Manhattan

A new pedestrian plaza and mural in Washington Heights opened this week, setting a city record for the most temporary public art installations on city land. On Thursday, Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez celebrated the opening of a new pedestrian plaza on Audubon Avenue between 165th and 166th Streets, adding 10,890 square feet of car-free space, and unveiled “De Lo Mio,” a vibrant asphalt mural honoring Dominican culture by artist Talisa Almonte. The artwork marks a record 151 temporary public art pieces installed across DOT property.
details here

The history of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, a NYC holiday tradition

The 1931 tree, courtesy of Tishman Speyer

December 3, 2025

The history of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, a NYC holiday tradition

By Dana Schulz

The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, considered the "worldwide symbol of Christmas," will be lit on Wednesday, marking the 93rd tree lighting ceremony. Ahead, learn about the history of the iconic spruce, from its start as a modest Depression-era pick-me-up for Rockefeller Center construction workers to World War regulations to its current 900-pound Swarovski star.
More on the history here

December 3, 2025

500 affordable homes coming to East Harlem 125th Street development

A new addition to East Harlem's East 125th Street Development will bring nearly 500 affordable homes to the neighborhood. New York City Council Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala announced on Monday the details for 2319 Third Avenue, a mixed-use project with more than 400 affordable rental units and roughly 80 affordable homeownership units. The new building completes a three-phase development, which included the adjacent One East Harlem, a 19-story tower with 400 apartments, more than half of which were designated as affordable, and the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute.
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Eataly to open new grab-and-go cafe on the Upper East Side

Credit: Eataly

December 2, 2025

Eataly to open new grab-and-go cafe on the Upper East Side

Eataly’s expansion across Manhattan continues, with the beloved Italian marketplace set to open a new outpost on the Upper East Side. On December 10, the brand will debut a 43-seat Eataly Caffè, its newest culinary concept featuring a coffee bar, quick-service offerings, and other grab-and-go options. Located at 1122 Lexington Avenue, the new cafe will be the third of its kind in the five boroughs and Eataly’s fifth location in the city, following the opening of a cafe in Hudson Yards in June.
get the details

Food & Dining

Lottery opens for 21 co-op apartments in Chelsea, from $385K

Photo © Ondel Hylton

December 1, 2025

Lottery opens for 21 co-op apartments in Chelsea, from $385K

In 1976, the city seized four neglected buildings in Chelsea through a tax lien foreclosure with plans to renovate and turn the rentals into affordable co-ops. Fifty years later, the tenements at 201-207 7th Avenue have been demolished, and a new nine-story residential building (with the address 170 West 22nd Street) has risen in their place. The city on Monday opened a housing lottery at the site for 21 middle-income co-ops for purchase, priced from $385,865 studios to $451,600 two-bedrooms.
how to apply

Affordable Housing

Naftali Group’s new limestone condo tower at 800 Fifth Ave gets approved

All images courtesy of Naftali Group / Robert A.M. Stern Architects unless otherwise noted

November 25, 2025

Naftali Group’s new limestone condo tower at 800 Fifth Ave gets approved

Naftali Group's plan to demolish an existing Upper East Side residential building and replace it with a new condominium tower was approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday. Designed by Ulrich Franzen in the 1970s, the existing post-modern building at 800 Fifth Avenue has about 200 rental units. Naftali, which acquired the building over the summer for $810 million, has tapped Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA) and SLCE to design a new limestone-clad tower with 55 condos and stunning Central Park views.
details here

New Times Square New Year’s Eve ball is largest ever, and open for public viewing

All photos courtesy of One Times Square

November 25, 2025

New Times Square New Year’s Eve ball is largest ever, and open for public viewing

A new ball now rests above Times Square, ready to welcome the New Year in even more dazzling fashion. The new "Constellation Ball" was unveiled atop One Times Square this week, becoming the ninth iteration of the famed New Year’s Eve ball and replacing the previous version, which was retired in January after 17 years. The new ball is the largest yet, measuring 12.5 feet in diameter, weighing 12,350 pounds, and featuring nearly twice as many lights as its predecessor. In a notable design change, the old ball’s triangular crystals have been replaced with round crystals that more effectively refract light. For the first time, the public can get an up-close look at the ball from a viewing deck, through two ticketed experiences at One Times Square.
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Architecture And Design

November 24, 2025

Ice rink opens at Central Park’s new Davis Center

Ice skating is back on the north end of Central Park. The new Gottesman Rink at the Davis Center at the Harlem Meer debuted this weekend, replacing the outdated Lasker Rink as part of the larger new facility that opened earlier this year. The rink offers affordable public skating sessions, community-led programs, and ice time for local schools and organizations.
let's skate

Events & Things To Do

Holiday nostalgia rides on vintage NYC subway cars are back this December

Holiday Nostalgia Train at 2nd Avenue station. Photo courtesy of New York Transit Museum.

