All articles by Dana Schulz

REVEALED: SHoP’s Scaled-Back South Street Seaport Tower
November 21, 2014

REVEALED: SHoP’s Scaled-Back South Street Seaport Tower

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This week, the Howard Hughes Corporation gave a presentation to the South Street Seaport community about their residential tower planned for the waterfront beside Pier 17. The original design by SHoP Architects was 52 stories and 650 feet, but to satisfy concerns by neighborhood residents and elected officials about the tower's appropriateness, the firm scaled back the design to 42 stories and agreed to also build a middle school and waterfront esplanade. But even this revised plan was met with much criticism at the community meeting; Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and City Council member Margaret Chin both expressed that they would not support the tower and likened it to plopping a high-rise in the middle of Colonial Williamsburg. The luxury residential tower is part of Howard Hughes's overall $305 million plan for the Seaport, which, if approved, would include a restoration of the historic Tin Building and a new home for the Seaport Museum.
More details on the project and revised design
Hush Earplugs Let You Block Out Noise Without Missing Your Alarm
November 20, 2014

Hush Earplugs Let You Block Out Noise Without Missing Your Alarm

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Does your roommate insist on slamming the doors at all hours of the night? Do you have an upstairs neighbor who decides to practice tap dancing at 3am? Whatever your noisy apartment horror story may be, there's a common conundrum we encounter when trying to block out the racket: how to wear earplugs but not miss the alarm. A group of engineers must have heard about our sleep-deprived woes because they've created Hush, earplugs that connect wirelessly to a smartphone, so users can hear the sounds they need to while blocking out the rest. Plus, they can play white noise, ocean waves, or a crackling fire if you need some soothing sounds to get you to sleep. And the charging dock doubles as a carrying case and phone charger (what can't these earplugs do?).
READ MORE
Finalists Announced for 2015 Governors Island City of Dreams Pavilion
November 20, 2014

Finalists Announced for 2015 Governors Island City of Dreams Pavilion

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Governors Island is one of those magical NYC places that comes to life in the spring after a long winter hibernation. And part of its reawakening will be the revealing of the City of Dreams Pavilion, a futuristic-looking art installation where visitors can gather. For the fifth consecutive year, FIGMENT has teamed with the Emerging New York Architects Committee (ENYA) of the American Institute of Architects NY Chapter (AIANY) and the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY) to host a competition for the pavilion. Entrants were asked to design a temporary architectural structure to hold 50+ people, provide shade and rain cover, using sustainable materials. And just this week the five finalists were announced.
Take a look at the final five designs here
<b>Towers in the Park: Le Corbusier’s Influence in NYC</b>

Stuyvesant Town Oval via Marianne O’Leary via photopin cc

November 19, 2014

Towers in the Park: Le Corbusier’s Influence in NYC

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Any architecture history student or design nerd knows about Le Corbusier (1887-1965), one of the founders of modern architecture and a truly one-of-a-kind urban planner. For those of you who aren't as familiar with Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris (his given name; he was French-Swiss), one of his most noteworthy urban ideas was concept of "towers in the park." Part of his Contemporary City plan (and later Radiant City plan) to house three million inhabitants as a way to deal with overcrowding and slums, towers in the park were skyscrapers set in large, rectangular tracts of lands with open space between the buildings. Whether they were consciously influenced by Le Corbusier or not, many projects in New York City mimic his vision of towers in the park, and we've decided to take a look at the most well known of this architectural crop, as well as some other ways the famous architect left his mark on NYC.
Take a look at NYC's towers in the park
Hudson Yards Cost Taxpayers $650 Million So Far, and It’s Not Over

Hudson Yards rendering

November 19, 2014

Hudson Yards Cost Taxpayers $650 Million So Far, and It’s Not Over

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Just yesterday, the city hailed the completion of the platform built over the west side rail yards that will support the Brookfield West development, a major component of Hudson Yards, the 26-acre development rising on the far west side. And while Brookfield will boast a two-acre park plaza, two 60-plus-story high rises and other public commercial space, it's important to note that $7 million was spent just on designing and producing a special machine called "The Launcher" to lift the 56,000-ton concrete slabs to build the platform. This is just one of many substantial costs in the mammoth Hudson Yards project, for which the city will have paid nearly $650 million in subsides by the end of this fiscal year, money that, over the past ten years, has come straight from the pockets of taxpayers. And that's not all; according to a review by the city's Independent Budget Office, even more will be needed through 2019 to complete the "next great commercial district."
More on the subsidies and Hudson Yards
Real Estate Wire: Mega Residential Development Could Come to Bronx Waterfront; Fifth Avenue Is World’s Most Expensive Retail Address
November 19, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Mega Residential Development Could Come to Bronx Waterfront; Fifth Avenue Is World’s Most Expensive Retail Address

