Today's look in 1860 townhouse

This 1860-built Charlestown townhouse has been given a high-end gut-rehab and interior makeover, turning it into a showpiece contemporary single-family with four floors of living space.

The four-bedroom attached brick rowhouse at 6 Washington St. features a new Spanish mahogany cabinet kitchen with high-end appliances and a third-floor master bedroom suite with a large walk-in closet and a private rear deck off the bedroom. It's on the market for $1,589,000.

Every room in the home has been redone, with new windows with built-in plantation shutters, new or refinished oak floors and contemporary lighting. There's a lot of paneled wainscoting, Gregorian runners in the hallway and newly added window trim, and the rear addition was remodeled in 2008 with radiant-heated floors.

The new black walnut entry doors have etched glass, and lead into a foyer with a coat closet. To the left is a formal dining room with a decorative wood fireplace with an original mantel.

A large opening leads into a kitchen with a breakfast nook that overlooks a fenced-in rear brick patio. The recessed-lit kitchen — redone in the mid-2000s — features new oak floors, Spanish mahogany cabinets, beige granite counters and a center island with pendant lights overhead. There's a large SubZero refrigerator, and other stainless-steel appliances include a Viking gas stove, two Bosch convection wall ovens and a Kitchen Aid dishwasher and compactor. The rear of the kitchen has a pantry area with a wine cooler.

Another dining nook with a wet bar sits in the rear addition, with radiant-heated yellow limestone floors and an adjacent redone half bath with limestone floors and a pedestal sink.

The second floor has a formal living room with contemporary lighting, restored oak floors, three front-facing windows and an original working wood fireplace.

The adjacent recessed-lit library has a floor-to-ceiling bookcase and two rear windows. A recessed-lit study in the rear addition has radiant-heated oak floors and diagonally set windows that overlook the patio. There's a newly added half bath with closet that holds a stacked Asko washer and dryer.

The entire third floor was converted into a master bedroom suite in 2011. The recessed-lit bedroom has new oak floors and glass doors out to a newly built rear deck.

The en-suite master bathroom has porcelain tile walls and floors, gold granite accents and a porcelain tiled walk-in shower. Through a frosted glass door is a large dressing room with custom maple wardrobe cabinets and storage drawers topped with a gold granite countertop.

There are three bedrooms on the fourth floor, all with reconditioned original wide-pine floors. Two are decent sized, but the smaller one is more suitable as a nursery. There's a newly added bathroom with white subway tile and a Japanese soaking tub.

The unfinished basement has been repainted and has lots of storage space. It also holds a three-zone Buderus furnace that provides heat through forced hot water for antique radiators on the first and second floors and forced hot air on the top two floors. There's also a central vacuum system, and central air conditioning with a rooftop unit replaced in 2010. The townhouse also has an alarm, intercom and CCTV systems.

Parking is on-street with a residential permit, but there is garage parking in nearby City Square.

For more information or to see this property, call Frank Celeste of Gibson Sotheby's International Realty at 617-872-3227.

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Sexy, stylish Fiat turns heads

Undersized, underpowered, but with a huge personality, the 2012 Fiat 500C is just a blast to drive.

Let's face it, you're not going to win any races with this runaround, but heads will turn as you sport about the city.

The sexy Cinquecento is the second smallest car offered in the United States — the Smart Fortwo is the smallest — but the Fiat still gives its direct competition, the British Mini Cooper, a run for its money in the subcompact class.

Despite its size, the higher roof gives two adults plenty of leg room and a comfortable, albeit a bit noisy, ride.

The car, or its maker, also likes to brag — it's splashed with at least 17 "500C" logos!

Our upgraded Lounge edition enhanced the cruising experience by including leather seats, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shifter, a six-speaker Bose stereo and Bluetooth. It also had voice-only navigation, but the highlight was the convertible roof that can be operated at up to 50 mph!

The curvaceous car resembles the 1950s Italian original, but is longer, taller and as a friend who once lived in Italy pointed out, doesn't have any dents in the doors.

