Don Lemon and Tim Malone (Credit: Getty)

CNN host Don Lemon announced his engagement to Tim Malone, an agent with the Corcoran Group, via Instagram.

Malone popped the question on his 35th birthday last Saturday by engraving the proposal into their two dogs’ collars, Newsweek reported. “How could I say no?” Lemon wrote in his Instagram post.

So who is the lucky agent? Malone — who proposed during his 35th birthday celebration — is from Suffolk County, according to Newsweek. His current real estate listings include a $39.5 million condo at 50 Central Park South and his previous deals include a $19 million Upper East Side townhouse at 49 East 68th Street, and a $4.4 million co-op at 1095 Park Avenue.

Prior to joining Corcoran in 2018, Malone worked in media, sales and advertising, including roles as a director at Billboard and a production assistant at the Today show.

Lemon and Malone met in New York and have been together since 2017. They live in Harlem. [Newsweek] — Meenal Vamburkar

Main Street in Scottsdale, Arizona (Credit: iStock, Wikimedia Commons)

A development boom is making its way to parts of Arizona.

As more people flock to Scottsdale, developers are taking note and building tall multifamily towers that contrast with the area’s abundance of single-family homes, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Since 2010, city officials in the affluent town have issued building permits for about 8,400 new residential units. Paradise Valley, an even wealthier town close by Scottsdale, is experiencing a similar construction boom.

Many of the projects underway, such as the Ritz-Carlton Residences in Paradise Valley, are high-end. Condos at the three-story Ritz development range from around $1.5 million to $5.5 million and come with a host of luxury amenities.

While some Arizona residents welcome the new developments, others fear it could change the charm of the frontier state. In Kierland, a high-rise condominium and hotel project proposed by DMB Circle Road Partners was recently shot down after dozens of locals protested the project.

In recent years, more people have been moving to Arizona thanks to its low taxes and affordable prices. Still, prices have been rising in the sunny state. In February, the average home sale price in Scottsdale was just over $603,000, up 7.5 percent from the prior year. [WSJ] – Natalie Hoberman

(Credit: iStock)

Toymakers are struggling to stay afloat in a world without Toys “R” Us.

Mattel saw its annual sales fall by 8 percent last year, according to The Associated Press. Hasbro had a 12 percent drop in sales, as the sudden absence of Toys “R” Us stores made it harder to find shelves for their products.

Competing retailers like Target, Walmart and Party City all expanded their toy offerings since last spring, when Toys “R” Us began closing all 735 of its stores across the country. But that hasn’t been enough for Larian’s Little Tikes, the largest toy factory in the United States, which is running at 25 percent capacity.

Toys “R” Us called it quits six months after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2017.

American toy sales dropped by about 2 percent overall in 2018, falling to $21.6 billion after four consecutive years of growth, according to research firm NDP Group.

Other retailers, meanwhile, have been rushing to fill the hundreds of locations vacated by Toys “R” Us. In July, the company hired Raider Hill Advisors, which in turn hired JLL, to help market 275 of its vacant properties. [AP] — Alex Nitkin

In response to backlash, Jeff Bezos’s Amazon Go stores will start accepting cash (Credit: Getty, iStock)

Amazon’s new cashier-less stores have hit a snag, and it’s not due to an issue with technology.

Bowing to pressure from advocates and legislators, the e-commerce giant announced it is working on a way to accept cash at its Amazon Go locations, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Amazon Go stores allow shoppers with Amazon Prime accounts to buy items without having to check out, using technology that determines which items were taken from the shelves and then later billing the customers.

But the business model has irked lawmakers and others who say it discriminates against poor residents who don’t have bank accounts, much less Amazon Prime memberships.

In March, Philadelphia became the first city to ban cash-less stores, a move that was quickly followed by New Jersey. In response, an Amazon spokesperson told the Tribune it is working on a system to allow for cash payments at its stores.

Nationwide, 6.5 percent of households don’t have a checking or savings account, and nearly 7 percent of Chicago households do not, according to the Tribune.

The first Amazon Go store opened in Seattle in early 2018. Amazon chose Chicago for its first location outside Seattle when it opened a store in September at 113 South Franklin Street. Amazon Go’s first New York City store was announced last October.

