All articles by Devin Gannon

October 11, 2017

The Hub, Brooklyn’s tallest building, unveils even more awesome amenities

In addition to being Brooklyn’s tallest tower, the Hub might also take the title for having the borough's best amenities. The Dattner Architects-designed 610-foot tall luxury rental at 333 Schermerhorn Street in Boerum Hill will feature a 75-foot indoor/outdoor lap pool, a gym, outdoor fitness level, a dog park and much more (h/t Curbed NY). The more than 40,000 square feet of amenities will provide residents with grilling cabanas, a landscaped terrace, club lounge and party rooms.
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October 11, 2017

New Museum taps Rem Koolhaas’ OMA to design next phase of Bowery expansion

The New Museum Board of Trustees announced Wednesday that OMA's Rem Koolhaas and Shoehei Shigematsu will design the museum's new building at 231 Bowery as part of the institution's expansion. The new structure, purchased by the contemporary art museum in 2008, will link the museum's Sanaa-designed building and double their footprint on the Bowery, adding 50,000-square-feet of space. OMA's first public project in New York City, 231 Bowery is expected to break ground in 2019.
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October 10, 2017

In the 19th century, sailors prayed on floating churches in the East River

While New York City’s waterways have featured both floating pools and floating parks, they also once held floating churches. The Seamen’s Church Institute of New York and New Jersey (SCI) first built a floating house of worship in 1844, designed for sailors. According to Untapped Cities, the group’s first big project included building the Church of Our Savior, which floated in the East River off of Pike Street in downtown Manhattan.
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October 10, 2017

A borough-by-borough guide to NYC’s food halls

Cronuts. Raclette. Poke bowls. Avocado toast. While the list of trendy cuisines making a splash in New York City’s food scene appears endless, food halls are making it easier for New Yorkers to try a bit of everything all under one roof. The city is experiencing a boom in this casual dining style; real estate developers opt to anchor their buildings with food halls, as all-star chefs choose food halls to serve their celebrated dishes. Ahead, follow 6sqft’s guide to the city’s 24 current food halls, from old standby Chelsea Market to Downtown Brooklyn’s new DeKalb Market, as well as those in the pipeline, planned for hot spots like Hudson Yards and more far-flung locales like Staten Island.
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October 10, 2017

Stonewall Inn to get NYC’s first permanent LGBT pride flag

LGBT activists will unveil a rainbow flag outside the historic gay bar Stonewall Inn on Wednesday, marking the 30th anniversary of the 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. The Greenwich Village bar at 53 Christopher Street is often credited with launching the gay rights movement after multiple violent police raids in the summer of 1969. President Barack Obama designated Stonewall as a national monument last year, the first National Park Service unit dedicated to the gay rights movement (h/t DNA info).  Stonewall's rainbow flag will be the first permanent LGBT pride flag in New York City. 
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October 9, 2017

Hill West design a modest, 19-story condo for Billionaires’ Row

As Billionaires' Row on Manhattan's West 57th Street continues to grow with supertall towers, developer Sheldon Solow plans on constructing a more modest addition to the block. New renderings of the boutique condo at 7 West 57th Street, designed by Hill West, reveal a 19-floor building with an unassuming glass facade and a convex face, as CityRealty learned. The tower plays off of Solow's concave tower next door at 9 West 57th Street.
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October 9, 2017

Thomas Heatherwick’s 150-foot climbable ‘Vessel’ hits halfway mark at Hudson Yards

In April, construction began on Hudson Yards' Vessel, a 150-foot-tall steel structure designed by Heatherwick Studio and its 100,000 pound-components were put in place by crane. The $200 million "public landmark" began to rise in August and now the structure's construction has hit its halfway mark. The project's idea comes from Related Companies' chairman Stephen Ross, who called it the "365-day Christmas tree." The climbable Vessel will be the centerpiece of the Public Square and Gardens, five-acres of greenery that will connect the buildings of Hudson Yards. The structure includes 154 geometric-lattice linked flights of stairs, 80 landings and will able to hold 1,000 visitors.
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October 6, 2017

As deadline nears, New York City’s bid for Amazon’s second headquarters heats up

With the deadline for proposals due Oct. 19, New York City politicians, business leaders and real estate developers are putting the finishing touches on their pitches intended to lure Amazon into building their second headquarters in the city. After Amazon first announced HQ2, which will bring $5 billion in initial city investment and 50,000 new jobs, over two dozen site proposals in 23 neighborhoods were crafted in New York. According to Crain’s, a group of city and state agencies is working together on a bid, with less than two weeks left before the due date. So far, proposals for neighborhoods like Williamsburg, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Sunset Park's Industry City, Long Island City and areas in the Bronx have been discussed.
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October 5, 2017

Construction of Norman Foster’s ritzy One Hundred East 53rd Street tower is complete!

