Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Listing photos courtesy of Brown Harris Stevens

A two-bedroom condo in Brooklyn for under $1 million with $0 in monthly taxes is probably a steal no matter how you look at it, but thisBed-Stuyhome is also completely beautiful and has a massive roof deck. Located at464 Hancock Street, the $925,000 apartment also has a wood-burning fireplace, contemporary kitchen, heated floors in the bathroom, and a bonus storage room that makes a great home office or gym. And in addition to the nearly 800-square-foot deck, theres also a lovely balcony off the primary bedroom.

The entrance to the home is in the middle, with the living space and kitchen on one end of the hall and the bedrooms on the other. In the living room, theresa functioning wood-burning fireplace, a custom bookcase, a large skylight, and exposed brick. The kitchen hasBertazzoni appliances, granite countertops,a subwaytile backsplash, and cool open Artek shelving set against Heath wallpaper.

Down the hall is the secondary bedroom and a full bathroom.

The primary bedroom suite has an en-suite bathroom complete with a clawfoot tub, shower, and heated marble floors, as well as access to a private terrace.

As mentioned, theres a152-square-foot windowed storage unit that doubles as an office and workout room.

Finally, the roof deck spans over 780 square feet (do note the image above is virtually staged), perfect for all your outdoor entertaining needs.

The building is known as the Shaker House condominium and is located in the historic Stuyvesant Heights section of Bedford Stuyvesant. As the listing states, there is a J-51 tax abatement through 2026. Also, taxes are currently $0 monthly.

[Listing details: 464 Hancock Street, Apt. 3A at CityRealty]

[At Brown Harris Stevens by Jevon Gratineau]

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Listing photos courtesy of Brown Harris Stevens

Tags : 464 Hancock Street

Neighborhoods : bed stuy

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Lovely two-bedroom condo in Bed-Stuy is asking just $925K with no monthly taxes - 6Sqft

All renderings courtesy of NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development

In the Mott Haven section of the Bronx, just a block away from the Madison Avenue Bridge and 138th Street subway station, a new apartment building has all the amenities one could want for a work-from-home life. Theres a cool roof deck complete with a dog run and firepits, a fitness center plus yoga room, game room, movie room, and several co-working spaces. And for those earning 130 percent of the area median income, a middle-income affordable housing lottery has just launched for 65 units, ranging from $2,000/month studios to $2,900/month three-bedrooms.

The 12-story building comes fromJacob Schwimmer of JCS Realty Group. Its part of the421a Tax Incentive Program, which grants tax breaks for new development that include 25-30 percent affordable housing.

The full suite of amenities includes a 24/7 doorman, gym, yoga room that opens to an outdoor terrace, childrens playroom, adults game room, cafe, covered parking, movie room, bike storage lockers, and landscaped roof deck.

The apartments range from studios to three-bedrooms andcome with dishwashers and washer/dryers. Some also have patios or balconies.

Qualifying New Yorkers can apply for the affordable units until August 30, 2021. Complete details on how to apply are available here. Questions regarding this offer must be referred to NYCs Housing Connect department by dialing 311.

If you dont qualify for the housing lotteries mentioned, visitCityRealty.comsno-fee rentals pagefor other apartment deals in the city.

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All renderings courtesy of NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development

Tags : 276 Grand Concourse

Neighborhoods : Mott Haven

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Middle-income housing lottery opens at new Bronx building with a roof deck and co-working space - 6Sqft

Yachties often have butterflies in their stomachs at the start of a new charter season. But Below Deck Mediterranean's new chief stew Katie Flood's nerves were a little higher as she stepped into a position previously held by Hannah Ferrier from Seasons 1 to 5.

"There's definitely pressure, I think. I'm aware and prepared [for] that.Of course, I'm gonna be compared, you know? Like, that's what people like to do is give comparisons. So I definitely am not gonna be surprised if I see any of that," Katie told Bravo Insider during an exclusive interview prior to the Below Deck Med Season 6 premiere. "But at the end of the day, I'm not Hannah; I'm me. I do things different than how she did things or would do things. And that's like any other chief stew. So it is what it is."

It helps when you receive a warm welcome to the world of Below Deck Med from none other than Hannah herself. Katie shared that she received a nice message from the Below Deck Med alum. "She was very lovely. She just, like, wished me all the best," Katie said. "So it was really cute."

