t want to do. And by the way I’ve watched billions and I’m – I’m this is the difficult part of the podcast, I just made a funny face, but the point being, we have to do, and we’ve had to do a much better job I think in — in joining up the dots for that brilliant talent that’s coming through. About what we do and why we’re valuable and why it matters that we do what we do and why they are important part of ensuring financial security for millions of people who have worked very, very hard their whole lives and deserve a high-quality return on their pension. RITHOLTZ: So, I’ve always imagined the competition for the best talent is between financial companies. What you’re really saying is finance is an entity collectively has to compete against other — GREW: Absolutely. RITHOLTZ: Fields and institutions. GREW: Every day of the week. Every day of the week and maybe it’s startups, maybe that piece or maybe its Tesla or maybe it’s Facebook or maybe it’s Google, maybe it’s any number of these other spaces that are tech enabled and where their doing this their — their PR — their PR is better, has been smarter than ours and you know that piece where we use — where people skate board in the office bit, you know and I think we’ve had to be a little bit smarter and a little less scathing and a little more humble to ensure that we really are the employer or the industry or version of that choice for the best and brightest. And that includes people who are different, and they look at financial services and they don’t see difference. (BREAK) RITHOLTZ: So let me dredge up a quote of yours. GREW: Uh-oh. RITHOLTZ: That I thought was quite fascinating. You told somebody recently and I believe it was after you were named incoming CEO, “I’ve never been in the majority, whether because I was a woman, and or someone who proudly identifies as part of the LGBTQ community and that can create challenges and means that prejudice has been in a reality for me at different points in my career.” How does that affect how you run a company, how you engage in recruitment and how you think about diversity and inclusion? GREW: I think it’s given me insight. I think when you live it, when it’s your lived experience, you know it and you feel it. I think also I am now in a position and have been, I guess, for the last few years of being proof positive that people who are different can — can be in senior positions and can now run companies. I think that the prejudice for me, just kind of made me more punchy and made me more determined to succeed. So I think it makes me better at understanding what it feels like when you don’t belong. When you’re on the outside of conversation. When the culture of an organization genuinely isn’t inclusive. And that it’s not about checking boxes, it’s about investing in your culture and your organization in a way that’s very, very authentic. I — I’m lucky in many ways, I never struggled with the I shouldn’t be this, this isn’t what society wants, I’m never going to succeed. I don’t know what happened, but that bypassed me. Luckily. And so I’ve always been the way I really am today and that has been extraordinarily good for me in large part, but it’s not been without issue. I just think that I’ve overcome those issues which makes them something that I’m alive for other people. That in my organization and beyond, those struggles are still real. RITHOLTZ: Huh, really, really quite fascinating. Let’s jump to our favorite questions that we ask all of our guests, starting with what have you been entertaining yourself with, what are you listening to or watching or streaming? GREW: So, what I — I — Guilty — Guilty, what I’m watching. I have — I love Ted Lasso. RITHOLTZ: What’s not to love, it’s a delightful show. GREW: It’s a brilliant show and I think that it — it seems to, it’s the feel-good thing we kind of all need at t the moment, it feels to me as well. So, Ted Lasso — RITHOLTZ: I don’t even think that’s a guilty pleasure, the acting is great, the writing is so sharp. GREW: It’s fabulous. So sharp. RITHOLTZ: And people who like it are embarrassed, and go I like Ted Lasso. Why shouldn’t you like it, it’s fantastic. GREW: I find myself quoting Ted Lasso. What — perhaps not Ted Lasso himself but there are definitely points where I may be channeling some of the other characters. Definitely. Podcasts, I — I — well, obviously it would be wrong, Barry for me to not say you. RITHOLTZ: Stop. GREW: Stop — stop. But — but I — I do find — some of the series very useful. I find some of the Goldman stuff very useful. RITHOLTZ: Yeah. GREW: But I also find when I dip into, you know, Talk Easy, or I’ll dip into Dark Shepherd from time to time because it’s really interesting, hearing some of that sort of outside (inaudible). You’re finding yourself with somebody different, asking people like us different questions. RITHOLTZ: Really intriguing. Tell us about your mentors who helped shape your career. GREW: Goodness. This isn’t an exception speech. But I’ve been super lucky through every part from — from my university days through here’s — here’s something I’ll admit to. There is not one company that I have worked for or regulator that I worked for where I’m not still in touch with, my old bosses. And that is because they took the time to work at who I was and then they put me to work. And I will forever be grateful for that willingness to step back, not take a box, but invest in me as an individual and then work at what I was good at and then make it better. And so, there’s not one person through any part, you know, but I would say one of the most transformational mentors or allies or sponsors or whatever, is Luke. I have had enormous benefit from having his confidence and he has pushed me like no one else. RITHOLTZ: Huh. Really — really quite intriguing. I very much enjoyed my conversation with him also, fascinating person. GREW: He is, he’s — RITHOLTZ: Really fascinating. GREW: He’s everything and more. RITHOLTZ: Huh. Let’s talk about some of your favorite books and what you’re reading lately. GREW: So, living in Japan, gives you a bit of an insight on many things so, any Japanese author, um, Murakami, anytime Murakami puts anything out I read it then I read it again. RITHOLTZ: I’m assuming you’re reading the translated version in English not in the original. GREW: You know, I wish I was that smart. I tell you something actually about it, really good point. The translators of these books, aren’t they gifted? RITHOLTZ: Really. GREW: I mean, because it’s not just a word – it’s not like put it into Google and see what you get. It’s — RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: It’s