A rendering of the new look of Lincoln Center
Rendering: Diller Scofidio + Renfro in association with Beyer Blinder Bell
- Preservationists are concerned that Lincoln Center's $1.2 billion redevelopment project will ruin the original design of the performing arts campus, which they claim should be designated as a landmark. [NYT]
- Madison Square Garden's renovation, which won't be completed until the start of the N.B.A. and N.H.L. 2012 seasons, will include the creation of a 5,000-square-foot 300-person luxury suite. [AP]
- On June 24, the basement of the old headquarters of The New York Times will become Discovery Times Square Exposition, a 60,000-square-foot exhibition venue. [NYT]
- Combating recent criticism of the proposed multimillion-dollar concert site at Asser Levy Park, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and architects from Grimshaw argue that the design will focus sound inward rather than outward. [NYDN]
- Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner has scrapped Frank Gehry's design for the Barclays Arena and will adopt a less expensive plan from Ellerbe Becket. [NYT]
- More hotels are slashing their room rates, including the Waldorf-Astoria, which now offers accommodations for as low as $199. [NYDN]
- Restaurateur Alan Yau, who recently opened a branch of his Hakkasan restaurant in Miami, plans to open a place in New York. [Zagat]
- West Village residents are riled up over the loud parties at Donna Karan's Stephan Weiss Studio. [The Villager]
- Further east, another neighborhood is upset, this time over the reconstruction of Union Square's north pavilion, which will include a restaurant. [The Villager]
- Rumor has it that the Standard New York's restaurant, tentatively dubbed the Standard Grill, will open in the next few weeks. [Eater]
- In reviewing Upper East Side eatery Flex Mussels, Frank Bruni suggests that the "crowded neighborhood favorite" succeeds in this climate, where "restaurants do well to give diners a clear path to a meal that's relatively economical while also filling." [NYT]
- The New York Times critic also visits Harbour, where his dinner was a "foamy, frothy cruise, right from the start" and although it was "overworked and busy," the restaurant does offer "some arresting food and impressive cooking." [NYT]
- Adam Platt delivers a two-star review of Aldea, a "small, stylishly modest, and characteristically muted" restaurant in the Flatiron district that he believes to be "a prototype of the gourmet restaurant of tomorrow." [NYMag]
- For Jay Cheshes, Inakaya feels "inconsequential" and neither the "sweet nor savory dishes will turn Times Square into a Japanese-food destination." [TONY]
- In Steve Cuozzo's side-by-side comparison of two new Italian joints—Marea and Montenapo—both Midtown restaurants have "high-concept menus" and despite pricey dishes and "gazillion-dollar designs," are likely to have a future. [NYP]
- Gael Greene has first impressions of Locanda Verde, the replacement for the Greenwich Hotel's short-lived restaurant Ago. [Insatiable Critic]