Katie added that Hannah also told her that "she's here" if the chief stew ever needed to talk about anything as she begins herjourney on Below Deck Med. That's something that Katie said she may take her up on as the season goes on. "You never know. I don't know how the world's gonna respond to me or how I'm gonna be, you know, how they're gonna see me, what they're gonna say about me. So right now, I feel good," Katie said. "But, hey, I don't know. Like, it's like I said. I am human. I'm sure some things will get to me at some point. But yeah. Maybe in those times I will reach out for sure."

Aside from her Below Deck Med Season 6 crew and her past romance with Season 4 deckhand Jack Stirrup, Katie said that she doesn't know any other yachties from the world of Below Deck personally. Some alums have reached out to her after it was announced that she would be Below Deck Med's new chief stew.

Katie said that she has appreciated the supportshe has received from the Below Deck family so far. "It's really nice, though. I think it's just a simple thing, especially, you know, someone new like myself dipping into this. It's more, I guess, to just say that they're there if you have anything to discuss and in terms of the social media and the comments and the trolls and that side of it," Katie shared. "Most people that have reached out to me, that's what they sort of said. Like, 'If you just want to chat about this and how to handle things,' which is good, because, you know, I've never been through something like this before. So it is nice, I guess, to have that support if you really need it, if you're really getting affected by things or this and that. So it's [really]good."

As Below Deck Med fans get to know her this season, Katie said that she's not the type of person to take things too seriously. "I take life with a pinch of salt, especially in this sort of scenario, like, people are gonna say what they want to say. I don't really buy into bulls--t. So, you know, you either like me or you don't. I'm not gonna get sleepless nights over it," she said. "But I think I'm definitely easygoing. I think I'm a relatable person. So, yeah, I guess, hopefully, that comes across."

The addition of Katie to the Below Deck Med crew is just one reason why this season will be totally "different," according to the new chief stew. "I'm a completely different person. So I think I'm quite a likable person, you know. I get along with most people I meet. I'm a pretty chill person. It just is different. Maybe it's something new, it's refreshing for the show," Katie teased. "I think everyone's gonna be surprised. I think it's gonna be a different season to what people are used to. So I think it'll be cool."

Want more Below Deck Med? Season 6 airs Mondays at 9/8c on Bravo with early access to new episodes on Peacock.

The Daily Dish is your source for all things Bravo, from behind-the-scenes scoop to breaking news, exclusive interviews, photos, original videos, and, oh, so much more. Subscribe to The Daily Dish podcast, join our Facebook group, and follow us on Instagramfor the latest news hot off the presses. Sign up to become a Bravo Insider and be the first to get exclusive extras.

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Below Deck Med's New Chief Stew Katie Flood Reveals the Message She Received from Hannah Ferrier - Bravo

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the start of construction on a major capital improvement on the Castleton-On-Hudson Bridge on the New York State Thruway (I-90) Berkshire Spur. This $47.6 million bridge deck replacement and rehabilitation project includes the complete deck replacement of the westbound travel lanes and deck repairs and asphalt overlay to eastbound travel lanes, as well as bridge steel repairs and other safetyenhancements.

"As part of our efforts to build back better, we are continuing to pursue an aggressive infrastructure program that makes the investments necessary for strengthening roads and bridges across New York,"Governor Cuomo said."The upgrades being made to the Castleton-On-Hudson Bridge will not only ensure this structure continues to be safe and reliable for motorists well into the future, but also support the continued flow of goods throughout the Capital Region."

The Castleton-On-Hudson Bridge, more commonly referred to as the Castleton Bridge, opened to traffic in 1958 and spans approximately one mile in length, connecting the Berkshire Spur section to the Thruway's mainline. Approximately 6.2 million vehicles per year or 17,000 per day travel over the iconic blue steel bridge that connects Albany and Rensselaer counties over the Hudson River.

Thruway Authority Executive Director Matthew J. Driscoll said,"The Authority continues to strategically reinvest toll dollars to transform and modernize the Thruway system, which is renowned for being among the safest and most reliable superhighway systems in the country. The Castleton Bridge is one of the longest crossings on our system, and this project will ensure its viability well into the future."