November 21, 2025

Holiday nostalgia rides on vintage NYC subway cars are back this December

Step back in time and embark on a festive journey aboard an old-school New York City subway car this holiday season. The New York Transit Museum's beloved Holiday Nostalgia Rides, which include eight cars from the 1930s that ran along lettered lines through the late 1970s, will run every Sunday in December from 2nd Avenue on the uptown F platform and 96th Street on the downtown Q platform.
Find out more

Greenwich Village townhouse where Oscar Wilde once stayed asks $7.45M

All photos courtesy of Emily Collum

November 20, 2025

Greenwich Village townhouse where Oscar Wilde once stayed asks $7.45M

The 22-foot-wide townhouse at 48 West 11th Street is already ahead of the game for location and timeless charm. Asking $7,450,000, the three-family brick home also has literary cachet: According to Daytonian, Irish writer and playwright Oscar Wilde rented rooms in the Village townhouse while in New York City in 1882 for a lecture tour, entertaining guests and becoming a familiar face on the neighborhood's streets.
get a closer look

This $3.5M Noho co-op remembers the origins of loft living

Photos by Bernadett Pava. Staging by A List Designs.

November 19, 2025

This $3.5M Noho co-op remembers the origins of loft living

This classic loft at 652 Broadway is the kind we remember, with plenty of wide open space and lots of flexibility. The floor plan currently offers two bedrooms and two bathrooms, but a third bedroom can be added. Asking $3,495,000, the pre-war co-op has the benefit of location, square footage, and details that add up to the kind of unspoiled downtown space we don't see too often in the 21st century.
Noho loft living, this way

Distinctive Homes

Tribeca’s iconic skybridge property is back on the market for $30M

Images by Brad Stein

November 19, 2025

Tribeca’s iconic skybridge property is back on the market for $30M

Tribeca’s famed skybridge residence is for sale again with a nearly $30 million price tag. The landmarked two-building property at 9 Jay Street and 67 Hudson Street—a four-story townhouse and expansive loft linked by the iconic Staple Street skybridge, one of the city's most photographed spots—is now asking $29,995,000. It last sold in August 2022 for $24 million in an off-market deal, following nearly a decade on the market. For buyers looking to build a dream urban estate, 4 Staple Street across the way hit the market last week for $30 million.
see the skybridge

Distinctive Homes

Eliot Spitzer’s planned Fifth Avenue condo tower gets height boost

All renderings courtesy of Spitzer Enterprises

November 19, 2025

Eliot Spitzer’s planned Fifth Avenue condo tower gets height boost

Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's proposed Upper East Side condo project, which would replace a 1970s-era rental building with 26 luxury residences, just got a slight height boost. On Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved Spitzer's proposal to raise his planned development at 985 Fifth Avenue from 19 to 20 stories using City of Yes zoning reforms, replacing a 25-story rental building approved for demolition in 2023. Other approved changes include a textured limestone facade, a rear yard extension, and the removal of an adjacent public plaza.
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See inside an East Village condo transforming a former parking garage into luxury loft-like homes

All renderings courtesy of Plomp

November 18, 2025

See inside an East Village condo transforming a former parking garage into luxury loft-like homes

New images were released this week of the luxury boutique condo replacing a shuttered East Village parking garage. Designed and developed by Arcus, 220 East 9th Street replaces a 175-space garage, which had been closed since 2023 due to structural issues. In its place is a striking red-brick condo, dubbed 220e9th, with 18 bright and airy, loft-like residences, all with unique layouts.
see it here

November 18, 2025

New Chelsea rental opens lottery for 28 apartments, from $978/month

A new 12-story rental building in Chelsea just opened a lottery for 28 mixed-income apartments. Replacing a Rite Aid, The Andrea sits at the corner of 24th Street and 8th Avenue. New Yorkers earning 40, 60, and 130 percent of the area median income can apply for the units, priced from $978/month studios to $4,376/month two bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

November 17, 2025

Extell to buy $36M in air rights from Midtown’s St. Thomas church

Extell Development has bought $36 million in air rights from a historic Midtown church as it continues to assemble large development sites across the neighborhood. According to Crain's, the developer has entered into a contract to acquire 123,000 square feet of air rights from the landmarked St. Thomas Church at 678 Fifth Avenue. It’s unclear which project Extell plans to use the rights for, but the firm is working on several nearby projects, including the former Wellington Hotel site and 655 Madison Avenue.
Learn more

Real Estate Trends

Exterior view of the Studio Museum in Harlem’s new building, 2025. Courtesy Studio Museum in Harlem. Photo © Albert Vecerka/ Esto

November 17, 2025

Studio Museum in Harlem unveils new home

By Lidia Ryan

In the United States, 1968 was a year of political unrest and cultural change. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, the Vietnam War was protested, the Fair Housing Act was passed, and President Richard Nixon was elected. In its list of major, shifting events that year, a much quieter moment: the founding of the Studio Museum in Harlem. The museum was founded by a group of artists, community activists, and philanthropists to foster the work of artists of African descent.
inside the studio museum

