Or maybe the deal will grow so complicated and interwoven that, as the Journal's Kevin Clark wrote on Twitter, the Magic will accidentally wind up trading Howard back to themselves.

WSJ: Jason Gay: Brooklyn's Big and Tall Wait

Beneath a railway bridge, Swiss artist Franziska Furter's "Mojo" (2012), a colorful concoction of magic amulets, hangs like a chandelier, moving and tinkling with the wind.

WSJ: Collecting: 'Art and the City' Show

But Ault, who moved to Singapore three years ago, says he "no longer feels the magic" in Gotham, which still bears the scars of a financial crisis that knocked the wind out of much of its most extravagant party culture.

WSJ: Wealth Over the Edge | WSJ.Money Spring 2013