By Adam Janos

Many people love living downtown; it’s got some the city’s most iconic buildings, it’s at the heart of public transit, and night life and restaurants are popping up in a decade that has seen real estate values soar. Things sure are booming – just don’t expect your neighbor to necessarily stick around with you for the long haul.

According to a study conducted by Social Explorer and the Queens College Department of Applied Research of the Census Bureau, between the years 2007 and 2011, downtown Manhattan had the highest rates of transience in the city.  In ZIP code 10005, for example, 39.4 percent of those surveyed had been residents here for less than a year. In ZIP code 10006 (Battery Park), that number rose to 43.1 percent.  From the financial district to Gramercy Park to Tribeca and SoHo, rookie residents are making up 20-40 percent of the total population. As a point of comparison, in 10162 (Upper East Side), only 5.8 percent of their inhabitants had been around for less than year.

Downtown is putting the “New” in “New York.”

With such a small percentage of people who have been around for the time necessary to bring the neighborhood true consistency, business owners have to come up with different ways to draw steady clientele.  At Delmonico’s on Beaver Street, general manager Corrado Goglia says that, although the neighborhood has gotten more residential in the last five or six years, he still “sees lots of new faces. After 2007, a lot of people moved about. But between those who stay, the workers, and the tourists we continue to find business.” Like many in the area, Goglia is optimistic that those transience numbers will be turning around soon and that – regardless of what the Census Bureau’s data indicates – it’s become much more of a neighborhood in the fourteen years since he’s been general manager.

Others are not so sure. “It’s terrible,” says John Moran, owner of both the Mercantile Grill and Killarney Rose on Pearl Street. “You don’t see the same people from one year to the next… and that’s not good for places like this.  It’s only in the last two years that we’ve gotten a lot of residents down here.”

Which raises an interesting point: is the neighborhood transient, or is it simply growing? According to the Census Bureau, between 2000 and 2010 the population of downtown Manhattan has increased by 40,000. So even though people are moving in at staggering numbers every year doesn’t necessarily mean that they replacing others who have departed; it could also be a reflection of the general population growth of the neighborhood and the conversion of banking centers like 37 Wall Street into residential buildings flush with new tenants.

Mathematically speaking, though, even taking population growth into account doesn’t fully explain the high rates of new tenancy; as surely as some New Yorkers pursue apartments downtown, others are deserting it.

“I think this proves how important it is to develop and protect affordable housing in lower Manhattan, and in our city as a whole,” said Council Member Margaret Chin, who presides over three of the five most transient zip codes. “Rising rents is one of the primary causes of flight from neighborhoods, from Chinatown to the Financial District.”

“Over the past ten years, the residential population in the Financial District and Tribeca has more than doubled,” continued Chin. “Unfortunately, the development of essentials services, like supermarkets, public open spaces, and community faculties, has not kept up with this population growth.”

“We know people want to move into Lower Manhattan,” said State Senator Daniel Squadron. “Now it’s critical that our government provides the services that allow more people across the economic spectrum to make their lives here for the long term.”

New Park Snacks

Come spring, Hudson River Park will be offering new food and drink options throughout the park. According to the recently released Request for Proposals, which will be open until March 15, the West Side park is looking for bids for seven new food carts and trucks to be located in various locations including Battery Park City, Hell’s Kitchen and Hudson Square. These new additions will more than double the six mobile food vendors currently operating in the vicinity. According to DNAinfo.com, the Hudson River Park Trust is interested in certain vendors that offer food and drink at affordable rates. Specifically, they want vendors that charge $2 or less for at least two items. The Hudson River Park Trust is hoping that not only will the low prices improve visitor satisfaction; the monetary increase from monthly fees will help with the projected $80 million deficit. Hudson River Park is looking to have these mobile vendors up and running by May 1.

Manhattan Rental Market Report

Real estate brokerage firm MNS has released its January 2013 Manhattan Rental Market Report. MNS specializes in the sale, rental and marketing aspect of residential properties in both Manhattan and Brooklyn, and the report focuses on market summary, inventory analysis and trend prices.