everything and that is fine. That is just an extraordinary capability. So anything in that sort of Murakami space. What’s open on my bedside table right now, is the I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read it. But is Orlando. And — RITHOLTZ: Really. GREW: There is something extraordinary about that transformational through time, through gender, through experience. There’s something that’s really quite fascinating. I’m not saying it’s an easy book to read, I’m just saying it just happens to be the one I reopened a month ago and I’m still going through. RITHOLTZ: Interesting. And now we’re down to our final two questions. What sort of advice would you give to a recent college grad who was thinking about a career in finance. GREW: Do it. I would — I mean — I think if, don’t expect it to be what you think it is. experience it without any form of prejudice in some ways or without any form of expectation. I would also say go for it in a take the opportunities. What finance does which is I had not anticipated, but is why I’m still in it, is it’s fast, it’s intellectually demanding, it has reached beyond its real estate footprint, it has impact, it is topical, it covers geopolitical risk. There isn’t a part of the world or society it doesn’t impact and if you embrace it, on that basis, the opportunities are actually endless. So, be yourself, go for it, don’t think too much about ladders and what your next title is or whatever that stuff is. Just immerse yourself in it and take every opportunity that is given to you. RITHOLTZ: Really interesting advice. And our final question, what do you know about the world of investing and finance and hedge funds for that matter that you wish you knew 25-30 years ago when you were first starting out? GREW: I don’t think I wish I’d known anything. I think that my slightly wide eyed, slightly intrigued, slightly uneducated start point in finance was almost a gift. Because my expectations weren’t there, because I didn’t need to know because I just was hungry to learn. Because I didn’t really think about corporate structure or what my next job was. RITHOLTZ: Right. GREW: And it was freeing, and I look back on my career and I look back on the experiences and I look back on the people, some of whom still work for me. And I — I’m not sure I’d change that. And so I’m okay with where I was. RITHOLTZ: Quite fascinating. Robyn, thank you for being so generous with your time. This has been absolutely intriguing. We have been speaking with Robyn Grew. She is the incoming Chief Executive Officer at Man Group. If you enjoyed this conversation, well, be sure and check out any of the other 500 or so we’ve done over the past eight years. You can find those at Spotify, iTunes, YouTube or wherever you find your favorite Podcast. Be sure and sign up for our daily reads at Ritholtz.com. Follow me on Twitter @ritholtz. Follow all of the fine family of Bloomberg podcasts at Podcasts. I would be remiss if I did not thank the crack team that helps with these conversations together each week. Bob Bragg is my audio engineer, Atika Valbrun is my project manager, Paris Wald is our Producer, Sean Russo is my head of research. I’m Barry Ritholtz, you’ve been listening to Masters in Business on Bloomberg Radio. END   ~~~   The post Transcript: Robyn Grew appeared first on The Big Picture......»»

Soloviev Group, a pioneer and leader in socially responsible and environmentally sustainable development, announces its luxury rental building at 7 West 57th Street has been renamed The Rian. Located in the heart of Billionaire’s Row, steps from Central Park and Fifth Avenue’s luxury shopping, the building is nestled between the Aman Hotel,... The post Soloviev Group Introduces The Rian, An Exclusive Collection of Fifteen Full-Floor Luxury Rentals Located at 7 West 57th Street on Manhattan’s Billionaire’s Row appeared first on Real Estate Weekly. Soloviev Group, a pioneer and leader in socially responsible and environmentally sustainable development, announces its luxury rental building at 7 West 57th Street has been renamed The Rian. Located in the heart of Billionaire’s Row, steps from Central Park and Fifth Avenue’s luxury shopping, the building is nestled between the Aman Hotel, Plaza Hotel, Bergdorf Goodman, and the iconic 9 West 57th Street, also owned by the Soloviev Group. The boutique building is attracting both local and international elite who desire luxury and privacy in New York City’s most coveted location. Residents enjoy full-service and the unique opportunity to live in a full-floor home, with private elevator access. Some units have Central Park views and terraces. Residences are available both furnished and unfurnished with remaining units starting at $15,694 per month through Atlas Real Estate New York. The twenty-story building is comprised of two-bedroom luxury residences within a distinctive yet discreet glass façade. Designed by the industry-leading architecture firm Hill West with interiors by internationally renowned Tsao & McKown, residents are welcomed by the tranquility of an elegant lobby clad in white Italian Calacatta marble. The lobby is staffed 24-hours a day and provides residents with complimentary exclusive virtual access to a robust suite of international experts and tastemakers through LIVunLtd lifestyle concierge. The Rian’s distinctive residences boast high ceilings, smart home technology, premium finishes, plus unmatched views through floor-to-ceiling windows that together create an ambiance of refined grandeur and unmatched sophistication. With modern living in mind, each home boasts a custom Bulthaup kitchen that features bronze-finished cabinets, white marble countertops and a full suite of stainless-steel appliances by Gaggenau, including vented hoods by Faber and wine refrigerators by Thermador. Each bathroom, whether it’s the primary ensuite, secondary bath, or powder room, features exquisite fixtures and fittings akin to the building’s uncompromising design standards. Located in the epicenter of the city, residents of The Rian will enjoy fine shopping along the Fifth Avenue corridor; the prestigious cultural offerings at MoMA, Carnegie Hall, and the New York City Ballet; Central Park; celebrated culinary destinations like Marea, the Modern, Le Bernandin, and Avra, as well as signing privileges at Cucina 8 ½, an elevated rustic Italian restaurant found within Soloviev Group’s world-class 9 West 57th Street. The post Soloviev Group Introduces The Rian, An Exclusive Collection of Fifteen Full-Floor Luxury Rentals Located at 7 West 57th Street on Manhattan’s Billionaire’s Row appeared first on Real Estate Weekly......»»