Renderings courtesy of Visualisation One unless otherwise noted

November 14, 2025

Get a first look inside the new Flatiron Building condos

Interior renderings of the condominium residences at the iconic Flatiron Building at 175 Fifth Avenue have been revealed. As 6sqft previously reported, the building is being converted to 38 condos after 120 years as a commercial property. Sales are underway at the 22-story landmarked Beaux-Arts tower, with three-bedroom homes starting at $11 million and a five-bedroom residence on the 21st floor priced at $50,000,000. New images show off the lobby, amenity space, and the expansive great rooms, unique layouts, and exposed steel structures of the residences.
first look at the new flatiron condos, this way

New Developments

A two-story Christmas carousel will open next to Macy’s in Midtown

Credit: 34th Street Partnership

November 13, 2025

A two-story Christmas carousel will open next to Macy’s in Midtown

A new double-decker Christmas carousel is coming to Greeley Square later this month, adding to Midtown’s festive holiday atmosphere. Hosted by the 34th Street Partnership, the Christmas Carousel will open at 33rd Street and Broadway and run from November 21 through January 6, 2026. The ride is steps from Macy’s Herald Square, which recently opened its holiday markets for the season.
Find out more

Events & Things To Do

New legislation would pave the way for more affordable artist housing in NYC

Credit: Jeffrey Blum on Unsplash

November 12, 2025

New legislation would pave the way for more affordable artist housing in NYC

Legislation introduced this week would pave the way for more affordable artist housing in New York City. Announced on Wednesday by Manhattan Council Members Keith Powers and Erik Bottcher, the legislation would amend the city’s administrative code to clarify that housing programs offering preference to artists do not violate human rights laws prohibiting discrimination based on occupation. The legislation aims to create more housing opportunities for artists, many of whom earn well below the city’s average rent thresholds, in the nation's cultural capital, as first reported by Gothamist.
details here

For $9M, a Noho penthouse that captures the spirit of the neighborhood’s past, and then some

Photo credit: Alejandro Leon, DD-Reps

November 12, 2025

For $9M, a Noho penthouse that captures the spirit of the neighborhood’s past, and then some

Built in 1893, the six-story loft at 21 Bond Street, anchored by a street-level shop in the Noho Historic District, is a classic example of the neighborhood's commercial Renaissance Revival architecture, with brownstone piers framing its cast-iron storefront with Palladian-inspired second-story windows above. Asking $8,995,000, this top-floor unit has been completely overhauled to become a modern-day home, surrounded by the carefully revealed original character of the loft.
take the tour

Distinctive Homes

Harlem’s parade of lights kicks off the holiday season in NYC

Photo credit: 125th Street BID

November 12, 2025

Harlem’s parade of lights kicks off the holiday season in NYC

While Macy's may get all the credit, the holiday season really kicks off in Harlem. On November 18, the 125th Street Business Improvement District will host its annual Harlem Holiday Lights celebration, the only holiday lights parade in New York City. A procession of dazzling illuminated floats will travel throughout the neighborhood, with designated watch parties along the route offering hot drinks, music, toys for children, games, and more holiday cheer.
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Events & Things To Do

World’s highest duplex lists for $128M at Central Park Tower

All photos courtesy of Compass

November 11, 2025

World’s highest duplex lists for $128M at Central Park Tower

Want to live above it all? A duplex apartment on the 127th and 128th floors of Central Park Tower hit the market this week for $128,000,000. Situated 1,300 feet above ground, the palatial Billionaires' Row pad is considered the highest duplex in the world. If the home fetches the asking price, it would become New York City's fifth most expensive sale ever.
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Distinctive Homes

Holiday open streets will return to Fifth Avenue for just one Sunday

Credit: Fifth Avenue Association

November 10, 2025

Holiday open streets will return to Fifth Avenue for just one Sunday

A large stretch of Fifth Avenue will once again be closed to vehicles for the holidays—but just for one day. The Fifth Avenue Association announced that Holiday Open Streets will return on Sunday, December 14, from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., turning the iconic corridor between 47th and 57th Streets into a pedestrian-centric, holiday-themed promenade. The event, held across three Sundays in 2022 and 2023, was reduced to a single day in 2024, and will remain so in 2025 due to “logistical challenges” tied to increased security at Trump Tower, according to Gothamist.
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‘Secret’ live-work compound on Tribeca’s skybridge street lists for $30M

Photos courtesy of Yale Wagner/Sotheby’s International Realty

November 10, 2025

‘Secret’ live-work compound on Tribeca’s skybridge street lists for $30M

Now available in Tribeca, a private compound on one of Manhattan's most photographed blocks. Located on the two-block alleyway Staple Street, known for its historic skybridge, a combined property consisting of a two-story brick townhouse at 4 Staple Street and a studio and office across the street at 1 Jay Street has hit the market for $30 million. Owned by filmmaker Neil Burger and architect Diana Kellogg since 2002, the rare property is one of the most unusual private residences in the city, listing agent Jeremy Stein of Sotheby’s International Realty told the Wall Street Journal.
see it here

Distinctive Homes

Color, drama, and detail define this $12.5M Upper East Side co-op

All photos courtesy of Shannon Dupre

November 6, 2025

Color, drama, and detail define this $12.5M Upper East Side co-op