The project is being performed by L&T Construction ofRichmondville, New York (Schoharie County).

Construction will take place in phases and trafficwill be shifted and reduced to one travel lane in each direction for the duration of each phase. During Phase 1, all eastbound traffic (from exit 21A) will be shifted onto the westbound span via a crossover as crews complete deck repairs and asphalt overlay to the eastbound lanes.

During Phase 2, all westbound traffic (traveling to Thruway mainline)will be divertedto the newly repaired eastbound span and crews will perform the complete deck replacement to the westbound travel lanes. The projectis scheduled to be substantially completedby the end of 2022.

The project also includes additional safety enhancements including new pavement at each end of the bridge, new guiderail, new beacon lights on the bridge, and miscellaneous steel repairs.

Motoristsare remindedthat in New York State, fines are doubled for speeding in a work zone. In accordance with the Work Zone Safety Act of 2005, convictions of two or more speeding violations in a work zone could result in the suspension of an individual's driver license.

For up-to-date travel information, motorists are encouraged to download itsmobile appwhichis available to download for free on iPhone and Android devices. The app provides motorists direct access to real-time traffic and navigation assistance while on the go. Travelers can also visit the Thruway Authority's interactiveTraveler Mapwhichfeatures live traffic cameras.

Motorists can also sign up forTRANSalerte-mails, which provide the latest traffic conditions along the Thruway, here. For real-time updates, motorists can follow@ThruwayTrafficon Twitter or visitwww.thruway.ny.govto see an interactive map showing traffic conditions for the Thruway and other New York State roadways.

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Governor Cuomo Announces Start of $47.6 Million Bridge Deck Replacement and Rehabilitation Project on the Castleton-On-Hudson Bridge - ny.gov

CHICAGO The nations largest rooftop venue is right here in Chicago.

Nestled at the end of Navy Pier, Offshore offers panoramic views of Lake Michigan and the city skyline, and provides a unique perspective of Chicago.

The all-weather venue offers a full-service bar and menu, a 20,000-square foot terrace with seven cozy fire pits, an entertainment and gaming area and multiple large gathering spaces for social and corporate events, weddings, and much more.

For firework times, were doing reservations through Tok. Those reservations will be for the premium tables on the side of the venue with the fireworks,Offshores Clay Livingston said.

Visitors can enjoy firework nights on Wednesdays and Saturdays as Offshore provides a unique perspective to catch all the fun.

Offshore Rooftop & Bar1000 E. Grand AveChicago, IL 60611

For more, follow@tomwgnchicagoon Instagram.

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Dine, drink and enjoy fireworks at Offshore, the largest rooftop deck in the country - WGN TV Chicago

We are back for Episode 18 of the Red Sox On Deck Podcast, your go-to source for everything prospects on the Over the Monster Podcast Network. On this weeks episode, Shelly and Bob opened with some recent College World Series and mock draft updates. Jack Leiter hasnt given us any reason to second guess him with all of his tournament appearances. Baseball America has him going fourth to the Red Sox, while Jim Callis from MLB Pipeline has Jordan Lawler slipping to four, and Keith Law has Henry Davis to Boston. Well have a full MLB Draft preview episode on next weeks episode.

Looking at the current farm, there are plenty of news and notes, including Franchy Corderos continued Triple-A success along with some workouts at first base. Connor Wongs made his big-league debut and got some comments from Nate Eovaldi and Alex Cora. We also saw injuries to Aldo Ramirez and Brandon Howlett, rehabs from Eduard Bazardo, Nick Decker, and Connor Seabold, and a non-update update in regards to Noah Song.

After that, we made our way through the minor league levels, starting this week in The Florida Complex League, which got underway on Monday. Shelly and Bob reviewed the notables on the roster.

Bob spent the remainder of the episode dodging lightning bolts and having connection issues but fought through the adversity to discuss Tanner Houcks second start, big weeks for Jarren Duran and Jeter Downs, and Marcus Wilsons continued success, all at Worcester. In Portland, we talk about Durbin Feltman and make our first mention of Zack Kelly, who have both been excellent out of the bullpen in recent weeks. In Greenville, were both excited about Chris Murphys four straight excellent starts and hope he can make his way to Double-A this summer. Finally, in Salem, Nick Yorke had a scorcher of a month, and we had to talk about the two huge games from our boy Joe Davis, a no-brainer for this weeks cover photo.

