All articles by Devin Gannon

Steps from the Bronx Zoo, 58 affordable apartments for seniors up for grabs

1880 Boston Road rendering via SLCE Architects

October 1, 2018

Steps from the Bronx Zoo, 58 affordable apartments for seniors up for grabs

By Devin Gannon

A lottery launched this week for 58 affordable units of senior housing in the West Farms neighborhood of the Bronx. Located at 1880 Boston Road, the development contains 167 affordable apartments with amenities including a yoga room, community room, art studio, library, and a rooftop terrace. The building is just a few blocks south of the Bronx Zoo and sits next to the Bronx River. Available studio and one-bedroom apartments are set aside for seniors who are 62 years or older and who earn a maximum of $31,750 annually. Each eligible resident pays 30 percent of their income and will need to qualify for Section 8.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

Port Authority approves $355M project to rehab JFK runway and add a ‘high-speed taxiway’

Photo via Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office

September 28, 2018

Port Authority approves $355M project to rehab JFK runway and add a ‘high-speed taxiway’

By Devin Gannon

The Port Authority's Board of Commissioners approved on Friday a $355 million plan to rehabilitate a key runway at John F. Kennedy Airport and add a new high-speed taxiway. The 10,000-foot-long runway, or 13L-31R, that will get the revamp handles nearly half of all planes arriving at JFK. This runway, one of four at the airport, will close between April and the end of 2019.
Get the details

Battery Park City and Upper West Side communities transition from middle-aged to millennial

September 28, 2018

Battery Park City and Upper West Side communities transition from middle-aged to millennial

By Devin Gannon

Despite recently ranking as the most expensive zip code for renters in the United States, Battery Park City experienced the greatest influx of millennial residents in New York City over a period of five years. The Lower Manhattan neighborhood, with the zip code 10282, saw a population increase of over 54 percent, according to report released this month by RentCafe. Out of the top 20 zip codes with the highest increase in millennials, Battery Park City, with 2,300 Generation Y residents, ranks third in the country, falling slightly behind two downtown Los Angeles neighborhoods (h/t amNY).
Where are millennials moving?

Real Estate Trends

Campaign launches to rename a Brooklyn building after Flatbush native Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Via Borough President Eric Adams Change.org petition

September 28, 2018

Campaign launches to rename a Brooklyn building after Flatbush native Ruth Bader Ginsburg

By Devin Gannon

In some not-terrible Supreme Court news, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg could be getting a Brooklyn Building named after her. Borough President Eric Adams launched a campaign on Thursday calling on City Hall to rename the Brooklyn Municipal Building after Ginsburg, a native of Flatbush. This past August marked Ginsburg's 25th year as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, as only the second woman to sit on the court.
More here

Uncategorized

Celebrate Oktoberfest 2018 at these 15 spots in and around NYC

September 28, 2018

Celebrate Oktoberfest 2018 at these 15 spots in and around NYC

By Devin Gannon

With the temperature dropping and the foliage blooming, it's officially sweater weather. And what better way to welcome the fall season than drinking German beer from steins, eating giant pretzels and bratwurst, and listening to "oompah" bands. And don't worry if you can't make the trip to Germany for Oktoberfest this year--Munich comes to New York City with tons of fun festivities. Celebrate Bavarian culture with events like traditional pig roasts, ceremonial keg tappings, stein-holding competitions and more. Ahead, find the 15 best spots to grab authentic brews and brats with 6sqft's guide to Oktoberfest 2018.
Brats and brews this way

Events & Things To Do

Bjarke Ingels-designed office tower in Nomad still on track

September 27, 2018

Bjarke Ingels-designed office tower in Nomad still on track

By Devin Gannon

While all has been quiet regarding HFZ Capital Group's office tower in Nomad since December, new documents from the Department of Buildings documents filed on Tuesday reveal the project is still on track. CityRealty uncovered a ZD-1 zoning diagram online with a site plan, section, and axonometric drawing that mirror renderings released last year. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, the tower will rise from a through-block property at 3-7 West 29th Street.
Find out more

Architecture And Design

New renderings for Brooklyn Navy Yard’s 5 million square feet of vertical manufacturing space

Waterfront space adjacent to Building 131; via WXY and bloomimages

September 27, 2018

New renderings for Brooklyn Navy Yard’s 5 million square feet of vertical manufacturing space

