Business Notes

There are 8 million stories in the Naked City -- which is twelve stories too many. Last week the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a lower court ruling requiring a New York City developer to tear down the top dozen floors of a new 31-story condominium on Manhattan's East Side. The concrete superstructure for all 31 floors was in place in 1986 when the city found that the building violated zoning laws and ordered it cut down to size. The developer, Parkview Associates, kept working on the building and went to court, arguing that there ( had been an error in the city's zoning map. But Parkview should have noticed the error, a New York appeals court ruled in February. Decapitation of the condo could cost $9 million.