| Manhattan Office Rents At All-Time High
Manhattan office rents are surpassing all-time highs, eclipsing previous marks set in 2000, a new report indicates. The average rent hit $53 a square foot in the first three months of 2007, a brokerage firm , Cushman Wakefield, announced yesterday, up 23% compared with a year earlier, and an increase of 5.7% since the fourth quarter of 2006. Surpassing the previous high of $50.92 a square foot from late 2000, the record is part a product of a robust local economy strengthened by a booming financial sector, real estate experts said. The borough's high commercial rents, which averaged a recordhigh $64.5 for the top-end, or Class A, space come as a result of rising employment levels in the city, coupled with a lack of new, available office space, Cushman Wakefield's New York chief operating officer, Joseph Harbert, said.
NYC Bookseller Jailed For Terror Funding
A former New York City bookseller has been convicted of conspiring to send money to terror camps in Afghanistan and Chechnya. U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska sentenced Moroccan-born Abdulrahman Farhane, 52, to 13 years in prison on the charge, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday. .
You Take Manhattan, Says Wal-Mart Chief
Lee Scott, president and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., indulged in some sour grapes over the Big Apple when he told The New York Times that the retailer was giving up on opening stores in New York City."I don't care if we are ever here," Scott said in a meeting with the newspaper's editorial staff in a meeting Tuesday. "I don't think it's worth the effort. It's too hard to make money here."Wal-Mart officials were quick to amend Scott's comments. Spokesman Kevin Thornton told The Morning News that Scott was referring only to Manhattan and was "stating his personal opinion.""As a company, we still have a process we follow when we are placing stores, and we would like to be in other boroughs if we can find the right arrangement," Thornton said.Wal-Mart already has six stores on Long Island, N.Y.
Elgin and Larkin almost ready to tangle
Elgin and Larkin don't have much time to look ahead to their two-game series Thursday and Friday, but don't think for a second that the showdowns aren't in the back of the players' and coaches' minds. As a result of last week's postponed games, the Maroons are in the midst of playing seven games in six days while the Royals are playing five games in five days. However, the two contests that loom largest will take place Thursday at 4:30 p.m. when Elgin travels to play at Larkin and Friday when the two teams meet at Trout Park at 6 p.m. .
Clinton Inc. Responds to Rush
RUSH: Earlier this week, I looked you straight in the eye (well, for those of you watching on the Dittocam. Those of you listening, I looked you straight in the eye, too), and I said, "As things stand now, as things are today, there is an 80% chance that Hillary Clinton will be the next president of the United States," and there are a number of reasons for this. Among them, all this talk about how afraid of Obama she is. You think Clinton, Inc. is really worried about a guy with so little experience getting into these foxholes? They're not worried. This fundraising business, I don't care what happens, she's going to end up with the most of it. She's going to get the most of the funding, because they're out there threatening people. On the Republican side, they're doing their best.
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