Rob Kallick used to work in marketing while blogging about architecture and design on the side. Now he's selling dream homes he once ogled from afar. Rob Kallick started a blog and Instagram account in 2009 that featured midcentury-modern homes in Los Angeles. He's parlayed it into a team of real-estate agents that sold $200 million last year.Courtesy of Rob Kallick Rob Kallick's love of midcentury-modern architecture blossomed after moving to LA in 2008. He started a design-focused Instagram account, Take Sunset, that has almost 100,000 followers. Now he runs a team of agents named after the account that closed $200 million in deals in 2022.  Rob Kallick was fascinated by the midcentury homes he saw in the Chicago suburbs where he grew up — including the glassy cube where Cameron from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" lived.It wasn't until he moved to Los Angeles in 2008, though, that his passion for these houses — built between the 1940s and 1960s as part of the midcentury-modern design movement that prioritized sleek lines and futuristic shapes — grew beyond the level of a hobbyist.  "It opened my eyes to a whole new world of architecture," Kallick, now 44, told Insider. Feeling inspired, Kallick decided to leave his job in marketing and go into real estate. As he studied for his license exam in 2009, Kallick launched a blog and an Instagram account called "Take Sunset" to both showcase his love for midcentury design and build a name for himself online.A photo of of Kallick's recent listings, designed by midcentury architect Perry Neuschatz, shows a post and beam style from 1961.Courtesy of Rob KallickThe Instagram account features dreamy photos of his own listings, other agents' listings, and historic homes around Los Angeles, resulting in a grid of the city's "Mad Men"-esque interiors and exteriors. Take Sunset has become a real-time digital museum of serene views, sunken living rooms, and exposed ceiling beams. (He also posts images of houses he simply admires, even if they don't technically qualify as midcentury.)More than a decade later, the popularity of the account — which now has 99,400 followers — has helped grow his solo operation into an eight-person firm that closed $200 million sales last year. His passion for midcentury design has become a calling card, scoring him early deals and helping him connect with clients — even those who don't share his fondness for midcentury architecture. "People just hope that their realtor has good taste," Kallick said, "and can weed through the crap."Kallick let his own curiosity drive the brand At first, Kallick created content based on his personal curiosities. He snapped pictures of homes he saw while driving around LA, then researched their history. He studied public records and perused building permits to identify architects, designers, and builders.He attended tours of historic homes hosted by the MAK Center for Architecture. He interviewed designers and architects in LA who shared his interests, which helped him grow his professional network.  A 1980s Silver Lake home that Kallick sold in 2021 for $3.2 million.Courtesy of Rob KallickIn 2010, one of Kallick's very first clients was a fan of his blog who reached out about her move from Milwaukee to LA with her husband. The couple still live in the house Kallick helped them purchase. Kallick believes his online presence helped him stand out from other agents who relied solely what he called "traditional methods," like cold-calling and door knocking. Instead, Kallick said, he could connect with potential buyers more intimately. Instead of a website with some "big headshots," he could communicate a "deeper interest" in real estate and come across as "someone you'd like to talk to." He said the Instagram account still generates multiple leads — sometimes even from celebrities.A listing in the Echo Park neighborhood of LA of Kallick that sold for $2.2 million last year.Courtesy of Rob KallickIn 2017, he hired additional agents and founded the Take Sunset team, which completed $75 million in sales during its first year. In 2021 and 2022, the team, currently with Compass, closed $200 million in deals. Kallick said his knowledge of midcentury homes, with their wide-open floor plans and emphasis on natural light, can help steer clients towards the design style that suits them best.Prospective buyers might reach out thinking they only want to see midcentury homes. In reality, though, their sometimes-unorthodox layouts don't actually work for a family's day-to-day."The longer you do this," he said, "you understand how people live."Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Playing with Star Wars Lego made them famous. Then an ominous crime drove them apart. Louis created custom Star Wars Lego builds and shared them on his YouTube page Republicattak — until someone decided to destroy his creations.Mojo Wang for InsiderPlaying with Star Wars Lego bricks made them famous. Then a mysterious crime drove them apart.On October 4, 2018, a young Frenchman named Louis came home from work to find the window in his front door smashed. A practical-minded 20-year-old with short dark hair, he figured it was just another petty crime in the rural outskirts of Paris, where he lived with his parents. But when he saw the familiar gleam of a tiny red plastic brick on the driveway, his stomach plunged. It was his Lego.In brickspeak, Louis is an Adult Fan of Lego — known as AFOLs, for short — and among the most ardent. His grandmother gave him his first set, the Lego Clone Scout Walker, for his sixth birthday, igniting a singular passion that hasn't let up since. Under his handle Republicattak (the missing "c" a childhood misspelling that gnaws at him), he shares his custom Star Wars-themed builds on his YouTube channel. Unlike many aspiring influencers, he keeps his identity private, other than his first name, to avoid embarrassment at work. "Otherwise, it'll be very awkward," he tells me over Zoom in his thick French accent. "Because in my videos, I'm very much like, basically, a grown man playing with toys."On that October day, his toys were everywhere. Colorful parts littered the walkway outside his house — a green baseplate here, a yellow sloped brick there. As Louis slowly followed the trail, he recognized chunks of his most beloved builds: a broken cockpit from his UCS X-Wing, the black treads ripped from his Clone Turbo Tank, a limbless Stormtrooper Minifigure staring helplessly from inside its helmet. "It was like a horror movie," he recalls, "but for Lego."Though his parents were away, Louis feared the intruder might still be inside as he pushed open the broken front door. Nervously, he followed the trail of Lego to his bedroom. Since that first gift from his grandma, he'd painstakingly acquired, cataloged, and dusted ("just the dust," he tells me, is "terrible, painful work") more than 300 sets worth more than $20,000.Now, his collection appeared to have been blasted by a Death Star Superlaser. Whole models had vanished, mint-condition boxes were ransacked, and scattered across the floor were the remnants of his most valuable builds.His cash and laptops were untouched, but the Millennium Falcon his parents had given him was gone; so was the original Clone Scout Walker from his grandma. Most painful of all, the intruders had destroyed the massive, original Lego opus he'd been building over nights and long weekends for 10 months, a 35,000-piece installation he called "Imperial Gate.""I really feel like the whole part of my stomach is missing," Louis recalls. "It is just so much that I'm just collapsing on the ground. I will just crush my head against the floor. Then I will just stand up and crush my head against the walls and just screaming. I will just run outside screaming. I will maybe scream for at least 10, 20 minutes."That afternoon, he taped what he said was his final YouTube message. "I don't know what I'm going to do," he said into his cellphone camera, blinking back tears. "It really was my passion. That's the end of this channel."  