As far as downtown neighborhoods are concerned, Soho, Tribeca, the Lower East Side and Harlem yielded the most interesting finds. In terms of average prices, Soho was ranked most expensive for non-doorman studios, and one- and two-bedrooms in doorman buildings. While the non-doorman studios were most expensive, rent for doorman studios in Soho had the second largest decrease in all of Manhattan. Tribeca was ranked most expensive for non-doorman one- and two-bedrooms (even with a 1.9 percent decrease in two bedrooms) and for doorman studios. While Tribeca’s doorman studios had the highest mean studio rental prices in all of Manhattan, the rent price for non-doorman studios had the largest decrease in Manhattan by far at 32.9 percent due to a 43 percent fall in inventory. Soho and Tribeca were the only two neighborhoods in Manhattan to experience a crisscross of studio price trends between doorman and non-doorman, and both switches happened between this past December and January.

Doorman studios on the Lower East Side had the highest price increase in all of Manhattan at 26.1 percent. The yearly basis average increase shows that rents were raised by $225 or 8 percent. In the past month alone, rents were raised $207 due to a fall in inventory.

If you want to live in Manhattan, this report shows that Harlem is the place to be. It was ranked least expensive in all of Manhattan and experienced a drop in rent of at least $49 across all studios, one bedrooms and two bedrooms. One-bedrooms in both doorman and non-doorman buildings experienced the highest drop of $78. “Rents are lower in this area compared to other desirable places in Manhattan, so any renters interested in going uptown should not wait around,” MNS said in its statement.

By David Gibbons

That the financial crisis is over and our economy is in full recovery is old news—at least from the viewpoint of several high-profile real estate insiders, all experts on the downtown market.
“The word ‘recession’ is not even used in the last six to nine months,” said Andrew Barrocas, CEO of MNS, a real estate brokerage firm specializing in residential properties. “We’re far out of that.”

For the fourth quarter of 2012, the MNS report on new development sales showed solid overall gains on a quarterly and yearly basis. While the Upper West Side topped closings (65), two downtown neighborhoods, Battery Park City (48) and Chelsea (46), were strong contenders. All other areas south of 34th Street showed lively activity, with rents still high and sales prices exceeding pre-crisis levels.

“Downtown is mimicking the rest of the market,” said Lori Ordover, CEO/founder of the Ordover Group. “The big issue is a lack of inventory.”

According to The Corcoran Report, total available listings in Manhattan reached their lowest number in more than seven years during the past quarter.

Residential development stalled in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers (September, 2008); significant numbers of new properties are not expected to crop up for several years.

“It’s a very tight market,” said Gary Malin, president of Citi Habitats, a leader in NYC sales and rentals.

The crux of the matter is liquidity: Larger institutions, such as banks involved in real estate, have been slower to rebound and remain cautious about lending. The purse strings are still tight, both for developers seeking to obtain financing and potential buyers hoping to secure mortgages. The days of huge luxury condo towers selling out to eager buyers based on nothing more than a floor plan, a virtual tour and a dream are over. Nevertheless, the brokers are optimistic.

“The overall big picture for downtown Manhattan is very positive,” said Ariel Cohen, exclusive agent for 75 Wall Street, a 346-unit luxury condo high-rise on the market since 2009. Given his stake in the area, Cohen is understandably bullish.

“Lower Manhattan has been an ongoing, emerging category since 2004,” he said. “Chelsea and Tribeca have already emerged. Battery Park City is a very mature market. Now, in the Financial District, we are heavily emerging.”

“I live in Tribeca, and every day I get seven or eight postcards from brokers saying, ‘I could sell your apartment.’ I know that, but I don’t want to move,” Ordover said. “I love living downtown. I think it’s the most vibrant part of the city.”

Cohen said that sales at 75 Wall Street picked up “dramatically” in the second quarter of 2012; the building is now more than to 60 percent sold. At an average of $1,220 per square foot, its remaining units compare well: “A husband will call me and say, ‘My wife wants to live in Tribeca, but please tell me what you have in the Financial District.’” Even on the fringes of Tribeca, Cohen points out, prices are in the $2,000 range. Both Barrocas and Malin agree, comparing the Financial District favorably to Greenwich Village for value—and adding the Lower East Side.

Another strong indicator for downtown is its preponderance of first-time buyers and young families, many from other parts of Manhattan. Ordover marvels at the stroller gridlock on West Broadway and stiff competition for exercycles at her favorite spinning class. “They’re starting to call the Financial District the Diaper District,” Cohen joked. “Our buyers run a big gamut,” he said. “It’s not just your Wall Street-driven clientele.” Both note many positive signs for the community, including good new schools opening; Condé Nast’s impending move to the new World Trade Center tower; and plans for a downtown performing arts center.

