By Devin Gannon, Thu, August 2, 2018 Rendering via WXY Architecture
After two Battery Park City bridges were destroyed during the terrorist attacks on 9/11, the city quickly built the Rector Street Bridge, a temporary solution to let pedestrians safely cross West Street. The state’s department of transportation released a proposal in 2006 to reconstruct the promenade but opted to renovate the bridge in 2009 instead. WXY Architecture released a new proposal in 2013 to replace the Rector Street Bridge with a 230-foot-long light-filled, permanent pedestrian walkway at West Thames Street. But, as Crain’s first reported, the project won’t meet its fall deadline and the project’s budget has grown from $20 million to roughly $40 million. Find out more
By Devin Gannon, Fri, March 2, 2018 Courtesy of Charles Urdstadt
After landing on Amazon’s list of 20 potential cities for its second headquarters in January, New York City is one step closer to securing $5 billion in city investment and 50,000 high paying jobs. Although the city pitched four neighborhoods for the tech-giants’ HQ2 (Midtown West, Long Island City, the Brooklyn Tech Triangle, and Lower Manhattan), one investor has a different, less grounded location in mind. Real estate mogul Charles Urstadt took out an ad in the New York Post on Friday detailing his plan to bring Amazon to a landfill in the Hudson River. More here
By Dana Schulz, Tue, February 27, 2018 6sqft’s series “My sqft” checks out the homes of New Yorkers across all the boroughs. Our latest interior adventure brings us to the Battery Park City apartment of “Stroller in the City” founder Brianne Manz. Want to see your home featured here? Get in touch!
The term “mommy blogger” is fairly well known today, but when Brianne Manz started Stroller in the City nearly a decade ago, she was charting new waters. A fashion industry veteran, Brianne has grown the site into a full-scale lifestyle resource, offering tips on raising a family in New York City, the latest in kids’ fashion, and “all things that are mommy.” 6sqft recently visited Brianne at the Battery Park City apartment she and her husband found 15 years ago but now share with their three children (their oldest son in nine and two daughters are six and four). Not only did we get to see first-hand how this entrepreneur balances work and parenting, but we chatted with her about why she loves her neighborhood, why having kids in NYC is a great idea, and how anyone can create a family-friendly home.
All this and more ahead
By Devin Gannon, Mon, January 22, 2018 Photo of the Statue of Liberty courtesy of the NPS
Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday said the state of New York will pay $65,000 per day to reopen the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island during the ongoing federal government shutdown, which forced the park to close over the weekend. Cuomo said the state made an agreement with the Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, to keep New York Harbor’s landmark open. The government closed midnight on Saturday after Republican and Democrats in Congress failed to pass an appropriations bill.
“The Statue of Liberty is a symbol of freedom and opportunity for all, and it is a gross injustice that this administration’s dysfunction caused it to shut down,” Cuomo said. “When this administration tries to deport immigrants, when they close down the Statue of Liberty, they are attacking who we are.”
Find out more
By Emily Nonko, Tue, January 9, 2018 Image courtesy of NYPL
New Yorkers today know Castle Clinton, in Battery Park, as a national monument and departure point to visit Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. But the circular sandstone fort dates all the way back to 1811–and has served as everything from an immigration station, exhibition hall, theater, and public aquarium since. One forgotten fact of the historic structure is that it’s considered the site of America’s first beer garden, which opened as Castle Garden on July 3rd, 1824. The illustration above shows the beer garden–which also had a grand theater–featured in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine in the 1800s. The open-air space, which eventually got a roof, was considered one of the premier attractions in Manhattan.
Read a little more history
By Devin Gannon, Wed, December 27, 2017 Photo courtesy of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
Construction company Skanska USA stopped work at the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church this month after the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America failed to make payments on the project. The cost of rebuilding the church, which was destroyed in the terror attacks on 9/11 more than sixteen years ago, increased to an estimated $78 million from a 2013 estimate of $20 million. While the archdiocese raised $37 million in donations, it was still unable to pay its bills, prompting an independent investigation of the church’s financial mismanagement, as the New York Times reported. Since learning of its deficit, the archdiocese has cut 25 percent of its staff and 25 percent of its expenses. A new treasurer and a chief financial officer have also been hired.
More this way
By Devin Gannon, Tue, May 30, 2017 With little surprise, Manhattan comes in first for the highest apartment rents in the country, with Battery Park City leading the way for the most outrageous prices. According to data collected by RentCafe and assembled into an interactive map, the average rent in this downtown ‘hood is about $6,000 per month, followed by the Upper East Side averaging $4,898 per month and the Upper West Side $4,892. Other pricey Manhattan zip codes that made the top ten include the Lower East Side, Soho and Clinton.
Find out the average rent of your zip code
By Annie Doge, Thu, April 13, 2017 The star actress of the long-running TV show, “How I Met Your Mother,” Cobie Smulders, and husband Taran Killam, Hamilton actor and SNL veteran, have listed their apartment at 2 River Terrace in Battery Park City for $3.995 million. As first reported by Luxury Listings NYC, the 1,580-square-foot-condo has three bedrooms, three bathrooms and boasts a private landscaped terrace. Other celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Tyra Banks have also lived in the building, and filmmaker Oliver Stone just bought an apartment there.
Check out the Battery Park City pad here
By Annie Doge, Thu, April 13, 2017 Award-winning screenwriter, film director, producer, and New York native Oliver Stone is moving to Battery Park City. As the New York Post learned, Stone is buying a 24th-floor condo at Riverhouse at 2 River Terrace, a building home to Leonardo DiCaprio and formerly, Tyra Banks (whose duplex hit the market last month for $17.5 million). The $4.35 million apartment boasts 1,982 square feet and floor-to-ceiling windows.
See inside the high-rise
By Annie Doge, Fri, March 31, 2017 Two years ago, Tyra Banks put her gigantic Battery Park City pad on the rental market for $50,000 a month, but the Times now reports that she’s decided to part ways with it completely, listing the 7,000-square-foot Riverhouse duplex for $17.5 million. Banks, who welcomed her first child last year, is spending most of her time at her homes in Los Angeles and Northern California since her new makeup line is headquartered in LA and both of her hosting gigs–for “America’s Got Talent” and “America’s Next Top Model”–also film there. She did, however, tell the Times that she’ll miss “the feeling of having a home in the sky.”
Read the apartment’s drool-worthy description