Louis grew up in the Golden Age of Lego. The company, headquartered in the tiny Danish town of Billund, recently opened a Googleplex-like campus for its 2,000 employees. When I visited last year, the company had hoisted a King Kong-size, primary-colored Lego Minifigure at the entrance. In the lobby, a full-scale Lego Bugatti flashed its headlights. Fifteen million tourists a year flood the flagship Legoland theme park down the street, and a mile-long Lego factory runs around the clock, 361 days a year, churning out nearly 5 billion pieces a month. There are now more Minifigs in the world — 8.3 billion — than human beings.The boom has also given rise to a multimillion-dollar secondary market for the most sought-after builds. Researchers at the Higher School of Economics in Russia found that from 1987 to 2015 Lego investments returned about 10% annually — better than stocks, bonds, gold, and collectible items like wine and stamps. A Space Command Center Lego set that sold for $25 in 1979 is worth over $10,000 today. "Investors in Lego generate high returns from reselling unpackaged sets, particularly rare ones, which were produced in limited editions or a long time ago," said Victoria Dobrynskaya, one of the study's authors.But the big money in little bricks comes with a downside: crime. In 2012, the police arrested a 47-year-old Silicon Valley executive for tricking stores into giving him a discount on Lego sets and then reselling them on eBay. In 2015, a 46-year-old Florida man and his mother were convicted of stealing an estimated $2 million worth of Lego from Toys R Us stores from Maine to California. In 2020, thieves blasted through the warehouse wall of Fairy Bricks, a charity in England that donates Lego sets to sick kids at hospitals around the world, and absconded with $800,000 worth of bricks. That same year, police arrested three Polish suspects accused of robbing Lego toy stores across France as part of an international crime ring. Counterfeiting is even more lucrative: In Shanghai, the police recently broke up a crime syndicate accused of making and selling nearly $50 million in bogus Lego.Before Louis' bricks were stolen, he had devoted every birthday and Christmas wish list, every euro he earned tending his parents' garden, to their accumulation. When his grandmother complained about the pieces littering his bedroom, he told her she couldn't blame him — she was the one who had introduced him to the hobby. At school, his obsession became a liability. "It became more difficult," he says. "I was looked at as the guy who does Lego still." But when he won a contest in art class for building an elaborate bridge out of bricks, "that was enough to shut everybody's mouth about Lego being a childish thing."Mojo Wang for InsiderLouis launched his YouTube channel in 2011, taking his handle from his favorite Star Wars set, the Republic Attack Gunship. Lego YouTubers span the globe, from earnest amateurs with a few followers to professional influencers with paid sponsorships and worldwide fans. Those who are into Lego Star Wars are among the most popular. Louis made his name by creating his own scenes from the Star Wars universe. These MOCs, short for "My Own Creations," are considered high art among the Lego diehards.Louis' MOCs were pointillistic and inventive, faithful to the original story of Star Wars but still imaginative and new: a violent ambush on the lush planet Felucia, a staunch Republic patrol on the icy station of Hoth. "Many people love to take a scene from a movie and rebuild it into Lego, but I find this is very boring, honestly," he tells me. "I love to build something with just one first idea in mind. And then as I build, more and more and more ideas come — 'Hey, why not do something with snow? OK, let's see what sort of pieces I have.' Creativity comes with constraints. I'm putting myself in constraints and forcing myself to do something."After school and on weekends, Louis would spend long hours constructing and filming his builds for his YouTube channel. His videos were labors of love: a Star Wars-style "Republicattak Productions" logo; long, loving pans over his clone bases accompanied by a piano rendition of "Rondo Alla Turca." Though mocked at school, Louis found a legion of like-minded Lego fans online. He traveled to conventions and Lego-building tournaments.It was at an informal contest where Louis met Victor, a fellow Lego Star Wars fanatic. They were both 10, and they became best friends, visiting each other to build together in person. Soon they ranked among the most popular Lego Star Wars YouTubers in France, known for the size and scope of their MOCs. "We were the only two who made huge creations," Victor tells me. (Like Louis, he is known in the AFOL community by only his first name and his YouTube handle.)An aspiring filmmaker, Victor impressed Louis with his cinematic flair. His MOCs captured moments of action and even gore — a sprawl of security clones firing into an onslaught of coming bounty hunters, a massacre of decapitated clones with red brick blood. When he began selling his own artisan Minifigs online — sleek "luxury clone customs," as Victor bills them — Louis was among his first customers, eager to support his friend.Mojo Wang for InsiderIn 2018, Louis began building his greatest MOC yet: the Imperial Gate. He imagined a gray mountain chain, towering like the nearby Pyrenees, cut in half by the Imperial Engineering Corps to build a road. There would be a power plant, a dam, and, most dramatically, a giant, four-legged, mechanical All Terrain Armored Transport, or AT-AT walker, stomping through the range. "I know that this may be inappropriate," he says, "but for me, it was really like my baby."But as Louis' fame in the AFOL community grew, his friendship with Victor began to fray. By his own acknowledgment, Louis had grown cocky as his YouTube follower count topped Victor's. "When you're on YouTube and you get to climb," he says, "simply, you just have a big head." Then Victor won some notable Lego contests, and his own YouTube channel surged past Louis'. "I quickly went over him in terms of followers," Victor tells me. "I don't want to sound cocky, but the French are not the best builders, so I had no real competition. Even Republicattak, he is not considered a very good builder, even though he has a big