King Bloomberg

Mayor Mike Bloomberg apparently thinks that someone died and appointed him king. According to this NY Times article, he is now intent on preventing Elad Properties, the new owners of the Plaza Hotel in NYC, from converting part of the hotel into condominium units.


So far, he has called a meeting at Gracie Mansion for both the hotel worker's union rep and the developers, and it's unclear of how far he is willing to intervene on the union's behalf (yay protectionism! yay Wagner laws! and yay Bloomberg's upcoming re-election!).

What I found most interesting in this article, is that the union filed papers with the Landmark Preservation Committee pleading them to designate the inside of the hotel to be landmarked, and therefore legally untouchable. Presently, only the building's facade is protected by a landmark easement.

Since I am somewhat involved in real estate and the facade preservation easement business, it's shocking for me to see an entity other than the property's owner having the interior's non-protected status changed in a restrictive easement, something that usually requires the owners to proceed with.