Amazon since opened three more stores in Chicago, and plans to roll out 3,000 of its convenience stores in the coming years, a $3 billion bet on the struggling retail industry. [Chicago Tribune] — Joe Ward

X’ian and Budapest (Credit: iStock)

Housing price growth is slowing, though most individual markets still see price tags getting bigger, according to a global index that tracks resi markets in 150 cities.

The city to post the highest housing price increase worldwide was the Hungarian city of Budapest, where prices jumped 23% in the fourth quarter of 2018, compared to the same period in 2017, Mansion Global reported.

Xi’an, China, ranked second with a 22.4% increase in residential property prices. Rotterdam in the Netherlands (15.7%) and Porto, Portugal (15.6%) followed the Chinese city. The 10 fastest housing appreciation rates were logged by European and Asian cities.

But the 150-city index also indicated an overall deceleration in housing appreciation. Knight Frank, which compiled the ranking, noted residential property prices increased in 79% of the cities last year, a decline from 87% in 2017. “With geopolitical issues clouding the world stage, and the era of cheap finance coming to a close, we expect the index’s performance to weaken further in 2019,” Knight Frank’s report said.

The fastest housing appreciation in American cities last year was 8% in Phoenix, followed by 6% in Atlanta. In the U.K., Edinburgh led with 7% growth in housing prices last year while prices declined 0.7% in London. [Mansion Global] – Mike Seemuth

DLF IT Park in Rajarhat (left); GIC abruptly sold most of its stake in the CRE company (Credit: Biswarup Ganguly/Wikimedia Commons, GIC)

The Singapore government sharply reduced its equity stake in DLF Ltd., the largest commercial real estate developer in India.

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC sold 68 million shares of DLF in open-market transactions, cutting its stake in DLF to 0.3 percent of total shares outstanding from 4.11 percent, according to Bloomberg. The shares traded for 191 rupees each in a bulk sale.

The transaction may stem largely from an effort by GIC to rebalance its investment portfolio, DLF chief financial officer Ashok Tyagi told Bloomberg.

DLF, which is trying to eliminate its debt by raising capital, got approval from GIC to transfer some rental properties and commercial parcels to DLF Cyber City Developers in an inter-company settlement.

Societe Generale, the French investment firm, reportedly acquired a 1.7% stake in DLF, and other institutional investors, including HSBC, also bought shares of the commercial real estate company.

GIC recently acquired a 25% stake in Dutch hotel chain, CitizenM. [Bloomberg] – Mike Seemuth

(Credit: iStock)

A Texas company is offering a software tool that allows buyers to customize new homes on a personal computer prior to construction.

Austin-based myHouseby has partnerships with home builders that enable buyers to virtually compare floor plans and select the architectural style, room types, interior finishes and landscaping they want, according to Inman. The tool also allows virtual tours of the customized home.

Builders can also buy access to myHouseby for the platform’s consumer trend data, or to use the software’s built-in presentation tools.

MyHouseby just launched in San Antonio, where its home-building partners are Rausch Coleman Homes, Kindred Homes and Bella Vista Homes. The software company plans to start operating in Houston, Dallas and Austin next. [Inman] – Mike Seemuth

Airbnb will list properties in Jewish settlements in the West Bank (Credit: iStock, Getty)

Airbnb won’t take down Jewish settlements in the West Bank that are listed on its website after all.

The move drew condemnation from Palestinians, who have long wanted the disputed region for an independent state, Reuters reported. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the announcement “signals the complicity of the company with the systemic denial of our inalienable right to self-determination,” according to the report.

The move reverses a prior announcement Airbnb made last year, to take down about 200 of such listings.The announcement triggered backlash from Israel and the U.S. Lawsuits against Airbnb accusing the short-term rentals company of discrimination were filed in Jerusalem District Court and in American federal courts in Delaware and California. Airbnb’s decision reverse its decision to delist properties in Jewish settlements in the West Bank is part of the company resolving those lawsuits, according to the Reuters report.

Airbnb said it would donate any profits generated from hosts in the area to non-profits dedicated to humanitarian aid around the world. Erekat called the move “a shameful attempt at whitewashing.” [Reuters] — Mary Diduch

Kelly (second from left) and Mary Geerts (second from right) appeared for the second time on “Trading Spaces” with their new partners (Credit: TLC)

The second time proved to be a charm for Kelly and Mary Geerts, a couple who made a return appearance on TLC’s “Trading Spaces” after a “terrible” experience almost two decades ago.

