All articles by Dana Schulz

Listings go live for Extell’s amenity-filled Hudson Yards Skyscraper 555Ten

Model unit designed by Lillian August

October 20, 2016

Listings go live for Extell’s amenity-filled Hudson Yards Skyscraper 555Ten

After launching its affordable housing lottery for 120 below-market rate units back in May, 555Ten has revealed pricing for its 478 market-rate rentals, ranging from $3,150/month studios to $6,250/month two-bedrooms. Designed by SLCE Architects and developed by Extell, the 610-foot, 53-story glassy skyscraper will offer an over-the-top amenity package (including a dog run, two salt water pools, and a bowling alley) and custom-designed interiors from McGinley Design. The model units are open for business, and we're told that the amenity spaces will start to reveal themselves later this week in anticipation of November occupancies.
Find out more here and get a first look at the model units

Inside the WTC Oculus’ Apple store; Indian fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s new Pottery Barn collection

October 19, 2016

Inside the WTC Oculus’ Apple store; Indian fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s new Pottery Barn collection

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson has revealed the design of their seventh Apple store in NYC, this one in Santiago Calatrava’s World Trade Center Oculus. [Architizer] Forget combining Gwyneth Paltrow’s penthouse with the apartment below; her downstairs neighbor just sold her loft for $3 million. [NYO] The number of cideries in New York has tripled since 2014, thanks […]

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My 1,400sqft: Inside Puppet Maker Ralph Lee’s Live/Work Space in Westbeth Artists Housing

Our ongoing series “My sqft” checks out the homes of 6sqft’s friends, family and fellow New Yorkers across all the boroughs. Our latest interior adventure brings us to Westbeth Artists Housing in the West Village. Want your home to be featured here? Get in touch!

October 19, 2016

My 1,400sqft: Inside Puppet Maker Ralph Lee’s Live/Work Space in Westbeth Artists Housing

When the old Bell Telephone Laboratories building was transformed to the Westbeth affordable artists' housing in 1970, one of the original creatives to move in was Ralph Lee, a theater jack-of-all trades who is best known for his larger-than-life puppets and masks. His whimsical creations served as the props for the very first Village Halloween Parade, an event that has since grown into an annual, nationally-known event. Today, his characters from the early days of the parade adorn his eclectic live/work studio in Westbeth, where he still lives and continues to make puppets and masks for his company the Mettawee River Theatre. Ralph recently invited 6sqft into his space, where we got up close and personal with the puppets and were able to see how the magic happens.
Learn about Ralph's storied career and get a special look at his home and studio

Work begins on Norman Foster’s Red Hook office project, will be the continent’s largest timber structure

October 19, 2016

Work begins on Norman Foster’s Red Hook office project, will be the continent’s largest timber structure

After revealing plans in June for Norman Foster's first commission in Brooklyn, Thor Equities now announces that work has commenced on Red Hoek Point, the 7.7-acre waterfront office campus. The press release also brings news that the project's two buildings, totaling 818,000 square feet, will become "the largest new heavy timber structure in North America."
More details ahead

Listings go live at 15 Hudson Yards, the development’s first residential building

October 19, 2016

Listings go live at 15 Hudson Yards, the development’s first residential building

In anticipation of its sales launch, 15 Hudson Yards released a slew of new renderings last month, showcasing "new views of the bundled quad of cylinders that make up its body, as well as its rectilinear base that will abut the Shed," as 6sqft reported. And now without further ado, listings for the 285 market-rate condos (there will also be 106 affordable rentals) have officially come online, ranging from a $3.7 million two-bedroom on the 25th floor to a $13.8 million penthouse on the 84th floor, according to Curbed.
Find out more and see renderings and floorplans

Lottery opens for nine $774/month SROs on foodie-friendly Hell’s Kitchen block

October 19, 2016

Lottery opens for nine $774/month SROs on foodie-friendly Hell’s Kitchen block

If you earn between $24,480 and $38,100 annually, live alone in Manhattan Community Board 4, and don't mind sharing a bathroom with your neighbors, this might be the housing lottery for you. Nine $774/month SROs are up for grabs at Stardom Hall at 330 West 51st Street in Hell's Kitchen. The brownstone tenement occupies half of a single room occupancy complex, one of only four left in the neighborhood. The units do come with kitchenettes, and there's a community room, backyard, laundry room, and on-site social services for low-income or formerly homeless households with special needs. Plus, it's located on one of the trendiest restaurant blocks in the 'hood (Ippudo, Aria Wine Bar, and Maria Pia, to name a few).
Find out about the controversy behind this project

Affordable Housing

FEMA finally agrees to update flood-zone maps; Can Tavern on the Green reclaim its iconic status?