For “affordable” new development downtown—i.e., in the range of $1,500 to $2,000 per square foot—Barrocas looks east from the Bowery to the river. “Obviously, the development process takes time,” he said. “Two, three, four years out, I can only predict numbers being stronger than they are today.” He noted the Seward Park Mixed-Use Development Project for nine city-owned lots along Delancey Street, approved last September, as a potential game-changer in the area.

If you serve ramen in a restaurant with none of the traditional trappings, can it still be considered a proper ramen experience?

Zutto Japanese American Pub (77 Hudson St., zuttonyc.com) hopes so. No, not the Zutto you’re thinking of, though Tribeca stalwarts may be forgiven. For some 30 years or so, that name was the domain of the first and, for a long time, only sushi restaurant in what was still an amenity-free neighborhood.

While this erstwhile izakaya occupies the same address and bears the same name, it is very clearly Under New Management. In addition to a new real estate developer owner, the restaurant now has a kitchen run by a former wine director for Bouley and other fine dining landmarks in his first solo venture as chef. The resulting establishment shows some affinity with both sides of its heritage, though perhaps not enough in either direction to produce a coherent experience.
In addition to the all-important ramen (more on that in a moment), there is a variety of steamed buns (nikuman), blistered shishito peppers whose occasionally overwhelming bell pepperiness is tempered by a sharp hit of citrus, pork katsu cutlets and edamame, also charred to better effect than the usual boiled blandness. There is a sushi menu that does not completely eradicate Zutto’s baroque past, rather balancing the outlandish items like a foie gras roll and a short rib roll with a manageable list of pristine sushi and sashimi.

Then again, those nikuman are stuffed with, in addition to the standard braised pork belly, portobello mushroom and arugula or a miniature Kobe beef patty with oven-roasted tomatoes, a nightmare for both steamed bun aficionados and hamburger purists. There is a Thai green papaya salad on the menu for no discernible reason. And the large-format dishes number exactly two: a miso-glazed cod straight out of another Tribeca Japanese stalwart’s playbook and … steak frites?
Ultimately, the rest of the menu is window-dressing for what is the real star of Zutto’s universe: the ramen. The moment it arrives, any remaining doubts dissolve quietly in the steam rising from the bowl. Here, the kitchen joins its two worlds seamlessly. As any true ramen-ya knows, the soup is only as good as its broth, and the 48-hour-simmered tonkotsu broth is easily on par with the city’s widely acknowledged traditional best. The chicken-lightened shoyu base reads as pure chicken soup, in a way bubbies could only dream of replicating.

Flavor combinations burst the boundaries of the traditional in a way that feels revelatory, never forced. Wasabi oil on the wasabi shoyu ramen isn’t the full-frontal sinus attack it might be; the bite is barely present, allowing a floral grassiness to shine through instead. Briny clams in the kimchi ramen (not nearly as spicy as the caps-locked menu would have you believe) are an unexpected bright point in the deep, mildly funky soup. The only disappointment is in how sparingly toppings are handled, given how well they feature the kitchen’s trickier maneuvers—the few tiny clams in a recent bowl teased more than they satisfied.

Even for those who don’t remember the dark days of Tribeca, when Zutto was a beacon of civilization, this new incarnation has already become a go-to neighborhood stalwart. Even the menu’s more erratic moves allow it to appeal to a broader audience—cynical, perhaps, but if it keeps that ramen coming, nobody will take offense.

Lafayette Bar and Grill follows its dearly departed owner into oblivion

With the recent passing of restaurateur Dino Bakakos, the former proprietor of the now-defunct Lafayette Bar and Grill in Tribeca, many in the dance and performing arts community worry that the climate for live performance downtown may be forever changed.

Bakakos, 63, who passed away a little more than two weeks ago as a result of complications from a brain hemorrhage, had been trying up until “the day he died,” friends says, to find another suitable location to resurrect the venerable Lafayette, Bakakos was forced to shut it down a year ago due to a lost lease and rent hike.