The couple were on the show in 2001 and ended up with a bright yellow living room with canary-colored curtains, zebra-print furniture and a suspended buffet table, according to the Chicago Tribune. They were not fans.

“I was so shocked that I just didn’t even comment on how much I hated it. Like, I did not like it,” Mary Geerts told the Tribune. “It was very, very yellow and very, very bright. In the daytime when the sun was shining through the window through the front, it looked like, literally, like you were in the center of the sun.”

The Geertses moved to the suburbs not long after the 2001 episode and the new owners of the condo ended up repainting the yellow room.

“I think they kept the artwork,” Mary Geerts told the Tribune. “We had a hanging table, and I’m not sure if they kept that or not. It wasn’t what sold the house, I’ll say that.”

Since then the Geertses divorced, found new partners and moved from their Albany Park condo to separate homes in suburban Park Ridge. On the episode set to air at 7 p.m. Saturday, the couple will redesign spaces in their exes’ new places.

On Sunday, a Facebook thread about the episode was filled with criticism for the designs of both rooms — largely aimed at designers Hildi Santo Tomas and Doug Wilson. Mary Geerts weighed in saying their second experience on the show was better than the first: “As one of the homeowners on tonight’s shows—stop hating. We BOTH liked the rooms we got. The space was not being used at all so what do we care what they do? Anything is better than nothing.” [Chicago Tribune] — John O’Brien

Story Inn in Story, Indiana (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Real estate brokers love to call their listings “one of a kind,” but there’s a property that’s just hit the market in Indiana that is truly like no other.

The entire town of Story, Indiana is up for sale for the first time in 20 years, according to the New York Post. Owner Rick Hofstetter is asking $3.8 million.

Story was founded in the mid-1800s by Dr. George Story. It was once a bustling lumber town, but it was hit hard by the Great Depression and never fully recovered, according to the Times. Hofstetter purchased the town in 1999.

The old-fashioned 17.4-acre village is about an hour drive south of Indianapolis. It has about a dozen buildings and a population of just three people (plus a rumored ghost) and four dogs, but Hofstetter has helped make it a popular vacation destination by starting a bed-and-breakfast called the Story Inn and preserving old buildings to be used as event venues.

Jacob and Kate Ebel, who co-own the inn with Hofstetter, say they employ up to 50 people at the height of vacation season and claim to hold about 45 weddings each year at the property. The Inn also hosts the annual Indiana Wine Fair. It’s the only property in Story that isn’t up for sale, but Hofstetter said the Ebels will pay rent to the town’s new owner.

Hofstetter, 62, said he’s looking for a buyer who will keep the town largely as-is. “It’s not every day someone gets to buy a town. I’ve had that experience. Now I want to live long enough to sell a town,” he told a local NBC affiliate. [NYP] – Dennis Lynch

Tianjin and Manhattan (Credit: Max Pixel, iStock)

“China’s Manhattan” is having a hard time attracting residents.

In the country’s Yujiapu Financial District, about 80% of the office space is empty, and construction on multiple buildings has stopped, according to the New York Times. The vacant city could represent a breakdown of the growth model that has fueled China in recent years.

The country has mainly focused on selling large amounts of land to developers and borrowing to subsidize construction, which has resulted in jobs and new cities. However, the country is no longer growing as quickly as it once was, and it is no longer clear if this model will work.

“China’s economy has depended on building for the future, and there are considerable signs that they have overbuilt,” director of China research at the consulting firm Rhodium Group Logan Wright told the Times. “That probably means much slower economic growth in the next decade compared to China’s recent path.”

The Yujiapu Financial District is part of Tianjin, a city on the coast not too far from Beijing. It had one of the country’s highest growth rates until the economy slowed, and it is now one of the most financially troubled and slowest growing parts of China.

The local government has continued borrowing despite the empty buildings, raising $36 billion last year through new loans, and Julliard still plans to open its second campus in the city. Local real estate consultant Michael Hart said it was too soon to dub Tianjin a failure.

