The recladding of the former office building at 1775 Broadway, which is known now as 3 Columbus Circle, is almost complete, but Lois Weiss of The New York Post writes today in her "Between The Bricks" column that "Stephen Ross of Related Cos. is trying to woo building owner Joseph Moinian into his demolition camp" because he "wants to tear down the new renovated commercial office tower and construct a luxury residential condominium" with "135 units he figures he needs to sell for over $2,000 a square foot, and a retail base, which may or may not include Nordstrom's."

The article, which was the second item in the column, said that "Moinian, who has been partners with SL Green Realty Trust at 180 Maiden Lane and has bought and sold buildings with them over the years, has his shirtsleeves rolled up and is still working toward a deal with that trusty real estate investment trust"

Moinian's decision to cover the building's brown-brick facade with reflective-glass panels has been severely criticized by many commenters at wirednewyork.com.

The 700,000-square-foot building at one point housed Newsweek magazine and has long been topped with a very prominent illuminated sign visible from many points in Central Park.

Related Cos. was a co-developer of the two-towered Time Warner Center that fronts on the west side of Columbus Circle and is widely regarded as one of he most successful mixed-use projects in the country. It was designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

Not long after its completion, the Zeckendorfs built 15 Central Park West between 61st and 62nd Streets, that quickly sold out as one of the most expensive luxury condominium apartment projects in the city's history. It was designed by Robert A. M. Stern. It is just to the north of the glass-clad Trump International Hotel and Tower, which was designed by Philip Johnson.

In her September 13, 2010 column in The Post, Ms. Weiss reported that "Concurrently with a possible financing deal with SL Green, sources say, Moinian is poised to land the William Morris agency at the location, formerly known as 1775 Broadway."

"The plan, made in concert with his broker, Newmark Knight Frank, would have Moinian sign a non-disturbance agreement with the tenant in order to thwart Ross' takeover ambitions," she wrote.

A September 8, 2010 article by Lingling Wei and Eliot Brown in the Wall Street Journal broke the news that Mr. Ross had "swooped in to try to snatch a troubled office tower near Columbus Circle from a smaller rival in hopes of turning the property into the city's first Nordstrom department store, according to people familiar with the matter."

"The 26-story 3 Columbus Circle is at the center of a struggle for control between developers Joe Moinian and Stephen Ross.

The article said that Mr. Moinian has been trying to hold on to the 26-story building "and was close to restructuring its $250 million mortgage." "But," it continued, "a venture led by Mr. Ross's firm, Related Cos., and Deutsche Bank AG came out of nowhere to purchase the mortgage on the property and is now seeking to foreclose, the people said."

A September 2, 2010 article by Oshrat Carmiel and John Gittelsohn at Bloomberg News said that "a unit of Deutsche Bank AG sued to foreclose on the Manhattan office tower that formerly housed Newsweek magazine, claiming that developer Joseph Moinian failed to repay a $250 million mortgage."

The article said that the "Moinian Group stopped making payments on the mortgage on 1775 Broadway in January, according to the lawsuit filed...in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. The lender, German American Capital Corp., demanded in March that the loan be paid in full."