November 24, 2015

Revealed: Zambrano Architectural Design’s Striking Yellow-Brick Rental in Central Harlem

Here's our first look at Dabar Development's eight-story, mixed-use project set to rise at 400 Lenox Avenue in central Harlem. The 40,000-square-foot development will anchor the southeast corner of West 130th Street and Lenox Avenue and will house 30 rental units, 2,000 square feet of retail at the ground level, and a second-floor community space for Pentacostal Faith Church, the owner of the project site. The design provided by Zambrano Architectural Design rises flush with the street wall and sports a distinctive yellow-brick cladding of "elongated artisanal bricks." According to Dawanna Williams, managing principal at Dabar, "the facade is inspired by the historical masonry context of the surrounding blocks of Harlem." The two uppermost levels are cutaway from the corner resulting in a large recreational terrace for residents. As per plans filed with the DOB this past summer, floors 2-6 will contain six apartments each, while floors 7 and 8 will provide four units apiece.
More on the project
November 23, 2015

REVEALED: Bjarke Ingels’ Brand New High Line Towers

Back in February it was revealed that HFZ Capital Group was in talks to bring a “monumental” new structure to a lot at 76 11th Avenue in the Meatpacking District right along the High Line. And between shortlisted architects Rem Koolhaas and Bjarke Ingels, in April the developer decided to move forward with starchitect-of-the-moment Ingels for the high-profile project. Now Yimby has our first look at the design that may rise atop the coveted site: two very angular, asymmetric towers measuring 402 and 302 feet, with 800,000 square feet for a hotel, retail, amenities and about 300 luxury condos.
see more renderings here
November 23, 2015

REVEALED: SHoP Architects’ Long Island City Waterfront Development

Here's our first peek at Simon Baron Development, Quadrum Global and CRE Development's three-tower Long Island City development slated to rise alongside the former Paragon Paint factory building at 45-40 Vernon Boulevard. Permits for the first tower were filed with the DOB back in June and detail a 28-story, 296-unit rental tower designed by SHoP Architects. The tower is part of a larger master plan that will revamp the eastern extents of the Anable Basin inlet with a waterfront esplanade and bring an additional 14-story residential tower at 45-24 Vernon Boulevard and an eight story building along 45th Road. As per the renderings provided by SHoP, the design of the two lower towers is consistent with many of the firm's recent New York City projects and feature copper-clad, orderly bases yielding to playful facades of angled projecting windows. The central tower partially rises from within the rear section of the Paragon Paint factory building and its form will be a sheer 300-foot glass prism creased along each elevation to better capture sweeping views of the East River and Manhattan skyline.
More details ahead
November 23, 2015

Katris: Tetris-Style Modular Furniture That Doubles as a Cat Scratcher

Cats could be considered the perfect city pet because unlike dogs these furry creatures don't require early morning walks or small blue poop bags. But they do come with their own set of challenges, and keeping your furniture scratch free is one of them. Enter Katris, a multi-use cat scratch post that doubles as a stylish piece of furniture. From the innovative design firm Papercut Labs, each of the five available pieces takes the familiar shape of a Tetris piece, and just like in the game, they easily fit together into different formations.
More on Katris here
November 23, 2015

$1.7M West Village Co-op Feels Prim and Proper

Here's a co-op apartment that has everything in place, prim and proper as can be. It's a one-bedroom, two-bathroom unit that's located on the second floor of a West Village townhouse at 53 Horatio Street. The pre-war brick building, constructed in 1848, also looks pretty proper and stately, without any adornments or flourishes. That is carried to the interior, which has a nice but not extravagant design. The apartment was last listed in 2013 for $1,100,000, then sold soon after for $1,040,000. Two years later, the owners are looking to make a sizable profit with an ask of $1,699,000.
See the rest
November 23, 2015

