All articles by Aaron Ginsburg

Former Jehovah’s Witnesses Watchtower complex could become 600+ apartments

Renderings courtesy of CIM Group

March 12, 2026

Former Jehovah’s Witnesses Watchtower complex could become 600+ apartments

By Aaron Ginsburg

Brooklyn Heights’ iconic Watchtower Building, the longtime world headquarters of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, may soon be transformed into a waterfront development with hundreds of homes. Developer CIM Group is proposing a mixed-use redevelopment at 25-30 Columbia Heights that would include 661 apartments, some of them affordable, along with 113,000 square feet of commercial space. The project is expected to enter the city's uniform land use review procedure (ULURP). CIM presented the plan to Brooklyn Community Board 2 last June before filing a land-use application in December, according to city records.
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Where to hear traditional Irish music in NYC

March 12, 2026

Where to hear traditional Irish music in NYC

By Aaron Ginsburg

With St. Patrick's Day less than a week away, New Yorkers can tap into the city's rich Irish heritage at pubs and cultural institutions across the five boroughs. Beyond just March 17, many spots host weekly traditional Irish music nights, known as "trad" sessions, or seisiún in Irish, where skilled musicians gather to enliven barrooms with tunes. Whether you want to join in on fiddle or guitar, or simply enjoy the music with a Guinness in hand, here are some of the city’s best spots to listen to live traditional Irish music.
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Events & Things To Do

The NYC Half Marathon is Sunday: Here’s what to know

Credit: New York Road Runners

March 11, 2026

The NYC Half Marathon is Sunday: Here’s what to know

By Aaron Ginsburg

The annual United Airlines New York City Half Marathon returns on Sunday, March 15. The 13.1-mile race will feature more than 30,000 participants with a route that starts near the Brooklyn Museum, moves through Prospect Park, across the East River, along the FDR Drive, up Times Square, and finishes in Central Park. This year also marks the debut of the Half Expo, presented by New Balance at the Jacob K. Javits Center from March 12 to 14, where participants can pick up bibs, attend course strategy sessions, and enjoy sponsor activations. Ahead, here's everything you need to know about this year's event, from the route and start times to the best ways to watch (or avoid) the race.
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Events & Things To Do

City Council approves 72-story Downtown Brooklyn tower with 1,200+ apartments

All renderings courtesy of Binyan Studio and TenBerke Architects

March 11, 2026

City Council approves 72-story Downtown Brooklyn tower with 1,200+ apartments

By Aaron Ginsburg

The New York City Council on Tuesday approved a plan to transform a Downtown Brooklyn office building into a massive mixed-use tower with over 1,200 new homes. The existing city-owned seven-story office tower at 395 Flatbush Avenue Extension will be replaced with a 72-story building, set to become the second-tallest building in the borough after The Brooklyn Tower. The project includes 1,263 new housing units, including 325 affordable apartments for households earning an average of 60 percent of the area median income (AMI).
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30-foot surrealist steel sculptures arrive in two Manhattan neighborhoods

Chasing Rainbows, 2026, by Charlotte Colbert. Artwork © Charlotte Colbert, 2025. Photo © Timothy Schenck. Curated by New Public

March 10, 2026

30-foot surrealist steel sculptures arrive in two Manhattan neighborhoods

By Aaron Ginsburg

Two massive steel sculptures debuted Tuesday in Flatiron and the Meatpacking District, bringing surrealism into dialogue with the skyscrapers of Manhattan. Created by New York-born artist and filmmaker Charlotte Colbert, "Chasing Rainbows" features two 30-foot-tall surrealist sculptures in the bustling Flatiron South Plaza and 14th Street Square, inviting passersby to reconnect with their imagination in public spaces. On view through May 27, the installation marks Colbert’s first U.S. public art installation and represents the city’s first dual-neighborhood public art collaboration.
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Architecture And Design

Mamdani unveils reforms to NYC’s sidewalk shed rules

Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office on Flickr

March 10, 2026

Mamdani unveils reforms to NYC’s sidewalk shed rules

By Aaron Ginsburg

While Mayor Zohran Mamdani may disagree with much of former Mayor Eric Adams’ agenda, the two align on one issue: removing New York City’s sidewalk sheds. Last week, the mayor announced a series of new initiatives aimed at removing longstanding scaffolding, with a focus on sidewalk sheds at public housing developments. The city’s Department of Buildings (DOB) will advance reforms to reduce the amount of shed coverage required over open space farther from buildings and to lengthen the timeline between facade inspections. The effort builds on initiatives from previous administrations, including Adams’ 2023 “Get Sheds Down” campaign, which sought to overhaul the city’s scaffolding rules and develop more aesthetically pleasing shed designs.
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Policy