The Midtown East tower designed by Norman Foster's Foster + Partners is finally finished. As CityRealty reported, the glassy design of One Hundred East 53rd Street takes into account the bronze hues of its historic neighbor, the Seagram Building, with a counter curtain wall. The luxurious residential building continues to be a magnet for celebrities, including couples like George and Amal Clooney and Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber. The amenities are also of star quality: a wellness center, library lounge, swimming pool and a restaurant from the French chef Joël Robuchon who has earned 34 Michelin stars.
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October 5, 2017

MAP: Find the colorful fall foliage of Central Park’s 20,000 trees

Central Park's most dazzling and vibrant season has arrived. With over 20,000 trees and 150 species of trees spread across 843-acres, Central Park in autumn remains a cannot-miss spectacle for New Yorkers. Thankfully, the Central Park Conservancy created a fall foliage map making it easy to find the leaves with the brightest shades of gold, yellow, red and orange this season.
Check it out
October 5, 2017

REVEALED: Central Park Tower’s ‘Village Green’ lawn and pool deck

Central Park Tower, New York City's future tallest residential skyscraper, is getting a more down-to-earth design. As CityRealty learned, the supertall at 225 West 57th Street on Billionaires' Row will feature a sprawling landscaped space designed by HMWhite. The firm's terrace design includes both passive and active recreational areas, like a central open lawn and a sequence of complimentary garden rooms. Renderings of the projected 1,550-foot tall tower reveal a lap pool overlooking West 57th Street and a sun deck among pergolas and trellises.
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October 4, 2017

Robert A.M. Stern’s affordable housing development in Brownsville approved by City Planning

The New York City Planning Commission on Wednesday unanimously approved a proposal for 125 affordable units designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects at 3 Livonia Avenue in Brownsville. The proposed Brooklyn development, called Edwin's Place, would feature an eight-story building with 69 one-, two-, and three-bedroom units and 56 studios. Edwin's Place is being developed by nonprofit partners Breaking Ground and the African American Planning Commission, Inc. The proposal, which won approval from Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and Community Board 16, will move on to the City Council for a final review.
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October 4, 2017

MTA refurbishes and removes seats from E train to squeeze more riders in cars

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) on Tuesday revealed the first cars refurbished and reconfigured under their "NYC Subway Action Plan." The authority has removed some seats on a few E train cars to allow more riders to board and limit delays caused by overcrowding. The redesigned trains are part of a 100-car pilot created to increase capacity; seat removal is expected to increase capacity by between 80 and 100 passengers. Subway delays continue to be problematic for commuters: an analysis from City Comptroller Scott Stringer this week found the economic cost of subway delays could range from $170 million per year to $389 million in lost wages and productivity for businesses.
See the new trains
October 4, 2017

De Blasio releases plan for New York City to follow Paris climate agreement

Following President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement in June, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed an executive order that committed New York City to honor the standards of the accord, which is an international negotiation aimed to mitigate climate change worldwide. On Tuesday, de Blasio released an action plan that details ways to lower the city’s carbon footprint, reduce 10 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2030 and introduce a citywide single-stream recycling program by 2020. New York City is the first metropolitan area to release a Paris Agreement-compatible action plan, according to the report.
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October 3, 2017

City Planning Commission approves East Harlem rezoning plan

The City Planning Commission approved on Monday Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposal to rezone East Harlem. With this crucial approval, the plan moves to the City Council for the last stage of the public review process, which began in April (h/t City Limits). The de Blasio administration’s rezoning efforts, run by the city’s Department of City Planning, aim to create affordable housing, create economic opportunities and restore East Harlem’s role as a major transit hub and job center. Over a decade, the plan hopes to create about 122,000-square-feet of stores and restaurants and 275,000-square-feet of office and industrial space.
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October 3, 2017

De Blasio may reopen Kew Gardens jail complex as Rikers alternative

A group of Queens City Council members urged Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday to use a shuttered Kew Gardens jail as an alternative to the Rikers Island jail complex. The Queens Detention Complex at 126-02 82nd Street, which closed 15 years ago, once housed more than 450 prisoners but is now used to shoot television shows and film, including Netflix’s “Orange is the New Black" (h/t DNAinfo). In a letter to the mayor, the 11 elected officials wrote that the Queens complex is “centrally located in a civic center, it is connected to the courts, and with the proper capital investment it can be functional for this use.”
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October 2, 2017

To boost local businesses, ‘Westoria’ might become the newest neighborhood in Queens

While most of New York City’s neighborhoods get their nicknames from real estate agents attempting to make an area more marketable (ie: Nolita and DoBro), an area in Queens may soon get a new moniker to boost its local economy instead. As DNAinfo reported, Natassa Contini, the owner of the cafe and pet supply shop Chateau Le Woof, has started using “Westoria” to refer to the area west of 21st Street between Astoria Park and Broadway. Currently, the northern Queens nabe is better known as “Old Astoria” or “Old Astoria Village.”
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October 2, 2017