“It’s like going to see a five-act play,” he told the Times, “and you’re halfway through Act 1 and calling it a lousy play.” [NYT] – Eddie Small

Stanford University in California (Credit: Wikipedia)

Stanford University is fighting with local officials over whether its expansion plans include enough affordable housing, one of the most controversial issues in Silicon Valley.

The college is suing Santa Clara County over a law that requires a certain amount of every new housing development to be priced lower than prevailing market rates, according to the Wall Street Journal. Stanford has proposed constructing up to 2.275 million square feet of new academic buildings over 17 years and up to 3,150 units of on-campus housing for its next expansion plans, and county officials say these plans do not include enough affordable housing.

Officials at Stanford say they are trying to balance the need for affordable housing in the community with their goal of providing housing for its undergraduate students, its graduate students and its faculty. The school expects to have built more than 6,000 new housing units and beds for students, faculty and staff by 2020, and many of these will be offered at subsidized rates.

Santa Clara County passed a new law last September while negotiating with Stanford over development plans that requires the school to make 16 percent of new housing available at below market rate prices. Stanford then sued the county board over the law in December, saying it was being singled out unfairly, and the lawsuit is now pending in federal court.

Stanford has 8,180 acres of land, about 60 percent of which is undeveloped. The Real Deal ranked the colleges and universities in New York with the most real estate in May and found that Columbia University was on top with 14.88 million square feet of space across 232 properties.

Joe Simitian, president of the Santa Clara Board of Supervisors, told the Journal that they are focused on Stanford now because of how large their expansion plans are.

“Everybody understands we are in a deep housing hole,” he said, “and the first rule of holes is to stop digging.” [WSJ] – Eddie Small

Stores say the new practices are meant to improve the overall shopping experience.(Credit: iStock)

Concerns about consumer privacy are not just flourishing online but in brick and mortar stores as well.

Retailers are already using Bluetooth technology to detect customers’ smartphones when they walk into stores and hit them with promotions while they shop, and companies are also marketing facial-recognition technology to them, describing it as a way to flag shoplifters, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Stores say the new practices are meant to improve the overall shopping experience and help them stay competitive in the world of online shopping, but privacy advocates say they are bringing concerns about online surveillance into the physical world.

The debate over data privacy in Congress has mostly focused on e-commerce and social media companies, but legislators say they will include physical stores in their bills as well. Retailers worry that this could lead to a ban on some of the new technologies they are using and limit their ability to collect data for things such as customer loyalty programs.

Amazon and other e-commerce companies maintain that rules about privacy and data should be the same for online and physical stores, while some retailers worry that Amazon could just end up buying the data they have at a low price.

At the $25 billion Hudson Yards, developer Related Companies says it will hold user data indefinitely. Surveillance and privacy watchdogs are particularly concerned about the real estate company’s partnership with the firm behind the controversial LinkNYC kiosks.

Facial recognition technology has proven to be particularly sensitive for retailers, with 18 of 20 companies declining to answer an ACLU survey from last year about whether they use it. They are concerned about a backlash from customers and that the software could mistakenly identify people.

One bill from Senators Roy Blunt and Brian Schatz would ban companies that use facial recognition from tracking consumers without their consent.

“We need guardrails to ensure that, as this technology continues to develop, it is implemented responsibly,” Blunt told the Journal. [WSJ] – Eddie Small

Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris (Credit: Twitter)

A blaze has broken out at Paris’ famed Notre-Dame cathedral — potentially linked to the building’s renovations.

An operation is underway to tackle the fire, which has spread rapidly through the building, the BBC reported. Though the cause is still unclear, officials said it could be tied to renovation work.

The fire tore through the roof, collapsing part of the cathedral’s spire, the New York Times reported. Television footage and photos show smoke billowing from the building as flames spread across the roof, which is currently covered in scaffolding.There’s no immediate indication that any people have been hurt, according to the report.

Crews have cleared the surrounding area after the fire broke out on Monday afternoon. French President Emmanuel Macron is on his way to the scene and Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, described it as a “terrible fire,” urging people to stay away from the boundaries set up, according to the BBC.