14th Street’s pedestrian-focused redesign moves forward

East 14th Street at University Place © NYC DOT

March 9, 2026

14th Street’s pedestrian-focused redesign moves forward

By Aaron Ginsburg

Nearly seven years after the 14th Street busway launched, New York City is moving forward with more improvements to the Manhattan corridor. The city's Department of Transportation on Monday announced public outreach will kick off this month on the redesign of 14th Street, which will include upgraded pedestrian space, parks, and plazas, landscaping and greenery, and safety enhancements, all intended to complement the successful busway. DOT is currently conducting a $3 million, two-year study, first introduced by former Mayor Eric Adams last summer, to develop ways to enhance the experience of pedestrians and commuters on 14th Street.
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New Hell’s Kitchen venue will host hologram ABBA show

Credit: Raph_PH on Flickr

March 6, 2026

New Hell’s Kitchen venue will host hologram ABBA show

By Aaron Ginsburg

Extell Development this week applied to demolish part of a block in Hell's Kitchen to build a venue that will host a hologram show featuring the Swedish pop band ABBA. As first reported by Crain's, the firm seeks to raze a string of low-rise buildings in Hell’s Kitchen—formerly home to a strip club, a dance club, and a lumberyard—between 11th Avenue and West 45th and 46th Streets. The new venue will become the permanent home for ABBA Voyage, a production designed by the legendary 1970s pop group featuring holograms of their younger selves, according to the New York Times.
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Real Estate Trends

New York law banning discrimination against Section 8 tenants struck down by judges

Credit: Thomas Habr on Unsplash

March 6, 2026

New York law banning discrimination against Section 8 tenants struck down by judges

By Aaron Ginsburg

A New York appeals court on Thursday nullified a state law that prohibits landlords from discriminating against tenants who use Section 8 to pay rent. The five-judge panel sided with a landlord who appealed a lawsuit brought by Attorney General Letitia James in 2022, arguing the law violated his constitutional rights because the program allows housing officials to inspect his properties without a warrant, violating the Fourth Amendment.
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Policy

NYC announces $50M to rebuild 10 parks in underserved neighborhoods

Prospect Park. Photo by Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office on Flickr

March 5, 2026

NYC announces $50M to rebuild 10 parks in underserved neighborhoods

By Aaron Ginsburg

Ten parks across New York City will receive $50 million in new investments, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Thursday. The parks, spread across every borough, are located in neighborhoods with the greatest need and have not seen significant upgrades in more than two decades. While the improvements are expected to benefit more than 116,500 New Yorkers, advocates have criticized Mamdani’s 2027 preliminary budget, which does not include the 1 percent of the budget for Parks Department funding that he pledged during his campaign.
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Policy

Popular Articles

NYC’s largest men’s homeless shelter to close this month

Credit: Carl Mikoy on Flickr

March 5, 2026

NYC’s largest men’s homeless shelter to close this month

By Aaron Ginsburg

New York City's largest men's homeless shelter will shut down this month because of the building's deteriorating condition. As first reported by Gothamist, the Mamdani administration plans to close the city-owned Bellevue Shelter on East 30th Street in Kips Bay in mid-March, relocating 250 residents to allow for work to be done on the building. The shelter’s intake services will move elsewhere in Manhattan, and several new shelters are expected to open over the next six months.
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Policy

Hundreds of NYCHA apartments taken over by squatters as vacancies soar, report finds

Lilian Wald Houses in the East Village. Photo by Tdorante10 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 on Wikimedia

March 4, 2026

Hundreds of NYCHA apartments taken over by squatters as vacancies soar, report finds

By Aaron Ginsburg

Squatters have occupied hundreds of New York City public housing apartments in recent years, as the number of empty units continues to rise, a new report shows. According to the report released Tuesday by the city’s Department of Investigation, the number of vacant NYCHA units increased from 2,840 in January 2022 to approximately 6,740 vacancies as of last May, despite 165,000 households waiting for an apartment. According to the DOI, the surge in empty units and the “absence of regular inspections” have fueled unauthorized occupancy, prompting the NYPD, DOI, and NYCHA to recover 548 apartments from illegal squatters over three years.
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Congestion pricing lives on after federal judge rules Trump’s effort to end program unlawful