We hope you enjoyed the show and if you did, make sure you subscribe to us on iTunes, Google Podcast, Spotify, or Stitcher. Also give the show a review. Five star reviews help us get in more ears and grow the show. Be sure to also follow us on Twitter. You can find Bob @BobOsgood15, Shelly @ShellyV_643. Thanks for listening!

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Boston Red Sox Top Prospects Podcast: The Legend of Joe Davis - Over The Monster

Fintech VC funding hit a fresh quarterly record of $22.8 billion in the first three months of 2021, according to CB Insights data. While mega-rounds helped propel overall funding, new cash was spread across 614 deals.

Insider has been tracking the next wave of hot new startups that are blending finance and tech.

Check out these pitch decks to see how fintech founders are selling their vision and nabbing big bucks in the process. You'll see new financial tech geared at freelancers, fresh twists on digital banking , and innovation aimed at streamlining customer onboarding.

A blockchain-based fintech startup that is aiming to disrupt the traditional model of evaluating peoples' creditworthiness recently raised $30 million in a Series B funding led by credit reporting giant TransUnion.

Four-year-old Spring Labs aims to create a private, secure data-sharing model to help credit agencies better predict the creditworthiness of people who are not in the traditional credit bureau system. The founding team of three fintech veterans met as early employees of lending startup Avant.

Existing investors GreatPoint Ventures and August Capital also joined in on the most recent round. So far Spring Labs has raised $53 million from institutional rounds.

TransUnion, a publicly-traded company with a $20 billion-plus market cap, is one of the three largest consumer credit agencies in the US. After 18 months of dialogue and six months of due diligence, TransAmerica and Spring Labs inked a deal, Spring Labs CEO and cofounder Adam Jiwan told Insider.

Lance is a new digital bank hoping to simplify the life of those workers by offering what it calls an "active" approach to business banking.

"We found that every time we sat down with the existing tools and resources of our accountants and QuickBooks and spreadsheets, we just ended up getting tangled up in the whole experience of it," Lance cofounder and CEO Oona Rokyta told Insider.

Lance offers subaccounts for personal salaries, withholdings, and savings to which freelancers can automatically allocate funds according to custom preset levels. It also offers an expense balance that's connected to automated tax withholdings.

In May, Lance announced the closing of a $2.8 million seed round that saw participation from Barclays, BDMI, Great Oaks Capital, Imagination Capital, Techstars, DFJ Frontier, and others.

Jason Wenk started his career at Morgan Stanley in investment research over 20 years ago. Now, he's running a company that is hoping to broaden access to financial advice for less-wealthy individuals.

The startup raised $50 million in Series B funding led by Insight Partners with participation from investors Vanguard and Venrock. The round brings the Los Angeles-based startup's total funding to just under $67 million.

Founded in 2018, Altruist is a digital brokerage built for independent financial advisors, intended to be an "all-in-one" platform that unites custodial functions, portfolio accounting, and a client-facing portal. It allows advisors to open accounts, invest, build models, report, trade (including fractional shares), and bill clients through an interface that can advisors time by eliminating mundane operational tasks.

Altruist aims to make personalized financial advice less expensive, more efficient, and more inclusive through the platform, which is designed for registered investment advisors (RIAs), a growing segment of the wealth management industry.

While countless small businesses have been harmed by the pandemic, self-employment and entrepreneurship have found ways to blossom as Americans started new ventures.

Half of the US population may be freelance by 2027,according to a study commissioned by remote-work hiring platform Upwork. HoneyBook, a fintech startup that provides payment and operations support for freelancers, in May raised $155 million in funding and achieved unicorn status with its $1 billion-plus valuation.

Durable Capital Partners led the Series D funding with other new investors including renowned hedge fund Tiger Global, Battery Ventures, Zeev Ventures, and 01 Advisors. Citi Ventures, Citigroup's startup investment arm that also backs fintechrobo-advisorBetterment, participated as an existing investor in the round alongside Norwest Venture partners. The latest round brings the company's fundraising total to $227 million to date.

