I live in Noho, and in many ways it's the ideal Manhattan neighborhood. My favorite restaurant is down the block. There's great Japanese on the next block, and an art supply store. There are troves of mid-century modern treasures scattered around. The Bowery Hotel's new Italian restaurant, Gemma, opens for dinner tomorrow. Easy bag-hauling proximity to Whole Foods and Astor Wines is awesome. And somehow I haven't missed CBGBs. I wonder how they're doing in Las Vegas? Something's always new around here. Like the new Jack Spade Kiosk at the Bowery Hotel, offering news, necessities, and notions. And art on the walls (NFS).

Downsides? Well, we've been under construction for a couple of years here, and our cobblestone street is like an obstacle course. Since it's landmarked, I'm sure candidate Bloomberg will have the masons out soon to make repairs. But for the most part the building boom has resulted in improvement.

Number one on the charts is Ian Schrager's 40 Bond Street, a surprising building from the great architects Herzog & de Meuron that combines street level "townhouses" with upstairs condos. I was a little nervous at first, but it has grown up into quite a remarkable building. The concept is a re-imagining of the cast-iron loft buildings that made Soho and its northern neighbor famous. Those cast-iron buildings made great use of natural light, and that's the case with 40 Bond and its floor-to-ceiling, fully operational windows. And the steel that's standing in for cast iron is beautifully encased in glass the color of vintage Coke bottles. I can't wait for occupancy, because apparently, at night, internal illumination will cause the glass to glow.

Probably the most controversial elements are the gates which front the building on street level. They were designed on a computer from samples of genuine New York City graffiti. It's nice for something baroque to break out of the box of post-modernism, and I think this transfiguration of artistic vandalism is fantastic. Here are the gates being installed. Call me crazy, but what's not to like?

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