All articles by Dana Schulz

Dana is a writer and preservationist with a passion for all things New York. After graduating from New York University with a BA in Urban Design & Architecture Studies, she worked at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, where she planned the organization's public programs and wrote for their blog Off the Grid. In her free time, she leads walking tours about the social and cultural history of city neighborhoods. Follow her on Twitter @danaschulzNYC.

October 27, 2015

Look Inside NYC’s Strangely Beautiful Glass and Plastic Recycling Facility

Each day, the 11-acre Sims Municipal Recycling facility unloads up to 450 tons of waste on a city-owned pier (on what used to be an NYPD impoundment lot) in the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. Though this seems like a dirty job, the process of recycling all this glass and plastic turns out to be strangely beautiful. CityLab recently explored the facility's photogenic quality through Instagram photos and talked to its manager to learn that recycling in NYC is not an urban myth like some people believe. In fact, since 2013, around 7,000 guests have toured the Sims facility.
Get a look at what they saw

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The Man Behind the Great Jack-o’-Lantern Blaze; Tour Gracie Mansion’s New Art Collection

October 26, 2015

The Man Behind the Great Jack-o’-Lantern Blaze; Tour Gracie Mansion’s New Art Collection

In anticipation of its move from its 57-year, landmarked home at the Seagram Building, the Four Seasons restaurant is putting together a book of patrons’ memories. [NYP] Meet the creative director behind the Great Jack-o’-Lantern Blaze, which will feature 7,000 real and foam pumpkins this year. [NYT] Gracie Mansion reopend for public tours this Sunday. […]

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Frightgeist Map Shows What the Most Popular Halloween Costume Is in Your City

October 26, 2015

Frightgeist Map Shows What the Most Popular Halloween Costume Is in Your City

Still up in the air about your Halloween costume, but want to make sure you're not one of 10,000 Donald Trumps wandering around NYC on Saturday? Check out this cool map called Frightgeist that shows what the most popular costumes are in cities across the country. Using Google Trends, the map from Google News Lab pulled the top 500 costume searches to create this handy national- and local-based resource.
Some fun facts from the map

Events & Things To Do

Atlantic Yards’ B2 Tower Employing Anti-Nausea Technology From NASA

B2 Tower photo © Field Condition

October 26, 2015

Atlantic Yards’ B2 Tower Employing Anti-Nausea Technology From NASA

"A new technology, designed to tame forces that could separate an astronaut’s eyeball from her retina, may also keep the one percent from throwing up," says The Real Deal. They're talking about a fluid harmonic disruptor, a device used during space takeoffs to protect astronauts from violent vibrations, which will be employed by structural engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti at Forest City Ratner’s B2 BKLYN, the 32-story modular tower at Pacific Park that could definitely succumb to queasy-making swaying and vibrations. The firm will put six water-filled pipes on the roof of the building, making up 0.5 percent of its total mass; then the disruptor will alter how the fluid, and therefore the building, reacts to wind and other vibrations.
More details ahead

Weekly Highlights: Top Picks From the 6sqft Staff

October 24, 2015

Weekly Highlights: Top Picks From the 6sqft Staff

Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born to Run’ Beachside Home Is Selling for $299,000 A Behind the Scenes Look at How SHoP’s Stunning Facade at 111 West 57th Street Will Come to Life Tribeca ‘Suburban’ Mansion With Pool and Three-Car Garage Chops Price to $44.5M SHoP’s Essex Crossing Mega-Market Will Be One of Largest in the Nation You […]

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Port Authority Announces Design Competition to Replace Hated Bus Terminal to the Tune of $10B

October 23, 2015

Port Authority Announces Design Competition to Replace Hated Bus Terminal to the Tune of $10B

The chance to reimagine one of the most loathed buildings in Manhattan certainly must be appealing to designers, so it's likely the Port Authority will receive a lot of submissions for their newly announced international competition to replace the current bus terminal. Crain's reports that "The operator of the nation's busiest bus terminal approved a plan Thursday to move ahead toward replacing the overcrowded, dilapidated 65-year-old facility, with a goal of deciding on a final design by [September 2016]." It's expected that the project will cost between $7 and $10 billion and take several years to complete.
READ MORE

Real Estate Trends

Tribeca’s Historic Skybridge Listing Officially Hits the Market for $50M

October 23, 2015

Tribeca’s Historic Skybridge Listing Officially Hits the Market for $50M

Last month, 6sqft found out about the amazing pair of Tribeca listings that includes one of Manhattan's last skybridges, and shortly thereafter we were teased with a floorplan of the property, which spans 9 Jay Street and 67 Hudson #3AB. It was said to be a pocket listing, but today the Wall Street Journal noticed the official public listing, which has the three-story townhouse and one-bedroom apartment set at a combined price of $50 million. What's more surprising than the price being $20 million over initial estimates is the interior photos. Because of the quirky skybridge one would have assumed that the homes were historic, funky, or a combination of both, but they're in fact completely bare and stark.
Check out all the photos