Onboarding new customers with ease is key for any financial institution or retailer. The more friction you add, the more likely consumers are to abandon the entire process.

But preventing fraud is also a priority, and that's where Neuro-ID comes in. The startup analyzes what it calls "digital body language," or, the way users scroll, type, and tap. Using that data, Neuro-ID can identify fraudulent users before they create an account. It's built for banks, lenders, insurers, and e-commerce players.

"The train has left the station for digital transformation, but there's a massive opportunity to try to replicate all those communications that we used to have when we did business in-person, all those tells that we would get verbally and non-verbally on whether or not someone was trustworthy," Neuro-ID CEO Jack Alton told Insider.

Founded in 2014, the startup's pitch is twofold: Neuro-ID can save companies money by identifying fraud early, and help increase user conversion by making the onboarding process more seamless.

In December Neuro-ID closed a $7 million Series A, co-led by Fin VC and TTV Capital, with participation from Canapi Ventures. With 30 employees, Neuro-ID is using the fresh funding to grow its team and create additional tools to be more self-serving for customers.

Marketplaces like Amazon and eBay host millions of third-party sellers, and their algorithms will often boost items in search based on consumer sentiment, which is largely based on reviews. But many third-party sellers use fake reviews often bought from click farms to boost their items, some of which are counterfeit or misrepresented to consumers.

That's where Fakespot comes in. With its Chrome extension, it warns users of sellers using potentially fake reviews to boost sales and can identify fraudulent sellers. Fakespot is currently compatible with Amazon, BestBuy, eBay, Sephora, Steam, and Walmart.

"There are promotional reviews written by humans and bot-generated reviews written by robots or review farms," Fakespot founder and CEO Saoud Khalifah told Insider. "Our AI system has been built to detect both categories with very high accuracy."

Fakespot's AI learns via reviews data available on marketplace websites, and uses natural-language processing to identify if reviews are genuine. Fakespot also looks at things like whether the number of positive reviews are plausible given how long a seller has been active.

Consumers are getting used to the idea of branch-less banking, a trend that startup digital-only banks likeChime,N26, andVarohave benefited from.

The majority of these fintechs target those who are underbanked, and rely on usage of their debit cards to make money off interchange. But fellow startup HMBradley has a different business model.

"Our thesis going in was that we don't swipe our debit cards all that often, and we don't think the customer base that we're focusing on does either," Zach Bruhnke, cofounder and CEO of HMBradley, told Insider. "A lot of our customer base uses credit cards on a daily basis."

Instead, the startup is aiming to build clientele with stable deposits. As a result, the bank is offering interest-rate tiers depending on how much a customer saves of their direct deposit.

Notably, the rate tiers are dependent on the percentage of savings, not the net amount.

"We'll pay you more when you save more of what comes in," Bruhnke said. "We didn't want to segment customers by how much money they had. So it was always going to be about a percentage of income. That was really important to us."

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See 7 pitch decks that fintechs looking to disrupt wealth, banking, and credit scores used to raise millions - Business Insider

As law firms and their clients seek to digitize and streamline work, VCs have been opening their wallets to the growing legal-tech space. The total value of deals in the global market to date this year clocks in at $974 million already surpassing the $603 million figure from 2020, according to data from PitchBook.

Private equity firms are also increasingly eyeing legal tech, investing more than $3.6 billion in Q1 of 2021 alone, according to market intelligence platform Bodhala.

Here's a look at our legal-tech pitch deck collection.

Athennian, which helps law firms and legal departments manage data and workflow around legal entities, raised a $7 million CAD (more than $5.5 million USD) Series A extension in the beginning of March,nearly doubling its initial $8 million Series A round last year.

Athennian's revenue and headcount more than doubled since the original Series A, according to founder and CEO Adrian Camara. He declined to disclose revenue numbers, but said that the sales and marketing team grew from 35 people in September to around 70 in March.

Launched in 2017, Athennian is used by nearly 200 legal departments and law firms, including Dentons, Fastkind, and Paul Hastings, to automate documents like board minutes, stock certificates, and shareholder consents.

The Series A extension was led by Arthur Ventures. New investors Touchdown Ventures and Clio's CEO, Jack Newton, also participated in the round, alongside Round13 Capital and other existing investors. To date, Athennian has raised $17 million CAD, or around $14 million USD, in venture capital funding, per Pitchbook.