collection."They were also growing apart in the way childhood friends often do. They had known each other since the sixth grade, a couple of nerdy kids obsessed with X-wing fighters and colored bricks. Now they were growing up and following divergent paths. Living in Paris, Victor became the cool city kid: growing his hair long, adding chill hip-hop tracks to his videos, pursuing his dream to be a director and an actor. Louis remained at home with his parents in the country, quiet and reclusive as he tinkered with his builds. The next time Victor came over to Louis' place proved to be the last. It was the summer of 2018. Louis had already spent the better part of the year constructing his Imperial Gate. Victor poked around Louis' stacks of unboxed Lego sets and found one he suggested they crack open and build together: the Battle of Scarif. Based on the Star Wars movie "Rogue One," the 2017 set was inspired by one of the canon's most dramatic Rebel missions: to steal the secret Death Star plans from a fortified beach bunker on the planet Scarif. With 419 pieces and four Minifigs, it wasn't a very big or complex set. But Louis was meticulous about his Lego room, and he didn't have the space, or the desire, to build it yet.Louis says that Victor didn't take it well, and that after much "whining" he stormed off. Victor plays down the moment, saying their lives simply went "adrift." The two friends no longer fit with that satisfying click that comes from snapping together two Lego bricks. After the Battle of Scarif, it would be months before they spoke with each other again. From the outside, every subculture seems strange and incomprehensible to the uninitiated. AFOLs exist in an obsessive ecosystem of websites, TikToks, Instagrams, conventions, trading sites, black markets, newsletters, and competitions devoted to the cult of the brick. The most hardcore make a pilgrimmage to Billund, where the Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen cobbled together the first bricks 90 years ago. For many, building with Lego is an almost spiritual experience. "It's about having a mindset of always using the endless opportunities," says Esben Christensen, a 76-year-old who plays in the Lego marching band with his son. "It's about looking at what can I get out of these bricks." Santiago Carluccio, a 32-year-old AFOL from Buenos Aires, Argentina, spent two years studying Danish and bought a one-way ticket to Billund with the hope of scoring a design job at the company. In the meantime, he's cooking poached salmon and sautéed pumpkin at the Mini Chef café, where robots serve meals in giant plastic bricks. "Lego is a part of how I'm built," he tells me.Lego is well aware of the value of its adult fans; the company estimates that 20% of its sales are grown-ups buying sets for themselves. At its headquarters in the center of town, it maintains a Masterpiece Gallery of AFOL MOCs. A 50-foot Tree of Creativity, made of over 6 million pieces, soars up from the lobby. There are intricate Lego flowers, elaborate Lego Rube Goldberg machines, a broom-size pop-art Lego toothbrush achingly detailed down to the bristles. "One of our philosophies is to showcase the endless possibilities of the brick," Stuart Harris, the gallery's master builder, tells me as we gaze up at a 10-foot-tall orange-and-red Tyrannosaurus rex. He hands me a bag of six red bricks, noting that they can be snapped into 915 million combinations. "You might have something in your mind as to what you want to create," he says. "But then it's engineering: How am I going to do that? What kind of bricks and techniques am I going to use? It's the challenge that's fun and inspiring."When Louis' fellow AFOLs saw his tearful farewell video, they were outraged on his behalf. The clip traveled rapidly through the community of adult fans, racking up more than 22 million views and prompting a shout-out from the YouTube influencer PewDiePie. "This absolutely breaks my fucking heart," one viewer posted. "All these years of hardwork RUINED." Another replied: "Whoever did this was a HORRIBLE person. They didn't just steal his Lego, but basically his whole life."As the outrage grew, Ryan McCullough, an AFOL in Florida, launched a GoFundMe campaign to help replace Louis' stolen sets. "His room was ransacked and almost all of his Lego was stolen," McCullough posted. "It would be incredible to help him rebuild his collection." McCullough hoped to raise $1,000. Within 24 hours, supporters had donated $18,350 — enough to replace the entire collection. "It's just an indescribable feeling," Louis recalls. He even received a package from Lego headquarters. Inside was a brand-new set tied to the final "Star Wars" movie that was signed by the designers — along with the film's director, J.J. Abrams.                    But even with the money to replace his collection, there was no buying back what his stolen sets had meant to him. "Those are priceless memories," Louis says. He couldn't bring himself to pick up a brick anymore: "It's hard to build something after what happened." He tried counseling, to no avail.           Even more distressing, the case was still unsolved. After searching Louis' home, the police found no evidence tracing the break-in to any person. Though it must have taken a truck to haul away all of Louis' Lego, no neighbor reported seeing anything suspicious. The police bristled over Louis' video, telling him he'd done the case a disservice by giving the thief a reason to unload the stolen goods, making an arrest even more difficult. They urged him to remain quiet while they tried to find the crook. (The police didn't respond to requests for comment from Insider.)But as months passed with no progress on the case, Louis began trying to solve the crime himself. Late at night he would chat on Discord with 13 of his AFOL friends from around the world: gamers, students, chess players, professionals. Acting as Lego detectives, they crafted a list of suspects and pored over it for motivations and clues. Maybe it had been an avid collector who prized Louis' Clone Scout Walker so much he was willing to break in to get it? Or perhaps a member of the Polish Lego gang suspected of robbing French toy stores was now targeting Lego influencers? They scoured websites in the lucrative Lego secondary market — Brick Link, Brick Economy, Brick Picker — searching for serial numbers that matched the stolen sets and checked garage sales around Paris. "It's very exhausting," Louis says, "because you have thousands and thousands and thousands of sellers."They found nothing. But they did reach one conclusion: This was not just a crime about money. The thieves left behind other valuables in Louis' house, and the destruction of his builds seemed too violent, too targeted. The smashed sets, the dismembered Minifigs: It felt more like a massacre than a burglary. This, Louis and his fellow sleuths decided, was a crime of passion. As Jehan Mesbah, one of Louis' friends, tells me, "This had to be about vengeance." By May 2019, seven months after Louis' burglary, it seemed his crook would never be found. Despite months of looking for clues online, he and his friends had come up empty. But, in