By Devin Gannon

After announcing a $2.5 billion expansion of the Brooklyn site in January, the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC) released on Thursday new renderings of the plan, which would add 5.1 million square feet of manufacturing space. Developed by WXY architecture + urban design, the plan centers around three sites, all including new vertical manufacturing space along with public, open space and connectivity improvements. About 75 percent of the 10,000 jobs added (bringing the total to the site 30,000) will be manufacturing jobs, with the rest being service-oriented and creative work. The renderings released of the Yard this week by the BNYDC gives us a better look at how the 300-acre development will flow with the surrounding neighborhoods.
See the renderings

Uncategorized

Amazon opens brick-and-mortar store in Soho with only top-rated products

Photo by Jordan Stead for Amazon

September 27, 2018

Amazon opens brick-and-mortar store in Soho with only top-rated products

By Devin Gannon

Amazon on Thursday opened a physical store in Soho, stocked only with items rated 4 stars and above by online customers. The new concept, called Amazon 4-star, is located at 72 Spring Street, between Crosby and Lafayette Streets. By using customer ratings and reviews from their website, the store's products will feature customer review cards with quotes from actual reviews.
More here

Uncategorized

City Council approves 80 Flatbush development in Downtown Brooklyn

Rendering of the 986-foot tower (left) and revised 840-foot tower (right) via Alloy Development and Luxigon

September 27, 2018

City Council approves 80 Flatbush development in Downtown Brooklyn

By Devin Gannon

The New York City Council voted on Wednesday to approve 80 Flatbush, a five-building mixed-use development planned for Downtown Brooklyn, Curbed NY reported. The approval comes after negotiations last week between Alloy Development and Council Member Stephen Levin, who represents the area, which led to a shorter, less-dense complex. After the developers agreed to cut the height of two buildings, one from 986 feet to 840 feet and another from 560 to 510 feet, the Council's subcommittee on zoning voted in favor of the project.
More on the project

Real Estate Trends

New York City has lost over 400,000 affordable apartments since 2005

September 26, 2018

New York City has lost over 400,000 affordable apartments since 2005

By Devin Gannon

Update 9/27/18: City Comptroller Scott Stringer said the report released this week about the decrease in affordable housing contained a major miscalculation, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. Instead of the 1 million affordable apartments lost, as the report stated, the true number is less than half of that, or 425,492 units. According to an updated report, the number of apartments renting for $2,700/month increased by 111,000 units between 2005 and 2017, instead of 238,000 units as originally stated. "While it remains true that affordable housing is declining at an unsettling rate and the gap is still growing, we overstated the pace," Ilana Maier, a spokesperson for Stringer, said in a statement. "We made a genuine mistake." Since 2005, New York City has lost over 1 million affordable apartments, according to a report released by the City Comptroller Scott Stringer on Tuesday. The report, "The Gap is Still Growing," builds from an original 2014 analysis from the comptroller's office and shows the number of available units has failed to keep up with the city's booming population. Between 2005 and 2016, about 576,000 people moved to NYC. But the city added just over 76,000 new units of rental housing.
Learn more

Affordable Housing

Popular Articles

New details for Brooklyn’s Pacific Park and a first look at its tallest tower

A new rendering of B4, the development’s tallest tower planned

September 26, 2018

New details for Brooklyn’s Pacific Park and a first look at its tallest tower

By Devin Gannon

The development of Pacific Park, a 22-acre mixed-use complex near the Barclays Center, has entered its next phase Greenland Forest City Partners announced Wednesday. The developer is bringing on TF Cornerstone and the Brodsky Organization as development partners for the project. The duo will develop three parcels at the site, which include three rental buildings, a new public school, and new open space. Greenland also announced construction is set to begin in the spring for the park's tallest tower, a more than 500-foot tall tower designed by Perkins Eastman.
More details here

LPC calendars 7 buildings on Broadway near recently-approved tech hub in Union Square

September 26, 2018

LPC calendars 7 buildings on Broadway near recently-approved tech hub in Union Square

By Devin Gannon

The Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) on Tuesday voted to calendar seven buildings on Broadway in Union Square, marking the first step to designating them as landmarks. The buildings sit adjacent to the tech hub, a 21-story tech training center planned for 124 East 14th Street and approved by the City Council last month. With the hub's approval, the area was upzoned without landmark protections, allowing for about 85,000 square feet of office space and 16,500 more square feet between Civic Hall, step-up space and the workforce development hub.
More here

Policy

To live across from Central Park, you’ll pay 25% more than every bordering neighborhood

September 25, 2018

To live across from Central Park, you’ll pay 25% more than every bordering neighborhood