October 18, 2016

FEMA finally agrees to update flood-zone maps; Can Tavern on the Green reclaim its iconic status?

Fashion designer Betsey Johnson has dropped the price of her Upper East Side condo to less than she originally paid for it. [NYO] Mayor de Blasio and FEMA announce plans to update the city’s FEMA maps after complaints that as many as one-third of homes didn’t belong in the flood zones. [ABC7] 10 anti-Trump works of […]

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Bill Ackman thinks he can flip One57 penthouse for $500M

October 18, 2016

Bill Ackman thinks he can flip One57 penthouse for $500M

When hedge fund manager Bill Ackman closed on a $91.5 million penthouse at One57 in April 2015, he had already boasted that he had no intention of ever living in the place, but that he'd host parties there and eventually flip it as a "fun" investment. It seems that over the past year and a half, Ackman, whose net worth is estimated at $1.6 billion, has gotten even more optimistic, as a source close to him told Vanity Fair that he thinks he'll be able to sell the 13,500-square-foot duplex for $500 million. As The Real Deal notes, this claim comes despite the fact that other units in the building have been recently listed at a loss and that his fund Pershing Square Capital is down to $11.4 billion under management from $20 billion in March of 2015.
More on this ahead

Where I Work

Oldest map of New York may become most expensive map ever sold at $10M

October 17, 2016

Oldest map of New York may become most expensive map ever sold at $10M

In 1531, Italian sailor and cartographer Vesconte Maggiolo created a "Portolan planisphere," a navigational chart of the known world, that included the first depiction of the eastern seaboard and therefore of New York harbor. Bloomberg tells us that the 6.7' x 3' map made of six goat skins is now in the possession of rare book and map dealer Daniel Crouch, who will put it up for sale for a whopping $10 million this Saturday at TEFAF art fair. If it fetches this price, it'll become the most expensive map ever publicly sold.
More on the map this way

These ‘Persian rugs’ are actually drawings; Will NYC’s TV production boom last?

October 17, 2016

These ‘Persian rugs’ are actually drawings; Will NYC’s TV production boom last?

Miami-based artist Jason Seife uses acrylic and ink to meticulously illustrate Persian carpets. [designboom] A closer look at Swale, the floating food forest docked at Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6. [Take Part] NYC is in the middle of a TV production boom, which contributed $8.7 billion to the local economy in 2015, a 21 percent increase since 2011. [Crain’s] […]

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Popular Articles

October 17, 2016

Amid declining bookings, new Trump hotel brand drops his name

Though sales at Donald Trump's Manhattan residential buildings are still selling at a premium, national real estate and business at his hotels are different stories. Politico reports that the Trump Organization--the umbrella under which all his self-branded ventures fall, from his clothing line to golf courses--has dubbed its newly launched hotel line Scion, clearly void of his moniker, but meaning "descendant of a notable family." Trump Hotels CEO Eric Danziger said in a press release, "We wanted a name that would be a nod to the Trump family and to the tremendous success it has had with its businesses, including Trump Hotels, while allowing for a clear distinction between our luxury and lifestyle brands." Though this may be true, it may also have something to do with the fact that, according to travel company Hipmunk, hotel bookings at Trump properties were down 58 percent in the first half of the year.
Find out more

Events & Things To Do

Lottery opens for new Crotona Park East affordable development, units from $788/month

Rendering of 1776 Boston Road via DPGroup (L); Google Street View of the site in June 2016

October 17, 2016

Lottery opens for new Crotona Park East affordable development, units from $788/month

Almost exactly two years ago to the date, High Hawk LLC broke ground on a new 72-unit, mixed-income affordable housing development at a long-underutilized site at 1776 Boston Road in Crotona Park East. Known as the High Hawk Apartments, the eight-story building also offers three tenant recreation areas, commercial and retail space, a ground-floor community facility, and a below-grade parking garage. The city aimed to "increase income diversity" in the Bronx neighborhood by dividing the apartments with 18 reserved for households earning less than 60 percent of the area media income and 54 reserved for those earning less than 100 percent. The former group ranges from a $788/month studio to $1,182/month three-bedrooms, while the latter ranges from $1,208/month one-bedrooms to $1,683/month three-bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

Weekly highlights: Top picks from the 6sqft staff

October 15, 2016

Weekly highlights: Top picks from the 6sqft staff

Saddam Hussein had a secret torture chamber across from Mayor Bloomberg’s UES mansion Live in Brooklyn’s tallest tower for $833/month, lottery launching for 150 units at 333 Schermerhorn Emily Blunt and John Krasinski drop $6M on a historic Park Slope townhouse George and Amal Clooney snag high-floor condo in Norman Foster’s Midtown tower Bethenny Frankel […]

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Renderings revealed for High Line-adjacent condo on hot West Chelsea block

