The General Motors Building Is Still Up for GrabsWhich city billionaire will get his chubby white hands on the General Motors building? The Observer the other day suggested Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman was in the running to acquire the iconic midtown building, but his people told the Sun today that it wasn’t so. (Could he be feeling so diminished by Rupert that he spread the rumor to make himself look cool? Just asking!) Quoting “sources with knowledge of the proposals,” the Sun says ground-zero developer Larry Silverstein has made an offer, possibly in partnership with the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, of more than $3 billion. That would not only be a record-breaking price for a building in Manhattan, but it would go a long way toward easing current GM-building owner Harry Macklowe’s credit woes — he currently owes various lenders around $7 billion. And you thought your credit-card bills were high.
Silverstein Bids Above 3 Billion for GM Building [NYS]
Related: Harry Macklowe Takes It on the Chin
intel
Alex Kuczynski Uses Her Socialite Magic on Our ‘Real Housewives’When grappling with how to handle the advent of the new Bravo show The Real Housewives of New York City, the Times was faced with a conundrum: Here is a show that will purportedly expose a sector of society that the newspaper, in its “Style” section and in its T magazine, regularly covers. But it’s also trashy reality television. How to cover? Thankfully, the geniuses at T came up with a solution just in time for the show’s March 2 debut. They took matters into their own hands, and, for one photograph, at least, they grabbed the cast of the show and classed them up. They put on a “lingerie party” organized by the owner of upscale boutique La Petite Coquette in the West Village. They styled the ladies, thrust Champagne glasses into their hands, and sent in Times style icon Alex Kuczynski to moderate it all for their Women’s Fashion Spring 2008 issue. Above, you’ll see the fruits of their labors, an image from their story coming out this Sunday in the paper (it’s not online yet). Don’t they look sophisticated? The T people are really geniuses. Nothing makes a person look classy like sticking them next to someone in her undies.
T Magazine [NYT]
in other news
The Naked Cowboy Flaunts His AssetsWe knew we loved the Naked Cowboy, but we had no idea that we should be trying to marry him. His Nakedness discussed his potential multi-million-dollar settlement against Mars with Main Street.com today and revealed some of his other assets. “I have a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch,” he said. “I buy real estate. I’m investing in the seventeenth floor of one of my friend’s hotels in Panama City Beach and bought a yacht for celebrity tours.” Wait. The Naked Cowboy has a yacht? Of course he does! “Basically, I invest in high-visibility assets,” the Cowboy explained. “High visibility — the way I do everything in life.”
Naked Cowboy Has High-Visibility Assets [Main Street]