Latest news with #Broder
Irish Independent
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Historic pub on Dublin's Parnell Street offered for €2.25m
It is being sold by the Broder family and in 2010 this newspaper reported that they bought it for around €1m. Subsequently they undertook a major investment and extended the premises to include Parnell Street's only rooftop terrace bar, Captain Moonlight's, as well as the Rua Cocktail Bar on the first floor. Over the years the pub was strongly associated with Irish television's early political humour when the Hall's Pictorial Weekly programme satirised Irish local party councillors by naming one of them Parnell Mooney, which had been the well-known name of the pub for the best part of a century. That character was played by the late Frank Kelly who went on to play the drunken Fr Jack Hackett in Father Ted. Located in a historic position on Parnell Street, just off O'Connell Street, opposite the Rotunda Hospital and adjacent to Henry Street, The Parnell Heritage Bar & Grill which extends to 700 sqm. Shane Markey of Lisney describes the premises as being in very good trading condition and offering spaces for day trade, dining and events. He believes it has significant potential for further growth.
Business Journals
30-05-2025
- Climate
- Business Journals
Terzo closes permanently after devastating flood
Terzo, the Broder family's Italian restaurant and wine bar at 50th Street and Penn Avenue, closed in February after a flood destroyed the building. The restaurant just announced it will not reopen.
Los Angeles Times
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
King of the kazoos
Albert Broder was in a high state of annoyance. The customer who had just walked into his Fairfax Avenue office had committed the unpardonable sin of putting the wrong end of a kazoo in her mouth. 'My God,' Broder was saying, 'haven't you ever played a kazoo before?' He is a large, balding man with an aggressive manner and a voice as flat and dry as a Texas desert. His customer, on the other hand, was a small, whispery woman in her mid-30s who was obviously not accustomed to verbal assaults by kazoo salesmen. 'Only as a child,' she replied in a teeny-tiny voice. 'Where you from?' Broder demanded. 'West Covina.' 'What do you do?' 'What?' 'What kind of work?' She said she was an actress and a part-time chandelier salesman. Broder shook his head, the implication being that he has had trouble before with West Covina actresses who sold chandeliers. 'You do it this way.' He put a white kazoo with a Coca-Cola logo in his mouth. Then he played something that sounded like 'Stars and Stripes Forever.' 'Try it,' Broder said to the poor woman. That was when she made her second mistake, or perhaps her third, if you count walking into the store in the first place as a mistake. She blew into the kazoo. 'You don't blow into the kazoo, for God's sake!' Broder said, grimacing. 'You hum! ' He demonstrated a second time, gave the woman a bag full of free kazoos and sent her on her way. She hurried out, never knowing that Broder in reality is a kind and generous man. He is just very passionate about kazoos. 'Educating the public is my No. 1 job,' he explained with a sigh. 'I even had an instruction booklet made up.' He handed me a booklet: 'The Kazoo. A Fun Music-Maker for All Ages. Operating instructions: (1) Place larger end in mouth. (2) Keep fingers and thumb clear of turret and small opening. (3) Hum (don't blow). Note: If instrument fails to activate, loudly say the word 'doo' into the larger end.' The instructions are accompanied by the silhouette of a man playing the kazoo properly. One can almost sense the presence of Broder just outside of the picture, watching. Broder has been selling the instruments for three years. Before that, he drove a taxi in Detroit. He considers himself Mr. Kazoo. You can't miss his small, kazoo-cluttered office across from the Farmers Market. In front, there is an animated gorilla with a clown on its shoulders and a kazoo in its mouth. The gorilla's head moves from side to side. I visit Mr. Kazoo occasionally to see what he's up to. He is not the only promoter I have ever known, but he is the only promoter I have ever known who is trying to be to the kazoo what Col. Sanders was to fried chicken. His latest kazoo-oriented undertaking involves wrestling. 'I'm looking for a wrestler I will call Captain Kazoo,' Broder said. 'He'll wear a Captain Kazoo outfit and hand out 5,000 kazoos with his picture on it every time he wrestles. You like wrestling, I'll get you tickets.' I said I didn't want any wrestling tickets. 'I'll get you tickets to 'Cats' then. You know the guy who wrote 'Mairzy Doats'? Al Trace. He's doing a special song for Captain Kazoo. All I need is the right wrestler. When do you wanna go?' 'I don't want tickets to 'Cats,' ' I said. Broder played 'Mairzy Doats' on the kazoo. It also sounded like 'Stars and Stripes Forever.' 'You ever hear of the Kaminsky International Kazoo Quartet?' he demanded. I said I had not. 'They're famous, for God's sake!' 'I still haven't heard of them.' Broder scowled. 'The Kaminsky International Kazoo Quartet plays all over the country,' he said. 'They're coming here to some colleges. They'll be using my kazoos. I'm trying to set them up to play half-time at a Lakers playoff game. You like basketball? I'll get you some playoff tickets.' 'I don't want playoff tickets.' 'They used my kazoos once, but they always wait until the last minute. I can't wait that long. Take a look at this.' Broder handed me a piece of flared plastic, allowed me to examine it, then took it back. He affixed it to the outer end of a kazoo so that it looked a little like a miniature plastic trumpet. 'I invented that,' he said. 'It's so you can tell one end of the kazoo from the other. It'll be ready in 30 days. Write that down.' 'Hey, you can't . . . ' 'Write it down, for God's sake.' What the hell. I wrote it down. 'It makes a different sound,' Broder said. He played a tune. 'You know what that was?' ' 'Stars and Stripes Forever'?' He didn't say whether I was right or wrong. He just said, 'What kind of cigars you smoke?' 'Broder,' I said very slowly, 'I don't want to see 'Cats,' I don't want to be at a Lakers playoff game, I can't stand wrestling, I've quit cigars and to hell with the kazoo.' 'Hey,' he called as I stomped out past the animated gorilla, 'will I see you again?' Of course.