October 14, 2016

Renderings revealed for High Line-adjacent condo on hot West Chelsea block

West 29th Street between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues is quickly becoming to Chelsea what Bond Street is to Noho--a delightfully concentrated mishmash of high-profile architecture projects. Over on the west side, this one-block stretch is already home to SCDA Architects' Soori High Line with its noted private pools, Cary Tamarkin's 550 West 29th Street, and Maestro West Chelsea, a 35-story trio of rentals. CityRealty now shares a look at the block's newest project, a 10-story, 61-unit condo at 519 West 29th Street from developer Six Sigma, which is distinguished by a glass facade punctuated by rectangular balcony alcoves flanked with green walls.
More news related to the project ahead

Win tickets to De Blasio’s Gracie Mansion Halloween parties; the architects who transformed the Guggenheim

October 14, 2016

Win tickets to De Blasio’s Gracie Mansion Halloween parties; the architects who transformed the Guggenheim

Gracie Mansion is hosting three family-friendly parties during Halloween weekend for which you can enter to win tickets. [Gothamist] CBS is developing a new drama loosely based on the non-fiction architecture and urban design book “A Burglar’s Guide to the City.” [Fast Co. Design] Responding to surging construction accidents, SafetyCoverage.com is a new website that links developers and construction […]

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Go ghost hunting at Mark Twain’s haunted and historic Connecticut manor

October 14, 2016

Go ghost hunting at Mark Twain’s haunted and historic Connecticut manor

Edgar Allan Poe may be the American writer most closely associated with all things eerie and spooky, but surprisingly, the lovable Mark Twain has a haunted past of his own. The pristinely preserved Gothic mansion in Hartford, Connecticut where Samuel Clemens lived with his family between 1874 and 1891 (and where he wrote "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer") is said to be haunted by ghosts of Twain himself, his daughter Susy who died in 1896 of meningitis, and George Griffin, a freed slave who worked for the family. And if the paranormal activity associated with these spirits wasn't enough to give you goosebumps, just take a look at the dark, ominous house itself through these haunting photos by Imgur user Reacher that give us a taste of the hair-raising home.
Creepy photos and stories ahead

Architecture And Design

The Urban Lens: Meryl Meisler chronicles today’s artists and creatives of Bushwick

October 14, 2016

The Urban Lens: Meryl Meisler chronicles today’s artists and creatives of Bushwick

6sqft’s ongoing series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment photographer Meryl Meisler documents the current artists and creatives of Bushwick. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Earlier this year, TIME included Meryl Meisler on their list of "the greatest unsung female photographers of the past century," not surprising considering the great success she's had with her first monograph, "Disco Era Bushwick: A Tale of Two Cities," which documents the glam/gritty 1970s and ‘80s (more on that here). Now, after more than 40 years, she realized that Bushwick won't always be the artistic hub she's come to know and love, and therefore needed documentation. In her new exhibition "Bushwick Chronicle" (on view at Stout Projects until October 30th) she returns to her analog roots of printing in the dark room to display photos of "the artists, gallerists, journalists, and organizers of Bushwick." These images are paired with her illustrative painted photographs of Bushwick from the 1980s, as well as writer and art critic James Panero's musings on the area.
Get an inside look at Bushwick Chronicle

Places

Where to see fall foliage in and around NYC; Why are hideous built-in air conditioners everywhere?

October 13, 2016

Where to see fall foliage in and around NYC; Why are hideous built-in air conditioners everywhere?

A timeline of how Margaret Sanger founded Planned Parenthood in NYC 100 years ago. [DNAinfo] Target and Dwell have collaborated on an affordable, 120-piece modern furniture and home accessories line. [Fast Co. Design] The landlord’s guide to gentrifying the city: how Steve Croman spent decades exploiting rent-control laws to bring in wealthier tenants. [Bloomberg] You’ve seen them–PTACs, those […]

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Live in Brooklyn’s tallest tower for $833/month, lottery launching for 150 units at 333 Schermerhorn

Rendering of The Hub via Dattner Architects (L); Construction shot as of December 2015 via Tectonic (R)

October 13, 2016

Live in Brooklyn’s tallest tower for $833/month, lottery launching for 150 units at 333 Schermerhorn

At 610 feet, Douglas Steiner's 333 Schermerhorn Street in Downtown Brooklyn currently holds the title of tallest building in Brooklyn. Though it'll be surpassed by forthcoming supertalls like JDS' 9 DeKalb Avenue, the first 1,000+ foot tower in the borough, and the 700-foot 205 Montague Street, the 53-story slab apartment tower known as The Hub will certainly remain a much-sought-after address, especially considering its wealth of amenities and proximity to the BAM Cultural District. Of its 740 apartments, 150 are reserved for New Yorkers earning less than 60 percent of the area media income, and as of tomorrow the lottery is open for these units, which range from $833/month studios to $1,082/month two-bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

