February 29, 2016

RAAD-Designed Bushwick Building May Have the World’s Largest Urban Farm

Design firm RAAD is no stranger to boundary-pushing projects (their founder James Ramsey is a co-creator of the Lowline underground park), and their latest endeavor may grant them bragging rights as the designers behind the city's, perhaps even the world's, largest urban farm. Brownstoner spotted conceptual renderings (read: the developer has not filed permits nor have they confirmed they'll move ahead with RAAD's vision) for 930 Flushing Avenue in Bushwick, part of the Rheingold Brewery mega-development. The mixed-use project, officially known as 1 Bushwick, would offer commercial, retail, residential, hotel, cultural, and agricultural spaces. The aforementioned rooftop farm would be nearly 165,000 square feet; Brooklyn Grange, which is currently the world's largest rooftop soil farm, occupies 108,000 square feet across two sites. A description of 1 Bushwick says: "Guests relaxing in the rooftop pool will be regaled by a rare experience: views of the skyscrapers of Manhattan — and cornfields."
More renderings and details
February 29, 2016

10 Clever, Creative and Unexpected Storage Ideas for Apartment Dwellers

6sqft’s series Apartment Living 101 is aimed at helping New Yorkers navigate the challenges of creating a happy home in the big city. This week we offer up spots in your apartment that may be underutilized as storage. Unless you're living in a mega-mansion with amazing closet space, chances are your belongings are scattered across your apartment and overstuffed into drawers and cabinets. With spring right around the corner, you may want to rethink how you've been tackling clutter at home. Below we've rounded up 10 clever, creative and unexpected storage ideas that you can put into action in your apartment right now.
Spring cleaning organization this way
February 29, 2016

Apply for 30 Affordable Units in Three Williamsburg Buildings, Starting at $532/Month

Here's the third affordable housing lottery to open in Williamsburg over the past few weeks. First, 33 units opened at 149 Kent Avenue, followed by 13 more spread across five small buildings. Now, 30 additional apartments are up for grabs at 37 Ten Eyck Street, 37 Maujer Street, and 356 Bedford Avenue, according to the NYC HPD. The Bedford address, the largest of the buildings, is located in the heart of South Williamsburg, just north of the Williamsburg Bridge between South 3rd and South 4th Streets, near a cluster of trendy bars and restaurants; the Maujer and Ten Eyck buildings are in East Williamsburg between Union Avenue and Lorimer Street. According to the posting, the units range from $532/month one-bedrooms to $1,182/month three-bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify
February 29, 2016

Beyond Bars: Designers Reimagine Rikers Island As a Destination

The 413-acre plot of city-owned land, most of it landfill, that makes up Rikers Island is known more for its impenetrable prison than its waterfront property and breathtaking city views. Recently City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito called for the closing of the jail complex, reports Crains, calling it an "ineffective, inefficient,” symbol of outdated policies and approach to criminal justice. An independent commission headed by Jonathan Lippman, the state's former top judge, is creating a blueprint for accomplishing the prison’s closing. There is significant opposition to the idea, though others, from Gov. Andrew Cuomo to the New York Times editorial board are behind it.
Find out what could replace the jail
February 29, 2016

$2M Greenwich Village Co-op Comes With Eclectic Surprises and Garden Views

The Greenwich Village cooperative 39 East 10th Street was designed in 1870 by James Renwick, the architect also responsible for nearby Grace Church and St. Patrick's Cathedral. The five-story brick building only has 10 units, and this three-bedroom asking $1.995 million is one of them. Inside, a narrow floorplan connects 1,600 square foot of space. There are three bedrooms, a living room, an eat-in kitchen, and office space with some fun surprises thrown in: working wood-burning fireplaces, Art Deco lighting, tons of well-designed shelving and views out onto the building's quaint common garden.
Check out the floorplan
February 29, 2016

Riverside Center’s One West End Avenue Tops Off, Cantilevering Pool and All

Propelled skyward by the still-sizzling Upper West Side residential market and its dearth of buildable sites, the final phase of the Riverside South master plan is coming together alas. After decades on the drawing board, this southern-most, eight-acre segment collectively known as Riverside Center/Waterline Center has already spawned a pair of residential buildings designed by SLCE Architects  and another by Pelli Clarke Pelli with Goldstein, Hill & West Architects (GHWA). Three other parcels to the west are now undergoing site preparation. Those lots will give rise to a trio condo and rental buildings whose developer, Boston-based General Investment and Development Companies (GID), has enlisted a trio of high caliber designers working with GHWA, the executive architect of record. Work has moved forward swiftly on the the plan's first two towers. The shorter of the pair, known as One West End , has just topped off its 491-foot concrete skeleton and is being developed through a partnership between the Elad Group and Silverstein Properties. The robust 41-story spire is the second tallest building on West End Avenue, only behind its more anonymous 521-foot-tall rental neighbor 21 West End.
Details, renderings, and construction photos this way
February 29, 2016

