Carter's View

A report by the Empire Center for New York State Policy released yesterday said that New York State lost a net 1.6 million residents to other states between 2000 and 2010, according to 2010 Census data.

The study, written by E. J. McMahon and Robert Scardamalia, noted that "the domestic migration outflow, coupled with a slowdown in foreign immigration, ensured that New York's share of the nation's population continued to slide in the first decade of the 21st century."

The center is a research arm of the Manhattan Institute.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the BMW Group opened today BMW Guggenheim Lab in a vacant lot at Houston Street and Second Avenue.

The "mobile laboratory" was designed by Momoyo Kaijima and Yoshiharu Tsukamoto of Atelier Bow-Wow of Tokyo and and its graphic identity created by Sulki & Min of Seoul and it will host numerous events over a ten-week period from workshops to lectures to film screenings on the theme of how to reconceptualize what it means to live well in a city, according to an article yesterday at gothamist.com by Melanie Jane Parker.

Marketing has started for the handsome, 94-unit rental apartment building at 568 Union Avenue near McCarren Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

The building is a conversion of the former Manhattan Chocolate Factory, which was run by Jacques Torres.

The new 7-story building has been design by Karl Fischer, who also designed many other buildings in the neighborhood.

The developer is Heatherwood Communities LLC of Islandia, N.Y., of which Donald G. Partrick is a member.

The building, which is known as The Union, received its building permit July 1, 2011.

Community Board 3 approved last week a last-minute amendment in support of two proposed historic districts in the East Village that would ask the Landmarks Preservation commission to work with individual religious institutions to resolve concerns about designation, according to an article by Lesley Sussman in the July 28-August 3, 2011 edition of The Villager.

The proposal was divided into two motions with a 23-9 vote last Tuesday in favor of the broader Second Ave.-to-Tompkins Square Park district, and unanimous support for the Tenth street district between Avenues A and B, the article said.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission today approved unanimously the restoration of the Edward and Theresa O'Toole building on the west side of Seventh Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets by the North Shore/LIJ hospital to permit Rudin Management to residentially redevelopment much of the former St. Vincent's Hospital properties across the avenue, according to an article today by Matt Chaban at observer.com.

Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding Co., run by billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, said today its associate firm, Jeddah Economic Co., had signed a $1.23 billion deal with the Bin Laden Group to build the world's tallest tower in Jeddah, according to an article today by Summer Said at wsj.com.

The planned tower, which will soar about 3,281 feet, will include a hotel, serviced apartments, luxury condominiums and offices and will occupy an area of 5.38 million square feet, Kingdom Holding said in a statement on the Saudi bourse website.

The office of U. S. Attorney Preet Bharara in New York announced yesterday that Micah Meyers, the former manager of Bridgewater Funding, a New York-based mortgage brokerage firm, was sentenced to 60 months in prison after pleading guilty to his role in a sub-prime mortgage scheme involving residential mortgages totaling more than $10 million, according to a article in today's edition of therealdeal.com by Katherine Clarke.

After months of uncertainty over the fate of the popular Brooklyn Bridge Park, city and state officials planned to sign an agreement today to allow limited private housing to be built there, to help pay an expected annual operating cost of $16 million, according to an article by Lisa W. Foderaro in today's edition of The New York Times.

The City Council yesterday adopted the Sunnyside - Woodside Rezoning with modifications to the zoning map and Inclusionary Housing zoning text. View the adopted zoning map. The zoning map and text changes are now in effect.

The Department of City Planning proposed to amend the Zoning Map on all or portions of 130 blocks in the neighborhoods of Sunnyside and Woodside in Queens Community District 2, to protect the lower-density character of these neighborhoods while allowing for a moderate increase in residential and commercial density along main corridors such as Queens Boulevard and Greenpoint Avenue.

Hines Interests has filed a new set of plans for its controversial mixed-use tower just to the west of the Museum of Modern Art whose planned 1,250-foot height was reduced by the Department of City Planning two years ago to 1,050 feet allegedly so that it would not infringe on the visual turf of the Empire State Building, according to an article today at observer.com by Matt Chaban.

The "decapitation" of the tower, which is known as Tower Verre," by 200 feet prompted Justin Davidson of New York magazine to observe that "Approving the design of Tower Verre while lowering the height was not a compromise but an example of curatorial caution run amok, an attempt to turn midtown into an architectural preserve."