his own mind, Louis kept returning to a single person. Shortly after the break-in, the police had asked him for a list of everyone he'd ever met in the AFOL community. Those were the people who were most likely to have understood the value of his collection, and known he was an easy mark. Louis gave them an extensive list, including his old friend Victor.When Louis had found his Lego room destroyed, Victor had immediately leapt to mind. They hadn't spoken since the fight. What's more, Victor was the only person in the AFOL community who knew where he lived. "Beyond my family," Louis says, "that was one of the three persons who knew. I know for sure that the two others don't have any interest in Lego."Mojo Wang for InsiderAnd there was something else that raised questions about Victor. Among AFOL YouTubers, he practiced a very specific kind of performance art: He loved to post elaborate videos of himself destroying his Lego builds. In one video from 2016, two years before the attack on Louis' Imperial Gate, Victor posted a slow-motion video that showed him smashing one of his massive Lego constructions with a mallet, to the strains of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor. "1 year of building and 100,000 bricks are destroyed in less than 3 minutes," he boasted in the caption. Wry and raucous, he fashioned himself as the nihilistic Gallagher of the AFOL world, a devilish kid who loves to smash things.So Victor appeared to have both a means and a motive. But when Louis raised Victor's name with his parents, they urged him to be rational. "You can't judge somebody like that," they told him. "You don't have any evidence. Maybe this person is fully innocent." Louis agreed. A huge part of him hoped that anyone besides Victor was the Lego bandit. But then the police told him something that fueled his doubts. On his suggestion, they said, they had reached out to Victor in the early days of their investigation — but they still hadn't heard back from him. Neither had Louis, other than receiving what he calls "a cordial text" from Victor a few days after the burglary. If Victor was innocent, Louis wondered, then why wouldn't he immediately cooperate with the authorities?Louis texted Victor and asked him to meet with the police. "OK," Victor replied. "If they want a meeting, if that can help, I'll give it to them. I'll accept the meeting."Despite Louis' suspicions, it seemed as if Victor still wanted to be friends, as though nothing were amiss. After some back-and-forth, Victor invited him up to Paris for some Lego time. "You want to come up to my new apartment and do my first new MOC?" Victor texted.Louis decided to use the invitation to take matters into his own hands. He wanted to see for himself what Victor might be hiding. He texted Victor that he'd be happy to come to Paris. But, he added, he wasn't up for building more Lego yet — he was still too traumatized by the burglary. He suggested they just get together and hang out. Concerned that Victor might film their meeting for YouTube, he also made a request: "no video.""No video?" Victor replied. "Why are you so suspicious toward me?""I just don't want to make video of things," Louis texted back. "I just want to see you as a friend."The moment he saw Victor at a Paris café, Louis felt a shot of nerves. He didn't know what to think, and he was afraid his doubts would be obvious. "It was really awkward," Louis recalls. "I knew I had to pretend. I had my suspicions, but at the same time, I was still balancing. I don't know if he did it or if I'm, like, behaving badly because he's innocent."As they chatted, Victor marveled at how Louis' video about the burglary had gone viral. Even his hairdresser had seen it. "He was very enthusiastic about all the attention," Louis says. "He was very into the fame." Victor also regaled Louis with tales of the fame he was finding in his own life, directing fashion and music videos and acting in films. After lunch, he showed Louis his new apartment. Louis looked for any of his bricks among Victor's many Lego sets but saw nothing. As much as he wanted to confront Victor, he refrained. This was his closest friend from childhood; confronting Victor risked severing that connection forever. "If I accuse somebody who was clean, it'll have been pretty bad for our friendship," Louis says. "So I didn't want to."As the first anniversary of the burglary came and went, there was still no action on the case. In April 2020, Victor invited Louis to do a livestream with him on his YouTube channel. Louis agreed, thinking Victor might inadvertently give himself away. "I wanted to try to get closer to him," Louis says, "of hope that he might tell me something." Instead, they just talked about Lego like the old days. "We just ended up like chilling and building," he says, "like we do when we were younger."Later that month, Louis got some news from the police. Eighteen months after the break-in, they had finally spoken with Victor."I had to go to the police station and give my fingerprint," Victor tells me via Zoom from his apartment in Paris. With his wavy dark hair and his striped shirt unbuttoned to center chest, he looks a bit like Timothée Chalamet. He says he wasn't avoiding the police — it just took months of phone tag and missed calls to set up the interview.Victor becomes animated describing what he considered the police's absurd line of questioning. "They were creating these far-fetched theories," he says. The police told him that some of the few Lego that weren't stolen from Louis were Minifigs that Victor had custom-designed for his friend."If they were not stolen, it's because they're from you!" the police insisted.Victor says he tried to reason with them. "Guys, come on, be realistic," he pleaded.In the end, no evidence was ever presented linking Victor to the crime. But with the pain of the theft still tormenting Louis, he couldn't stay silent any longer.  That November, at the urging of his girlfriend, he finally confronted Victor. A real friend, Louis texted him, would have spoken to the police sooner, instead of letting it drag on for so long.Victor lashed back. He couldn't believe Louis thought he could be the Lego bandit. "I was extremely upset that you suspected me," he wrote, "and that I had to pass a day at the police station. It was extremely humiliating."The dynamic duo of French AFOLs was no more. There would be no more MOCs, no more miniature Rebel ships attacking miniature Imperial bases crawling with Minifig clones, no more YouTube livestreams. "The biggest victim of your robbery is me," Victor wrote, "because I lost my friendship with you." Watching the videos of Victor destroying his own Lego builds, it's easy to imagine the violence that went into smashing Louis' beloved MOCs. As the mallet swings and the music crashes and the bricks fly, a lifetime of love and Lego shatters in moments. Whoever wrecked Louis' work and stole his sets didn't just make off with some valuable builds — they drove a seemingly irreparable wedge between him and Victor.But could a Lego fan, even one who makes art of destruction, destroy another builder's dream? When I speak with Victor, he likens the fleetingness of his MOCs