It will get only minor tweaks for 2013.

The Fiat plays nicely — it's quick, spirited and responsive.

Parking is a dream; you're able to squeeze into the tightest spots.

The high-end Arbath Edition adds a sports suspension and more powerful turbo engine.

There are rear seats, but they're super-cramped. They drop for some added cargo space, but the easiest way to get my golf clubs in and out was through the open roof. And although the roof was a hit, you do sacrifice vision out the rear window. And, seriously, the Fiat needs a backup warning alert!

The 101-horsepower, 1.4-liter engine pushed out enough pep to bop around doing errands or commuting, but is a glacially slow 12.4 seconds to 60 mph.

The six-speed automatic on our tester was a drag on the fun factor of this pint-sized convertible and oddly returned rather poor gas mileage, too. Get this with the five-speed stick to maximize the personality of the 500C, but more importantly to pick nearly 5 mpg in fuel savings over the automatic's 27 mpg city/34 mpg highway. Also, stay out of the wake of tractor-trailers!

This fun car certainly has its drawbacks and the sticker is the whopper.

While the Lounge starts at $22,000, the base model Pop is $19,000 and our tester pulled in at a pricey $25,950. I find this steep, but while one could look at less expensive options such as the Ford Fiesta, Mazda 2, Hyundai Accent and Honda Fit, the Cinquecento outdoes them with its panache.

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IPad mini is Apple's sweetest tablet ever

This might just be Apple's best tablet yet.

Holding it for the first time, I couldn't help but think that the size of the iPad mini is what iPad should have been all along. At 7.9 inches, you can grip it with one hand and type with the other. It feels like an e-reader, the size of a book. It's the best content consumption device on the market, and it makes its predecessor seem as if it has been trying to be too many things.

The screen resolution is the same as the iPad 2; the pixel density is higher. The camera is better, and battery life is far better. The overall design is sleeker, with its thin, rounded corners reminiscent of the iPod Touch's slim frame.

The amount of innovation that Apple packs into such a svelte form is impressive. For that reason, this isn't just a shrunken down iPad.

No, this doesn't boast Retina Display. But requiring that on a sub-10-inch tablet is like trying to win a spec horse race. Unless you're hovering over it with a monocle, who cares?

The question many will have is whether it's worth sinking between $329 and $659 into the mini, or if it's better to spend $199 for the Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire. There are two big considerations: Heavy movie-watchers might prefer the picture on Nexus 7, and voracious readers might like Kindle's lack of glare. But while the Kindle and Nexus don't feel quite as high-end, the mini is pure top-shelf.

One thing that confounds me is why Apple still sells iPad 2. The iPad 2 costs $399 for the WiFi-only 16 GB version. For up to $60 more you can purchase a version of the mini that will have far better rear- and front-facing cameras, HD video recording capability, higher storage capacity and Siri. Plus, at about .68 pounds, the mini is half the weight.

So while a choice between the mini and its similarly sized competition can be a tough one given pricing, the choice between a mini and the iPad 2 is a no-brainer.

The late Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who famously knocked the idea of a smaller iPad, was, it seems, very wrong on this one.

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R.I. socks Curt Schilling, advisers

The state of Rhode Island stopped just short of suing itself in its wide-ranging court action against 38 Studios, and nearly everyone who had an advisory role in the bankrupt company's $75 million loan guarantee, alleging a massive fraud.

"It's very unusual for a state to sue its own advisers over a loan that the state made," said Hub bankruptcy attorney David Reier of Posternak Blankstein & Lund. He added, "It's odd that members of a board called 'the Economic Development Corporation' lack expertise in economic development."

But that fact is an underlying premise of the suit, which alleges the board relied on more experienced advisers to approve the loan given to the now-belly-up game developer.

The state and its Economic Development Corporation filed a complaint in Rhode Island Superior Court yesterday against 38 Studios and its owner, former Red Sox [team stats] pitcher Curt Schilling [stats], along with its own former executive director, a law firm that it employed for a decade and other advisers.

