> Condos in the building feature Italian marble kitchens and master baths, white oak floors and asking prices in the $2 million to $2.5 million range, according to the real estate website StreetEasy. The website Curbed noted in a 2017 article that access to the building’s units was via a private, keyed elevator.
This is such a strange paragraph to read in an article like this. I see the relevance of the last sentence, but the rest just feels jarring. Is that normal for pieces like this?
The whole article has this weird tone like it's part of a hard boiled detective novel: “You kind of forget New York City is New York City sometimes,” she said.
I like hard boiled detective novels, but it felt weird here when I reminded myself this isn't a short story, this is a real man who was just murdered with family and friends and neighbors.
The byline has three names. Including an editor, does that means four sets of eyes saw no problem or had no concern with how this piece was presented? It's such an unfortunate event and I can only imagine how many people will be directly impacted by it. The tone is just so jarring.
I think the author is trying to set context that this is an upscale neighborhood and access to the building is difficult, so this is unlikely to be a random robbery or assault and more likely to a planned murder.
Wasn't that already explicit in the tagline of the piece?
> An electric saw was found near the man’s torso, law enforcement officials said. Units in the Lower East Side building have sold for more than $2 million.
The additional details about tiling and decor seem quite superfluous.
The extra details of the kitchen and bathroom is strange. As far as the price point, they may be trying to show he was not living in a run down neighborhood with higher crime?
This is such a strange paragraph to read in an article like this. I see the relevance of the last sentence, but the rest just feels jarring. Is that normal for pieces like this?