Hall Structured Finance Closes $27 Million in Deals
With three real estate loans totaling $26.75 million, Hall Structured Finance is on its way toward its goal of originating more than $100 million in new loans during the next 12 months. The three deals include a 128-room hotel in Long Island City, N.Y., a 118-room hotel in Charlotte, N.C., and a 14,600-square-foot retail center […]
Queens Man Arrested In Jasper Johns Sculpture Fraud
Brian Ramnarine, who owns a foundry in Long Island City, was arrested yesterday for allegedly claiming that a sculpture was by Jasper Johns and selling it for $11 million. It appears that Johns himself gave Ramnarine the mold in 1990 to make a wax cast for his 1960 “Flag” sculpture, but investigators say Ramnarine never […]
Attorney General Targets 13 Gas Stations Accused Of Gas Gouging
With the post-Hurricane Sandy gas shortages finally starting to subside (rationing ends in Long Island at midnight, but is still in effect in NYC) the government is starting to crack down on fuel peddlers who tried to make an extra buck amidst the crisis. Yesterday New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office announced that […]
Queens-Midtown Tunnel is open to all traffic
NEW YORK (AP) — The Queens-Midtown Tunnel is now open to all traffic. Gov. Andrew Cuomo says trucks are now allowed. The tunnel reopened to cars on Nov. 9. It was severely flooded during Superstorm Sandy. The tunnel under the East River is a major connection between midtown Manhattan and Queens. It carries about 78,000 […]
Big Heart of Queens
Except for a day or two without electricity, the northern half of Queens suffered relatively little from Hurricane Sandy, but for two weeks people from Long Island City to Bayside have been doing what they could to help families in Belle Harbor and other communities devastated by winds, floods and fire. In Bayside, Thomas and […]
Authorities Cast Queens Foundry Owner as Forger
Brian Ramnarine’s foundry in Long Island City was so well-known among artists for its excellent work that Jasper Johns entrusted the owner in 1990 to make a wax cast of the mold for his famous 1960 metallic collage “Flag.” On Thursday, Mr. Ramnarine, 58, was indicted on charges he used Mr. Johns’s mold to surreptitiously […]