Located at 54 Franklin St. and open since 1996, the Lafayette came to be known as much more than a neighborhood restaurant. Due to its proximity to the nearby courts on Centre Street, it was a frequent stop for police, judges and court officers.

But it was Bakakos’ support of all manner of artists, from dancers and painters to musicians and writers, that helped transform the Lafayette into something of a United Nations for performing artists across the city and beyond.

On any given night, one could hear music, instruments and influences from Greek, Armenian, Israeli, Turkish, Arabic or other Middle Eastern cultures.

Dancers in particular—whether belly, tango or salsa—held a special place in Bakakos’ heart and at the Lafayette as well.

“If you were an artist, Dino would give you a chance to perform,” said Chris Bakakos, Dino’s son.
Chris also recalled that traffic at the restaurant grew steadily along with the rhythmic drumbeat of music and performers.

“I remember when the tango classes started and then they picked-up steam. The Lafayette became part of the tango circuit,” Chris said. He added that Dino gave many performers their very first opportunities to perform.

One performer who got her first shot at Lafayette was Cristine Andriopoulos, a veteran patron and performer under the stage name Athena Najat, who now lives in Istanbul, Turkey.

“Several generations of dancers, artists and musicians have memories of the Lafayette,” Andriopoulos said via phone. “I started as a baby belly dancer there and so did other generations. Everyone has stories about the place.”

Bakakos was almost uniformly described by those who knew him best as being honorable, generous and giving to a fault, creating a nurturing, supportive environment that thrived for the better part of 15 years.

A former Lafayette patron, writing to Bakakos’ son Chris, said, “The Lafayette bar was my port, my shelter and my home because of Dino Bakakos. He was infinitely loving and kind. I was there so many years that my butt-print is on the barstool. I will forever miss him.”

Such was the type of devotion and reverence that Bakakos evoked from his customers.

“Dino Bakakos is and was a gentleman with a kind and thoughtful heart that is rarely found today. If I ever in my life meet another person with one third of his redeeming value and generosity I will consider myself more than blessed,” wrote Roz Nixon, a former patron, on the Lafayette’s Facebook page.

Mike Stoupakis, Bakakos’ son-in-law, recalled the Lafayette as “pretty much a belly dancer hangout.”

“All the dancers would stay at the place after their performances and have a drink or dinner,” he said, noting that because the dancers all knew each other, it was like a supportive community instead of just a place to come and work.

“The loss of the Lafayette is already creating a hole in the arts and dance scenes in the city,” said Stoupakis, who played the bouzouki, a Greek instrument, and was also in charge of the club’s Greek night. “The place will be missed. There’s not another one like it.”

There are still live music places left in the city, said Andriopoulos, “but not in the way the Lafayette had their tango, Greek and Mediterranean nights. You didn’t have to check a listing to know if something fun was going on there … you always knew there was.”

Chris recalled the Lafayette’s star-studded history, noting that during the 1990s, several episodes of NBC’s Law & Order were shot at the bar, and movie companies would routinely rent out the bar for location shoots.

Celebrities spotted at the Lafayette included NYC newscaster Ernie Anastos, actress Olympia Dukakis, actor John Stamos and actor Matthew Broderick.

While the Lafayette survived many different crises through the years, including Sept. 11 and the blackout of 2003, the venue couldn’t survive a steep rent hike.

The new landlord nearly doubled the rent, Chris said. “It wasn’t economically feasible to stay in the place.” He said many businesses in the area went out due to rising rents.

Morocco, a legendary belly dancer and dance researcher, who at age 73 has been dancing for more than five decades, called Dino a “marvelous person,” who didn’t have a mean bone in this body.

“The Lafayette was one of the most welcoming places I’d ever performed in,” said Morocco, who was born in Transylvania and now teaches dance out of a studio in Chelsea. “Dino made friends with everyone… Nothing bad I could ever say about him.”

Dino’s brother, Billy, said he’s thinking of trying to reopen another incarnation of the Lafayette as a way to carry on and serve as a tribute to his late brother.

“I’m going to see if I can find the right partner,” he said. “We had such good times at the Lafayette. There were better shows there than on Broadway.”

Chinatown: Stop letting the other ’hoods use me. If they don’t want to meet for dim sum during the day, then they can take their club beats elsewhere at night. And tell Nolita to quit invading my space.Photo by Christopher Schoenbohm

Look at you, New York! I hardly recognize this group of non-smoking, exercising, healthy-eating and organized individuals. What happened? You used to be fun. Interesting, at least.