Schilling's company filed for bankruptcy and laid off its entire staff earlier this year after defaulting on the loan, leaving taxpayers holding the bag. Reached yesterday by phone, Schilling declined to comment.

"I know that you work hard for your paychecks, and for your tax dollars to be squandered is unacceptable," Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee said in a statement. "You have my commitment that I will continue fighting to protect the interest of all Rhode Islanders."

The 94-page complaint alleges that Schilling's company failed to disclose the risks that led to its demise, including that it was on track to be in the red by 2012.

The complaint alleges that Wells Fargo, which declined comment, was earning "nearly $500,000 in hidden commissions from 38 Studios at the same time" it had a fiduciary duty to disclose the company's problematic business plan to the board.

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Newbury St. water main fix has retail group piping mad

The Back Bay Association wants the Boston Water and Sewer Commission to step up and help with a promotional campaign for Newbury Street businesses disrupted by a water main replacement project.

"We are encouraging the commission to do whatever they can to support the businesses of Newbury Street because (those) that are on the impacted blocks are struggling," association president Meg Mainzer-Cohen said. "As much as this is necessary work, the fact that it's impacting businesses to the point where their sales are dramatically off means that Boston Water and Sewer needs to do a much better job of containing their construction sites and ... their work timelines."

Stores, restaurants and other businesses on the popular shopping thoroughfare have been contending with rolling no-parking zones, construction equipment and noise, exposed pipes and water shutoffs.

The project to replace circa-1898 water mains started in September 2011 and ran through last November before resuming in April. It's slated to wrap up by Nov. 15 before starting again next April.

"I'd be happy to put some advertisements in the local newspapers saying something to the effect that Newbury Street is open for business," commission spokesman Thomas Bagley said.

But, he noted, "We don't have a lot of money to spend on this. We do have money to replace and repair infrastructure, which is what we're doing."

Alan Bilzerian, owner of the eponymous boutique at 34 Newbury St., said the damage already is done.

"They couldn't do something more than ruin everybody's business and momentum by coming and doing this before the biggest season a retailer has?" he said. "It's the worst timing."

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Building boom in Newton

Seven miles west of downtown Boston in the city of Newton, construction activity is going strong.

Less than a 45-minute commute from downtown Boston by train, subway or express bus, Newton is divided into 13 "villages" and rather than having a single city center many of these villages have a downtown area of their own.

Home prices in Newton are steep with the median single-family home price up 5 percent to $800,000 from last year, according to information from Multiple Listing Service PIN. The median condo price is up 3 percent from last year to $429,000.

Home inventory levels are low with the number of single-family homes on the market down 35 percent compared to last year, and available condos down 25 percent from last year.

Helping deal with the low housing availability is Newton-based custom home builder, Pine Cone Construction.

The family-owned business, led by Frank Utano and his children, Danielle Lacolla and Chris Utano, has spent the past 15 years in Newton focusing on custom home building or renovation.

"With the scarcity of land, many clients purchase a site with an existing home and have it demolished and we build a new custom home for them," said Chris Utano.

"We have completed seven new custom homes in Newton since the beginning of the year. We also help clients evaluate whether to demolish a structure or renovate," added Lacolla.

Along Route 9 in the Chestnut Hill area of Newton, retail development is booming with the addition of grocery stores, health clubs, restaurants, retail and medical offices.

At the Chestnut Hill Shopping Center, Michael H. McNaughton, senior vice president of WS Development, which owns and is developing the property, said, "We're adding more than 100,000 feet of retail space as part of a major redevelopment that will bring a state-of-the-art Showcase Super Lux cinema, The Sports Club/LA, Del Frisco's, Davio's, and Bernard's. Other new retailers include Pottery Barn, lululemon athletica, Polarn O. Pyret, Treat Cupcake Bar and Pinkberry."