Live in a waterfront dome in Southampton for $729,000

A dome-shaped home located on the Reeves Bay in Flanders, New York has hit the market at an asking price of $729,000. While the 1,762-square-foot pad keeps things compact inside, it sits on nearly an acre of land and includes incredible waterfront views. As Curbed Hamptons reported, the Southampton dome at 48 Huntington Lane first sold in 2005 for $728,500 and returned to the market this July for $899,000. In addition to the artistic design, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home features docking rights, a garage and air conditioning.
Take a peek
October 2, 2017

Subway delays could cost the city’s economy up to $389M annually

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer released an analysis on Sunday that found the economic cost of subway delays could range from $170 million per year to $389 million in lost wages and productivity for businesses. The comptroller’s office used data from the MTA that looks at train schedules, passenger volumes and wait assessments by each subway line (h/t NY Times). Stringer’s analysis listed five subway lines that cause the biggest economic losses: 5, 7, A, F, and 4 trains. During a news conference Sunday, Stinger said, "The summer of hell is turning into the fall of frustration for subway commuters."
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September 29, 2017

City will pay 12 months of rent for homeless families if they move out of NYC

Over the past few years, homelessness in New York City has hit its highest levels since the Great Depression. According to the Coalition for the Homeless, over 60,500 homeless people slept in one of the city’s shelters in July. To reduce these numbers, Mayor de Blasio’s administration introduced a program this week that pays 12 months of rent upfront for homeless families who find an apartment outside of NYC, as WNYC reported.
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September 29, 2017

Every borough but Staten Island is underserved by city’s affordable housing plan, study says

While in July Mayor Bill de Blasio touted his Housing New York initiative for creating the most affordable housing units since 1989, housing advocates are questioning how many of these units actually match the need of the most rent-burdened New Yorkers. According to a new analysis by the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development (ANHD), city residents with the lowest income continue to be the most under-served by the affordable units created and/or preserved under de Blasio’s plan in every borough except Staten Island. New infographics from ANHD break down the share of each borough’s rent burdened population at each income level in comparison to the percentage of units created by de Blasio’s plan that serves them.
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September 29, 2017

New details about JFK’s TWA Hotel revealed, on track to open in 18 months

MCR Development officially launched the mid-century modern TWA Lounge on the 86th floor of One World Trade Center on Thursday and provided a deeper look into plans to convert Eero Saarinen’s historic TWA flight center at JFK Airport into a hotel, event space, and dining destination (there will even be a bar in a vintage aircraft parked outside). As part of a public-private partnership between MCR and the Port Authority, the project will rehabilitate the landmarked Queens flight center by restoring the majority of its 1960s Jet Age features and adding a crescent-shaped hotel with 505 rooms flanking the original building on each side. According to MCR's CEO Tyler Morse, construction of the hotel is on schedule; it will go vertical on Monday, top out in December, and have its curtainwall applied by January. If everything remains on schedule, the project is expected to open in 18 months.
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September 29, 2017

HFZ Capital Group taps Bjarke Ingels to design 33-floor office tower in NoMad

Adding to the sudden skyscraper boom in NoMad, HFZ Capital Group is moving forward with plans for a project at 3 West 29th Street. HFZ’s original idea for the redevelopment of the site, which once held the now-demolished 1898 Bancroft Building, included iconic architect Moshe Safdie designing a 64-floor, 830-foot tall condo. However, instead, a pre-filed building application from earlier this month calls for a 33-foot office tower designed by Bjarke Ingels of BIG Architects, as CityRealty learned.
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September 28, 2017

First renderings of Essex Crossing’s phase two reveal new buildings and huge public park

Construction continues to progress at Essex Crossing, the roughly 1.9 million-square-foot mixed-use development planned to stretch several blocks on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The site, also known as the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area, sat abandoned since 1967 until the city sold the nine sites to developers in 2013. While construction of the first phase of the massive project, which includes sites one, two, five and six, is underway, Curbed has acquired renderings for the development’s second phase, sites three and four. The third and fourth sites will be designed by CetraRuddy and Handel Architects, respectively, and feature residential, retail, office and outdoor space.
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September 27, 2017

No one wants to rent Ivanka Trump’s Park Avenue apartment

After months of being on the market, the Manhattan pad of President Donald Trump’s daughter and advisor Ivanka Trump just won’t rent, despite three substantial price chops. The first daughter first purchased the two-bedroom, two bathroom condo at 502 Park Avenue in 2004 for $1.5 million. Upon her father’s election, Ivanka listed the apartment at Trump Park Avenue in November for $15,000 per month. In February, the price dropped to $13,000 per month. On Tuesday, the asking price was $10,450 per month, a 30 percent price cut since the presidential election, according to Bloomberg.
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