The truth is, if everyone in New York sticks to their resolutions, it could throw off the balance of this entire city, country and world at large. Grocery stores will sell out of fresh produce, and SeamlessWeb will go under faster than it can send a confirmation email. Gyms will become so overcrowded that citywide riots will break out in a moment of elliptical desperation. Cigarette companies will—er, bad example.

Countless livelihoods depend on your laziness, unhealthy habits and destructive behaviors. Think of the artisan baker who relies on your sweet tooth to pay the bills. Don’t you believe in supporting small businesses? Don’t you want to stimulate the economy? Or how about the bartender who depends on your liquored-up generosity to support his true passion? Thanks to your selfish resolution to drink less, you may be robbing the world of his future Oscar-winning documentary exposing the slaughter of bonobos in the Congo. Maybe that film would have started a worldwide movement to save the bonobos from extinction. Perhaps even inspired an end to the Congo’s years of devastating warfare in the process. Don’t you want to end violence in the Congo? Don’t you think bonobos are cute?

So go ahead and smoke your first cigarette of 2013. Bite that hangnail. Fall so hard off the donut wagon that you might have broken something if not for their—and your—pillowy softness to cushion the landing. It’s the least you can do.

Our neighborhoods, however, are another story. They could use a few resolutions, and from the look of things, they have their work cut out for them in 2013:

Meatpacking: Drink lesssss [hiccup]. And learn Italian.

Chelsea: Stop making fun of MiMa. He didn’t make it up.

West Village: Start growing vegetables on the roofs of my restaurants. Oh wait, that was last year’s.

Midtown: Separate my work from my social life. Leave my Blackberry at—sorry, gotta take this … What? Now? I’m just finishing a scorpion bowl with my boys at BroJim’s. I’ll be at the office in 10.

East Village: Keep my beard clean.

Tribeca: Stop letting myself be defined by my friends. Tell De Niro I need some space. Again.

Nolita: Stop giving all the other neighborhoods adorably personalized gifts from my shops. When did anyone ever give me a necklace made of gilded flower petals in the shape of my name?

Little Italy: Go gluten-free.

Murray Hill (hers): Stop wearing my Kappa Delta Phi butt pants to unlimited champagne brunch.

Murray Hill (his): Stop hitting on girls wearing Kappa Delta Phi butt pants at unlimited champagne brunch.

Times Square: Meditate more. Like, all the time.

By Paul Bisceglio

“When you see banners that say ‘luxury housing,’ you know something has gone wrong.”

City Council member Dan Garodnick delivered this message in a news conference last week to a crowd of tenants in front of Independence Plaza North (IPN), a three-tower apartment complex along Greenwich Street in Tribeca. Garodnick was one of several city officials gathered to confirm their support of the tenants’ struggle to keep rents stabilized at the plaza, which was built as affordable housing in 1973 but now is leasing one- and two-bedroom apartments for up to $4,500 and $6,500 per month.

“We want the people who have made this neighborhood great to be able to stay in this neighborhood,” Council Speaker Christine Quinn told the crowd.

The long-term tenants cheered in agreement. After decades of petitioning for paved streets, traffic lights and schools in a neighborhood once full of empty factories, these residents say they ended up with a community so vibrant and popular that they can no longer afford to live in it.

The officials—who also included Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, state Sen. Daniel Squadron, Councilwoman Jessica Lappin, former Community Board 1 Chair Julie Menin and others—announced their filing of three amicus briefs (unsolicited court documents) to convince the state’s Court of Appeals to consider the request by the Independence Plaza North Tenants’ Association (IPNTA) to return the complex’s 1,349 units to rent stabilization.

The Tenants’ Association has battled the complex’s landlord, Laurence Gluck of Stellar Management, for years. Gluck removed the buildings from the state-subsidizing housing initiative Mitchell-Lama in 2004 to pursue market rates for some apartments, but received tax breaks from the Department of Finance’s J-51 affordable housing program for two more years. He eventually repaid the amount he received in tax cuts plus interest, but the tenants argued that he could not forsake their rents’ stability after he had received benefits to secure them.