The cathedral is undergoing renovations after cracks began to appear in the stone, which raised concerns the building could become unstable. Last week, several statues were lifted by crane from the spire, the Times reported. The church, which is one of the city’s most famous landmarks, sees about 13 million visitors a year. [BBC] — Meenal Vamburkar

Fort Ashford Managing Director Susan Kavanaugh and 600 E. Broadway in Long Beach

Fortress Investment Group sold a Long Beach commercial property with a Vons supermarket as a long-term tenant.

Newport Beach-based investor Fort Ashford Funds acquired the property for $29 million, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal.

The 48,000-square-foot property is located at 600 E. Broadway. Vons has 19 years remaining on its lease.

Fortress is a New York-based asset manager that was purchased by Softbank Group in December 2017 for $3.3 billion. The firm is most active in the New York market, but has made some plays in Los Angeles-area plays. Or at least, tried to.

Fortress’ last big move in L.A. went bust. The firm was in contract to buy a Brentwood high-rise office for $58 million, but the deal fell apart in December, sources told The Real Deal.

Its biggest deal locally before that was a $40 million acquisition on a Burbank office building made in partnership with Ocean West Capital Partners, an El Segundo firm. [LABJ] — Dennis Lynch 

Renderings of the proposed project on Overland Avenue and KFA Architecture partner John Arnold (Credit: Hrdwrkshp)

Last year, Anejo Development completed the 92-unit The Roy, an apartment complex along a stretch of Overland Avenue in Palms that has seen a flurry of construction.
Now, Anejo wants to build a 74-unit apartment complex on the same block, at 3630-3638 Overland. KFA Architecture, which also designed The Roy, revealed plans for the latest construction, to be called The Jagger. Urbanize reported on the construction plans but did not identify the developer.

The Jagger, whose renderings reveal sawtooth windows and roofs, will replace three smaller structures. The building will also have space for a restaurant, according to the report. The six-story project is designed by Glendale-based Hopson Rodstrom Design Workshop.

That stretch of Overland Avenue will remain a veritable construction site for some time to come.

Last month, Oakmont Capital unveiled plans for a 119-unit mixed-use project about a block away. The seven-story development at 3565 Overland Avenue would have 2,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. A firm related to Oakmont is also building a 187-unit project with 3,864 square feet of commercial space at 3664-3688 Overland Avenue,

Santa Monica-based owners Neeta Inc. also recently applied for a 42-unit, mixed-use development at 3602 S. Overland Avenue. [Urbanize] — Gregory Cornfield

From left: Vornado Realty Chairman Steve Roth, 220 Central Park South, and Jeff Bezos (Credit: Getty Images and Google Maps)

Amazon may have abandoned its plans for New York City, but its founder Jeff Bezos hasn’t.

Bezos is looking for a home in the city and would like to spend about $60 million on it, according to the New York Post. He has checked out full-floor units at 220 Central Park South, where Ken Griffin recently paid $238 million for a penthouse, setting a record for the most expensive home ever sold in the country.

Bezos already owns four Manhattan condos in the Century at 25 Central Park West, along with a pair of adjacent mansions in Beverly Hills, an estate outside of Seattle, and a 30,000-acre ranch in Texas.

Amazon famously selected Long Island City as one of the places for a major campus in November and then just as famously backed out of the move in February in the face of community and political opposition. [NYP] – Eddie Small

Warner Bros. Entertainment Executive Vice President Kim Williams, Worthe Real Estate’s Jeffrey Worthe, and a rendering of the Frank Gehry-designed towers at Burbank Studios 

Technology companies like Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google — and the HBO network — are all expanding their offices in Los Angeles, eating up real estate as the age of streaming media continues to reshape the industry.

Now, one of Hollywood’s oldest company’s is making a move of its own.

As it approaches its centennial, Warner Bros. has struck a major deal in which it will purchase most of the 35-acre Burbank Studios property owned by Worthe Real Estate and Stockbridge Real Estate Funds. In an announcement on Monday, Warner Bros. said it will also expand into two Frank Gehry-designed buildings that Worthe and Stockbridge are developing on the remaining seven acres that Warner Bros. didn’t purchase.

Worthe and Stockbridge will also purchase four Warner Bros. properties. They include the 30-acre Warner Bros. Ranch on Hollywood Way, as well as 4001 West Olive Avenue, 3903 West Olive Avenue and 111 N. Hollywood Way, according to the Times. Warner Bros. will lease those back till the new properties are completed.