to the beauty of Tibetan Buddhist sand mandalas. "After two months, you get tired of seeing your creation every day. Because you see the flaws," he says. "So for me, the real pleasure is when I get to fucking destroy it."No one has been charged with stealing Louis' collection, and Victor is adamant that he didn't do it. He found out about the burglary like anyone else, he says, when someone sent him Louis' "Bye" video. "I was like, 'What the fuck?'" he recalls. "'Does that even exist? People robbing Lego. Wow.'" He says he was even more surprised to discover that his friend suspected him of being the Lego bandit. "I thought that in this community, there was some sense of — how do you say it? — not loyalty, but brotherhood. And I was like: How could you accuse me?"Victor knows that some in the AFOL community remain suspicious of him, but he seems bemused by the notoriety, laughing it off in a way that's both self-effacing and a bit mischievous. If anyone was capable of the crime, he tells me with a wry grin, perhaps it was the man himself: Louis, whom he suspects may have staged the break-in for internet fame. "At one point, it was my theory," Victor says. "Because it's true that apart from me, nobody knew about his address. He lives in the countryside. It's hidden. You can't find the house if you want to."These days, Victor says, he's too busy working as a filmmaker to spend much time on his Lego. He's more hurt than angry at losing what he had with Louis. "I wish maybe things would've gone differently, and we would still be building together," he says. When I ask him what he and Louis had in common that created such a bond, he shrugs. "Only Lego," he says. "Nothing more."Today, Louis is back to posting videos on his Republicattak YouTube channel. "It's just tremendous how many supportive messages that I did receive," he says. "Those were so heartwarming. Those were very sweet and full of compassion. When you read those, you can only come to one outcome, which is continuing." He's now rebuilding his magnum opus, the Imperial Gate, that was destroyed during the burglary. If the Lego bandit attacked him out of jealousy, the plan backfired. All the attention made Louis more famous than ever. With over a million subscribers, he's now the No. 1 Lego YouTuber in France.Throughout our many interviews, Louis took pains to say he had neither proof nor desire to implicate Victor. He hasn't concluded that his old friend was, in fact, the perpetrator. But he still finds himself thinking back to something Victor now insists he said in jest. It was February 2019, a few months after the burglary. Victor was attending a Lego convention in Germany when he ran into one of Louis' friends who was trying to crack the case. The friend brandished his phone and began filming Victor."The question remains," he demanded, "did you steal Louis's stuff?"Victor smiled cheekily, looked directly into the camera, and gave a one-word reply."Maybe."David Kushner is a long-time contributor to Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, and other publications. His new book is "Easy to Learn, Difficult to Master: Pong, Atari, and the Dawn of the Video Game." .is-enhanced .content-lock-content p.drop-cap:first-letter { box-shadow: 0 4px 0 #f5563d; } Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

AMA Group, a nationwide industry leader committed to providing technologically sophisticated and solution-oriented engineering design and implementation, partneredwith developer Lightstone Group and Stonehill Taylor Architects, to provide design services for two new Moxy Hotels in the Lower East Side and Williamsburg. These newly constructed boutique hotels are located in the... The post AMA Group, Developer and Architect Collaborate on the Design for Two New Moxy Hotels in New York appeared first on Real Estate Weekly. AMA Group, a nationwide industry leader committed to providing technologically sophisticated and solution-oriented engineering design and implementation, partneredwith developer Lightstone Group and Stonehill Taylor Architects, to provide design services for two new Moxy Hotels in the Lower East Side and Williamsburg. These newly constructed boutique hotels are located in the heart of two trendy neighborhoods and boast unique restaurants and rooftop spaces, all with beautiful modern design features. AMA Chief Executive Officer Arthur Metzler said, “Moxy brings a trendy feel to the areas it touches and it makes sense to open two locations in the Lower East Side and Williamsburg – both exciting places for thousands of New Yorkers and visitors traveling into the city for a taste of culture.” Located at 145 Bowery, the 303-room Moxy Lower East Side hotel is an eclectic and stylish pleasure garden in the neighborhood that defines New York cool. Inspired by the Lower East Side’s history as a crossroads of entertainment and culture and its present-day role as an incubator of innovation, the downtown New York hotel, located where the Lower East Side meets SoHo, entices with endless amusements enlivened with the spirit of the absurd. Five new drinking and dining establishments created in collaboration with Tao Group Hospitality bring the area’s dynamic restaurant and nightlife scenes under one roof. The options include modern Japanese restaurant Sake No Hana; piano lounge Silver Lining;subterranean nightclub Loosie’s; rooftop bar The Highlight Room; and The Fix, a day-into-night café and bar in the lobby. Interior design by Michaelis Boyd and Rockwell Group and architecture by Stonehill Taylor references the Lower East Side’s eclectic social history with the vibrancy of today. Cleverly designed bedrooms provide plush rooms, while tech-savvy amenities, co-working spaces, and flexible meeting studios sate the needs of the modern traveler. Moxy Lower East Side is for adventure seekers who crave a multitude of New York experiences — and want affordability. Located at 353 Bedford Avenue, Moxy Williamsburg is a 216-room boutique hotel located in the heart of Williamsburg on Bedford Avenue, near the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge and easily accessible from Manhattan. The four new dining and drinking venues operated by Bar Lab Hospitality includes Mesiba, a festive, Tel Aviv–inspired restaurant serving Levantine cuisine; Bar Bedford, a destination cocktail bar and all-day café; Jolene; a high-energy sound room with a state-of-the-art audio and light system; and LilliStar, an indoor/outdoor rooftop bar whose vast terrace features breathtaking views of the Williamsburg Bridge and Manhattan skyline. Moxy Williamsburg also features three Meeting Studios, breakaway spaces designed to be used for private events and co-working. The 11-story building, designed by the eminent New York architecture firm Stonehill Taylor, has a clean, industrial-inspired look that recalls the neighborhood’s warehouse lofts. The glass front façade opens completely onto the sidewalk and Bedford Avenue, merging indoors and outdoors, putting the energy of the lobby and Bar Bedford on display. The post AMA Group, Developer and Architect Collaborate on the Design for Two New Moxy Hotels in New York appeared first on Real Estate Weekly......»»