The Gowanus Canal Gets Its Own Souvenir Shop; When Doormen Become Like Family

October 23, 2015

The Gowanus Canal Gets Its Own Souvenir Shop; When Doormen Become Like Family

From misspelling Bleecker to bleaching riders’ plants, here are pictures of ten MTA fails. [TONY] Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about candy corn. [Mashable] The latest “Modern Love” column is a woman’s touching story about how through boyfriends and pregnancy, her doorman was her “main man.” [NYT] Tour the stylish sets of “The Intern.” […]

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Historic Charlie Parker Townhouse in Alphabet City Hits the Market for $9M

October 22, 2015

Historic Charlie Parker Townhouse in Alphabet City Hits the Market for $9M

From 1950 to 1954 jazz legend Charlie "Bird" Parker, along with his common-law wife Chan Richardson, lived in the garden-floor apartment at this townhouse at 151 Avenue B in Alphabet City. It was here, at the height of his career, that Parker and his family would share Sunday dinners at a dining table shaped like a G clef, but according to his stepdaughter Kim Parker, the saxophonist liked to keep work and personal life separate, so only classical music was played in the house. In honor of the music great, Avenue B between 7th and 10th Streets was renamed Charlie Parker Place in 1992, and the historic 1849 Gothic Revival house was landmarked in 1999. And now you can own a piece of this history, as the Post reports that the home and its five apartments has hit the market for $9.25 million.
Learn more about the Charlie Parker Residence

New, Cheaper Design for WTC Performing Arts Center to Be Revealed Soon

October 22, 2015

New, Cheaper Design for WTC Performing Arts Center to Be Revealed Soon

The Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center has seen a lot of ups and downs since it was first conceived over a dozen years ago. The biggest shakeup occurred a year ago, when Frank Gehry's design for the center got dumped by officials, followed by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's decision earlier this year that the project should cost no more than $200 million, far less than the original estimates of $350 to $400 million. In July, LMDC funded a $500,000 study to explore how the "current conceptual design" could work within those cost restraints, and since then they've been working with a yet-unnamed architectural firm to reimagine the plan, according to the Wall Street Journal. The paper reports that "their latest take envisions a roughly 80,000-square-foot building, rising three to four stories aboveground, where new works of theater, dance, music and digital art would be produced."
More details ahead

Popular Articles

The Most and Least Healthy Halloween Candy; A Diary of Collecting Change off the Street

October 22, 2015

The Most and Least Healthy Halloween Candy; A Diary of Collecting Change off the Street

Think twice before eating those M&Ms. Here’s the best and worst Halloween candy based on calories, sugar, fat, and protein. [Business Insider] Meet the sweet married couple behind the Hudson Valley’s 65-acre Headless Horseman Hayride, a “hotbed of horror.” [Narratively] How many days of picking up change on the street it took for one New Yorker […]

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You Can Buy the Last Two Burial Plots in Manhattan for $350,000 Each

Photo via gsz via photopin cc

October 21, 2015

You Can Buy the Last Two Burial Plots in Manhattan for $350,000 Each

Does this time of year get you thinking about where you'd like to spend the afterlife? Would a swanky Manhattan address be to your liking? If so, you'd better act fast. There are only two burial plots left on the island and they're currently on the market for $350,000 each. Daily Intelligencer reports that the New York Marble Cemetery (not to be confused with the New York City Marble Cemetery–more on that here) in the East Village has two available family vaults that can hold about a dozen descendants ("each generation gains some space as the previous ones turn to dust"). The Trinity Cemetery & Mausoleum on West 153rd Street has a few inground burial plots vacant, but they're reserved for "VIPs;" those at the Marble Cemetery are the only ones being freely sold.
More on what could be your forever home

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INTERVIEW: Captain Jonathan Boulware Sets Sail as the South Street Seaport Museum’s Executive Director

October 21, 2015

INTERVIEW: Captain Jonathan Boulware Sets Sail as the South Street Seaport Museum’s Executive Director