The Onion
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Onion
Prostitute Falls Asleep During ‘Star Wars'
LOUISVILLE, KY—Expressing a mix of frustration and stunned disbelief at the woman's lack of enthusiasm, local man Ron Broder told reporters Wednesday that the escort whose services he had solicited for the evening fell asleep during Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope . The 40-year-old logistics coordinator confirmed he had paid the sex worker Misty, as she mononymously identified herself online, a sum of $385 to meet him at a nearby Rodeway Inn where he arrived with his own physical copy of the 1977 film in 4k Ultra HD, a Blu-ray player, and an HDMI cable and adapter to connect to the motel TV. Although he paid her for two hours of service, Broder stated that the prostitute dozed off barely 30 minutes into the movie. Misty 'We had just gotten to the part where Obi-Wan reveals his true identity to Luke, when I look over and see her eyes are completely shut,' said Broder, who before settling down on the bed and pressing play had greeted Misty at the door with a smile and told her of the 'special evening' he had planned. 'I did notice she seemed pretty checked out during the scene where the droids are wandering in the desert, but I assumed she would at least stay awake until we were finished.' 'I understand if she wasn't as excited about watching Star Wars as I was,' he added, 'but she wasn't even pretending to be into it.' The sex worker, who was wearing a faux fur jacket over polyester lingerie, was reportedly sprawled out on top of the motel bed's floral-print comforter, her head lolling to one side as she slept. Looking frantically back and forth from Misty's slack jaw to the screen where Obi-Wan was presenting Luke Skywalker with his father's lightsaber, Broder said he was worried about how much of the film she had potentially missed without him noticing. As the movie progressed, Broder expressed concern that the woman would sleep right through the cantina scene, and he began to make a mental note of which parts he should rewind to and show her as soon as she woke up. It appeared, however, that these highlights became too numerous for him to remember, because he soon grabbed the motel's complimentary notepad and ballpoint pen from the nightstand and began writing out time codes, including 'Han blasts Greedo (50:53),' 'Millennium Falcon hits lightspeed (56:56),' 'Chewbacca angry (1:00:14),' 'Han blasts intercom thing (1:15:48),' and 'trash compactor (1:19:13).' 'I was hoping she would wake up on her own, but even when I turned up the sound a bit, she just kept sleeping and sleeping,' said Broder, who described how he kept gradually raising the volume until a guest in the adjacent room started banging on the shared interior wall and yelling at him to 'shut the fuck up.' 'Then I realized I was missing the movie too, because I was continually glancing over at her to see if she'd woken up yet.' Realizing the importance of Misty watching the crucial lightsaber battle between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan, Broder said he considered gently nudging her with his elbow, but before he could make up his mind about whether to do so, the scene had passed and he had become engrossed in the Millennium Falcon's narrow escape from the clutches of the Empire. When the film neared its end, sources confirmed the night had not gone at all the way Broder had hoped, falling far short of the encounter he had long fantasized about having with a prostitute. 'I'm just disappointed,' said the middle-aged man, who sat in the dim glow of the TV screen and shrugged as Misty slept through the climactic explosion of the Death Star. 'I really thought she was going to like A New Hope . Her bio said she was adventurous, but I guess that was a lie.' 'Well, it's her loss,' he continued. 'I had something wonderful to share with her, and she completely squandered it.' At press time, the sex worker's pimp had reportedly arrived and sat down with Broder to watch the end of the movie, the two men crying as Princess Leia presented awards to the Rebellion's newest heroes.