Contract tech is the frontrunner in the legal tech space, as companies across industries seek to streamline their contract creation, negotiation, and management processes.

Evisort, a contract lifecycle management (CLM) platform, raised $35 million in its Series B announced late February, bringing total funding to $55.5 million. The private equity firm General Atlantic led its latest funding round, with participation from existing investors Amity Ventures, Microsoft's venture firm M12, and Vertex Ventures.

Founded in 2016, Evisort uses artificial intelligence to help businesses categorize, search, and act on documents.

Its CEO Jerry Ting founded Evisort while he was still attending Harvard Law School. He spent one summer working at Fried Frank, but soon realized that he didn't want to be a lawyer because he didn't want to spend excruciating hours manually reading fifty-page contracts. He did, however, recognize how important they are to corporations, and co-founded Evisort as a tool to locate and track valuable information like a contract's expiration date and obligations like payment dates.

Try to imagine the contracts negotiation process, and one might conjure up a scene where a sheaf of papers, tucked discreetly into a manila folder, is shuttled from one law office to the mahogany table of another. With a stroke of a fountain pen, the deal is sealed.

Those old-school methods have long been replaced with the adoption of PDFs, redlined versions of which zip from email inbox to inbox. Now, contracting is undergoing another digital shift that will streamline the process as companies are becoming more comfortable with tech and are seeking greater efficiencies and investors are taking note.

Contractbook, a Denmark-based contract lifecycle management platform, late last year raised $9.4 million in its Series A investment round, led by venture capital titan Bessemer Venture Partners. In November 2019, Gradient Ventures, Google's AI-focused venture fund, led Contractbook's $3.9 million seed round.

Founded in Copenhagen in 2017, Contractbook uses data to automate documents, offering an end-to-end contracts platform for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Niels Brchner, the company's CEO and cofounder, said that Contractbook was born out of the notion that existing contract solutions failed to use a document's data from names of parties to the folder the document is stored in to automate the process and drive workflow.

Cloud-based technology is having its moment, especially in the legal industry.

As attorneys have been propelled to work remotely amid the pandemic, data security and streamlined work processes are top-of-mind for law firms, leading them to adopt cloud technology.

Investors aretaking note.Disco, a cloud-based ediscovery platform that uses artificial intelligence to streamline the litigation process, snapped up $60 million in equity financing inOctober.

Its Series F, led by Georgian Partners and also backed by VC titans like Bessemer Venture Partners and LiveOak Venture Partners, brings total investment to $195 million, valuing the company at $785 million.

Launched in Houston in 2012, Disco offers AI-fueled products geared towards helping lawyers review and analyze vast quantities of documents, allowing them to more efficiently determine which ones are relevant to a case.

BlackBoiler is an automated contract markup software that's used by Am Law 25 firms and several Fortune 1000 companies.

The software uses machine learning to automate the process of reviewing and revising documents in "track changes." This saves attorneys the time they would typically spend marking up contracts that often use standard boilerplate language.

As a pre-execution software used in the negotiation and markup stage of the contracts process, BlackBoiler has carved out a unique space in the $35 billion contracts industry, said Dan Broderick, a lawyer who cofounded the company in 2015 and is now its CEO.

Broderick walked Insider through the pitch deck the company used to attract funding from investors, including DocuSign as well as 10 attorneys that run the gamut from Am Law 50 partners to general counsel at large corporations.

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Check out 5 pitch decks that legal-tech startups used to raise millions - Business Insider

Police in Greece have been mercilessly thrashed for letting a Picasso crash to the floor just hours after they recovered the invaluable painting, nearly a decade after it was stolen from the national gallery.

Television footage of a news event to announce the recovery on Tuesday shows the 1939 painting, "Head of a Woman," slowly slide from the podium of the police ministry's conference hall and hit the ground.

A man in a T-shirt and mask, but no gloves, quickly props it up again.

Ikea Greece posted a snap image on Facebook of a picture ledge the do-it-yourself (DIY) furniture giant sells under the hashtags #picasso and #oops.

Fellow DIY chain Plaisio was more direct, with a photo of the actual painting resting on a frame tripod, and the hashtag #itwillneverfall in Greek.

