Author Archives: annemc8

1.  Isn’t it kind of “luxury” to live all life and just at 60 realize (Fonda) that she can be her own person? Based what you made this assumption?

2. Did the image of Fonda in your mind change while writing this article? How long it took you to write it?

3. I felt sad after I finished reading the article on Fonda. There are raw, tender emotions in it:  specifically the part where you say that she only got acknowledged in her movies; no applause as a human being. Being actress is her reward and price, don’t you think?

Everyone knows that Manhattan is a jungle of skyscrapers. Little is known about their relationships with the tiny buildings, that are dwarfed next to them. They are small but own valuable rights,  called transferrable development rights or air-rights which can be sold. Those in the know, such as real estate developers, are rushing to buy them so they can build  supertowers and make lots of money by selling apartments higher up with unobstructed views. So – the air is for sale and not even the sky is the limit.

Many blocks in Midtown East are still filled with smaller dwellings, such as 5-floor walk-ups. Among them is a 19th century beaux-art style town house near 2 Avenue on E. 34th Street, a New York landmark, serving as a cultural club – called Estonian House. Unique in its tinyness and ownership, it took for years to sell its air-rights, mostly due to  strong oppositon from the older generation of American Estonians. The board of th ehosue allowed the sale last year but it was a complicated matter. I am going to study what are the benefits, downsides and the future of the house.

Sources:

-President of the Estonian House, Dr. Toomas Sorra, promised to give me the contacts, including Robert Shapiro, a broker from the City Center Real Estate, who mitigated the deal for the Estonian House.

– I am looking for shareholders in the Estonian community who were against or pro to give up the rights to developers.

-I am planning to interview residents or business owners in the neighborhood

– owners next to the Estonian House are building something new, maybe they were the buyers of the air-rights.

-attend CB meeting

Factiva search outcome:

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2013/03/01/city-unveils-details-of-midtown-east-rezoning-proposal/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+trdnews+%28The+Real+Deal+-+New+York+Real+Estate+News%29

http://global.factiva.com.remote.baruch.cuny.edu/ha/default.aspx

http://global.factiva.com.remote.baruch.cuny.edu/ha/default.aspx

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2013/02/28/flux-is-essential-to-midtown-east-advocacy-group-claims/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+trdnews+%28The+Real+Deal+-+New+York+Real+Estate+News%29

http://global.factiva.com.remote.baruch.cuny.edu/ha/default.aspx

For years, I often wondered what was behind that door just below the Estonian flag near the corner of East 34^th Street and Second Avenue.

I had no idea there was a bar and a small kitchen in that building. I knew the place was private, but upon entering for the first time nearly 10 years ago with Estonian acquaintances, it had the feel of sitting at the bar of a VFW that could be located in small-town Iowa or a big cith such as Chicago or Denver.

It’s a classic building that stands out on a block where anything old is rapidly disapperaing in the name of  ’progress.’

Hopefully, that unique structure is landmarked.

A colossal fireplace sends sparks through its mouth. Cheerful children gather around it in a dim lobby. Behind them, a heavy oak-wood door and a small staircase let in the light and sound of a busy Murray Hill. Secrets are reveled to the curious visitors who dare to enter.

Tucked between high-rises on a busy Murray Hill block stands this opaque architectural pearl, with a blue-black-white flag flying on its façade, exposing its pride and revealing its foreign nature.

A Stars and Stripes next to it reminds us that were are still in America.

East 34th Street is the center of a bustling Midtown district – Murray Hill, also known as Kips Bay towards the East River. Modern condominium building have lately sprung up like mushrooms between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, in a stretch that once used to be filled with single-family houses. Most of them are gone now.

This five-story house at 243 E. 34^th Street that was built in 1898 comes from a different era but mysteriously still stands. Since 1946 it has belonged to the Estonian community and is called the Estonian House serving as a cultural center for thousands of Estonians and their friends.

1. Old-timers’ memories. Professor Mardi Valgemae, a Lehman College professor.

2. Many events that have taken place there: Latvian folk dancers practice there who I’ll interview.

3. Interview with the house’s manager Katrin Albaz on a recent renovation.

4. Exchange thoughts with Urve Ruut, a long-time bartender, about her experience and the meaning of the house when she first came from the Soviet Estonia in 1990s and the meaning for her now – being the soul of the house. She relieves the thirsty ones and extends an ear for those in need to talk.

5. Interview Ambassador Margus Kolga who has hosted receptions for the diplomatic corps.

6. I know lots of people who visit the bar often, even decades, and who like to be  interviewed

Factiva and NY Times links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/dining/15blood.html?_r=0

http://global.factiva.com.remote.baruch.cuny.edu/ha/default.aspx

http://global.factiva.com.remote.baruch.cuny.edu/ha/default.aspx