The total value of the deal is an estimated $1 billion, according to the Times.

Groundbreaking for the 800,000-square-foot Gehry-designed complex is set for later this year, and completion scheduled for 2023. The complex will include a seven-story building and a nine-story building designed as stacked white boxes, in Gehry’s trademark style. The Pritzker prize-winning architect is also designing a hotel for Worthe in Santa Monica.

Completion of the complex is set to coincide with Warner Bros. 100-year anniversary. The parties will close the sale for the Warner Bros. properties — the Ranch lot and the three office buildings — that year after Warner Bros. fully vacates and moves its operations over to Burbank Studios.

Warner Bros. has solely occupied the Ranch property since the early 1990s, but it was first home to Columbia Pictures, which bought the land in 1934 and first developed it as a studio.

Tenants at the Burbank Studios include the video game developer Blizzard Entertainment, which leases 54,000 square feet there.

900 Seward Street and Jeffrey Moghavem, director of asset management at Archway (Credit: CBRE)

Archway Holdings is expanding its footprint in Los Angeles with the purchase of a fully-leased 40,300-square-foot office building in Hollywood.

The Beverly Hills-based real estate investment firm bought the building for $23.5 million, records show. It closed late last month. The two-story complex, at 900 Seward Street, is fully leased to Deluxe Entertainment, a content distribution company.

CBRE’s Mike Longo, Todd Tydlaska and Sean Sullivan represented the seller, New York City-based Curo Enterprises. It acquired the property in 2015 for $19 million, records show. Archway represented itself.

Archway renovated the office building at 1800 Vine Street, which is leased to co-working firm Spaces. Archway’s assets include multifamily developments, medical offices, along with retail and industrial properties in California and across the country.

Demand for Hollywood office and production space continues to be strong, which has been driving investor demand, according to a fourth-quarter CBRE report. The firm said large blocks of space are in short supply in Hollywood, where existing assets are shrinking and new construction is pre-leased.

Nearby, J.H. Snyder Company owns a creative campus at 959 Seward Street that is also leased to Deluxe Entertainment, along with other media-related tenants, such as streaming startup Quibi.

Roberto Clemente Park in Brentwood and DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos (Credit: The Cultural Landscape Foundation)

A case of illegal dumping on Long Island has led to an overhaul of rules for construction and demolition debris disposal.

The change, enacted last year by New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation, stemmed from illegal dumping at Roberto Clemente Park in Brentwood, Newsday reported. Since last year, most New York City debris — such as the 40,000 tons of contaminated material dumped at Clemente — now requires more detailed tracked from the facilities that process it and the trucks that transport it.

More than 7.3 million tons of construction and demolition debris are generated annually in the city, according to DEC estimates. About 635,000 tons, or 9 percent, is dumped illegally — with much of that heading to Long Island.

After the Clemente scheme was uncovered in 2014, the DEC launched several illegal dumping enforcement operations, including one from 2017 to 2018. It required the participation of a third of the department’s 288-member police force and resulted in more than 500 tickets issued to 40 trucking companies, the report said. Many of them were on Long Island.

Meanwhile, a sting called “Operation Pay Dirt” led to arrests last summer and subsequent charges filed by the Suffolk County district attorney’s office. An indictment in November included 130 counts on nearly 40 defendants. A few had connections to firms or individuals facing civil lawsuits in the Clemente case, according to Newsday.

The “Pay Dirt” scheme, authorities alleged, involved a “dirt broker” who posted classified ads to lure customers who needed “clean” dirt fill for their properties. Those customers instead received construction waste, some of which contained lead and diesel fuel.

The new regulations took effect in May 2018. The DEC couldn’t provide details of how many violations were issued for acts that were previously difficult to track. But DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos told Newsday that his agency is “starting to see a significant understanding that the regs are in effect and we mean business.”

Previous attempts to tackle illegal dumping often lacked ways to easily identify potential violators. Enforcement officers couldn’t immediately see paperwork that identified what the trucks were carrying and whether their contents could be reused as fill or needed to go to certain types of disposal facilities, the report said. [Newsday] — Meenal Vamburkar