Newsday from New York, New York • 53

To Control Networks of March 31 according to Thomson First Call Share Watch "Dolans don't change their he added referring to Charles and James Dolan the respective father end son chairman and CEO team at Cablevision "They will not contrib- ute these great assets into the pot and not have control over these assets in some A spokesman for Cablevision and Bronfman declined to comment comments come as a five-way bidding battle for the US entertainment assets of Vivendi Universal is heating up Not much more is known about the structure of planned new company which is ex- pected to join Cablevision's Rainbow Media properties with Sci Fi and Trio cable networks along with a movie studio and theme park Cablevision Systems Carp Chairman Charles Dolan is likely to sedc to keep control of its profitable programming networks as part of a plan to back an Edgar Bronfman Jr bid for Vivendi Universal assets a mqjor Cablevision investor said yesterday Cablevision has pledged several of its programming networks to be part of a group of investors backing former scion Bronfman bid for Vivendi assets But one influential investor expects Dolan a shrewd cable industry veteran to negotiate to maintain a commanding role at those networks "Zebras change their said Mario Gabelli CEO of Gabelli Asset Management in a phone interview company owns an 11 percent stake in Cablevision spread across several funds as Vv Joshua Bolteu Pmidsnt Bush's shoiss to head tha Ofllca of Management and Budget is swoia In bstora a Sonata Govem mental Affairs Committee hearing on his nomination last month Columbus Circle Condo Sold for a Record $40M By James Toedtman MF i 'irl V' vi-ft'i They are Bolten agreed They are larger than we want them to be They are part of the solution to getting economy back onto the track which ultimately the solution to bringing budget back into Bolten split with other Bush administration economists and defenders when he agreed with Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan that long-term deficits do adversely affect interest rates' He also repeated common criticism of fimil choices Bolten emphasized request a 4 percent increase in federal spending in 2004 compared with the 2003 budget as "a pretty good measure of how rapidly government should But total federal spending from 2001 to the current fiscal year which ends Sept 30 grew by percent The spending total as a share of gross domestic product has grown from 186 percent to 199 percent since Bush took office while total federal taxes have dropped from 199 percent to 171 percent During his mfirmtiim hearing in Senate two weeks ago Bolten was warned that Congress would press the administration for extra spending for 3898 ir By Christian Murray STAFTWSrrZK A British real estate investor has agreed to pay more than (40 million fin a penthouse condominium located at Columbus Circle the largest single residential transaction in New York history several experts said yesterday The penthouse one of 10 penthouses topping the upper floors of the two towers of the AOL Time Warner Center to be completed this fall consists of 8400 square feet on the 76th floor and snnBwr 3600 square feet on the 77th floor "When completed this will be one of the finest apartments in' New said Pam Liebman president of the Corcoran Group the Manhattan firm that found the buyer Liebman would not disclose the identity of the buyer The luxury condominium will feature 25-foot-high glass walls and a wraparound outdoor which will provide 360-degree views of Manhattan Central Park and the Hudson River "Our buyer was attracted to AOL Time Warner Center for the five-star Iiehmnn said The center will include six restaurants a luxury hotel Jazx at Lincoln Center and 198 condos including the penthouses which are all being marketed as One Central Park Jonathan Miller president of Miller Samuel Inc a Manhattan appraisal and consulting company agreed that the $40 million-plus deal was the biggest yet saying that it surpassed the $35 million paid for a 9906-square-foot apartment at 50 Central Park South in 2001 Third he believes is the $30 million deal for the 15th and 16th floors at 740 Park Ave in 2000 The Sunshine Group LTD represented the developers The Related Companies and Apollo Real Estate Advisors LP on the dealBoth the Sunshine Group and the Corcoran Group Washington When the Bush administration's first budget director -took office he was was urged by White House counselor Karl Rove to study how President Grover Cleveland had dealt with the record budget surpluses he faced mare than a century ago The administration's second budget director Joshua Bolten who started his new job last week does not have the same problem Instead of the $51 trillion in future budget surpluses that greeted former budget director Mitch Daniels two years ago when he took office Bolten who was President George deputy chief of staff faces the immediate prospect of mammoth budget deficits fin into the future As he moved out of the White House and into his new office in the Old Executive Office Building Bolten 48 was greeted by cash shortfall and a fresh flow of red ink by predictable sky-is-falling rhetoric from Democrats by concern from budget hawks about the growing budget deficits and by nervousness from Republicans about the sluggish national economy But the former Goldman Sachs invest-merit banker motorcycling enthusiast and Bush campaign aide remains unfazed In his only public remarks Bolten followed the administration's cue during congressional testimony two weeks ago The deficit is manageable but more important is the necessary price tag for reviving the economy he said before the Senate confirmed Ids appointment The deficit in the current $2 1-trillion budget is now estimated at $425 billion by the Congressional Budget Office compared with the $334-billion surplus for this year's budget that Du Bush had predicted two years ago ph That turnaround has attracted atten- Cr tion Richard Kogan economist for the Center for Budget Priorities and Policy calculated that if all the recent tax cuts were made permanent and the current Medicare prescription drug plan were enacted annual budget defi-cits of more than $300 billion a year would continue for the next decade that 1886 later this is the for be 148 the This is is randsring of tha AOL Tims Wamsr Cantar at Coiambus Clrclo highway construction defense and veterans health care throw away are owned by NRT Inc the largest residential real estate broker company and a subsidiary of Cendant Corp Liebman said the deal represented "a home run for She would not disclose how much the commission was but a big liebman added that the deal reflects a greater confidence in the New York marketplace 5 Steven James a broker with Dou- gias Elliman said the firm is working jjj with clients willing to pay about $30 million for the remaining AOL Time Warner Center penthouses Hall fc Willky president of Brown Harris 5 Stevens said "We are seeing a lot more activity and a lot more accept fences of offers made between (lOg million to $20 million flak jacket" said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) referring to often hostile relationship with congressional appropriators That's far from the history lesson greeted Bolton's predecessor Daniels was given speeches of Grover Cleveland who presided over historic budget surpluses Eventually the surpluses were consumed as pensions for Ivil War veterans but not before Cleveland admonished Congress in to cut taxes and tariffs that had produced the surplus Collecting taxes when there's a budget surplus "becomes ruthless extortion and a violation of the fundamental principles of a free Cleveland wrote Two years he lost his bid for re-election.