Boston Globe
31-03-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
This Downtown Crossing building just sold for one-fifth of its pre-pandemic price. Here's why that may be a good thing.
The old Barnes & Noble in Downtown Crossing has sat vacant for nearly two decades. Here, it's pictured on March 6, 2006. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff Advertisement 399 Washington was family-owned for decades, until 2017 when Chicago-based LaSalle Investment Management and L3 Capital bought it for $63 million. They then invested millions more into a full suite of upgrades: working bathrooms and elevators, new mechanical and HVAC systems. They stripped off the two-story gray slab that hung over the building's entrance for years, replacing it with tall expanses of metal and glass windows. The owners started marketing the retail space shortly after buying the building, and completed upgrades in 2021. Related : But tenants never came. And earlier this year, with office demand still weak following the COVID-19 pandemic — and no rental income coming in — 399 Washington The prospect of a freshly overhauled building at a big discount drew interest from several investors — including bid by Hudson and Assembly won. Now they plan to market the property at rents in the $40s per square foot, $7 to $10 less than the typical rent for Class B office space downtown, and around $20 less than what the prior owners would have had to charge, Papanastasiou said. Bringing in a ground-floor retailer, and resetting rents for offices up above, will bring an energy to the property that hasn't been seen in decades, the new owners said. Advertisement 'That will cast a wide net for tenancy,' Papanastasiou said. 'Just lighting up this building is going to help tremendously.' The ground floor of 399 Washington Street in Downtown Crossing has been vacant since a Barnes & Noble store there closed in 2006. Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff/Boston Globe Ron and Papanastasiou aren't alone. Amid a One such opportunistic investor is Broder, a Boston-based real estate investment and development firm that recently bought 15 Broad St. downtown. It's Broder's second time owning the building, which it sold to Brookfield Properties in 2016 for $32.5 million. In late 2019, just a few months before COVID hit Boston, Brookfield sold it to TA Realty for $46.1 million. Earlier this year, Broder bought it back, for $13.5 million — $5 million less than it first paid to buy it 18 years ago. Broder is privately funded with family wealth, and its portfolio has little debt, said managing partner Eric Svenson. (His and brother Ben Svenson's father, John Svenson, These days, groups that bought buildings prior to the pandemic and with a five- or seven-year mortgage find themselves with Advertisement 'A lot of sellers are feeling like it's time,' he said. 'I wish we had ten times the available capital we have. … I've been doing this for three decades and I've never seen opportunities like this.' Properties like 15 Broad St. and 399 Washington St. that have changed hands for significant discounts can give landlords flexibility to offer tenants space for a discount, or invest in modern amenities — a crucial factor in today's leasing landscape, said Wil Catlin, a senior partner with Boston Realty Advisors. But these days, Catlin noted, many tenants consider offices more an asset than a requirement, and they prize amenities and places for employees to connect with peers. So while pricing is important, it's not the only consideration. One of the last remnants of the Barnes & Noble store that once occupied the bottom two floors of 399 Washington Street. Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff/Boston Globe 'The question is pricing for what ? ' Catlin said. 'For a lack of a better term, it's got to feel good. You've got to want to be there. If the owner is saying they get a $7 per square foot discount, and the employees and staff are not getting a differential experience, they're like: 'Uh, why are we here again?'' Catlin and other experts expect more deals like this as sales activity increases this year after a long slow period since COVID-19. Some of those sales will come as deep-pocketed global real estate owners pivot away from commercial real estate in an effort to curb future losses. Private equity behemoth Blackstone in 2023 told the Globe it would continue to pare back its office holdings. It paid around $156 million in January 2020 for a five-story brick-and-beam office at 179 Lincoln St. Last March, Blackstone handed both the building — and its $76.5 million in mortgage debt — over to Synergy Investments, according to Suffolk County records. Advertisement Meanwhile Swiss bank UBS Group has been shedding office properties across the United States. In September, a UBS arm sold 400 Atlantic Ave., a six-story brick office facing Boston Harbor, for $30 million to the development arm of French financier Jacques Chahine, Suffolk County records show. That's 40 percent less than the $50 million UBS paid to buy 400 Atlantic in 2014, and followed Over in Downtown Crossing, Papanastasiou and Ron said they're already in advanced conversations with several retailers to lease 399 Washington's expansive first and second floor, which are connected by a striking brass staircase — a remnant of the Barnes & Noble days. They aim to sign an office lease soon for one of the upper floors. A fully built out office suite on the fourth floor, for example, is ready for a tenant any day. 'We're confident we can lease that to an office tenant this year,' Ron said. 'We're bullish on the future of downtown, and on this building.' The new owners of 399 Washington Street in Downtown Crossing are hoping to lure a new anchor tenant to its two-story retail space. Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff/Boston Globe Catherine Carlock can be reached at