Chilean Design Firm Makes Beautiful Room Dividers From Sustainable Pine Fibers

Whether you live on an open-plan loft or tiny studio, you've probably, at least once, considered a reconfiguration of the space. Meet Ensamble, modular flexible room dividers, and the latest project by Chilean studio The Andes House. Lightweight, flexible and low-cost, the panels are easy to assemble into a small office or separate micro-space and were crafted from a sustainable composite material made from pine fibers.
Learn more about Ensamble
February 29, 2016

Architect Wants to Build a Vertical Central Park; 42 NYC Streets Just Got Renamed

Italian architect Carlo Ratti wants to build a mile-high observation tower that’s (sort of) a vertical version of Central Park. [Dezeen] Without leap years, today would be July 15, 2017. [LA Times] The city co-named 42 thoroughfares and public places, honoring “individuals, cultural icons and entities that made lasting contributions to New York City.” See […]

February 29, 2016

With Terraces, Fireplaces and a Hidden Bar, This $2.5M Murray Hill Duplex Is Classic Manhattan

On a picture-perfect residential block lined with historic townhouses and understatedly elegant pre- and postwar apartment buildings–yet around the corner from bustling Midtown East, this duplex at 34 East 38th Street may be the Manhattan equivalent of that perfect Craftsman bungalow in a hip suburban neighborhood. It doesn't shout or come with shiny marketing literature, but for the die-hard Manhattan worshipper, it’s just right. The two-bedroom co-op in a five-story Murray Hill townhouse would certainly make a perfect pied-a-terre: Mint renovations mean effortless comfort and style; it's convenient to just about everything the city offers, in a neighborhood where old-fashioned elegance in architecture blends with every modern 21st century amenity catering to busy residents of all ages.
Tour the duplex
February 28, 2016

CWB Architects Build a Musically Inspired Pavilion in the Hamptons for a Pianist Client

A former musical director/pianist from Brooklyn Heights and her historian husband contacted Dumbo-based CWB Architects to build an adjacent pavilion at their home in Quogue on Southampton. The result is the wood-clad Piano Pavilion, which echoes the owners' love for organic architecture, but makes a deliberate nod to its namesake instrument with the contour of its roof. The pavilion was made to function as a piano room and small office, but it also works as a guest room, which is important as the couple's children and six granddaughters visit almost every weekend.
Learn more about the Piano Pavilion
February 27, 2016

February’s 10 Most-Read Stories and This Week’s Features

February’s 10 Most-Read Stories Groundwork Begins on Bjarke Ingels’ Curvaceous East Harlem Development City Auctioning Off a 62-Year-Old Fireboat for Just $510 Looks Like Sarah Jessica Parker Is Combining Two West Village Townhouses This Map Explains the Historic Tile Color System Used in NYC Subway Stations Harper Lee Had a Crazy-Cheap Hideout on the Upper […]

February 26, 2016

Actors Kerry Bishé and Chris Lowell Buy $2M Skylit Soho Loft

Actors Kerry Bishé (from the AMC drama “Halt and Catch Fire” and the film “Argo”) and "Veronica Mars" veteran Chris Lowell just picked up a gorgeous $2.25 million triplex loft with outdoor space at 196 Sixth Avenue near Hudson Square in Soho. Luxury Listings reports that the 1,292-square-foot loft has 20-foot ceilings, arched windows, exposed brick walls and massive skylights. Lowell listed his Greenwich Village loft back in December, and interestingly, his former bachelor pad also had big arched windows and exposed brick, though the new digs are definitely a bit of an upgrade and more of a love nest.
Take a look
February 26, 2016

A 1960s Plan to Cover Midtown Manhattan With a Giant Geodesic Dome

During the 1960s and 1970s, thanks to future-thinking genius engineer/utopian Buckminster Fuller, plans were proposed to cover midtown Manhattan with a giant geodesic dome. Fuller, who invented the concept and was deeply invested in studying the domes and their properties, described a three kilometer (1.864 mile) geodesic dome spanning midtown Manhattan that would regulate weather and reduce air pollution. The proposed structure would have stretched from the East River to the Hudson River and from 21st Street to 64th Street. The dome would reduce cooling costs in summer and heating costs in the winter, so buildings wouldn't need separate heating or cooling–the dome above would be kept at a regulated temperature level.
Find out more
February 26, 2016

