All articles by Dana Schulz

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

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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

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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
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

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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
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

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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?

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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

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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. […]

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

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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
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

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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

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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

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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 […]

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

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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

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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

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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
October 19, 2015

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

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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 […]

Weekly Highlights: Top Picks From the 6sqft Staff
October 17, 2015

Weekly Highlights: Top Picks From the 6sqft Staff

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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’ […]

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

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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
Philip Johnson’s New York State Pavilion Debuts Its ‘American Cheese Yellow’ Paint Job

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

October 16, 2015

Philip Johnson’s New York State Pavilion Debuts Its ‘American Cheese Yellow’ Paint Job

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After 8,000 hours and 1,600 gallons of paint, the New York State Pavilion's Tent of Tomorrow is camera-ready for its spot on Open House New York Weekend. The Daily News reports that Philip Johnson's iconic World's Fair structure in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is now sporting a fresh coat of "American Cheese Yellow" paint. The job "included power-washing off decades of rust, applying primer and the historically accurate paint while working on a platform suspended 100 feet in the air," and it cost $3 million. It'll certainly be all over Instagram tomorrow and Sunday, but some ambitious architecture lovers have already gotten up close to the landmark.
Have a look at the pictures here
6sqft’s Must-See Recommendations for This Weekend’s Open House New York
October 16, 2015

6sqft’s Must-See Recommendations for This Weekend’s Open House New York

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This year's Open House New York takes place this weekend on October 17th and 18th. A full roster of sites was revealed just over a week ago, and there is certainly plenty to see. But how will you prioritize? To help make planning your itinerary a bit easier, 6sqft has put together a list of recommendations for not-to-be-missed sites, from Google's headquarters to a food factory tour at Industry City to the 1920s gilded Loew's Kings Theatre.
See our picks here
Pollution Cleanup Park Taking Shape at Gowanus Canal
October 15, 2015

Pollution Cleanup Park Taking Shape at Gowanus Canal

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The Gowanus Canal isn't the first place that comes to mind when one thinks about lush waterfront parks, but that's exactly the vision behind the long-planned Gowanus Canal Sponge Park, an 18,000-square-foot public space that will be built with engineered soil to absorb (hence "sponge") stormwater that would otherwise pollute the canal, as well as plants to break down toxins and floating wetlands. It was first conceived back in 2008 by the Gowanus Canal Conservancy and Susannah Drake, principal at the landscape architecture firm DLANDstudio (who's also responsible for the Queensway). Now, seven years later, DNAinfo reports that state officials announced on Tuesday that construction has officially commenced on the $1.5 million project at the notorious Superfund site. The park will sit on city-owned land at the point where Second Street dead-ends at the canal. Workers are on site, digging out five feet of contaminated soil that will be sent to a special facility that handles toxic materials; during the next 90 days, the metal walkway will be installed; and plants will arrive in the spring.
More on the park and the Gowanus Canal cleanup
Gracie Mansion Reopening for Public Tours Next Month With a New Art Collection
October 14, 2015

Gracie Mansion Reopening for Public Tours Next Month With a New Art Collection

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Gracie Mansion will reopen for public tours starting next month, and visitors will be welcomed with a new, diverse art collection. According to the Wall Street Journal, "Mayor Bill de Blasio’s wife wanted the art and objects inside the 1799 home where her family now lives—one of the oldest surviving wooden structures in New York City—to be a broader and more accurate reflection of the city as it looked in the late 1700s and early 1800s." She therefore brought in 49 new works that include "portraits of freed slaves, historic documents, imported goods and items traded to American Indians." The new installation is called "Windows on the City Looking Out at Gracie’s New York" and will be unveiled at an open house on October 25th.
READ MORE
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