 The City of New Rochelle today announced the selection of FXCollaborative to transform the Train Station and Transit Center at the heart of its thriving downtown. The busiest stop on the Metro-North New Haven line, New Rochelle’s historic train station has been an anchor through the decades, and now even more so... The post City of New Rochelle Announces Architectural Partner for Transformation of Historic Downtown Transit Center appeared first on Real Estate Weekly.  The City of New Rochelle today announced the selection of FXCollaborative to transform the Train Station and Transit Center at the heart of its thriving downtown. The busiest stop on the Metro-North New Haven line, New Rochelle’s historic train station has been an anchor through the decades, and now even more so with the City’s unprecedented downtown redevelopment effort.  Through the re-envisioning of its transit hub, New Rochelle makes a definitive step forward in increasing access and options for mobility – all while making the city more attractive, convenient, pedestrian and bicycle-oriented, and even better connected. Chosen after a competitive RFP process, FXCollaborative is a highly regarded architecture, planning, and design firm with extensive experience in designing transportation hubs and urban landscapes. Their expertise in creating sustainable and accessible public spaces will be invaluable in helping New Rochelle achieve its goals of promoting equitable transportation and restoring vital connections to surrounding neighborhoods, connecting the new developments and residential buildings in the downtown. The New Rochelle train station currently sees more than 6,000 outbound riders per weekday, and is the only Amtrak station stop in southern Westchester. That number will increase significantly with the completion of the MTA’s Penn Access project in 2027, which will make New Rochelle the only city to offer direct access to both the East and West sides of Manhattan. “We are thrilled to announce the selection of a design consultant to reimagine the New Rochelle Transit Center Station and Campus. This project represents a major opportunity to create a community hub connected to surrounding neighborhoods and provides venues for public events and activities. We believe this initiative will significantly impact our city and our region, particularly as Penn Access is poised to increase traffic to and through the New Rochelle Transit Center,” said Mayor Noam Bramson. “The partnership with FXCollaborative represents a major step forward in our efforts to create a more accessible and connected downtown area. By improving walkability and enhancing transportation options, we are creating a more livable and sustainable city that benefits everyone who lives, works, and visits here,” said City Manager and Chair of the IDA, Kathleen Gill, Esq. “As a city, we are committed to promoting equity and inclusion in all aspects of our community,” said Deputy City Manager/Development Commissioner Adam Salgado. “This project will help us achieve those goals by improving access to transportation, events, and local businesses. We are excited about this mutual effort and its potential to connect neighborhoods, especially those with limited access to the station, to create a more linked and accessible community.” “The FXCollaborative team is thrilled to have the opportunity to work with the City and residents of New Rochelle on the planning and design that will transform the New Rochelle Transit Center to a center for the community and make it a more efficient, beautiful, and equitable experience for all— the place where everyone will want to be,” said John Schuyler, Partner in Charge for Collaborative. The project will take a holistic look at the entire transit center campus- from Station Plaza North to South, and from North Avenue to Memorial Highway and Division Street- as well as the West End neighborhood connection. The improved transportation and walkability will create a valuable connection to New Rochelle’s cultural highlights, including community events and regionally renowned dining. The transit center will itself become a destination for various community events, joining the successful annual holiday market. The New Rochelle train station is a historic commuter rail station located in downtown New Rochelle, New York. The New Rochelle Train Station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. Originally built in 1887, it has since undergone several renovations and expansions. Today, the station serves as a major transportation hub for the city, with connections to the Metro-North Railroad, Amtrak, and local bus service. Despite its many changes over the years, the New Rochelle train station remains an important part of the city’s history and identity, serving as a gateway to New York City and a symbol of the city’s commitment to sustainable transportation and livable communities. The redesign of the transit center will complement other ongoing major initiatives such as “The LINC,” which will transform an overbuilt highway into a walkable, bicycle-friendly street and linear park. The LINC development process is a significant investment to provide safe convenient connections between the Lincoln Avenue Corridor, and the transit center and downtown. The post City of New Rochelle Announces Architectural Partner for Transformation of Historic Downtown Transit Center appeared first on Real Estate Weekly......»»