Jeffrey Epstein’s former Upper East Side townhouse…
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Buyers of Jeffrey Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion pay a steeply discounted $51 million.
Michael D. Daffey, a former Goldman Sachs executive, and his wife, Blake Daffey, plan to do “a complete makeover—spiritually and physically” before moving into the Upper East Side townhouse where Jeffrey Epstein used to live. Using a bridge loan and cash, the couple paid just $51 million for the grandiose limestone dwelling at 9 East 71st Street, which entered the market with an $88 million price tag less than a year after Mr. Epstein’s suicide.
With ties to Jeffrey Epstein, Leon Black unexpectedly steps down as Apollo Chairman.
Former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton will assume the role of the billionaire co-founder of Apollo Global Management in an unexpected move that is the latest in an administrative overhaul brought on by his ties to dishonored financier Jeffrey Epstein. The firm had previously announced Black would be staying on as chairman. Instead, he is surrendering the role to former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman, Jay Clayton, who was named lead independent director last month.
Mars House by Krista Kim…
The artist Krista Kim unveils Mars House, the first digital home sold on the NFT marketplace.
Most of us have been confined to our homes for the past year and are craving a change of scenery. For those seeking a more extreme option, there’s always Mars House, a digital home that recently sold for more than $500,000 as a non-fungible token. “Mars House represents the next generation of NFTs,” says the artist Krista Kim, who designed the virtual house for use in Metaverse and partnered with Jeff Schroeder of the Smashing Pumpkins on a musical accompaniment. “It’s a sign of things to come, as we enter an AR interfaced future, with the launch of Apple AR glasses and AR contact lenses. These sweeping changes and ideas of how we’ll live with digital assets is becoming a reality and will create a global paradigm shift.”
The Park Avenue Armory postpones its program after performers test positive for Covid-19.
Less than two weeks after the Park Avenue Armory announced a new season of “socially distanced performance commissions,” organizers have postponed the program after several performers in the inaugural event tested positive for the coronavirus. The season was scheduled to open this week with Afterwardsness, a dance and music performance that addresses the twin traumas of the coronavirus pandemic and racial uprising by choreographer Bill T. Jones and performed by the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, and which features a violin homage to George Floyd written by Pauline Kim Harris. “While this is greatly disappointing for the artists and our audiences, this postponement is part of the process of our collective returning to in-person performances in responsible and safe ways,” says Rebecca Robertson, the founding president and executive producer of the Armory.
Floating hotel by Hayri Atak Architectural Design Studio…
Hayri Atak Architectural Design Studio imagines a conceptual floating hotel for Qatar.
What would a floating hotel look like? The Turkish firm Hayri Atak Architectural Design Studio envisions a conceptual property in Qatar that would float on the Persian Gulf. Housing 150 rooms with private green spaces, pools, a mini golf course, and a rainwater collection vortex in the center of the roof to be used as an irrigation system, the circular structure would generate clean energy by slowly rotating throughout the day.
Facebook teases an AR concept with a wrist piece that dynamically adapts to your environment.
The sensor-filled wearable is considered a first step toward a future of deep human-computer integration. The device would translate electrical motor nerve signals from the brain into digital commands, allowing users to control virtual inputs while wearing a VR headset or interacting with the real world.