Renderings Revealed for Downtown Supertall 45 Broad Street

Back in January, 6sqft uncovered preliminary renderings of downtown supertall 45 Broad Street, a project of Madison Equities and Italy-based Pizzarotti Group that's reportedly being designed by the architects at CetraRuddy. The design showed a presumably glass tower, "crowned by a distinctive pitched roof and an angling cantilever located some 400 feet above street level along its northern facade." After groundwork began at the site earlier this month, The Real Deal has now obtained more concrete views of the tower, which will stretch 1,100 feet high, have 86 floors, and contain 245 condo residences catering to entry- and mid-level buyers. The new renderings mimic the original massing, but show much more detail, like the golden, Gothic-inspired ribs traveling up the facade, the pointed crown, and the narrow mid portion.
More details ahead
February 26, 2016

Spotlight: François Vaxelaire Blasts Tunes from a Shipping Container in a Williamsburg Parking Lot

An independent online radio featuring live DJ sets, located in a shipping container on an empty piece of land on the Williamsburg/Greenpoint border -- if your inclination is to roll your eyes at just how Brooklyn this is, you might want to reconsider. The Lot Radio was founded by 34-year-old Brussels native François Vaxelaire, who has been living in the neighborhood for the past three years. After passing by the vacant triangle day after day, and growing more and more infatuated with its strange beauty, he decided it would be the perfect home for an online radio similar to those in Europe. And after getting through the city's red tape, Lot Radio is officially up and running, save for its adjacent coffee shop and outdoor seating area that are both awaiting permits from the Department of Health. What's most interesting about Vaxelaire is that he is committed to steering clear of the Brooklyn cliches. His goal is to grow an internationally focused, New York-based radio, but in terms of the physical location, he wants local residents exiting the nearby church to feel just as welcome hanging out as would an experimental music aficionado. 6sqft recently visited him at the shipping container to learn more about this very unique idea.
The full story from François
February 26, 2016

This Playful Family Loft Is Outfitted with a Rock Wall, Slide, and Zip Line!

Located on 29th Street in Nomad, this gorgeous 4,000-square-foot loft was given a design overhaul from Studio DB, customized for a family – complete with four little ones – who recently moved to NYC from Silicon Valley. In addition to a shared open living space, the home was made kid-friendly with fun features like a slide, zip line, and a shared loft space accessed through a unique passageway boasting a rock wall and monkey bars.
See the adult and child spaces
February 26, 2016

How to Find the Next ‘It’ Neighborhood; Brooklyn’s Rainbow Bagels Appear in London

Rather than following the smell of turpentine, look at things like access to transit, attractive architecture, and eminent rezoning to spot the next hot neighborhood. [NYT] A team of theoretical physicists and mathematicians ranked NYC as having the most complicated subway map in the world. [CityLab] But another study said New York is the fifth best city […]

February 26, 2016

Wood Detailing Galore, and an Outdoor Bathtub, at This Prewar Penthouse in Greenwich Village

This prewar duplex penthouse comes from the Greenwich Village co-op at 49 West 9th Street, quite a beautiful brick and limestone building equidistance from Washington Square Park and Union Square. The $2.75 million apartment is around 1,000 square feet over two floors, with one bedroom and two bathrooms. It's also brimming with wood detailing and decked out with lots of private outdoor space -- home to both an outdoor shower and yes, a bathtub. If you're a fan of elegant, classic New York co-ops (that happen not to be in the Upper West or Upper East Sides) this one will make your day.
See more interior details
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February 26, 2016

Port Authority Will Hold Opening Ceremony for WTC Transportation Hub After All

On Tuesday, news broke that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey would not be holding a ribbon cutting ceremony when the World Trade Center Transportation Hub opens next week. They called Santiago Calatrava's project "a symbol of excess." Perhaps feeling the backlash from their decision, the agency sent out a press release yesterday saying that though there will still be no event to mark the opening on March 3rd at 3pm, they will hold a ceremony once the Hub is fully up and running this spring, according to the Wall Street Journal. They credit their change of heart to a desire to thank the thousands of workers who built the station. Additionally, Port Authority Chairman John Degnan said, "It will stand, along with the memorial, museum and the buildings themselves, as a tribute the resiliency of the region."
More this way
February 26, 2016

