How Did That Work Out For You?

Are we to assume this means that by destroying the house in order to keep it from his ex-wife, she will perhaps earn even more from the land? How’s that for irony:

The gas blast that leveled Dr. Nicholas Bartha’s landmarked Upper East Side townhouse didn’t lower the property’s value — and may even have increased it, real-estate experts told The Post.

“The value is not in the building, but the land on which it sits — especially in that area,” said Corcoran Group CEO Pamela Liebman.

Another broker, who asked not to be named, said the site, minus the four-story brownstone “is a developer’s dream” because there’s no need to pay for demolition or to go through the costly and time-consuming process of evicting tenants.

He added that it also could be more desirable because a developer wouldn’t have as many landmark issues to contend with — although the new building’s façade would have to be a reasonable facsimile of the original.

Another real-estate source, who has visited the house that Bartha allegedly destroyed rather than give up, said that beyond the exterior, the 96-year-old, 4,931-square-foot house at 34 E. 62nd St. “wasn’t all that terrific.”

“Someone would have bought the place and gutted it,” he said.

So how much is the property worth?

Most experts put the value, with or without the intact four-story brownstone, at between $7 million and $9 million.

The average price of a townhouse on the Upper East Side is $7 million, real-estate experts said. But because Bartha’s lot is slightly wider — 20 feet, rather than 18 feet — it could bring more.

. . . [W]ith a new 8,000-square-foot house built on the site, it could sell for about $15 million, real-estate agent Toni Simon of Halstead Properties told Bloomberg News.

How Urban Planning Is Like Valtrex

I’m pretty sure he meant to refer to the Hudson Rail Yards as something other than an “open sore”:

Mayor Bloomberg defended the city’s offer to purchase the Hudson Rail Yards for $500 million, saying the site has been an “open sore” and that the city has a vested interest in what is developed there.

While some have criticized the city’s offer as too low and say the undeveloped land on Manhattan’s West Side is valued at $900 million at the very least, Mr. Bloomberg called the city’s offer a “fair price” and argued that the city has no interest in shortchanging the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the state agency that owns the site.

I’m Killing Myself And Taking The Entire Morning Rush With Me

Potential suicides really need to learn to off themselves without making the rest of us late for work:

A man committed suicide yesterday by laying his head on the third rail at an East Village subway station, authorities said.

The unidentified victim, described only as in his 60s, jumped onto the southbound tracks at the No. 6-line Astor Place station at about 5:30 a.m.

As a train rumbled into the station, the operator saw the man sprawled on the tracks and slammed on the brakes, screeching to a halt just inches away from him. The man then put his head on the electrified third rail.

Commuters, this has been your vague “police investigation” for the day.

I’m Killing Myself And Taking An Entire City Block With Me

Authorities believe that the big blast that leveled an Upper East Side building was part of a suicide attempt:

The demented doctor suspected of blowing up his $9 million upper East Side brownstone yesterday morning was on the verge of losing his beloved home in a bitter divorce settlement — and had vowed to “die in my house.”

Shortly before leveling the four-story E. 62nd St. building with a huge gas explosion that ignited terror fears and injured 15 pedestrians and firefighters, Dr. Nicholas Bartha sent a rambling, 14-page e-mail aimed at his estranged wife and other targets of his fury.

“When you read these lines your life will change forever. You deserve it,” the hulking physician ominously wrote his wife of 29 years, Cordula. “You will be transformed from gold digger to ash and RUBBISH digger.”

Bartha told her, “I will leave the house only if I am dead. You ridiculed me. You should have taken it seriously.”

The 66-year-old doctor e-mailed the poison-pen missive to at least a dozen other people and organizations — including California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Fox News Channel — shortly before the failed suicide blast that left him critically burned and buried. The city was rocked about 8:40 a.m. when, officials believe, Bartha opened up the gas lines in his 19th century building before sparking the blast that reduced the home to rubble and sent flames and smoke high into the clear morning sky.

“I thought it was a terrorist attack,” said David Kovac, 23, of Manhattan, who was walking past 34 E. 62nd St. when he was suddenly covered in ash.

Within minutes, the smoldering scene of devastation smack in one of the world’s wealthiest neighborhoods was on TV screens around the nation — drawing the attention of the White House, which quickly put out a statement saying the explosion was not terror-related.

The Doctor sounds like a charming guy:

The 66-year-old doctor tormented his wife of 29 years, a Holland-born Jew, with swastikas — and cut her off financially as she fought a life-and-death battle with breast cancer, court papers reveal.

. . .

His ex-lawyer said Nicholas Bartha just couldn’t accept the reality that he would eventually have to give up his precious building, believed to be worth up to $9 million, to pay his wife in a divorce settlement.

A friend said last night that the doctor had received an eviction notice Friday. The building was to be auctioned in October, sources said.

“He just didn’t get it,” said Ira Garr, the ex-lawyer, who stopped representing Bartha last year after the doctor abruptly stopped responding to calls and letters. “He couldn’t get his mind wrapped around it. He wanted to stay in the house, period.”

In the process of maiming passersby and endangering emergency workers, the Doctor also has destroyed a landmarked building:

The obliterated brownstone at 34 E. 62nd St. belonged to an elite group of buildings protected by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission.

In May 1981, the city designated the four-story neo-Greco-style building a landmark within the upper East Side historic district.

The original owners, L.D. Russell and J.B. Wray, erected the stone-facade home in 1881-1882.

Whoever replaces the building must get approval from the commission and create a structure that resembles the original brownstone, according to commission Chairman Robert Tierney.

Meanwhile, the Doctor’s suicide e-mail includes jabs at Hillary Clinton and Cindy Sheehan. How that’s pertinent, I don’t know.

NY1 Reports Gas; White House Says Not Terrorism

NY1 reports on the explosion on the Upper East Side this morning:

Firefighters are on the scene of a major explosion on 62nd Street between Park and Madison Avenues on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, which is sending white plumes of smoke across the island.

The Fire Department was flooded with calls as far north as 66th Street about a loud explosion followed by a building collapse just before 9 a.m. Monday. The fire has since gone to five alarms and 138 firefighters have responded to the call.

It’s unclear if there are any victims trapped inside, but firefighters appear to be searching the rubble for survivors. There are reports there was a doctor’s office on the first floor of the three story building and residences on the other two floors.

So far, four people are reportedly injured, two of whom were treated at the scene and two of whom were transported to an area hospital.

Con Edison is also on the scene and has turned off the gas and electric service to the area, as is normal procedure and is conducting an investigation to determine the source of the explosion. Witnesses are reporting a strong odor of gas in the area, indicating that it could have been a natural gas explosion.

There were some questions as to whether terrorism could possibly be to blame for the explosion, particularly for witnesses who lived through September 11th and for whom the plume of smoke is all too reminiscent of that day, but the White House has issued a statement saying that terrorism is not involved.

Not to be overly conspiracy minded, but how does the White House know that stuff so quickly?