Rollout of the redevelopment will come over the next 18 months, with the Sports Club/LA opening this winter.

"Newton residents don't have to go to Boston or Natick for their retail needs and with the serenity of Hammond Pond and walking trails next to the site, individuals can go rock climbing and then to dinner and a movie without moving their car," McNaughton added.

Under construction, also along Route 9, is the newly developed Chestnut Hill Square by New England Development. The first phase will open next fall and will include a mix of shops and restaurants, as well as medical offices. Wegmans, Equinox Fitness Club, Brio Tuscan Grille, Seasons 52, Century Bank, Francesca's Collections and Red Mango are some of the businesses opening in 160,000 square feet of new retail space.

Chestnut Hill Square will have direct access eastbound and westbound off Route 9, as well as from The Mall at Chestnut Hill via a new intersection.

Jennifer Athas is a licensed real estate broker and can be reached by email at heraldhotproperty@ mail.com. Follow her on Twitter @JenAthas.

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Springfield developers blast gambling honcho

The head of the state gaming board encouraged a top casino exec who had been considering Springfield to mull Boston, raising ethical questions from industry watchdogs as well as the ire of developers who claim the conversation helped sink their project.

Two Springfield developers who were working with Hard Rock International to build a proposed gaming palace in the city blasted Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby yesterday for suggesting to a top Hard Rock executive that the firm consider Boston, where Suffolk Downs racetrack is the odds-on favorite to land a coveted casino license.

"In the chairman's zeal to find a competitor for Suffolk Downs, he severely undercut and damaged our ability to deliver a world-class project for the city of Springfield," said Anthony Ravosa, a former Springfield city councilor whose company, Western Mass Development, was working with Hard Rock. "I think it's entirely inappropriate."

The conversation occurred in August between Crosby and Hard Rock chief financial officer Brad Buchanan at a gaming board hearing in Springfield.

Anthony Cignoli, another Western Mass Development partner, said the conversation led the businessmen to believe that Crosby was urging them to consider a Boston license, rather than Springfield. Hard Rock pulled the plug on its Springfield plans last month.

"I think it's a step over the line," Cignoli told the Herald. "To have a commissioner take an international player like Hard Rock and suggest to them they should be somewhere else besides Springfield is really egregious."

Crosby downplayed the flap, saying he made a "passing comment" to Buchanan, whom he said he had never met before the meeting.

"Somewhere in the course of that conversation I said, 'It's great to have you interested in western Mass. You should look at eastern Mass. too,' " Crosby said last night. "It was a complete nothing. It's totally silly to say that had anything to do with the Hard Rock's actions.

"It's certainly appropriate to talk to people about the various opportunities in Massachusetts," he added. "I don't think it would be inappropriate for us to sort of generically encourage all people to look long and hard at the competitive opportunities."

Crosby has been pushing for more competition in the Boston region for months. Casino experts question whether Crosby — who will be tasked with approving casino license applicants — may have crossed an ethical line.

"I don't think it's appropriate," said gaming expert Richard McGowan, a Boston College professor. "He's not supposed to be going out soliciting bids."

Sources say Hard Rock has, in fact, turned its sights to the Boston area and is eyeballing a site in Everett. So far, the only competition for Suffolk Downs is Crossroads Resorts in Milford, but the developers of that project have yet to reveal any formal plans.

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'Facebook' for docs sees rash of success

Matthew J. Goldstein was stumped. Three months ago, the Brigham and Women's Hospital physician had a patient with a mysterious rash. So, uncertain what to prescribe, Goldstein obtained the woman's permission to post photos of it on Doximity, the equivalent of Facebook for doctors, seeking advice.

Within 24 hours, he received a half dozen responses from other physicians, most recommending a high-dose steroid cream for what turned out to be a case of dyshidrotic eczema.

"Doximity is like a remote consult service," Goldstein said. "The ability to get real-time advice from colleagues around the country about a difficult case I'm having is really helpful."

