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Columbia Journalism Review content tagged real estate

1. May 11, 2011 02:49 PM

   L.A. Times Examines Trump’s Gold-Plated Corporate Welfare

   By Ryan Chittum

   How do you handle covering a candidacy that's primarily a publicity stunt by a crazed ego and presshound—one with approximately zero chance of success—without lending undue credit to it? The Los Angeles Times shows one way today with a smart angle: Donald Trump's rich history of milking taxpayers for hundreds of millions of dollars for his gold-plated skyscrapers. This is...

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2. November 17, 2010 04:07 PM

   WSJ’s Casino Piece: A Few Details Short of a Full Deck

   By Felix Salmon

   Alexandra Berzon has an enjoyable piece in today's WSJ about the Cosmpolitan, the new $4 billion casino, fully paid for by Deutsche Bank, which is opening up in Las Vegas next month. Berzon gets the obligatory isn't-Wall-Street-a-casino-anyway shot in at the beginning of the piece, and then walks through the chain of events which resulted in a $60 million loan...

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3. November 20, 2012 12:15 PM

   Highway to the danger zone

   Following Sandy, HuffPo and NYT dig into the folly of coastal development

   By Curtis Brainard

   Hurricane Sandy renewed the media’s interest in the many foolish ways that we increase our vulnerability to extreme weather. There’s climate change, of course. That came up right away. But carbon pollution isn’t the only, or even the most immediate, thing that we’re doing to imperil ourselves. There’s also relentless, right-up-to-the-water’s-edge-in-a-floodplain coastal development. After focusing on global warming in the...

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4. January 12, 2012 02:43 PM

   Misleading Readers on Romney’s “$12 Million Teardown”

   The value is almost all in the land

   By Ryan Chittum

   We've heard a lot about $12 million teardowns lately. Tiger Woods's ex-wife Elin Nordegren is tearing down her $12 million North Palm Beach house, we're told, to build another house. More importantly, GOP's presumptive nominee Mitt Romney is tearing down his $12 million California beach house and building a much bigger one, news that broke in August. The San Diego...

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5. May 13, 2011 11:28 AM

   Now It’s the NYT’s Turn to Take On Trump Inc.

   By Ryan Chittum

   On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times took a good look at Donald Trump's business empire and how he built it with the aid of government largesse. Today it's The New York Times's turn, and it's even better, with an investigation by Michael Barbaro that raises serious questions about how Trump's business interests increasingly ensnared consumers in the last several years...

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6. October 25, 2012 03:00 PM

   Stories I’d like to see

   New election economy, voter fraud billboards, NY skyscrapers 2.0

   By Steven Brill

   In his weekly “Stories I’d like to see” column, journalist and entrepreneur Steven Brill spotlights topics that, in his opinion, have received insufficient media attention. This article was originally published on Reuters.com. Scoping out the new election economy: No matter what you think about the court decisions, including Citizens United, that have unraveled campaign-finance restrictions, it’s clear that the resulting...

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7. May 7, 2012 07:00 AM

   The housing market at an inflection point

   The Journal explains why bidding wars are starting to bubble up again

   By Ryan Chittum

   After seven or so years of bearishness on housing, I decided a few weeks back that the market was probably at or near bottom, and my wife and I started to think about buying. I may have been a couple of months late on my call—at least here in Seattle. Houses are going on the market here and getting snapped...

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8. May 2, 2011 07:50 PM

   Too Big to Fail: New Jersey Mall Edition

   Chris Christie can't let Xanadu go under; $400 million in corporate welfare

   By Ryan Chittum

   What corporate interest won't Chris Christie subsidize with taxpayer dollars? The New Jersey governor, press favorite, and conservative hero is unloading more taxpayer money to private interests. He's doled out a 100 million bucks to a Japanese company, handed real estate tycoon Mort Zuckerman $42 million, and is subsidizing a casino in Atlantic City with $261 million in cheap financing....

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