Credit: Mike Chavarri on Unsplash

March 4, 2026

Congestion pricing lives on after federal judge rules Trump’s effort to end program unlawful

By Aaron Ginsburg

New York City's congestion pricing program will live on, as a federal judge on Tuesday ruled that the Trump administration's attempt to nix the toll system was unlawful. In a 149-page decision, Judge Lewis J. Liman called U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s move to end the program "arbitrary and capricious," but he did not bar future attempts to halt it. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which sued the U.S. DOT in February 2025 to prevent the program’s elimination, can now continue operating the system indefinitely.
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Brooklyn Public Library ends passport processing services under federal order

Credit: Antonio Bonanno on Flickr

March 4, 2026

Brooklyn Public Library ends passport processing services under federal order

By Aaron Ginsburg

The Brooklyn Public Library ended its passport services last Friday following an order from the federal government. Last fall, the U.S. Department of State sent notices to hundreds of nonprofit libraries nationwide notifying them that they could no longer participate in the Passport Acceptance Facility Program, as reported by the Associated Press. The library, which had offered passport application services since 2011, closed the facility on February 27.
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Policy

Ivana Trump’s Lenox Hill townhouse sells for $14M, nearly half its original asking price

Photos courtesy of Evan Joseph Photography

March 3, 2026

Ivana Trump’s Lenox Hill townhouse sells for $14M, nearly half its original asking price

By Aaron Ginsburg

After nearly four years on the market, Ivana Trump's opulent Lenox Hill townhouse has finally sold, fetching much less than its original $26.5 million listing price. The five-story home at 10 East 64th Street sold for $14 million, according to property records and first reported by the Wall Street Journal, down from its initial 2022 ask. Ivana purchased the home for roughly $2.5 million in 1992, shortly after her divorce from Donald Trump. The property was first listed following Ivana's death in 2022, as 6sqft previously reported.
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NYC to revamp six more blocks of Broadway by 2031

Credit: Eden, Janine and Jim on Flickr

March 3, 2026

NYC to revamp six more blocks of Broadway by 2031

By Aaron Ginsburg

New York City is pressing ahead with its transformation of Broadway into a pedestrian-focused corridor, with plans to redesign six additional blocks by 2031. According to a Department of Transportation (DOT) presentation to Manhattan Community Board 5 last month, the $156 million expansion will upgrade Broadway between 21st and 27th Streets with permanent concrete plazas, widened sidewalks, and improved bike lanes. The project builds on the city’s broader "Broadway Vision" initiative, launched in March 2023 to improve safety and reduce vehicle traffic along the heavily traveled corridor.
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Bally’s buys Bronx casino site from NYC for $157M

Images courtesy of Bally’s Bronx

March 2, 2026

Bally’s buys Bronx casino site from NYC for $157M

By Aaron Ginsburg

Bally's Corporation has officially purchased the Bronx parkland where it will build one of three new casinos downstate after the company secured a gaming license in December. As first reported by the Commercial Observer, the company last week purchased the 16-acre parcel at 450 Hutchinson Parkway in Throggs Neck—formerly leased to Donald Trump—from the city for $156.6 million. The proposal survived a City Council vote that initially denied a crucial rezoning, a decision later overridden by a veto from former Mayor Eric Adams, keeping the project alive.
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Real Estate Trends

FiDi office tower to become 796-unit residential building

61 Broadway © 2024 Google

March 2, 2026

FiDi office tower to become 796-unit residential building

By Aaron Ginsburg

RXR Realty secured a $420 million construction loan last week for an office-to-residential conversion that will transform a century-old Financial District office tower into 796 new homes. Affiliates of Apollo Global Management provided the financing to convert the 32-story 61 Broadway, with construction expected to begin later this month and the first residents projected to move in during the first half of 2028, according to Crain's. Roughly 200 of the apartments will be set aside for households earning 80 percent of the area median income (AMI).
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Real Estate Trends

Historic Hunterfly Road Houses in Weeksville reopen after $4M renovation

Credit: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office on Flickr

March 2, 2026

Historic Hunterfly Road Houses in Weeksville reopen after $4M renovation

By Aaron Ginsburg

Four wood-frame homes built in the 19th century as part of one of the nation's largest free Black communities before the Civil War have been restored. The Hunterfly Road Houses at the Weeksville Heritage Center in Brooklyn reopened last week after undergoing a $4 million renovation, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced on Friday. Last month, the center also received $1.2 million in state funding to maintain the historic homes, support staff and daily tours, and expand literacy and community programs.
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MTA revamps music program with themed monthly performances across NYC