The Story Behind Those Infamous ‘Sick Passenger’ Subway Announcements

Admit it–despite your general concern for the well-being of your fellow New Yorkers, you can't help roll your eyes when that dreaded "sick passenger" announcement comes over the subway intercom. "Why get on the train if you're not feeling well?" or "Can't they just move the person to the platform?" are common moans heard during these all-too-common delays. But, it turns out, it's a lot more complicated than that. The New York Times took a look at the rise in sick passengers, up to 3,000 a month this year as compared with 1,800 each month in 2012. Every time this happens, the train crew has to notify the rail control center, who then will call an ambulance. It depends on the specific station and time of day how long it will take emergency medical workers to locate the sick patient. Then, if it's deemed the passenger cannot safely walk, he or she must remain on the train to be assessed. Further, if the passenger has no one to wait with them and there's no police officer available, it falls on the train conductor to stay with the patient until help arrives. This can lead to the train being pulled out of service altogether. And of course, the delays start a ripple effect throughout the line.
More this way
November 23, 2015

Listings Go Live Today for NYC’s First Micro Apartment Complex

Carmel Place (formerly known as My Micro NY), the city's much-talked-about first micro apartment complex, began accepting applications for its affordable studios back in September (since then, 60,000 people have applied). And now, a press release from developer Monadnock has announced that listings for 12 of the market-rate units will go live today in anticipation of the February opening date. Along with the launch comes news of Ollie, "an innovative housing model that delivers an all-inclusive living experience." The nine-story modular development will have 55 studios ranging from 260 to 360 square feet, 22 of which will be affordable (of these, 8 will be set aside for formerly homeless veterans) and go for between $950 and $1,500 a month depending on family size and income. The remaining 33 will see prices ranging from $2,540 for a 265-square-foot, furnished, third-floor unit to $2,910 for a 335-square-foot, furnished, second-floor unit.
Find out more
November 23, 2015

Former House & Garden Editor Lists Upper East Side Co-op for $4.75M

If you're fan of the elegant, old-fashioned Upper East Side, pre-war co-ops and stylishly-decorated interiors, you can't go wrong with this five-room, two-bedroom-plus home at 563 Park Avenue. The seller is the former editor-in-chief of Travel + Leisure magazine (and before that, Condé Nast's House & Garden, where she replaced Anna Wintour as EIC), Nancy Novogrod and her husband, John, an estate attorney; so we'd expect that show-house-worthy interiors are a given.
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November 22, 2015

Revealed: Boutique Condos Coming to 231 West 26th Street in Chelsea

Here's our first look at a seven-unit boutique condominium slated for a mid-block site at 231 West 26th Street in northern Chelsea. The developer is the New York-based Azimuth Development Group who plans to supersize the existing four-story building between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. Permits were filed and approved earlier this year and DOB signs have already been posted on the doorway. The 24-foot addition will blot out a few floors of lot-line windows of the adjacent co-op 233 West 26th Street, where a three-bedroom home is on the market for $4.5 million, a price that will likely be similar to its new neighbor.
More details ahead
November 21, 2015

Weekly Highlights: Top Picks From the 6sqft Staff

New Renderings of SuperPier: Google’s New NYC Digs + Bourdain Food Market To Arrive in 2018 Bought for Just $7,600 in the ’70s, Prospect Heights Co-op Returns 43 Years Later for $2.15M This 80-Story I.M. Pei-Designed Tower Almost Replaced Grand Central The World’s Largest Display of Miniatures Is Coming to Times Square in 2017 Interactive […]

November 20, 2015

REX Revealed as the Architects Redesigning the World Trade Center Performing Arts Complex

Ever since Frank Gehry and his design for the Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center (PACWTC) site got the boot last year, many have been eager to know who would be taking the helm in his place. Since July, the PACWTC has been working with an anonymous architectural firm to hash out a new concept, and now, nearly five months later, the board has finally released the name of the lead architect: Brooklyn-based studio REX led by Joshua Prince-Ramus, a former protégé of starchitect Rem Koolhaas. PACWTC chairman John Zucotti said in a statement, "The selection of REX and the Lower Manhattan District Council’s renewed commitment are critical milestones in our collective effort to create a vibrant new cultural and community anchor for all of Lower Manhattan. We are now two important steps closer to completing the World Trade Center and fully realizing our vision of Lower Manhattan as the world’s most dynamic, 24/7 urban community."
more details on the design here
November 20, 2015

