New York Post

Bobby Flay’s Famous Cat Found A $22K/month Renter For Their Pad

Chef Bobby Flay and his Instagram-famous cat, Nacho, have rented out their former Chelsea digs.

Bobby Flay may be an Iron Chef, but it’s his cat, Nacho, who’s gaining heat — with more than 70,000 followers on Instagram.

The chef and his orange Maine Coon have finally rented out their eighth- and ninth-floor duplex at 252 Seventh Ave., where they lived in happier days with Flay’s ex-wife, “Law & Order: SVU” actress Stephanie March.

The apartment’s original asking price dropped from $7.95 million to $6.99 million in May, while also being on the rental market for $22,500/month (with listing brokers Meris and Kenny Blumstein of Corcoran).

The three-bedroom, three-bathroom, 3,256-square-foot duplex in the Chelsea Mercantile (erstwhile home of Katie Holmes) comes with a chef’s kitchen, natch.

See their apartment HERE

Delivery Robots In Apartment Buildings Now

Building porters are the in-house delivery men of the 1 percent. And they might soon become a thing of the past.

Ten Thousand, a forthcoming 283-unit Los Angeles rental tower, won’t use human power to bring sundries — like parcels or food — to residents’ doorsteps. Instead, tenants of the building will have these items brought by a robot, The Post has learned.

Relay, a delivery robot built by California-based robotics company Savioke, will make its way through the entire 40-story building to bring inhabitants whatever they need. It’s even able to operate elevators on its own.

This makes Ten Thousand, which stands on the cusp between Beverly Hills and Century City, among the very first residential developments to deploy robot servants. The building anticipates a January 2017 opening and has prices from $9,000 per month.

Here’s how it works: Residents use the building’s app — available on the iPad Minis that come included in each dwelling — to order from a menu of items, which also includes drinks and flowers. Their requests are received by a team of butlers, who then put the goods inside the robot’s interior compartment for transport.

Items are loaded into the robot’s internal storage compartment, then delivered to tenants’ doorsteps.

It’s not the only futuristic amenity to be included in this development. Ten Thousand also has predictive technology. For example, syncing up with tenants’ phones and tablets will let building staffers know when to make morning cups of coffee before they jet off to work for the day.

There are cosmetic amenities, too — literally. The building will house a wellness studio, where on-call doctors can deliver Botox injections.

Ten Thousand, aptly, is located at 10000 Santa Monica Blvd.

MetroCards will soon be a thing of the past

The days of being asked to swipe again and again at the turnstile could soon be ancient history — as the MTA has begun seeking proposals that would move the subway system toward the post-MetroCard era.

The MTA will release paperwork on Wednesday asking companies to submit proposals for ways of paying for rides with contactless media, such as smart cards or mobile devices.

They are hoping that such a new system, similar to payment methods already used in taxi cabs and stores, in which customers only have to swipe their phones, will make MetroCards as obsolete at subway tokens.

“Currently, the MTA is basically in the business of creating its own currency, which is very expensive,” said Riders Alliance executive director John Raskin. “The more it can shift that burden to Mastercard and Visa,the less the MTA has to worry about and the better it will be for riders.”

The agency wants interested companies to submit their vision of how riders will pay the fare by June 23. There was no talk of what accommodations would be made for people with out smart phones or credit cards.

It will take quite a while before the new payment system is ready.

Even though the switchover is supposed to be a part of the MTA’s 2015-2019 capital program, the new method won’t be up and running until at least 2021.

You Can Now Pay to ‘Park’ Your Pup - New York Post

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Eric Abis pictured with his pouch "Bernie" outside Fort Greene General Store at 218 Dekalb avenue using a "Dog Parker." Photo: Paul Martinka A Brooklyn woman is launching a pay-by-the-minute network of sidewalk dog kennels that allow owners to safely park their pooches while running errands. The kennels are locked by radio signals, monitored by Web cams and temperature controlled. ADVERTISING Chelsea Brownridge said she got the idea for the “dog parker” containers after she had to leave her pup, Winston, at home while she took a long summer walk to Prospect Park because the trip included a stop for breakfast with friends. Photo: Paul Martinka Photo: Paul Martinka Dog Parker outside Fort Greene General StorePhoto: Paul Martinka “I ran into this problem dozens of times,” said the 31-year-old former nonprofit worker, who doesn’t feel safe tying Winston up outdoors. “It was a bummer because it was a nice day and he wasn’t going to be able to go outside.” Two models are being tested on Dekalb Avenue in Fort Greene as part a private pilot program. They’ll be joined by eight more come mid-December, with a total of 100 available in the late spring. At that point, the kennel network will be run through an app that charges members 20 cents per minute or $12 for an hour. Membership is $25 per year, and users will be able to call dibs on a kennel 15 minutes ahead of time. Currently, locks are used to secure the white doghouses to a storefront. In the future, they will be bolted to the ground. The two Dekalb Avenue prototypes are already drawing interest. “You get a range of responses, from, ‘Wow, great,’ to, ‘Seriously?’ to, ‘Do they have one for kids?’ ” said Keith Goldberg, 50, who owns Baguetteaboutit, a coffee shop and bakery where one is parked. “We’ve had a couple of people use it in the past couple of weeks . . . I’m just happy to have another service I can offer my customers.” Brownridge said she has been working with City Hall’s new animal advocate to get proper permissions, but most stores own the three to five feet of sidewalk in front of their shops, so it’s largely their cooperation that she needs. The second prototype is outside Adrianna Spence’s Fort Greene General Store several blocks away. “Some businesses can’t allow you to bring in dogs, and some dogs you can’t really bring into stores,” said Spence, a dog owner. “So if it’s cold out or you have a dog that might get stolen, this is a better option than just tying them up outside.” Source: You can now pay to ‘park’ your pup | New York Post