In the legendary musical Anything Goes , the character Reno wants to be taken back to Manhattan or as she calls it "my dear old dirty town." In the last decade, New York has cleaned up its act, but Reno had it right - it's still a d…

From the venerable Dakota on the Upper West Side to the small-but-fashionable antique brownstones in the Village, to the formidable New York Public Library, hundreds of buildings in Manhattan and the outer boroughs have been designated his…

There's nothing worse than bad lighting. Take an otherwise beautiful room and illuminate it with the wrong kind of light - whether too dim, too bright, too hot, too cold, too pale, or too bleak - and the mood, feeling, and livability of th…

Shopping is not a spectator sport. At almost any level, from books to stocks to brokers, it involves fulfilling desires, meeting needs, negotiating price and choosing suppliers. There is no guarantee of success, and as the price of the pur…

1. Prudential Douglas Elliman (acquired Douglas Elliman) , 2,400 agents, Manhattan, Queens, Nassau, Suffolk, Long Island and The Hamptons, Total Sales Volume: $6.5 Billion. 2. Terra Holdings, (Brown Harris Stevens, Halstead, Halstead/Fe…

Everyone knows the air in New York isn't the best stuff in the world to breathe. But what most people don't know is that the indoor environment is often more polluted and toxic than the world outdoors. In fact, a recent EPA study found tha…

Co-op and condo boards often become involved in disputes with contractors and subcontractors who perform work either on the building's common areas, or within individual apartments for a shareholder or unit owner. A mechanic's lien and lie…

What do you call an organization whose membership includes property managers, plumbers, electricians, security companies, glass specialists and attorneys? You call it diverse, far-reaching, and multifaceted - but you could also call it the…

While environmental laws have improved air quality, grit, grime and grunge continue to mask the windows of most New Yorkers. This aesthetic blur can change a tenant's disposition as well as alter how a building is perceived by a passerby's…

It all started with a man and a dream. The man was William H. Reynolds, a young tycoon and New York's youngest state senator at only 24 years old. The dream was to turn an unsung barrier island in Nassau County into the next playground for…