In the post 9/11 world, building owners and managers have to feel a little bit like "Big Brother" the tyrannical, all-seeing, all-knowing holographic presence that George Orwell chillingly wrote about in his classic sci-fi novel 1984. …
A region composed of squatters' shacks, leveled forests, and graveyards might seem an unlikely birthplace for the Dakota, one of the Upper West Side's most luxurious addresses, but to a maverick businessman like Edward S. Clark, the hea…
You might wonder what three Modernist buildings on the Upper East Side have to do with an organization that has historically been dedicated to preserving things, well, historical. But recently, preservation group Friends of the Upper Ea…
It's every homeowner's worst nightmare: you come home from work to find your apartment flooded, or your building smoldering from a kitchen fire that got out of control. After the initial trauma, there could be worse shocks in store if y…
Accidents happen. Things go wrong. It's a simple fact of life. And sometimes the only course of action is simply to protect against the consequences. Liability insurance takes the sting out of the unknown, creating a safety net for those w…
Before last September, chances are that most people didn't give much thought to whether acts of terrorism were covered by their homeowner's insurance. Co-op boards and condo associations were more concerned with whether their "all-risk"…
New Yorkers certainly wouldn't want to spend their summer being stuck in a crowded elevator or a hot, steamy subway car with no lights or air conditioning, especially when the temperature climbs to around 100 degrees. That is not a plea…
Just about every working person, from the busboy at your favorite diner to the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, works under a job description that outlines their duties and establishes responsibilities and boundaries of authority. Your bui…
Everyone thinks their home looks like two million bucks, but in the world of banks and real estate agents, it takes a professional appraiser to prove it. Especially in the unique and ultra-competitive world of New York co-op and condo r…
New York City has always been a sometimes hectic, stressful place to live and work, and now - perhaps more than ever - New Yorkers can use all the tranquility they can get. Short-term fixes like day spas and weekends at the shore can hel…