A lower-court judge ruled in the tenants’ favor in 2010, but the State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division reversed the decision last May on the grounds that Gluck actually should not have received J-51 tax breaks in the first place. The benefits were “merely the erroneous result of the [Department of Finance’s] failure to adjust IPN’s tax liability,” the judges said. “That error did not create rent stabilized status for a development that was not otherwise subject to the rent stabilization law.”

IPN’s tenants and the politicians supporting them see a dangerous precedent in this reversal. “By essentially making rent regulation optional for J-51 landlords,” said a conference press release, “[the court’s decision] may jeopardize the tens of thousands of New York City residents living in post-1973 buildings that receive J-51 benefits and are currently in any temporary, income-based program.”

Stephen B. Meister, a lawyer for the plaza, though, argues that this worry is unfounded. “The Appellate Division correctly held that IPN became ineligible for J-51 benefits upon exiting the Mitchell-Lama program, and therefore never became rent stabilized,” he told DNAinfo in a recent article.

If the Court of Appeals agrees to consider the tenants’ case, it would be their last chance to change the ruling. While some tenants will be affected differently than others if they fail, because some pay market rates while others’ rents remain protected, all would benefit from stabilized rents, argued the tenants’ lawyer Seth Miller at the conference.

IPNTA President Diane Lapson, a longtime resident of the complex, encouraged her fellow residents to be strong. “We built Tribeca. And we’re still building Tribeca,” she said. “Every great story has a great struggle.”

She said in an interview, “We made the neighborhood so great that other people wanted to move in, but now IPN is the diversity of Tribeca. Without it, this would be white-bread land. Without it, young people no longer have a choice of where to live [in the city] like I did.”

Photo by Wilson Rivera, courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons.

When most New Yorkers think of Canal Street, they probably don’t think of quality retail. There the goods tend to come rolled out on street vendor mats with the brands misspelled, not behind glass windows in fine shopping plazas.

Melinda Miller of Winick Realty Group, however, wants to usher in a new era for the downtown commercial street famous for its open storefronts, questionable electronic imports and tourist-grabbing counterfeits.

“For Canal Street, it’s a question of when, not if, the neighborhood will see its moment as the next great retail destination in the city,” she said in a recent company statement

Miller is marketing 272-274 Canal Street, a four-story, 1,800 square-feet-per-floor brick building at the northwest corner of Cortlandt Alley next to the new Tribeca Blu Hotel. As it stands, the building is unremarkable, but its owners, the Gindi family, have some big plans for its next retailer: a new glass façade and significant new signage.

“The beauty of Canal Street is that it sits at the apex of several Manhattan neighborhoods — namely Soho, Tribeca, Chinatown, Little Italy, Hudson Square and the Lower East Side,” Miller said in the statement, which added, “The potential for exposure rivals that of virtually any major street in Manhattan.”

Canal Street’s small individual storefronts distinguish it from most of the city’s other highly trafficked shopping districts, where large landlords own large retail spaces. Property owners, business people and the street’s vendors have been tracking the area’s shift towards the city’s more conventional commercialism for years, however.

“Canal is on its last legs,” a watch-peddler told New York Press back in 2010. “They want to make this a franchise block.”

Albert Laboz, a principal with United American Land, a major landlord on the street, agrees. On fashion retailer Necessary Clothing’s recent leasing of 261-263 Canal Street, Laboz told the Real Deal: “It is further evidence that Canal Street is really becoming an extension of Broadway in Soho.”

He said that he could not recall a larger deal in the area over the past decade.

“I think it is slowly starting to change. But I think the city cracking down on the illegal sales [of knockoff products] is going to be the biggest driver,” Ariel Schuster, executive vice president at retail brokerage RKF, told the Real Deal in a separate story on retailer landlords cashing in on Canal Street.

Not everyone shares Miller’s vision of the street as “Manhattan’s next great retail frontier,” however. Michael Glanzberg, a principal with Soho-based brokerage Sinvin Real Estate, for instance, told the Real Deal that he and others believe that higher-paying customers will avoid mixing with Canal’s discounted and knock-off merchants.

“From the standpoint of someone who represents upper-end and high-end retail, Canal Street really holds no place for those folks,” he said. “It is the merchandise. There is a demographic and a shopper on Canal Street that is drastically different from what you find even a block north in Soho.”

Canal Street’s fate is not sealed, in other words, but everyone knows in which direction it currently is headed.