Saddam Hussein had a secret torture chamber across from Mayor Bloomberg’s UES mansion

14 (left) and 12 East 79th Street

October 13, 2016

Saddam Hussein had a secret torture chamber across from Mayor Bloomberg’s UES mansion

Opulent Upper East Side mansions are not exactly what come to mind when one thinks of brutal dictatorships and torture chambers, but a piece in the Post reveals that Saddam Hussein kept a hidden detention room in the basement of the Mission of Iraq at 14 East 79th Street--just a block from Central Park and right across the street from former Mayor Bloomberg's home. Two Iraqi officials, who spoke anonymously, told the paper that when Hussein rose to power in 1979, he had the prison room installed so that his military intelligence officers (the Mukhabarat) could torture local Iraqis, "using them as leverage to get their relatives back in the homeland to surrender and cooperate with the tyrannical government."
It gets worse...

Celebrities

Waitlist opens for affordable, four-bedroom co-ops in Lincoln Center, from $102K

October 13, 2016

Waitlist opens for affordable, four-bedroom co-ops in Lincoln Center, from $102K

The Lincoln-Amsterdam House is a 25-story co-op building that stretches from West 64th to 65th Streets along the eastern side of West End Avenue, just one block away from Lincoln Center. It's a Mitchell-Lama development, which, as 6sqft previously explained, is a program "created in 1955 to provide affordable rental and cooperative housing to moderate- and middle-income families." As of today, the 100-name waitlist is open for four-bedroom units in the building to households with a minimum of six persons earning between $33,440 and $149,531 annually. The co-ops will sell from $102,814 to $109,545.
Find out more

Affordable Housing

Meet the ‘Mayor of Gramercy Park’; the world’s best bar is in FiDi

October 12, 2016

Meet the ‘Mayor of Gramercy Park’; the world’s best bar is in FiDi

This woman makes $140,000 a year controlling who goes in and out of Gramercy Park. [NY1] Though mainstays like Tribeca and Soho remained at the top, a list of the city’s top 50 most expensive neighborhoods show that up-and-coming ‘hoods like DUMBO and Forest Hills Gardens are outpacing Manhattan. [Metro] Perkins Eastman Architects’ Michael Lew talks about […]

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New Renderings of Rogers Partners’ residence above historic Lower East Side bank building

October 12, 2016

New Renderings of Rogers Partners’ residence above historic Lower East Side bank building

At the end of last year, preservationists called on the city to landmark the Lower East Side's 1912 former bank building at the prominent corner of East Houston and Ludlow Streets. The request came after the owners revealed plans to construct a residential structure above the historic building. But despite much community opposition, they tapped Tribeca-based architects Rogers Partners to create a cantilevering, cube-like design (not unlike those we've seen of late from ODA) inspired by the work of artist Jasper Johns, who once lived and worked at the address. CityRealty now has new renderings of the 44,000-square-foot project at 225 East Houston Street, which will have 38 apartments and amenities including a roof deck, fitness center, residential lounge and terrace, bike storage, and laundry room.
Find out more

My 2,400sqft: Tour two art world professionals’ curated Greenwich Village loft

Our ongoing series “My sqft” checks out the homes of 6sqft’s friends, family and fellow New Yorkers across all the boroughs. Our latest interior adventure brings us to the art-filled Greenwich Village loft of two art world professionals. Want to see your home featured here? Get in touch!

October 12, 2016

My 2,400sqft: Tour two art world professionals’ curated Greenwich Village loft

When you step into this Greenwich Village loft, there's a welcoming feeling of calm amid the unexpected combinations of Western and Asian art, historic and contemporary furniture, and traditional and eclectic objects. This can be attributed to the keen curation skills of the owners, who are affiliated with Chambers Fine Art, a New York- and Beijing-based gallery that specializes in contemporary Chinese art. For 10 years they've called this spacious apartment home, and 6sqft recently took a tour of the space and got the inside scoop on some of their most prized art pieces.
Take the tour here

Landmarks lauds Natural History Museum expansion plan, see new renderings

October 12, 2016

Landmarks lauds Natural History Museum expansion plan, see new renderings

After revising its expansion plan last month to preserve more public parkland, the American Museum of Natural History had its day in front of the Landmarks Preservation Commission yesterday, and as DNAinfo reports, the agency lauded the plan for a new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation, with chairwoman Meenakshi Srinivasan referring to it as a "stunning piece of architecture" and an "absolutely wonderful addition." In making their determination, the Commission was presented with a slew of new renderings, which show the $325 million, Jeanne Gang-designed project from various angles, as well as new views of the surrounding parkland.
More renderings and next steps

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