March, 2016 | 6sqft

Chatty Maps is an interactive project that reveals what sort of experience your ears will have on specific city streets. Leaflet-based maps of New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Washington, Miami, Seattle, London, Barcelona, Madrid, Milan and Rome map each city's roadways, which are colored to correspond to sounds on the street (transport, nature, human, music and building), based on tags taken from social media. Select your city and find a street on the map (or search for the street of your choice) to view the corresponding sounds. For each street, you also get a data visualization that attempts to track the relationship between street sounds and human emotions. Streets with dominant music sounds, for example, are associated with strong emotions of joy or sadness.
Check the map to find out how the city sounds at street level

City Living

March 25, 2016

Find Out if You’ll Be Poor With This Economic Risk Calculator

6sqft once presented readers with the Wealthometer, a tool that analyzes your assets to determine where you fall in the distribution of wealth. In today's society, however, we're often more concerned about our future status than where we are currently, which is where this economic risk calculator comes in. Created by the New York Times, it addresses anxieties about "widespread economic insecurity and soaring levels of income inequality." The not-so-upbeat tool culled data from hundreds of thousands of American case records that began as a study in 1968. It uses a mere four factors -- race, education, age, and marital status -- to determine the likelihood of one falling below the poverty line in the next five, 10, or 15 years.
Get a look into your future economic risk

Uncategorized

March 24, 2016

Skyscraper Proposal Digs Out Central Park and Surrounds It With 1,000-Foot Glass Structure

Evolo has announced the winners of its 2016 Skyscraper Competition, and, somewhat ironically, the number-one spot goes to a proposal that doesn't build up at all, but rather digs down. New York Horizon was imagined by Yitan Sun and Jianshi Wu as a means to "reverse the traditional relationship between landscape and architecture, in a way that every occupiable space has direct connection to the nature." The idea is to dig down, exposing the bedrock beneath Central Park and thereby freeing up space to build a horizontal skyscraper around its entire perimeter. The resulting structure would rise 1,000 feet and create seven square miles of interior space, 80 times that of the Empire State Building.
The rest of the specifics, this way

Architecture And Design

March 24, 2016

Madonna Caught Posting Fake ‘No Parking’ Signs Outside UES Mansion

By Annie Doge

Madonna seems to really be going off the rails lately, with multiple reports of wild performance antics and showing up late to concerts. But her questionable behavior isn't just reserved for the stage, as TMZ is reporting that she "concocted a scheme to snag precious parking spots in front of her super expensive NYC apartment, and the authorities came down on them like a brick." Reports say that her people put "Tenant Parking Only" signs along the block, as well as painted the curb yellow and embossed it to say "NO PARKING," despite the fact that these are all public parking spots.
Get the scoop

Celebrities

March 24, 2016

Don’t Miss Toyota’s Ten-Story, Climbable Times Square Billboard

Today's your last chance to catch three professional climbers and one "daredevil amateur" scale a 100-foot-tall billboard in Times Square. The three-dimensional advertisement is for Toyota's new RAV4 Hybrid and features a scale-able rock-climbing wall that rises ten stories and is mounted along the northeast corner of the DoubleTree Hotel at 1568 Broadway (47th Street and 7th Avenue). The wall has a 96-foot vertical climb with more than 100 hand holds for the team of five climbers, made up of Christina Fate and her fiance, RAV4 Rally driver Ryan Millen, David Morton, an expert climber and technical consultant for the project, and veteran ice climbers and mountain guides Eric and Adam Knoff.
Should more interactive advertisements come to Times Square?

Architecture And Design

March 24, 2016

Art Nerd New York’s Top Event Picks for the Week – 3/24-3/30

By Lori Zimmer

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! Kick your week off by fighting human trafficking at The Jane, or at a Q&A with an artist who was once convicted of murder. Abby Hertz brings another immersive art experience to the House of YES, and performance art-partiers CHERYL celebrate pastels at Secret Project Robot. Victoria Manganiello shares her woven works for one night only, as do Toronto short film makers with Mono No Aware. Have your voice heard at the Art in Bushwick town meeting, and help the Lower East Side Girls Club at a fabulous fete hosted by Deborah Harry of Blondie.
more on all the best events this way