By Devin Gannon

To make Central Park your front yard, you'll have to fork over $277,000 more than the median sale price of every bordering neighborhood. A new report by Property Shark looks at just how much more New Yorkers are willing to spend to be near the 843-acre oasis, a real estate trend which the group calls the "Central Park effect." According to the analysis, the median sale price of units along the first row of blocks across the park was 25 percent more expensive than that of every nearby area. And in the priciest section, the Upper East Side's Lenox Hill, that rose to a 93 percent difference.
More on the Central Park effect

Real Estate Trends

Where I Work: Chef Bill Telepan takes us inside a ‘farm-to-classroom’ hydroponic garden

September 25, 2018

Where I Work: Chef Bill Telepan takes us inside a ‘farm-to-classroom’ hydroponic garden

By Devin Gannon

In his first year as the Director of Sustainability at the Institute of Culinary Education, Chef Bill Telepan has immersed himself in the school’s indoor hydroponic garden, an agriculture system that uses LED light in a climate-controlled environment. Over 50 different crop varieties are grown at any time in the garden, providing culinary students access to herbs typically not found fresh in NYC. "As a chef, you taste things in your head and can put them all together, sort of mentally, and then prepare it," Telepan said when asked about the benefits of the garden for students. Throughout his career, he's been committed to using fresh, seasonal ingredients from local greenmarkets. He has worked in France under famed chef Alain Chapel, owned his own Upper West Side restaurant (Telepan) for a decade, and currently runs NYC seafood spot Oceana. Telepan gave 6sqft a tour of ICE’s hydroponic garden and told us how he became the institute’s first ever sustainability director, or as he describes it “a culmination of everything I’ve done as a chef and a person."
More

Electric scooters and more 6 and 7 trains could lessen blow of L train shutdown

September 25, 2018

Electric scooters and more 6 and 7 trains could lessen blow of L train shutdown

By Devin Gannon

Electric scooters are currently illegal in New York City. But with the L train shutdown quickly approaching, Brooklyn officials are pushing to legalize them as a transit alternative to the subway. Council Members Antonio Reynoso and Ydanis Rodriguez announced on Monday plans to introduce legislation that would make e-scooters legal, amNY reported. "The L train shutdown is real. It is going to happen. It is going to be disruptive," Reynoso said. "When that shuts down, they’re all going to need alternate transportation."
More here

Tenement Museum will stay open late on Thursday nights for special tours and programs

Via Tenement Museum

September 24, 2018

Tenement Museum will stay open late on Thursday nights for special tours and programs

By Devin Gannon

Starting in October, the Tenement Museum will stay open late every Thursday night for exclusive events, programs, and tours. Recently added programming includes a new permanent tour, a pop-up exhibition, and a costumed interpreter tour, all offered on Thursday nights. The Lower East Side museum, which opened in 1992, is a national historic site with a mission to share the stories of immigrants in New York City.
Details here

Events & Things To Do

Despite growing demand, the $10B overhaul of JFK Airport does not include a new runway

Rendering via Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office

September 24, 2018

Despite growing demand, the $10B overhaul of JFK Airport does not include a new runway

By Devin Gannon

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced last year plans to overhaul John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) with state-of-the-art modern terminals, world-class amenities, and centralized expanded parking lots. But the $10 billion plan, with more details coming from Cuomo in the next few weeks, does not include building a new runway, despite the airport serving a record number of visitors last year, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. In 2017, the airport served 59 million passengers compared to 48 million passengers in 2008, a 23 percent increase, according to Port Authority data.
Find out more

Lottery launches for 200+ affordable units in East New York, from $395/month

September 21, 2018

Lottery launches for 200+ affordable units in East New York, from $395/month

By Devin Gannon

A lottery is set to launch on Saturday for 240 affordable apartments in Brooklyn's East New York neighborhood. The units are spread across a brand new mixed-use development, the Livonia Apartments, located at 453 Hinsdale Street, 500 Livonia Avenue, and 487 Livonia Avenue. Designed by Magnusson Architecture and Planning (MAP), the four-building development sits adjacent to the L Train at Livonia Avenue. Qualifying New Yorkers earning 30, 40, 50 and 60 percent of the area median income can apply for the units, ranging from $395/month studios to $1,339/month three-bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

