ATLANTIC YARDS—Not satisfied by our iPhonetactular liveblog of the Barclays Center groundbreaking today? The city has distributed this up-close photo of Bruce, Mike, Dave, Marty, Jigga and the gang putting shovel to dirt. Gotta love how Jay-Z even does that cool hat tilt thing with his hardhat. Hov! [CurbedWire Inbox]

UPPER WEST SIDE—Yesterday we pointed out a glorious Architectural Digest slideshow of a 46th floor Upper West Side apartment, and we figured someone would ID the mystery building while yelling at us for our ignorance. A tipster writes: "Hopefully you don't mind if I don't yell, but it's almost assuredly from The Park Millennium aka 111 w67th St nee 1992 Broadway. There aren't many other buildings that tall in the area with that set of views, and the window spandrels match perfectly. They must have a unit that's the whole south side of the building, since you can see the Trump Riverside stuff from the bedroom and the smoke stacks at Ravenswood out the other side (and then there's the view of TWC to the south). I was going to mention the April AD too, since I bought a copy for the great 15CPW photos, but clearly someone yelled me to it." [CurbedWire Inbox]

· Riverton Houses' special servicer wins title to property for $125 million [Real Deal]
· Crane's coming down at Gehry's Beekman Tower [LMCCC]
· Port Authority digs in heels before tomorrow's WTC deadline [NYDN]
· Tracking Manhattan's serial renovators [MLG]
· Construction watch: Prospect Park's Lakeside project [PMFA]
· Art collectors put gallery-style staircase in their apartment [Dezeen]
· Answers to some questions about Gowanus Superfunding [NYT]
· Rubenstein Atrium gets LEED Gold certified [My Upper West]
· CB 3 committee likes new LES bike lane proposal [Streetsblog]

Associated Press

A race at Aqueduct

The office of embattled New York Governor David Paterson scrapped a deal with Aqueduct Entertainment Group (AEG) to develop a casino at the Aqueduct Race Track in Queens, poised to be the Big Apple’s first gambling destination.

The decision shouldn’t have come as a big surprise. Mr. Paterson’s selection of AEG sparked a furor among losing bidders and prompted a federal investigation, as critics complained that AEG wasn’t qualified to spearhead such an ambitious and expensive project.

“The Division of the Lottery has concluded that it cannot issue a gaming license to Aqueduct Entertainment Group (AEG). Therefore, the State has officially withdrawn its support for AEG to develop and operate a video lottery terminal (VLT) facility at Aqueduct Race Track,” Mr. Paterson’s office said in a statement Thursday.  “The Executive Branch advocates that the selection of the Aqueduct VLT franchisee be done pursuant to an expedited, transparent, apolitical and publicly accountable procurement process.”

Mr. Paterson passed over heavyweight gaming companies like Penn National Gaming and MGM Mirage and New York City real estate veteran SL Green Realty for AEG, which has close ties to Floyd Flake, an influential Queens preacher and former congressman. Critics blasted the choice as politically motivated. The losing bidders even considered a lawsuit alleging AEG wasn’t forced to adhere to the same conditions as the other four contenders.

It’s unclear how the state will move forward with another bidding process, but some of the companies want back in the game. “The SL Green/Hard Rock team is still interested and ready to go forward.  We have already fulfilled all of Lottery’s licensing requirements and we remain able to deliver on our promises – both on expedited timing and on our long-term vision for this exciting project,” said SL Green in a statement.

Location: 142 Prospect Park West, Third Floor
Asking: $1.595 million

Despite some accusations of cheating in the comments, there were no correct guesses this week. Most came in too low. A few guessers pooh-poohed the floorplan or suggested something fishy going on with school zoning to account for the low maintenance charges. We've got no explanation: sometimes the universe just works in mysterious ways, folks.
· Listing: 142 Prospect Park West [Corcoran]
· 142 Prospect Park West in Park Slope [StreetEasy]
· How Much for Some Park Slope Greenery (and Park Views)? [Curbed]

From the March issue: A handful of major real estate management and development firms that have long avoided Brooklyn -- even as housing prices in the borough shot up and brokerages rushed in -- are finally venturing across the river. The reasons are twofold. First, new high-rise, high-end construction in Brooklyn fits their business model. And second, values of these new Brooklyn buildings appear to have tumbled further and faster than their Manhattan counterparts, according to brokers and developers. "Developers are looking for opportunities, 100 percent," said David Maundrell, a Dumbo resident and the president of aptsandlofts.com, a brokerage with a Brooklyn focus. "But they are willing to do that because there is a viable market here. It's become a destination as opposed to an afterthought for Manhattanites who want a cheaper place." Jamestown Properties is one of the developers that recently upped its bet on the borough. In early 2007, the firm had a 60 percent equity stake in be@Schermerhorn, a troubled condo in Downtown Brooklyn, which was developed by SDS Procida and saw construction and sales suspended last year. But in December, Jamestown bought the balance of the mortgage from a consortium of banks. The consortium had originally lent $100 million to SDS Procida.

The recent news that a "maintenance and operations" building for the High Line was moving ahead at 820 Washington Street left some doubts about architect Renzo Piano's plan for a new Whitney Museum at the edge of the Meatpacking District. After all, the two were supposed to share space. But the Piano is still in tune. We dug into the High Line Maintenance and Operations Facility RFP (warning: huge PDF) from the NYC Economic Development Corporation, and the Renzo Piano Building Workshop is listed as the design consultant on the project. Phew! We don't want the High Line's new Love Shack clashing with all that fancy Italian starchitecture!

The "Detailed Site Map" shows the long and narrow M&O building will go up on the north end of the site just west of the High Line, off Washington. That corresponds with both models and renders of the Whitney MePa from the Renzo Piano Building Workshop showing a boxy structure with a ramp running alongside and a terrace on top.

The bulk of that building site was cleared last summer and the Parks Department and Friends of the High Line have positioned several trailers on the Washington Street site to serve as a temporary maintenance and operations facility until the new building is completed. That construction is set to wrap up in 2013, leading us to surmise that the rest of the Piano plan won't be rising anytime soon. But there's another little nugget in the RFP: "It is anticipated that the M&O Facility will meet a minimum LEED Silver certification." That's the silver lining around the Whitney MePa cloud.
· High Line Maintenance and Operations Facility RFP [EDC; warning: PDF]
· High Line Gives Up Waiting on the Whitney [Curbed]
· Whitney MePa coverage [Curbed]

1) LES The speculation is that the upcoming Hester Street Fair is going to be Manhattan's version of the Brooklyn Flea, and hip merchants are already signing up. Given that exciting visual seen above, we can see why!

2) Midtown: It's flower mania near Bryant Park at Target's Liberty of London pop-up, and Racked thinks it's Target's best collab yet. Which might explain the lines.

3) Greenwich Village: Diesel's slightly infuriating "Be Stupid" ad campaign has been defaced throughout the West 4th Street subway station! But since the whole thing is stupid, we guess the company is on board?

· Racked NY [ny.racked.com]