This $18M Prewar Co-op Is the Kind of Apartment That Invented Central Park Views

In addition to celebrity residents like Robert DeNiro, Paul Simon and, more recently, Annie Liebovitz, the 1928 co-op building at 88 Central Park West has bragging rights to the kind of views that were being enjoyed by the fortunate before trophy towers like 432 Park Avenue were even a glimmer in any developer’s eye. The classic Central Park West residence known as the Brentmore has only 12 floors, but it possesses a Gilded-Age cachet that’s lost very little of its appeal even in the 21st century. Residents add upper-floors and next-doors rather than move, and floor plans are generous and always include foyers and maids’ rooms (almost all units were built with seven rooms). And the location, of course, needs no introduction.
See more of this gracious West Side home
February 25, 2016

Pricing Revealed for Market-Rate Rentals at Bjarke Ingels’ Via Tetrahedron

Bjarke Ingels' ever-captivating tetrahedron, officially known as Via 57 West and located at 625 West 57th Street, is set to hit the rental market on March 1st, and ahead of the launch, the Durst Organization has released pricing information, reports Curbed. In total, the flashy building will have 709 apartments, 142 of which are affordable and start at just $565/month. The market-rate units, however, will be considerably pricier, with an average asking price of $2,770/month for studios, $3,880 for one-bedrooms, $6,500 for two-bedrooms, $11,000 for three-bedrooms, and a whopping $16,500 for four-bedrooms. Eight listings have already gone live, and they're offering two months free on a 14-month lease or three months free on a 27-month lease.
More details ahead
February 25, 2016

Art Nerd New York’s Top Event Picks for the Week – 2/25-3/2

In a city where hundreds of interesting happenings occur each week, it can be hard to pick and choose your way to a fulfilling life. Art Nerd‘s philosophy is a combination of observation, participation, education and of course a party to create the ultimate well-rounded week. Jump ahead for Art Nerd founder Lori Zimmer’s top picks for 6sqft readers! This week we're gearing up for action-packed days full of art events and openings, starting off with a double header photographic exhibit at Emmanuel Fremin Gallery in Chelsea, and the opening reception for Literally Balling, a show featuring stained glass basketball backboards from artist Victor Solomon. With the approaching weekend you can take a trip to Zimbabwe with the opening of ZIG ZAG ZIM, and then follow that up with your perfect excuse to get out of the city: Saturday evening's opening reception of WORD at the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art. Also this week, the New School will be hosting a public talk with Isa Genzken, arguably one of the most influential artists of the past four decades. Come Tuesday we're back in the galleries for the opening of Light: Fixtures and Sculptures, and Beauty Undefined, a group show exploring the idea of female beauty across various cultures.
more on all the best events this way
February 25, 2016

This Cobble Hill Garden Apartment Comes Smelling of Freshly-Baked Cookies

The listing for this two-bedroom-plus-office co-op at 275 Degraw Street suggests the garden apartment will "satisfy even the most discerning 'must have' list," and it certainly does seem to be that kind of place. Located on a charming Cobble Hill block in a 1900s brick row house, this spacious, renovated and well-appointed home ticks a lot of boxes for its $1.075 million ask: Two good-sized bedrooms and a bonus room, renovated kitchen, private back yard, central air-conditioning, washer/dryer, low monthlies. But how many New Yorkers can brag that they come home daily to the scent of freshly-baked cookies?
Take a tour and find out what smells so good
February 25, 2016

Lottery Open for 77 Affordable Units for Seniors at Dattner Architects’ Van Cortlandt Green

It's been widely noted that New York has an ever-growing population of low-income elders, and a new affordable housing project in Riverdale seeks to address the issue. Designed by Dattner Architects (who are also behind the Bronx's huge West Farm Redevelopment Plan), the brand-new building at 6469 Broadway is known as Van Cortlandt Green and overlooks the park. It will offer 77 studios for $832/month for those age 62 and older. They're available to one person earning between $26,430 and $36,300 annually and two persons earning between $26,430 and $41,460, according to the NYC HDC.
Find out how to apply
February 25, 2016

Cottage-Like Duplex is up for Sale at the Muffin House in Chelsea

337 West 20th Street is not your average cooperative -- this Chelsea building was formerly the bakery of Samuel Bath Thomas, the Englishman who introduced New Yorkers to the English Muffin in the early 1900s. Today it's nicknamed the Muffin House and still has ovens (no longer working) built into the basement. You can now live in a cute little duplex at the co-op, which went residential sometime in the 1950s, for $875,000. While there's nothing inside the apartment to suggest this was a former muffin factory, there are still some old details intact.
Take a look

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