Events & Things To Do

March 24, 2016

New Moldable Glue Is the Ultimate Spring Cleaning Wingman

By Rebecca Paul

With April just around the corner thoughts of spring cleaning are surely on your radar. While there are a myriad of tips and tricks out there for the annual warm weather detox, we've just discovered a cool new product that could help simplify the process. Sugru is "the world's first moldable glue," a silicone-based adhesive that feels and takes on forms much like play-dough. However, unlike the crumble-ready colored clay, when exposed to air, Sugru cures into a solid and securely bonded shape that you can use to hang and store items in your house. Keep reading for a list of fun ways to use Sugru for organization.
READ MORE

Architecture And Design

March 24, 2016

Rent at Soho’s Nearly Complete 75 Sullivan Street, Units Start at $8,500 Per Month

In the shadow of Property Market Group's bricky condominium at 10 Sullivan Place, P. Zaccaro Co., Inc. (PZCo) is putting the finishing touches on their ground-up, seven-story rental building at 75 Sullivan Street. In case you couldn't tell by the title, this is NOT an affordable housing story. Rather, it presents a rare opportunity to rent in a newly-constructed building in Soho, which for the most part has mainly built very high-end condo buildings and boutique office spaces in recent years.
More details on the rentals here

Distinctive Homes

Landmarked Boerum Hill townhouse owned by 90s designer Daryl K asks $6M

Theater director David Saint lists his East Village penthouse with huge terrace for $5M

Behind this $9.9M Chelsea townhouse, a secret path leads to a backyard carriage house

Asking $2.75M, this pale pink Greenpoint townhouse has gardens, terraces, history, and charm

Take the elevator from the gym and English garden to the roof terrace in this $13.5M UES townhouse

At former Streit's Matzo Factory, a Lower East Side penthouse with two terraces asks $4.35M

Gaze at the sun, moon, and stars above from this $5.45M Tribeca penthouse

For $4.6M, this classic Park Slope limestone updates history without erasing the details

For $665K, this little upstate home is the answer to your log cabin fantasies

Park Slope's priciest townhouse is an $18M masterpiece of modern design

VIEW ALL

March 24, 2016

‘Scarface’ Director Brian De Palma Buys Second Co-op in Fifth Avenue Building for $1.8M

Filmmaker Brian De Palma just bought a second unit at 1 Fifth Avenue in Greenwich Village according to city records. The famous director of "Scarface" and "Carrie" already owns an apartment on the 23rd floor of the Gold Coast building, where's he's lived since at least 1989, but his latest acquisition is a two-bedroom unit for which he paid $1,750,000.
Find out more about the building's celebrity residents

March 24, 2016

MTA Will Run Out of Money by June 30th; NYC Population Tops 8.5 Million

Airbus claims its new airplane design can eliminate jet lag with LED light technology. [Inhabitat] Is ChiBeCa the new hot ‘hood? [Tribeca Citizen] By June 30th, the MTA will run out of money unless the state approves their 2015-2019 capital program. [WNYC] But the state did allot $70 million for early work on a new […]

Uncategorized

March 24, 2016

Rent Michael C. Hall’s Greenwich Lane Pad for $15K a Month

"Dexter" star Michael C. Hall (whom you might also love from "Six Feet Under" or David Bowie's "Lazarus") made celebrity real estate news just last week for the purchase of a $4.3 million two-bedroom apartment in the new Greenwich Lane complex at 160 West 12th Street. Now the New York Post reports that the apartment is available for rent for $15,000 a month. The actor, who successfully fought cancer at age 38, recently married longtime girlfriend Morgan Macgregor, an associate editor at the Los Angeles Review of Books. He also recently sold his Los Feliz home for $4.85 million, so while the couple may be warming up to New York City living, it makes sense to put the prime Village property to good use from day one.
See more of the Greenwich Lane pad

March 24, 2016

Two-Bedroom Apartment with Massive Foyer in Jackson Heights Asks $599K

By Emily Nonko

Jackson Heights has a large stock of lovely co-op apartments, and this is one of them. It's a two-bedroom unit from 83-10 35th Street, one of the historic district buildings with a central, shared courtyard for residents. (When Jackson Heights was developed, it was called a "garden city" for those very courtyards.) It boasts a spacious floorplan and a foyer so large that, according to the listing, the seller put up a sliding door to create an extra guest bedroom.
See the rest of the apartment