Greg Banks performs at 42 St-Times Sq as part of MTA Music. Credit: Marc A. Hermann / MTA

February 27, 2026

MTA revamps music program with themed monthly performances across NYC

By Aaron Ginsburg

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Thursday announced an overhaul of its “Music Under New York” program, which brings live music to subway stations across all five boroughs. Renamed MTA Music, the program marks the 40th anniversary of the MTA’s Arts & Design initiative and features an expanded lineup of performers through 2026 and beyond. The relaunch includes a new monthly Station Series, bringing themed performances to five locations each month, with each showcase celebrating a different musical or cultural heritage alongside the program’s ongoing daily performances.
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Newark Airport to test self-driving shuttle buses this spring

Image courtesy of Oceaneering on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s Flickr

February 27, 2026

Newark Airport to test self-driving shuttle buses this spring

By Aaron Ginsburg

Self-driving shuttle buses are coming to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) this spring, with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey launching a pilot program to test the technology. The agency announced Wednesday that it has partnered with three autonomous vehicle companies to operate electric self-driving shuttles at the airport through the spring, with each company conducting two-week test periods in a section of the airport currently closed to the public as part of its ongoing redevelopment. The Port Authority will evaluate whether the shuttles could serve as an effective way to transport passengers between existing airport facilities and the new AirTrain system currently under construction.
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Trump partners with Pakistan in strange plan to redevelop NYC’s Roosevelt Hotel

Image via WikiCommons

February 27, 2026

Trump partners with Pakistan in strange plan to redevelop NYC’s Roosevelt Hotel

By Aaron Ginsburg

An unlikely player has entered Midtown’s Roosevelt Hotel redevelopment: President Donald Trump and the federal government. As first reported by Reuters last week, the United States government's General Services Administration (GSA) signed an agreement with Pakistan, which owns the iconic but shuttered hotel at 45 East 45th Street, to jointly redevelop, renovate, operate, and maintain the property. The pact, negotiated by New York real estate developer and Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff, marks a surprising turnaround for the project, which returned to the drawing board last week after Pakistan restarted its search for a broker and financial advisor, according to The Real Deal.
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Policy

New York officials introduce bill to protect Pride flag

Credit: Will Alatriste/NYC Council Media Unit on Flickr

February 26, 2026

New York officials introduce bill to protect Pride flag

By Aaron Ginsburg

After President Donald Trump ordered the removal of the Pride flag at New York City's Stonewall National Monument earlier this month, Sen. Chuck Schumer on Wednesday formally introduced legislation to make the flag congressionally authorized. Supported by Schumer and Rep. Dan Goldman, the bill seeks to amend current policy that permits only the U.S. flag and other “congressionally or departmentally authorized flags” to fly on National Park Service flagpoles, as Gay City News reported. The flag was taken down on February 9, and New York City officials defiantly raised it again three days later.
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Policy

MTA threatens to sue Trump over stalled Second Avenue Subway funds

Credit: Marc A. Hermann / MTA on Flickr

February 26, 2026

MTA threatens to sue Trump over stalled Second Avenue Subway funds

By Aaron Ginsburg

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority says it will sue the federal government unless funding for the Second Avenue Subway expansion resumes within a week. The MTA on Wednesday sent a letter to President Donald Trump's administration, warning that the agency will pursue legal action unless the federal government restores more than $58 million owed for the project by March 6, citing concerns that further delays could stall the long-planned expansion. Funding for the Second Avenue Subway was halted during the October government shutdown, along with funding for the Gateway project.
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Bayside affordable housing project moves ahead, thanks to NYC’s new charter reforms

Credit: Department of City Planning

February 25, 2026

Bayside affordable housing project moves ahead, thanks to NYC’s new charter reforms

By Aaron Ginsburg

An anti-development New York City council member voted to approve a project in her district Sunday, citing a new ballot measure, supported by New Yorkers in November's election. Council Member Vickie Paladino, who represents District 19 in northeast Queens, voted to advance a 248-unit, eight-story development at 217-14 24th Avenue in Bayside. While she initially opposed the project, Paladino reversed course because the new measure gives a three-member appeals board, including the mayor, council speaker, and local borough president, to overturn rejections by the council.
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