Carrying a bass up the stairs from the subway at Lincoln Center. Photo by Avi.

January 22, 2013 Weather: Partly Cloudy/Wind, High of 23 Degrees.

Notices:
“A culinary journey across the globe” and more events today on our calendar.

News:
The Grace Tabernacle Church of God in Christ on 106th Street and Manhattan Avenue has been transformed into a luxury three-story townhouse asking $3.675 million. It’s the most expensive listing in Manhattan Valley. The owners bought the house next door for $25,000 in 1976 when times were bleak: “A townhouse a few doors away had been turned into a crack den, after the deaths of its owners, with every room, including bathrooms, rented out to individual drug dealers.” They bought the old church in 2009 for $800,000 and say they put in more than $2 million worth of renovation work. Is this a turning point for Manhattan Valley, one of the last “middle class” neighborhoods in the area? (Wall Street Journal) (our summary initially said incorrectly that they bought the church for $25,000 but the owner set us straight in the comments)

An interesting suggestion from Malcolm Carter: what if buildings made their recyclable cans available to “canners” who make money by picking cans out of the trash? That would mean less searching through trash in the bitter cold. (Malcolm Carter)

The buildings department has been issuing many more elevator violations since a midtown office worker died in 2011. (NY Post)

We hear that that glowing TD Bank sign on 88th and Broadway that we wrote about last week has been turned off at night. No more sleepless nights for neighbors!