Distinctive Homes

March 23, 2016

12 Easy and Affordable Ways to Transform Your Apartment With Just Paint

By Kristen Chuber

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, the pros from Paintzen ("the Uber for painting") share some easy and affordable ways to transform an apartment using just paint. With the countless other tasks on New Yorkers’ agendas, finding time to do some interior upgrading can seem daunting. But thankfully, there are some quick and easy fixes that you can do - in the smallest of apartments and over the busiest of weekends - that require nothing more than paint. From simple accent walls and chalkboard paint to more funky techniques like ombre walls and patterns, here are 12 tips for transforming your space with paint.
All the tips, this way

March 23, 2016

How horse poop inspired the New York City stoop

By Rebecca Paul

Today when we see romantic stoops rise from the sidewalk to the second story parlor, we don't necessarily associate them with fecal matter. But flashback to the late 1800s, and you'll meet a very different New York where almost five million pounds of manure was being dumped on the city streets every day (we can imagine how that would effect our commute to the office). At the rate horse dung was accumulating, it was predicted that by the year 1930, horse manure would reach the level of Manhattan’s third-story windows. With poop literally lining the city streets, stoops became an important and functional part of New York City's architecture.
READ MORE

March 23, 2016

Curvaceous ‘Morph Tower’ Begins Its Rise at 15 Hudson Yards, Abutting the Culture Shed

The foundation mat has been poured, and Hudson Yards' first residential building, Tower D at 15 Hudson Yards, is beginning its climb into the burgeoning far west side skyline. Situated alongside the High Line, at the northeast corner of West 30th Street and Eleventh Avenue, 15 Hudson Yards will house nearly 400 apartments and soar more than 900 feet high upon completion. Discounting the enormous spire on the New York Times Building, the tower will be for a short while the tallest building in Manhattan west of Eighth Avenue. It will also abut the Culture Shed, likely to be the city's next great cultural venue. The skyscraper will be the first of two residential towers that Related Companies and the Oxford Properties have planned for eastern rail yards. The second will be the 1,000-foot-tall 35 Hudson Yards, and they will join the 900-foot Coach Tower at 10 Hudson Yards and the 1,296-foot 30 Hudson Yards.
More details and renderings ahead

March 23, 2016

Breathalyzer Entrepreneur Lists Iconic Plaza Condo for $2.39M

A gracious layout, unique pre-war details–including the signature bathroom finishes–and amenities unmatched in any Manhattan building make this one-bedroom condominium in the legendary Plaza Hotel and Residences at 1 Central Park South as enviable now as ever. Currently asking $2.389 million, this perfectly maintained apartment offers all the cachet of Plaza living and every modern convenience. The home's floorplan–offering a spacious entry foyer and a huge living/dining space–could even handle the addition of another bedroom or any number of alternative configurations. The unit faces the garden, and oversized windows allow warm light to infiltrate every corner.
Tour this classic Central Park South home

Distinctive Homes

March 23, 2016

Flyte Is a High-Tech LED Lamp That Floats, Defying Gravity

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Simon Morris -- a New York City-born, Stockholm-based scientist -- has created a revolutionary wireless light bulb that floats and gently rotates while it shines. Called Flyte, a combination of Flying and Light, the magical high-tech lamp takes inspiration from Tesla's magnetic levitation technologies to defy gravity, hovering above a wooden base. Flyte can be switched on and off by touching its base, it need no batteries, and has an amazing lifespan of 22 years. Plus, the base doubles as a wireless charging station for smart phones and other devices.
Learn more about this anti-gravity light

Morris Adjmi’s 465 Pacific Street Tops Out, Only One Penthouse Unit Remains

When 6sqft checked in on Boerum Hill's 465 Pacific Street in November, it was little more than a hole in the ground with roughly 50 percent of its 30 condo units already in contract. Now, a little more than four months later, its seven-story concrete skeleton has topped off and just a sole penthouse unit remains. The $55 million development was forged through a partnership between Avery Hall Investments and ARIA Development Group, who purchased the block-through lot for $18 million in 2013. With Morris Adjmi Architects at the helm, the development is composed of two seven-story wings encompassing 85,000 square feet of floor space. Lower levels of the building are faced in a uniform skin of red brick and red mortar joints, while upper levels are finished in dark steel to pay homage to the Mohawk ironworkers who once maintained a community within the neighborhood.
Find out more right here