City Will Start Accepting Proposals for Underground Lowline Space

In 2009, James Ramsey and Dan Barasch started planning a solar-powered subterranean park on the Lower East Side, the underground equivalent of the High Line. They set their sites on the 60,000-square-foot abandoned Essex Street Trolley Terminal below Delancey Street and named their project The Lowline. Now, six years later, they've launched the Lowline Lab, "a high-tech, miniaturized precursor to the city’s first underground park," as 6sqft put it in a recent interview with Ramsey and Barasch. Located in a vacant warehouse on Essex Street, the Lab most certainly served its purpose, as The Lo-Down is reporting that the city and MTA have finally agreed to accept proposals for the space. The Economic Development Corporation (EDC) will release on Monday a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI), followed by a briefing next month with Community Board 3.
Find out more ahead
November 20, 2015

Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent List Their Greenwich Village Penthouse for $10.5M

Back in September Architectural Digest dedicated a whole cover plus photo spread to Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent "settling in" to their pristine apartment, a penthouse at the Emery Roth-designed 39 Fifth Avenue in the heart of the Village. While the pair spent the better part of the piece gushing about how they'd finally found their dream home (“We couldn’t stop thinking about the apartment, believing we were meant to live there...we were able to create the home of our dreams," Brent said to AD at one point), it looks like the family, which includes their young daughter Poppy, couldn't quite get as comfy as they'd hoped, because they've just listed their spacious pad for $10.5 million.
Tour their beautiful penthouse
November 20, 2015

This Upper East Side Townhouse Makes Up in Charm What It Lacks in Its 13-Foot Width

When you've got a house that's just a hair over 13 feet wide, you'd better know a good interior design pro. Fortunately the owners of this slender 1899 townhouse at 259 East 78th Street took that caveat to heart when they purchased it for $2 million in 2009. It's now on the market for $5.5 million, and every inch of its 2,600 square feet has been put into use with enough warmth, character and smart design decisions to keep any "narrow-minded" thoughts at bay. And there's nothing skimpy about the location on a gorgeous townhouse-lined street just a few blocks from Central Park on the Upper East Side.
Have a closer look inside this charmer
November 20, 2015

Meatpacking District Gets the Brooklyn-as-Brand Treatment

The Brooklyn-as-a-brand ship has long sailed, but we've lately seen other boroughs (take for example this Bronx Hot Sauce) and neighborhoods (see this candle that promises to make your home smell like Bushwick) trying to cash in on the action. Unsurprisingly, the increasingly trendy Meatpacking District is the latest locale to jump on the bandwagon. Fast Co. Design has a first look at the new visual identity of the neighborhood, commissioned by the Meatpacking Business Improvement District and created by Base Design. "Anchored by a wordmark that divides "Meatpacking District" into two different typefaces, it suggests a neighborhood with multiple personalities: equal parts ritzy and wild," explains Fast Co. But the real reason behind the branding campaign may surprise you.
Learn more about the rebranding
November 20, 2015

Check Out George Steinmetz’s Stunning Aerial Photos of ‘New’ New York

Earlier this week, 6sqft shared National Geographic's interactive map of what the NYC skyline will look like in 2020. To accompany it, the publication has released a piece by New York's resident journalist Pete Hammill, in which he "reflects on 72 years of transformation as his hometown is continuously rebuilt." Hammill laments on loss (Ebbets Field, the old Madison Square Garden, and Stillman's Gym, to name a few), but says of the present-day city that it's "in a bad way." Though he says New York is "wealthier and healthier" than when he was young, he feels that "its architectural face is colder, more remote, less human, seeming to be sneering." While describing the shadow-casting supertalls and influx of the super-rich, Hammill points to the stunning aerial photography of George Steinmetz, since "the best view of New York might be from above." Steinmetz's photos, taken from a self-designed helicopter, appear in the December issue of National Geographic magazine as an illustration to Hammill's essay. They're part of his new book "New York Air: The View from Above." We've chosen five of our favorite photos that represent the changing landscape of New York City.
See them here
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November 20, 2015

Construction Update: 100 Barrow Street Rises Above Street Level From St. Luke’s Churchyard

With the foundation finally laid, Toll Brothers' 100 Barrow Street has made its way above ground and will bring 35 brand new apartments to the West Village. The tower is being built on the site of a pre-existing parking lot on the full-block grounds of the Church of St. Luke in the Fields. While no demolition of existing structures or reduction of green space was necessary, the site does lie at the western edge of the Greenwich Village Historic District and across from the Archives Building, which is an individual landmark. Proceeds from the development will be used to fund the church's own new buildings, which include an expansion of its existing private school and the construction of a new mission where L.G.B.T.Q. homeless youth and under-served individuals can receive meals and shelter. The latter will also serve as a 24/7 drop-in center where people will be able to get a change of clothes and take showers.
More details and renderings this way
November 20, 2015