Brooklyn Heights Promenade could close for six years during BQE repairs

Brooklyn Heights Promenade via Wikimedia

September 21, 2018

Brooklyn Heights Promenade could close for six years during BQE repairs

By Devin Gannon

The Brooklyn Heights Promenade could close for six years while the city rehabilitates a 1.5 mile stretch of the crumbling Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE), transportation officials announced Thursday. According to Politico, the city's transportation department unveiled two plans for revamping the Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO section of the BQE, which supports the promenade. The options include a quicker, six-year plan to divert cars to an elevated highway next to the Promenade or replace the BQE lane by lane, which could take up to eight years.
Get the details

Transit

NYC Council committee approves 80 Flatbush project in Downtown Brooklyn after height chop

Rendering of the 986-foot tower (left) and revised 840-foot tower (right) via Alloy Development and Luxigon

September 20, 2018

NYC Council committee approves 80 Flatbush project in Downtown Brooklyn after height chop

By Devin Gannon

The New York City Council's subcommittee on zoning voted unanimously Thursday to approve the rezoning application that allows for the construction of 80 Flatbush, a five-building complex planned for Downtown Brooklyn. Following negotiations between Alloy Development and Council Member Stephen Levin, the developers agreed to cut the height of two buildings, one from 986 to 840 feet and another from 560 to 510 feet (h/t Brooklyn Paper). New renderings reveal not only smaller buildings but an updated design as well. With this key approval, the project will most likely get support from the full City Council followed by Mayor Bill de Blasio.
More here

Policy

NJ Transit offers discounted fares as it cancels some service to and from Penn Station

September 20, 2018

NJ Transit offers discounted fares as it cancels some service to and from Penn Station

By Devin Gannon

New Jersey Transit announced Thursday it will offer discount fares for three months as it reduces train service to and from New York Penn Station. In addition to its already diminished service, the agency plans to cancel 18 daily trains on five lines and suspend all train service on a short rail segment in Princeton. There will also be no weekend service on the Gladstone Branch of the Morris & Essex line. All fares will be cut by 10 percent from November through January, Bloomberg reported.
Get the details

Transit

Design studio proposes underground paths and an elevated ‘shelf’ across Park Avenue

Rendering via JCW Studio

September 20, 2018

Design studio proposes underground paths and an elevated ‘shelf’ across Park Avenue

By Devin Gannon

To revitalize the drab medians of Park Avenue in Midtown, a design studio suggests building an elevated, multi-functional shelf to create more public space and ease pedestrian traffic. Studio JCW's proposal, called Big Shelf, would be installed on every median of Park Avenue between 46th and 47th Street, according to designboom. The proposed design is meant to reflect a similar structural facade as the many skyscrapers around it.
More here

Exhibit dedicated to Hip-Hop Architecture opens next month at the Center for Architecture

Proposal for JXTA Arts Center, 4RM+ULA

September 19, 2018

Exhibit dedicated to Hip-Hop Architecture opens next month at the Center for Architecture

By Devin Gannon

The emerging movement of Hip-Hop Architecture will be highlighted in an exhibit for the first time, the Center for Architecture announced last week. The exhibit, Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip-Hop Architecture, will feature the work of 21 practitioners, academics and students, curated by Sekou Cooke of the Syracuse University School of Architecture. According to the center, "hip-hop's primary means of expression—deejaying, emceeing, b-boying, and graffiti—have become globally recognized creative practices, and each has significantly impacted the urban built environment." It opens on the first day of Archtober 2018, Monday, Oct. 1.
More here

Find one of those elusive electric Citi Bikes with this interactive map

September 19, 2018

Find one of those elusive electric Citi Bikes with this interactive map

By Devin Gannon

Last month, Citi Bike rolled out 200 pedal-assist electric bikes in New York City. As one can imagine, demand is high for these e-bikes, which can reach speeds of 18 miles per hour and will most likely get riders to their destinations faster than the subway. A new map, aptly named "I Want to Ride an Electric Citi Bike," displays which docking stations have electric bikes at any given time (h/t Maps Mania). Users can find stations near them on the map, add them to a watch list, and be alerted within 10 seconds of its availability.
Get riding

Transit

LPC designates former Carroll Gardens schoolhouse as New York City landmark

(on right) 236 and (on left) 238 President Street via LPC

September 18, 2018

LPC designates former Carroll Gardens schoolhouse as New York City landmark

By Devin Gannon

The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday designated the Hans S. Christian Memorial Kindergarten at 236 President Street and the adjacent apartment building at 238 President Street as individual landmarks. The two Carroll Gardens buildings are associated with Elmira Christian, an advocate for early childhood education. "These two properties are distinguished by their architecture and share a great history of education and social reform in Brooklyn," LPC Vice Chair Frederick Bland said in a statement.
Get the details

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