March 23, 2016

See New Nighttime Renderings of Long Island City’s Upcoming Dream Hotel

Near Long Island City's East River waterfront, work has begun on an eleven-story, 199-room DREAM Hotel conceived through a joint venture between Millhouse Peck Properties, Barone Management and MATT Development. The hotel will rise from a full-block, commercially-zoned lot between 44th Road, 44th Avenue, and 9th and 10th streets, which was previously home to Manhattan Cabinetry's factory building (the company has since relocated those operations to Woodside). Stephen B. Jacobs Group has been tapped as the architect and the studio has designed a Standard Hotel-esque tower where the room floors are pitched above various restaurants, bars and outdoor terraces. New nighttime renderings show windows framed by LED lighting. A previous image suggested the developers were looking to salvage a corner facade of the factory-building, but the facade is no longer depicted in the new set of renderings and the entire factory structure has been cleared from the site.
even more details here

March 23, 2016

South Street Seaport Food Hall Moves Ahead; The Uber Model Doesn’t Translate

Check out these Brutalist buildings made of Lego bricks. [Ignant] Landmarks approved the plan to dismantle, relocate, and reconstruct the South Street Seaport’s historic Tin Building, which will be home to a massive food hall from Jean-Georges Vongerichten. [Curbed] In addition to the food hall, Momofuku chef David Chang will open a restaurant on Pier 17. [NYP] […]

Uncategorized

March 23, 2016

POLL: Do You Agree With the City Council’s Citywide Rezoning Approval?

This time last year, Mayor de Blasio put forth his controversial rezoning proposal, part of his plan to preserve and/or create 200,000 units of affordable housing by 2024. It’ll now come to fruition, as DNAinfo reports that the City Council has approved the rezoning. “It includes Zoning for Quality and Affordability, a push to raise building heights […]

Despite Landmarks Approval, 190 Bowery May Shed Its Iconic Graffiti After All

190 Bowery getting a bath; photo via Bowery Boogie

March 23, 2016

Despite Landmarks Approval, 190 Bowery May Shed Its Iconic Graffiti After All

Though the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a proposal to restore the former Germania Bank Building at 190 Bowery with its controversial coat of graffiti intact, the on-again-off-again spray paint layer looks to be on its way out according to onlookers (h/t Bowery Boogie). Power-washing and a "paint-removal system" are reportedly underway, disappearing decades of scrawl.
Refresh your memory on what's in the future for 190 Bowery

Architecture And Design

My 1,000sqft: Tour a Newly Transplanted Couple’s Bushwick Apartment Filled With Craigslist Finds

Our ongoing series “My sqft” checks out the homes of 6sqft’s friends, family and fellow New Yorkers across all the boroughs. Our latest interior adventure brings us to the Bushwick apartment of Adam and Cami, a couple who spent the last few years living minimally abroad. Want to see your home featured here? Get in touch!

March 22, 2016

My 1,000sqft: Tour a Newly Transplanted Couple’s Bushwick Apartment Filled With Craigslist Finds

By Diane Pham

Most of us moved to New York City with nothing more than a couple suitcases, only very slowly accumulating objects to fill our bedroom—definitely not thinking about tackling our living spaces. But here's a couple that had no interest in sleeping on a mattress on a floor while they figured out how to decorate their home. After spending several years in London and bouncing from friends' places to sublets, Adam Dudd and Cami Raben (he's a graphic designer and she works in hospitality consulting) moved into their Bushwick apartment wanting to create a home to call their own as soon as possible. While IKEA seems like the no-brainer quick-fix for those on a budget with any design sensibility, Adam and Cami weren't interested in the mass-produced but instead wanted unique and quality pieces. So where did they turn without thousands of dollars to spend? Craigslist! Believe it or not, in just four months the pair managed to turn a blank slate into a perfectly outfitted apartment that's both minimal and functional and full of color and character.
Go inside their lovely home here

March 22, 2016

Apply for 83 Affordable Apartments in Astoria, Starting at $895/Month