Culture Minister Lina Mendoni on Thursday criticized the accident but insisted both paintings "appear to be in good condition."

Gifted by Pablo Picasso to Greece in 1949, "Head of a Woman" had been stolen alongside "Stammer Windmill," painted by Dutchman Piet Mondrian, during a break-in at the gallery in Athens in 2012.

A state report found that security had not been upgraded for over a decade, with the then-police minister calling safeguards "non-existent."

Police said a 49-year-old builder had confessed to stealing the works of art and had been arrested.

Mendoni has said the painting would have been "impossible" to sell as it has a personal inscription by Picasso on the back "For the Greek people, a tribute by Picasso."

The Spanish master had gifted it to the Greek state in recognition of the country's resistance to Nazi Germany during the painful 1941-44 occupation.

The self-confessed thief said he had initially stashed the paintings at home, but later hid them in a gorge in Keratea, 45 kilometers (28 miles) southeast of Athens.

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Greek police bashed as priceless Picasso painting hits the deck | Daily Sabah - Daily Sabah

As the decade-plus resurgence in vinyl sales continues, one thing that has become all too noticeable for buyers is the often steep price of being a vinyl snob. From heavyweight vinyl to hard-laminated cardboard packaging, a single LP usually sells for around $30, thus making most off-beat sales prohibitive for the more casual collector.Lately, though, cassette tapes have come to the rescue. Once the province of the romantic mixtape maker looking to show off their good taste and curatorial skillsto say nothing of their roles as de facto love letters or breakup notesthe pre-recorded, artist-driven cassette tapes costs were on an equal footing with vinyl album sales prices. Looking at the days before the revolution that was (supposed to be) CDs boosted the price of an artists music, the cassette tape and the vinyl LP usually topped off at about $8. And like the vinyl LP, the cassette, too, went into a hibernation of sorts, banished to an image of antiquation, yard sales, and thrift store bins near the front counter.

That is, until indie artists within the last 10 years rediscovered the intimate and easy-to-hold joys of the cassette; to say nothing of the niceness of its price point in the manufacturing stage, as well as for fans at live shows and during Bandcamp sales days. These devoted fans were looking to spend and support, but not risk not being able to pay rent. And with that, the cassette tape became a solid option in which to release music without gauging the consumer.

But what of the major labels? Rather than letting the smaller independents have all the fun, how and when would the majors take advantage of the trend? The answer comes this spring as RecordingTheMasters reel-to-reel tape manufacturers have teamed up with ThinkIndie Distribution to license and reissue a handful of recently released major label albums on cassette for the first time. So far, the genre-jumping, broad-scope series includes Sturgill Simpsons Cuttin Grass, Vol. 1, Diplo and Major Lazers Peace Is the Mission, Maren Morris GIRL, Lupe Fiasco & Kaelin Ellis HOUSE EP, The Story So Fars Proper Dose, Killswitch Engages Atonement, and The Mavericks, En Espaol.

Whats funny is that in the world we live in, were often thinking about how something will fit a Facebook format versus an Instagram format, so adjusting the original packaging to the new/old cassette format was not an unfamiliar process. The Mavericks Jerry Dale McFadden

Outside of Record Store Days offering catalog items as new raritiessuch as July 2021s RSD Drop of Pearl Jam cassettesthis is the first time any major label artists have found their acts recent or newest works in cassette form. Longtime Mavericks member Jerry Dale McFadden has forever art-directed and created covers for his band. Considering the process of shrinking often gorgeous designs for CDsand now cassetteposes the challenge of making art workable for odd cassette shaping, which was a breeze when it came to their recent album.

We just got lucky on En Espaol; using a solid-color background for the album cover made converting it into a cassette format much easier, he says. Whats funny is that in the world we live in, were often thinking about how something will fit a Facebook format versus an Instagram format, so adjusting the original packaging to the new/old cassette format was not an unfamiliar process.

Talk to McFadden about the overall glory of the cassette format, of growing up and making mixtapes for friends, lovers, and those you wish to woo, and not only does he agree, he claims that after all of his years of collecting music, its his cassettes that remain. Theyre all I have left in my collection. For various reasons, I sold off my vinyl and CDs once most of the music I listened to was on various devices. I still have boxes and boxes of my cassettes. Probably half of them are homemade mixtapes, or tapes friends made me throughout the years. Theyre very sentimental to me.