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William Randolph Hearst’s penthouse apartment at 91 Central Park West is back on the market for $27.5 million after Giorgio Armani’s deal fell through. [Curbed] An abandoned industrial lot on the Bronx waterfront could become the next mega residential development for $30 million. [NYDN] Fifth Avenue is the world’s most expensive retail address, overtaking Hong […]

BWArchitects’s Artist Loft Juxtaposes a Gritty Brooklyn Warehouse with Warm Interiors
November 19, 2014

BWArchitects’s Artist Loft Juxtaposes a Gritty Brooklyn Warehouse with Warm Interiors

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There's plenty to be said about Brooklyn becoming a brand and the second most expensive place in the country to live. But every once in a while, we stumble across something that still has a bit of the borough's old school glory. Take this Brooklyn Artist Loft designed by BWArchitects. The firm's dramatic conversion of a light manufacturing warehouse to a work/live artist studio juxtaposes the building's gritty, industrial exterior with warm, light-filled interior spaces.
Take a look at the space
Daily Link Fix: What It’s Like to Tweet as the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree; A Writer’s Farewell to Brooklyn Heights
November 19, 2014

Daily Link Fix: What It’s Like to Tweet as the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree; A Writer’s Farewell to Brooklyn Heights

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Did you know the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree has its own Twitter? Comedian Matt Haze talks about being the voice behind the account. [WSJ] Pop Candy author Whitney Matheson is moving out of her Brooklyn Heights apartment. But before she goes, she’s saying goodbye with a list of 33 things she’ll miss about the ‘hood. […]

November 19, 2014

POLL: Will the Pier 55 Floating Park Get Built?

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The city was abuzz on Monday when news broke of media mogul Barry Diller’s $130 million pledge to build a $170 million, 2.7-acre floating park off the shore of 14th Street in the Hudson River. The planning and design process had been kept under wraps for over two years, and though the undulating, amoeba-shaped public […]

NYC Getting Pay Phones of the Future with Free WiFi, Charging Stations and More
November 18, 2014

NYC Getting Pay Phones of the Future with Free WiFi, Charging Stations and More

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Remember the good old days of frantically running around looking for a pay phone and then realizing you were out of change and had to make a collect call? Well, that's soon to be nothing more than a distant memory, as New York City is turning its remaining pay phone booths into forward-looking tech hubs that include free 24-hour WiFi, free domestic calls, charging stations, and touch screens with access to city services and directions. Officially dubbed LinkNYC, they'll also be able to connect people with emergency responders and broadcast city alerts during emergencies like Hurricane Sandy.
More on the pay phones of the future here
New York Times Will Finally Stop Comparing Everything to Brooklyn
November 18, 2014

New York Times Will Finally Stop Comparing Everything to Brooklyn

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“What’s next? Describing Manaus as the Williamsburg of the Amazon? Katmandu as the Cobble Hill of Nepal?” These are the questions posed by New York Times Standards editor Philip B. Corbett to his writers, who can’t seem to stop comparing everything in the world to Brooklyn. He references The Atlantic‘s article “All the Places The […]

Daily Link Fix: SantaCon Heading to Bushwick; New MTA Campaign Will Teach Subway Etiquette
November 18, 2014

Daily Link Fix: SantaCon Heading to Bushwick; New MTA Campaign Will Teach Subway Etiquette

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SantaCon’s drunken debauchery is abandoning its traditional East Village route and heading to Bushwick. [Bushwick Daily] All those backpack wearers and “man spreaders” are going to get a public shaming when the MTA rolls out its subway etiquette awareness campaign in January. [am NY] Explore the “poison cauldron” of Newtown Creek in photos. [Gothamist] After 15 […]

Minetta Street Townhouse with Yo-Yo Sales History Goes for $5.7M
November 18, 2014

Minetta Street Townhouse with Yo-Yo Sales History Goes for $5.7M

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Sure, we all love a good flip story, but this is more like a flip flop. This lovely townhouse at 17 Minetta Street in Greenwich Village sold for the first time as a single-family home in 2010 for $5.1 million; it then sold again in 2013 for $5.8 million (after asking $7.5); now it's sold for $5,676,000, above the $5.35 asking price, according to city records. We're not quite sure why the landmarked home keeps getting tossed around for little to no profit. The 19th century Federal townhouse got a modern renovation in 2008 by architects and designers Zhenya Merkulova and Alan Tanksley; it's accessed through a gated mews that leads to a private garden.
Tour 17 Minetta Street here
Barry Diller Pledges $130M for Futuristic Offshore Park on the West Side
November 17, 2014