The South Street Seaport Museum may not be one of New York City's glitziest institutions, but it's certainly one of the most resilient and perhaps the one most closely tied to the founding of the city itself. Using actual historic buildings and ships to provide interactive exhibits and educational programs, the museum tells the story of New York's rise as a port city and how that led to the development of the entire country. But the seaport location became all too real in 2012 when Hurricane Sandy ravaged the entire historic district, leaving the museum with $20 million in damages and the loss of its institutional partner, the Museum of the City of New York. Now, three years later, the South Street Seaport Museum is sailing into new territory, thanks in large part to its recently appointed executive director Captain Jonathan Boulware, a lifelong sailor, marine educator, expert in historic ships, and all-around lover of maritime history and culture. In August, Boulware and his team landed a $10.4 million FEMA grant to repair the storm damage, and in May, the museum launched a $10.6 million city-funded project to restore Wavertree, one of the museum’s most significant historic ships. With these exciting developments underway, we caught up with Captain Boulware to learn a bit about his background, what visitors can expect at the museum, and where the institution is heading.
Read the interview

October 21, 2015

POLL: Will the Sale of Stuy Town to Blackstone Make It a More or Less Desirable Place to Live?

The hot topic right now in the real estate world is undoubtedly the $5.3 billion sale of Stuyvesant Town to the Blackstone Group and Canadian investment firm Ivanhoe Cambridge. Aside from the huge sum and the fact that the apartment complex has been long-plagued, what makes this deal so huge is that the new owners agreed to […]

Machine Turns Plastic Bags Into Stylish Totes; Donate Money to Create a Bushwick Font Style

October 21, 2015

Machine Turns Plastic Bags Into Stylish Totes; Donate Money to Create a Bushwick Font Style

Plastic bags are being banned all over the world because they’re so bad for the environment. This hand-cranked machine turns them into haute totes. [Fast Co. Design] Here’s ten only-in-Brooklyn Halloween costumes. [Brownstoner] An East Village artist is trying to raise $7,000 to create a Bushwick typeface. It’s inspired by industrial signage and graffiti. [DNAinfo] Franklin D. […]

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SHoP Architects’ Vishaan Chakrabarti Starting Own Firm Dedicated to Advancement of Cities

October 21, 2015

SHoP Architects’ Vishaan Chakrabarti Starting Own Firm Dedicated to Advancement of Cities

Less than a month ago, 6sqft noticed that prominent architect Vishaan Chakrabarti, a principal at starchitecture firm SHoP, had sold his Flatiron loft for $5 million. We speculated as to why he was selling the massive pad, and though we're still not sure, we do know he won't be departing NYC any time soon. A press release put out today announces that Chakrabarti is leaving SHoP (he's already been removed from the website's staff page) to start his own firm, called the Partnership for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU), which will focus on the advancement of cities. According to the statement, the new NY-based firm will work "to advance groundbreaking architecture and urbanism projects to build the physical, economic, social and cultural networks of cities with an emphasis on beauty, function and user experience."
More on the new firm

Architecture And Design

SHoP’s Essex Crossing Mega-Market Will Be One of Largest in the Nation

October 20, 2015

SHoP’s Essex Crossing Mega-Market Will Be One of Largest in the Nation

The $1.1 billion Essex Crossing project will be a 1.65 million-square-foot, mixed-use mega-development anchored by 1,000 residential units and a mix of cultural, community, and retail facilities. Of course, a project of this magnitude is not without controversy, and perhaps the biggest debate was over the loss of the 75-year-old Essex Street Market. But new details have emerged on how the market will actually be expanded and transformed into one of the five biggest markets in the country, according to Curbed. Known as the Market Line, the bi-level space designed by SHoP Architects will cover 150,000 square feet and connect three sites along Broome Street. It will be a foodie/retail promenade with a floating garden, beer hall, galleries, tech incubators, and, according to renderings, an outpost of Smorgasburg.
More details ahead

In 1872, Broadway Almost Became a Giant Moving Sidewalk

Image via All Ways NY

October 20, 2015

In 1872, Broadway Almost Became a Giant Moving Sidewalk

6sqft readers may remember a 1951 proposal by Goodyear Tires for a giant conveyor belt to carry people between Times Square and Grand Central. And though this was certainly a wacky idea for the time, there was an even earlier proposal for a moving sidewalk that took the city by storm. Back in the late 1860s/early 1870s, inventor and businessman Alfred Speer was fed up with street congestion in front of his wine store on Broadway near City Hall. Though elevated trains were popping up around the time, they were mostly above 14th Street, so Speer designed an aerial, steam-powered sidewalk (much cleaner than the locomotive trains) that would make a loop up and down Broadway to alleviate traffic. It would be constantly in motion at 10 miles per hour, carrying passengers by foot or in its movable chairs for five cents a ride. Speer even went so far as to patent the idea, officially called the "Endless Traveling" or "Railway Sidewalk."
So what happened?