Photo courtesy of Samsung.

The Samsung Galaxy S III is just the thing to make Apple loyalists question the sanity in their devotion. Apple should do the same.

In 2007, when everyone was running around with RAZR flip phones in one hand and an iPod nano in the other, Apple gave us a sea change. Nobody who has ever bought movie tickets with Fandango, decided on dinner with Yelp, or wasted actual precious chunks of their lives playing brain-hole games like Angry Birds or Temple Run (e.g. me, sadly) can deny that the iPhone changed the way we interact with the world and with each other—by changing our understanding of how we could.

But, yo, people. That was five years ago. That thing caught everybody of guard. We were silly with it; remember? People paid $999.99 for I Am Rich, the arrow-pointing-up-I’m-With-Stupid-shirt for the new millennium. An app called iFart Mobile famously inhaled $10,000 dollars per day in 2008. iFart. iFART! Yes. We were silly, turns out it was all worth it, but we were super silly, y’all.

But now all that stuff that ooh’d and genuinely awed us is standard issue. So many people have smartphones that the New York Times actually thought it was news that a handful of contrarians choose not to join the fun. I wonder if they ran a similar article when that wacky Internet was all the rage. Remember that? I could Google it, but why bother?

What I’m trying to say is that unless the next iPhone is a G.D. spaceship, or transmogrifies the raw materials of the cosmos into Popeye’s famous popcorn shrimp, anything it brings to the table will likely be nothing new.

Will it have maps? Not Google Maps, which now runs offline on the SGS3, and all Android phones (lightning fast!). Will it have crazy good resolution? Likely. Retina? It would behoove them to do us the favor, but the SGS3 has an HD Super AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) screen which, at 4.8” feels a little bulky, but dang if that thing doesn’t look cleaner than Starbucks bathrooms in TriBeCa. Will it have Facebook? Instagram? Will it have…what? A camera? Will it have a phone?

It may be time to face the facts: the rest of the world may have caught up to the iPhone.

Now, I’ll say this, Samsung may have been being real smart and all, but they came super cocky with it. Not a good look, y’all. They seem to think that the coolest thing about the SGS3 is how easy it is to share pictures, music, or just any pseudo-tangible item made of up to 3GB worth of binary. Like, that is cool. Certainly. But it’s not easy. Not unless all your homies also have the SGS3, and even then it involves permissions and settings and really, nobody’s sweating that stuff when it’s already very easy to share electronic data without forcing friends to resent each other cause they had to buy the same phone (if you want to twist our skivvies, stick a USB on that doggie, dawg).

No. The coolest thing about the Samsung Galaxy S III isn’t htat it dims to save power when you look away from the screen, or that it’s got wild facial recognition capabilities, or that you can watch video on a pop-out player while multitasking. No. The coolest thing is TecTiles.

This: little squares about 1” x 1” or so that can be programed to activate whatever stuff on your phone. The example I keep seeing is that you can put one nightstand to activate your alarm just by placing your phone on the thing. But there’re tons of potential uses for these TecTile deals:

• Put one: on the door and tap to open your subway app;
• near the table and tap to open your morning news;
• on your amp and set your phone down to open your guitar tuner;
• bands should have one on the merch table so that fans can FB Like them
• businesses might have one on the counter for a quick 4^2 check in;
• put one on your wallet and tap your pocket to open your camera (HOT!)
• etc. etc.

So, whatever, is the Samsung Galaxy S III going to be an ‘iPhone Killer’? Maybe not, but not for lack of guns. This little buddy is about as good as they get. If you’re looking to buy a phone this summer, it’s a good time to go Samsung. The Galaxy S III has everything you need, and a whole lot of stuff you probably won’t even know what to do with.

“Sometime this weekend, a break-in occurred at Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer’s campaign office,” spokeswoman Audrey Gelman wrote in an email. “The police are investigating and the campaign staff is fully cooperating with the NYPD.”

Stringer’s 2013 campaign website lists the office as being at 40 Worth St. in Tribeca. He is running for mayor.

A source who tipped me off to the break-in (but did not have direct knowledge of it) said that a couple of laptops had been stolen, but Gelman referred further questions to the NYPD. Obviously, anytime a campaign office is vandalized there is concern about sensitize information being disseminated.

To read more from City & State click here.