Rendering of 212 Fifth Avenue by Visualhouse; Photo of Jeff Bezos via Wiki Commons

The Wall Street Journal reported today that Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos is closing on three apartments at 212 Fifth Avenue, next to Madison Square Park. Bezos is scooping up a penthouse and two units that are right under it for approximately $80 million, though the precise numbers haven’t been made public yet. Combined, the apartments add up to over 17,000 square feet. The deal is reportedly the largest to ever close in New York south of 42nd Street, and the second largest deal of the year, second to Ken Griffin’s now-infamous $240 million penthouse at 220 Central Park South.

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Netflix will open six sound stages and support spaces in Bushwick at 333 Johnson Avenue; photo via Google Streetview

Netflix plans to expand its New York City footprint with new production centers in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Thursday that the streaming-service company will take up 100,000 square feet at 888 Broadway in Flatiron and roughly 160,000 square feet at 333 Johnson Avenue in Bushwick. “Netflix is innovative, creative and bold – just like New Yorkers – and the expansion of this cutting-edge company in New York once again demonstrates the Empire State is open for business,” Cuomo said.

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Via LPC

The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted on Tuesday in favor of calendaring five buildings on West 28th Street in Manhattan’s “Tin Pan Alley,” in the neighborhood now called Nomad. The buildings at 47-55 West 28th Street were an integral part of the area known for having New York City’s most significant concentration of sheet music publishers at the turn of the 20th century, and as the birthplace of iconic American songs like “God Bless America.” It’s also where popular music icons like Irving Berlin and George Gershwin wrote songs. Calendaring is the first formal step in the historic status designation process.

Sounds like a good idea

Spanning an entire block, this sprawling penthouse at 5 East 17th Street boasts four bedrooms, two private elevators, a 25-foot glass atrium, and a 4,000-square-foot “private sky yard” with a swimming pool, fire pit, and gorgeous city views. No luxury has been spared in this fully-renovated, sleek, and abundantly sunny condo, centrally located on the border of Flatiron and Union Square. A previous sale fell through at the last moment, and now the $15,500,000 unit is back on the market.

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Lucy Liu image: Wikimedia commons.

TV Star Lucy Liu of CBS’ “Elementary” has just put a pair of condominiums that span the third and fourth floors of a Flatiron District apartment building at 29 West 19th Street into contract, Variety reports. The homes have a combined total of more than 3,500 square feet of living space, and though they haven’t been combined, we wouldn’t be surprised if a new buyer merged the two modern-on-the-inside pads for an impressive duplex in an historic Manhattan brownstone with only five floors total. Both units have private elevator access, so getting between the two–priced together at $5.9 million or $3 million for each unit separately–is already a luxury endeavor. What’s more, the building’s penthouse is also for sale, which would top a trophy triplex off nicely.

Imagine the potential

Overlooking the Flatiron district, this penthouse co-op at Folio House is in a historic Beaux-Arts building. And though it has classic loft bones and a Fifth Avenue address, this downtown aerie has an up-to-the minute renovation with no detail spared. And its best feature, a gorgeous landscaped roof garden, is a timeless addition to top-floor city living.

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Images courtesy of The We Company; Photography by Dave Burk.

Recently re-branded as the We Company, the juggernaut formerly known as WeWork has introduced Made By We, an “on-demand workspace,” event space, retail shop and cafe at 902 Broadway in the Flatiron district. Manhattan’s largest private office tenant adds the new retail and no-membership-required co-working concept to a growing list of conquests that includes the landmarked Lord & Taylor building which they’ve tapped starchitect Bjarke Ingels to restore and co-living (WeLive) and childhood education (WeGrow) ventures as well as their better-known co-working brand.

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Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress

Did you know the nation’s first public Christmas tree went up in NYC? Or how about the fact that Santa Claus was born here in both literature and drawing? And have you seen the famous restaurant decorated with 15,000 Christmas ornaments, 10,000 lights? Join 6sqft’s managing editor Dana Schulz for her Christmas in Gramercy tour with the Municipal Art Society to see and learn about all this and more. Taking place, Saturday, December 15th, the two-hour event will reveal the surprising origins of our most beloved holiday traditions.

Enter to win tickets here!

The landmarked Gilsey House at 1200 Broadway was once one of several fashionable Broadway hotels to open after the Civil War, and many of these historic details remain, complemented by the kind of 21st-century updates we expect to find in this once-again fashionable neighborhood. The 1871 Second Empire cast-iron building has become a NYC fixture, known for its three-story mansard roof, and it’s right above this iconic roof that this $3.2 million penthouse is perched. In addition to the landscaped roof deck, complete with a water tower and Empire State Building views, the three-bedroom pad has a sprawling loft layout, two skylights, and a mini solarium.

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Image: Moso Studio

The penthouse atop the Flatiron District‘s tallest tower, Madison Square Park Tower at 45 East 22nd Street, has gained a floor and nearly doubled in price. The 7,000-square-foot duplex was listed in 2017 for $48 million. Now, Mansion Global reports, the stunning residence 777 feet above the ground has gained a floor, measures over 15,000 square feet and is about to return to the market at $77.7 million, making it one of the most expensive listings in the city.

Interiors and amazing views ahead