He isn't the only who thinks so. Started in San Mateo, Calif., two years ago, Doximity already counts some 100,000 doctors — one in six U.S. physicians — as users, according to Jeff Tangney, the company's founder.

Tangney saw a need for such a Web site because doctors, for liability and patient-privacy reasons, often are discouraged from using Facebook. In addition to being a social-media site, Doximity.com acts as a referral service for lawyers looking for an expert witness and Wall Street analysts and hedge-fund managers seeing stock advice on medical products, he said. Clients pay an average of $500 to the doctor and $200 per interview with a physician to Doximity.

Alexi Nazem, another Brigham and Women's doctor, uses its mobile app to keep up-to-date on medical news and find the internal numbers of other hospitals. Doximity also has a separate mobile app called Amion that Nazem uses to find out who's on call at his hospital.

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Twit does damage to Twitter

It took a 29-year-old hedge fund analyst and political operative with a sick compulsion for inciting panic to expose the dark side of Twitter earlier this week.

Using his widely followed account @ComfortablySmug, the New Yorker posted false updates on Monday claiming disastrous scenarios during already-disastrous Hurricane Sandy. He preyed on fear and caused people to waste precious time refuting his lies. Among his hoaxes: that the New York Stock Exchange had flooded, Governor Cuomo was trapped, and that Con Edison would shut off all power in Manhattan. He sprinkled truth amid fiction, lending credence to his con. Some of the ploys received more than 600 retweets.

Every number I called for Shashank Tripathi appeared to have been disconnected yesterday. He issued a public apology only after being outed by the web site Buzzfeed on Tuesday, and resigned his job as manager of a GOP congressional campaign.

It seems as if Tripathi falsely yelled "fire" in a virtual crowded theater. But the metaphor used by the late Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes as the classic example of unprotected speech is not an accurate reflection of what's punishable today.

"It's a very handy metaphor, but it doesn't represent the state of the law today," said Jeff Hermes, director of the Digital Media Law Project at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

For @ComfortablySmug to face charges, he would have had to incite lawless activity, such as a riot. There are enough unenforceable laws on the books anyway. But as the ultimate in crowd-sourced information, Twitter failed to self-correct for the truth.

"So many people who are respected kept re-tweeting him," said Jim Manley, the former aide to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and a relative newcomer to Twitter, who called out Tripathi. "I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with it."

Manley was trying to decide whether to "unfollow" those who retweeted the falsehoods without checking the source. It's simply not enough that we all include in our profiles the disclaimer that retweets aren't endorsements. That's not gonna fly when a similar con artist finally incites that riot.

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Chestnut Hill to add 3 restaurants

The Mall at Chestnut Hill wants to expand its footprint so it can fit in three new restaurants and spiff up the front of the upscale shopping center.

Owner Simon Property Group's plans come amid a flurry of competing Route 9 retail developments taking shape around the mall.

"They're looking for flexibility to turn some retail space to restaurant space and slightly bump out the facade for these new potential tenants," said Alexandra Ananth, a Newton senior city planner. "It's sort of in response to improving their visibility on Route 9."

A spokesman for Simon acknowledged it wanted to add some "great restaurants to the dining mix" but declined further comment. Plans filed with the city show space for patio seating, a relocated mall road and new signs.

Newton Mayor Setti Warren said he's excited about the expansion but wants to ensure residents' and city officials' input guides the permitting process.

"There's also questions about parking on the site that need to be answered," said Warren, who called infrastructure improvements and other projects on Route 9 "transformative."

Directly across from the mall, a Wegmans grocery store will anchor Chestnut Hill Square, a 340,000-square-foot retail, restaurant, residential and medical office project.

Adjacent to the mall, the Chestnut Hill Shopping Center is expanding to 406,000 square feet, and Bernard's Gourmet Asian Cuisine is relocating there from the mall. Other new tenants include Del Frisco's Grille, Davio's Cucina and Shake Shack.

The nearby Atrium Mall, recently sold by Simon, is being converted into medical offices with some retail.

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