Inside Grand Central’s Tiffany Clock; NYC as Seen From Space

October 20, 2015

Inside Grand Central’s Tiffany Clock; NYC as Seen From Space

The world’s largest rubber duck, weighing in at 11 tons, has arrived in Oyster Bay, Long Island. [Mashable] Video goes inside Grand Central’s giant Tiffany clock. [Gothamist] Here’s all the best bars to watch the Mets tonight. [DNAinfo] A cosmonaut took this amazing picture of NYC from the International Space Station. [NYP] Asics’ new Times Square […]

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Blackstone Buys Stuy Town for $5.3 Billion, Will Preserve Affordable Housing

October 20, 2015

Blackstone Buys Stuy Town for $5.3 Billion, Will Preserve Affordable Housing

The saga of Stuyvesant Town continues. The Real Deal reports that the Blackstone Group has partnered with Canadian investment firm Ivanhoe Cambridge to buy Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village for $5.3 billion, just slightly under 2006's $5.4 billion sale. Currently, more than half of the 11,200 apartments in the long-plagued complex (which was built under Robert Moses as affordable housing for veterans returning from WWII) are market rate. And as TRD notes, "As part of the new agreement with the city, Blackstone will reserve 4,500 units at the complex for middle-income families for the next 20 years... An additional 500 units will be slated for low-income families, and Blackstone will not attempt a condominium conversion at the complex." In order to keep the affordable units, the city will provide $225 million in funding; give Blackstone a $144 million low-interest loan through the Housing Development Corporation; and waive $77 million in taxes.
Find out more about the deal

Subway Inn Site May Get a 1,000+ Foot Supertall Tower

October 19, 2015

Subway Inn Site May Get a 1,000+ Foot Supertall Tower

It was almost two years ago that rumors starting circulating that beloved dive bar the Subway Inn would be forced out of its 77-year home in the wake of being purchased by the World Wide Group as one of six parcels on 60th Street between Third and Lexington Avenues. The bar did close in August 2014, but relocated to a new space around the corner on Second Avenue. This past summer, Cushman & Wakefield worked with World Wide to market/sell the assemblage, using renderings of a glassy supertall tower and talk of nearby Billionaires Row to sweeten the deal. Now, the Commerical Observer reports that Chinese developer Kuafu Properties bought the 19,685-square-foot plot for $300 million, getting one step closer to bringing the 1,000+ foot-tall condo to reality.
More details and renderings ahead

‘Inception’-Inspired Map Shows a Horizonless NYC

October 19, 2015

‘Inception’-Inspired Map Shows a Horizonless NYC

Remember that trippy dream scene in "Inception" where Dom Cobb's mind turns a city into itself, twisting and turning like you'd never seen? This map from OSM Buildings takes inspiration from that alternate world and presents New York in a horizonless view. Aptly titled the GL Inception Map, 3D buildings are shown at the forefront with the rest of the city flattening and bending upwards.
More on the map

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October 19, 2015

Original Coney Island Hot Dogs Coming to East Village; View the First Map of NYC’s Street Grid

Feltman’s, the original creator of the Coney Island hot dog (it wasn’t Nathan’s like many believe) is opening a shop in the East Village. [Gothamist] Beijing- and Vienna-based design studio Penda has envisioned a 200,000-resident city made of interlocking, modular bamboo structures. [Dezeen] A new exhibit shows the 92 hand-drawn and colored panels that were part […]

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Weekly Highlights: Top Picks From the 6sqft Staff

October 17, 2015

Weekly Highlights: Top Picks From the 6sqft Staff

Upper East Side Co-op Personally Designed by Robert A.M. Stern Asks $9.5 Million First Full Look at Extell’s 80-Story One Manhattan Square, 800 Condos Aimed at Asian Buyers Specht Harpman Transforms an Awkward 425-Square-Foot Apartment Into an Open Space Oasis Tell NYC Officials What Neighborhood Improvements You Want to See Using the ‘Idea Collection Map’ […]

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Williamsburg’s New Soda Factory Lofts Bottle Industrial Architecture but Add Modern Style

October 16, 2015

Williamsburg’s New Soda Factory Lofts Bottle Industrial Architecture but Add Modern Style

Leasing has launched at the former Williamsburg manufacturing plant of the Brooklyn Bottling Company and Dr. Brown's Soda. The new development at 60 Berry Street is aptly called the Soda Factory Lofts, and the 40 units are an attractive mix of industrial architecture and modern style. There are currently 12 apartments on the market, ranging from a $3,300/month one-bedroom to a $5,500/month two bedroom.
Check them out

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