Our Block, 1898

Here on 13th St., ten-year-old Korean restaurant DoSirak has closed, while across the street in our building, BAK has opened. As it turns out, the BAK folks are the DoSirak folks, so all is well. Kimchi for all.

At one time it was the ONLY Barnes & Noble, and now it’s done.

Soon to arrive on University Place, our first boba tea shop. Soon we’ll bey trying He He Cha.

Next week (August 12 to August 16), material and equipment deliveries and installation work will continue on all floors inside the building. New School Students will be moving into the building starting August 15th and will continue gradually through the end of August.

The following week (August 19 to August 23), material and equipment deliveries and installation work will continue on all floors.

This weekend the site will be open on Saturday, August 10th for interior, and sidewalk activities between the work hours of 7AM and 5PM as permitted by the City.

Got a gripe about the neighborhood that maybe, just maybe, the city can try to fix?

Learn how to report your complaints to 311 here.

Comparing 3rd quarter 2007 to 3rd quarter 2008, real estate prices around here have actually done pretty well, according to the Times.

Neighborhoods that experienced price drops include the Lower East Side and the East Village, where median prices fell 5.5 percent; and Carnegie Hill, where co-op prices decreased 7.2 percent. Median prices in Hamilton Heights and Morningside Heights dropped 30 percent, with sales decreasing to only 19 from 67 in 2007. In Washington Heights, median prices went down 6.3 percent, but the number of sales increased to 24 from 18 in 2007.

The neighborhoods that fared the best through the third quarter included Fifth Avenue and Park Avenue from 59th to 96th Streets, where median prices went up 35 percent. In Lincoln Square, an area between 57th and 72nd Streets from Central Park West to the Hudson River that is home to high-priced apartments in 15 Central Park West and the Time Warner Center, median co-op prices went up 18.6 percent and median condo prices went up 25 percent. Prices also rose in Lenox Hill, where median co-op prices went up 19 percent; and Chelsea, where median co-op and condo prices went up about 6 percent.

Other neighborhoods that experienced increases include Greenwich Village, where median prices for co-ops went up 3.9 percent; Union Square and the Gramercy area, where co-op prices went up 3.3 percent and condo prices went up 2.6 percent; and the Upper East Side, where median co-op prices went up 2.3 percent and condo prices went up 9.1 percent.