The RTM/Think Indie alliance, and choosing a work as audacious as their first all Spanish-language album, came after McFadden and bandmate Raul Malo were connected with this project by David Macias, the head of The Mavericks distribution company Thirty Tigers. En Espaol had just been released to a #1 debut at the time, and we were thrilled to hear the cassette company was interested, McFadden continues. Releasing this album was a big focus for us over the past few years, and with it already available on several different physical and digital formats, we jumped at the chance to add cassette to the collection.

Scott Register of ThinkIndie believes the cassette form has several levels of appeal. For certain generations, its nostalgia, he starts. For younger ones, everything old is new again, and theres a cool factor to it. And, believe it or not, I know music fans who prefer the analog sound of these cassettes to other mediums.

For certain generations, its nostalgia. For younger ones, everything old is new again, and theres a cool factor to it. And, believe it or not, I know music fans who prefer the analog sound of these cassettes to other mediums. Scott Register, ThinkIndie

As one who distributes and licenses the music, ThinkIndies collaboration with RTM has to do with cost consciousness and the competitiveness of the more prohibitive aspects of the 180-gram vinyl revolution. Cost consciousness is always in the equation when were deciding on what to release, says Register. We dont want to turn off the consumer or get them upset with our customers, the indie stores. With that said, its apples to oranges when youre talking cassette price versus vinyl. The vinyl threshold seems to be getting higher. I hope it stops climbing or goes back down, but with that said, the consumer doesnt appear to be turned off for the most part just yet, especially if its for a superiorly produced product with bells and whistles.

While admitting that the cassette market might not be for everyone (I see it being more genre-specific or artist-specificthen again, not too long ago, the vinyl market wasnt for everyone), Register says the release of these new and recently released touchstones from name-brand artists such as Major Lazer and Marin Morris are selling well. Theres a learning curve and were still way on the front side of it. Were optimistic that the interest from the artists and from the consumers will continue to grow. As we see sales of vintage boomboxes continue to grow, and electronics companies rolling out more and more new models, thats encouraging as it signals demand, and the folks that are purchasing them are gonna need cassettes to play on them.

Neal Birnie, the Chief Music Officer of RecordingTheMasters seconds those emotions. Along with agreeing on the nostalgia factor and the physical nature of having to operate a play mechanism, Birnie remarks upon the one-time failing of the cassette form. The sound is a huge factor because, personally, I remember cassettes always being a bit low-quality, hidden somewhere in the carbut as a company were flying the flag for superior-sounding cassettes. The feedback we get from our tapes compared to others of years ago is a testament to the hard work that goes into what we do.

And with that, the costs reflect the quality, as RTM is one of the last remaining tape manufacturers in the worlda company that specializes in all things tape, and prides itself on high-end reel-to-reel tapes used in studios around the world. The same high-end tape is used for all of our cassettes, so the quality is unlike any other. Theres been a similar comparison with alternative vinyl versions of a release, 180-gram, audiophile, etc. We think our cassettes will naturally find their place in the marketthe quality will shine through.

Most recently throughout lock down, cassettes have been able to support independent artists in a big way. Artists that made an album during lockdown were able to have a physical product to sell in under three weeks on cassetteits motivating from both ends of the spectrum. Neal Birnie, RecordingTheMasters

Keen to get a wide range of styles and genres onto RTM tape, there are huge recent and back catalogues to dive into. To that end, Birnie digs the notion of giving stone cold classics a new lease of life on our tape. On the other hand, and most recently throughout lock down, cassettes have been able to support independent artists in a big way. Artists that made an album during lockdown were able to have a physical product to sell in under three weeks on cassetteits motivating from both ends of the spectrum.

As for the future of cassette sales and releasing opportunities, from his partnership or in general, Birnie states that Whether its the die-hard fan wanting all the different versions of their favorite album, a new generation experiencing cassette for the first time, straight up nostalgia, or self-releasing independent artists, the cassette form is important, its sound and sales encouraging from every angle, and were excited to be a part of it. FL

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Hit the Deck: The Cassette Tape Revival Is in Full Swing - FLOOD Magazine