Barry Diller Pledges $130M for Futuristic Offshore Park on the West Side

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Floating space in New York's waterways is not a new concept. Take the +Pool, for example, the public pool proposed for the East River that was recently supported by Kanye West. But a new offshore park proposed for the Hudson River off 14th Street seems exceedingly ambitious, as it would cost $170 million, be located 186 feet off land, and contain wooded nooks and three performance venues including an amphitheater. Barry Diller, sponsor-to-be of this ambitious plan, gives the project a much more realistic outlook. The billionaire chairman of IAC/InterActiveCorp, former head of Paramount Pictures and Fox–and husband to Diane von Furstenberg–was the single largest donor to the High Line. He's pledged $130 million from the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation to make the 2.7-acre park a realty, as well as agreed to run the outdoor space and cover operating expenses for 20 years. He and his wife have starchitect-designed offices in the Meatpacking District and are clearly becoming king and queen of the neighborhood.
More on the futuristic park ahead
Daily Link Fix: Snøhetta Talks About Designing the 9/11 Memorial Museum; Brooklyn Is a Chocolate Mecca
November 17, 2014

Daily Link Fix: Snøhetta Talks About Designing the 9/11 Memorial Museum; Brooklyn Is a Chocolate Mecca

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Snøhetta talks about designing the 9/11 Memorial Museum. Architect Craig Dykers describes how his own experience with the tragedy inspired the process. Watch the video on Arch Daily. Chocolate fiends should probably move to Brooklyn. Crain’s reports that the borough is becoming the “chocolate district.” I Quant NY colorfully maps the city’s address system. There’s […]

Weekly Highlights: Top Picks from the 6sqft Staff
November 15, 2014

Weekly Highlights: Top Picks from the 6sqft Staff

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Is Airbnb as good for NYC as they say it is, or is it threatening affordable housing? We dissect the controversy. In our third installment of NYC’s skyscraper boom we take a look at unreleased plans on the drawing boards, office and hotel projects rising throughout the city, and the development boom occurring in Jersey City There’s neuroscientific […]

More Green Buildings Likely Under NYC’s New Greenhouse Gas Plan

Green community Battery Park City via gigi_nyc via photopin cc

November 14, 2014

More Green Buildings Likely Under NYC’s New Greenhouse Gas Plan

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Yesterday, the City Council passed a bill that says New York City must cut greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050. The bill, which was approved 47-0, was sponsored by Queens Councilman Costa Constantinides and is expected to be signed into law by Mayor de Blasio. To reduce emissions, measures similar to those used for PlaNYC will be put into play, including planting trees and retrofitting buildings to be more energy efficient. But we also suspect that the bill will spur a wave of new green developments.
More on the greenhouse gas plan
Real Estate Wire: Paris Hilton Buys Noho Penthouse; $51M Tribeca Condo Could Set Downtown Sales Record
November 13, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Paris Hilton Buys Noho Penthouse; $51M Tribeca Condo Could Set Downtown Sales Record

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Paris Hilton buys a $5 million Noho penthouse at 738 Broadway. [TRD] A crazy waterfront compound in Brooklyn’s Mill Basin drops its price from $30 million to $17 million. [Curbed] Developers are offering to build a high-tech elementary school at Sunset Park’s forthcoming mega complex. [Brooklyn Paper] Bed Stuy is getting two Karl Fischer-designed apartment buildings. […]

<b>INTERVIEW: Amy Norquist of Greensulate Talks Green Roofs and Sustainable Design</b>
November 12, 2014

INTERVIEW: Amy Norquist of Greensulate Talks Green Roofs and Sustainable Design

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6sqft is no stranger to green design, and more and more buildings throughout New York City are implementing eco-friendly features, from providing electric car chargers to utilizing geothermal energy systems. A major component in sustainable development is the addition of green roofs. Whether they're merely for environmental purposes, or if they provide a usable outdoor space, green roofs are the next big thing in green design. So, we decided to chat with Amy Norquist, CEO and founder of Greensulate, a leader in integrated design, engineering, installation and maintenance of green roof systems for the residential, commercial, and industrial markets.
Read our full interview with Amy here
Light Installation Artist James Turrell Sells Gramercy Park Apartment for $2M
November 12, 2014

Light Installation Artist James Turrell Sells Gramercy Park Apartment for $2M

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From June to September of 2013, crowds were flocking to the Guggenheim for a chance to stare up at the famous rotunda, recast as an enormous volume filled with shifting artificial and natural light. Titled Aten Reign, the show cemented installation artist James Turrell's reputation as a major cultural force in New York City. But now that the fanfare has died down, the Flagstaff, Arizona-based artist and his wife have sold their apartment at 26 Gramercy Park South for $2.1 million, according to city records released today.
Check out Turrell's NYC pad here
Don Corleone’s ‘Godfather’ House Lists for $3M in Staten Island’s Todt Hill
November 12, 2014

Don Corleone’s ‘Godfather’ House Lists for $3M in Staten Island’s Todt Hill

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"I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse." It worked for the Corleones, so it might work for you. That is, if you want to own the Staten Island home that stood in as the exterior of Don Corleone's residence in "The Godfather." The Todt Hill mini-mansion at 110 Longfellow Avenue hit the market last week for $2,895,000. Film buffs will clearly recall the house from the famous opening wedding scene, and thankfully not much has changed on the exterior since.
Check out the entire house
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