August 9, 2004
Richard Meier’s expanding his celebrity-friendly condo brand to Brooklyn. The architect has been drafting plans for a new residential building on Prospect Park for developer Mario Procida of Seventeen Development LLC. “It’s sixteen or eighteen stories, varying from one- to three-bedroom units,” says Meier, adding that the project “will not be luxury” like his three West Side glass towers, where art dealer Barbara Gladstone recently bought a loft (hers is in the new Charles Street building). The development, which should be ready in about two years, is on Eastern Parkway and will probably be called 1 Prospect Park.
Agency Problem
German real-estate developer Aby Rosen has added another townhouse to his collection. Last week, he purchased an office of the talent agency IMG (which represents Gisele Bündchen, Heidi Klum, and Tiger Woods) at 22 East 71st Street for about $20 million. Meanwhile, a source says IMG sold the townhouse because the agency needed the money. An IMG rep confirms that the building was sold because the company “needed the cash more than the space,” but denies the firm is under financial pressure. She insists that the townhouse was primarily a “showpiece.”
Dead Deals
A source says chef Tom Colicchio’s (Craft, Gramercy Tavern) attempt to buy the site of Dufour Pastry Kitchens, a three-story building at Ninth Avenue and 13th Street in the trendy vortex of Spice Market, Hotel Gansevoort, and Soho House, has fallen through because his backers wouldn’t finance it. But Colicchio’s assistant insists that the chef may still buy the building. Colicchio was also set to open a branch of Craft in L.A.’s new Argyle Hotel, but that deal fell apart, though he’s still scouting L.A. locations. Owner Jeff Klein wouldn’t say who was replacing Colicchio, but confirmed that the new chef would be imported from a four-star Manhattan restaurant.
Back In Town
It’s not easy being related to Osama bin Laden, and since September 11, his niece Wafah bin Ladin has been lying low in England (her family, distancing itself from Osama, prefers a different spelling). But the pretty former Columbia student and aspiring singer, who lived in a downtown loft pre-9/11, is back on the social circuit. One source saw the lesser-known bin Ladin last week at Soho House, and the weekend before, she was spotted at a Hamptons house party. Osama bin Laden, understandably, could not be reached for comment.
More Moore
After publishing Michael Moore’s Stupid White Men, Judith Regan’s imprint at HarperCollins has published Michael Moore Is a Big Fat Stupid White Man, by David T. Hardy and Jason Clarke. When asked about the coincidence, Regan said, “As publishers, we have an obligation to publish a wide range of ideas, opinions, and perspectives.”