$16M ‘Trophy’ Penthouse Boasts Solarium, Wrap-Around Terrace, and Lots of Color

The listing calls this a "trophy" penthouse, and with all the bells and whistles that come with the apartment, they're not lying (h/t Curbed). The co-op spans the 17th and 18th floors of 400 East 59th Street, a prewar building in Sutton Place built in 1928 and converted in 1981. It's got four bedrooms, five bathrooms, and more outdoor space than you likely thought possible: a wrap-around terrace, a double-height solarium, a terrace off the master bedroom, and a private roof deck. In case you're wondering, that's 1,450 square feet of terrace space total. Oh yeah, there's also a dressing room in the master that's the size of a studio apartment. All this can be yours for a cool $16 million, a huge leap from its last sale in 2011 for a mere $4.35 million.
Take the tour
November 20, 2015

Spotlight: Pernell Brice Shares How FeedingNYC Delivers 3,000 Thanksgiving Dinners

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, New Yorkers are busy perfecting their menus and preparing to do some serious supermarket shopping. But for many in the city, celebrating Thanksgiving is not a given—and this is particularly true for families living in shelters. But that's where the Dream Big Foundation's annual Thanksgiving project, FeedingNYC, steps in. Since 2001, FeedingNYC has been on a mission to help families in shelters celebrate the holiday by providing them with all of the Thanksgiving essentials. What started out as 75 meals in shelters has turned into 3,000 dinners delivered each year, for a total of 35,000 meals over the program's 14 years. And to make this happen, it takes a lot of fundraising, numerous partnerships and a wonderful group of volunteers. Pernell Brice, executive director of Dream Big Foundation, is responsible for growing and expanding this important project, and every year he makes sure it goes off without a hitch. 6sqft recently spoke with Pernell to learn more about FeedingNYC and what it takes to get all those meals out to those who need them.
6sqft's interview with Pernell this way
November 20, 2015

10 Unexpected and Affordable Host Gifts for Thanksgiving

It's always tough when your Thanksgiving host tells you not to worry about bringing anything for the meal. With stuffing and pumpkin pie out of the question, what can you bring as a token of gratitude? Forget standard run-of-the-mill host gifts like a jar of jam or Yankee candle–6sqft has rounded up some fun and affordable options that are unexpected yet surprisingly useful. From a clever wine tote made in Brooklyn to an adopted olive tree in Italy, here are our top ten hostess gift picks.
See them all
November 19, 2015

Think You Can Design a Better NYC Subway System? Try It With Mini Metro

The New York subway system is a complex but pretty efficient network that (for the most part) gets us to where we need to get when we need to get there. But that's not to say there aren't some neighborhoods that wouldn't benefit from a few more stations—and better connections from one line to another. Well, if you're a savvy straphanger that thinks that you can engineer a far more efficient system than the MTA, the game Mini Metro is the perfect place to flex your dormant urban planning skills.
Where to try out the game here
November 19, 2015

Alexander Hamilton Jr.’s Former Home on St. Mark’s Place Lists for $12M

The Hamilton name certainly comes with big price tags. Resale tickets to the Broadway show are climbing up to $2,500 each, and the Founding Father's son's home is now asking $11.9 million, 6sqft has learned. Col. Alexander Hamilton Jr. was the first owner of the townhouse at 4 St. Mark's Place in the East Village. British-born real estate developer Thomas E. Davis was erecting Federal-style homes along the street at the time as homes for wealthy New Yorkers seeking refuge from the cholera epidemic further downtown. In 1833, three decades after his father died in a duel with Aaron Burr, Hamilton Jr. bought the home and moved in with his mother Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton (who was riddled with debt after her husband's death), wife Eliza, and his sister Eliza Holly and her husband Sidney. Known as the Hamilton-Holly House, it features Flemish Bond, a signature of the Federal style, as well as a marble English basement level, high stoop with Gibbs surround entryway, and two dormer windows.
More on the house

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