All articles by Michelle Cohen

Michelle is a New York-based writer and content strategist who has worked extensively with lifestyle brands like Seventeen, Country Living, Harper’s Bazaar and iVillage. In addition to being a copywriter for a digital media agency she writes about culture, New York City neighborhoods, real estate, style, design and technology among other topics. She has lived in a number of major US cities on both coasts and in between and loves all things relating to urbanism and culture.

Uma Thurman’s Newly-Listed $6.25M Gramercy Duplex Comes With a Key to the Park

April 11, 2016

Uma Thurman’s Newly-Listed $6.25M Gramercy Duplex Comes With a Key to the Park

By Michelle Cohen

Actress Uma Thurman has just listed her Gramercy Park duplex co-op at 1 Lexington Avenue for $6.25M; a key to the private park is part of the deal. Thurman lived at the prewar co-op for nearly 15 years, buying several additional units and combining them—while keeping a hand in the real estate game all the while, including a four-bedroom co-op at the venerable River House at 435 East 52nd Street, purchased from romance author Barbara Taylor Bradford in 2013 for $10 million. She's finally parting ways with her Gramercy home to make that move uptown. The "Kill Bill" star reminisces in a NY Times interview about her family life in the building, "It was such a cozy place—it really was home for us."
Check out the gorgeous home that resulted

Do Poor New Yorkers Live Longer? Study Says Yes, Despite the Income Gap

“The Association Between Income and Life Expectancy in the United States, 2001-2014,” by the Journal of the American Medical Association; Life expectancy for all income quartiles.

April 11, 2016

Do Poor New Yorkers Live Longer? Study Says Yes, Despite the Income Gap

By Michelle Cohen

The New York Times recently took a look at the results of a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Using data compiled from anonymous earnings records and death certificates, the results offer some provocative insights into the importance of geography to how long people live–poor people in particular. There is, as we've already assumed, a longevity gap between the rich (in this study, people with household incomes of over $100,000 per year) and poor (those with incomes less than $28,000). In Manhattan, for example, the average poor person will die about six years before the average rich one. But that gap is about a year and a half smaller than the same income/longevity gap for the United States as a whole. Tulsa and Detroit, for example, were two cities with the lowest levels of life expectancy among the low-income population, with the results already adjusted for differences based on race.
Find out what the numbers look like where you live

VIDEO: Watch Plants Consume New York in This Beautiful Short Film ‘Wrapped’

April 8, 2016

VIDEO: Watch Plants Consume New York in This Beautiful Short Film ‘Wrapped’

By Michelle Cohen

"Wrapped," a visual effects-driven short film by Roman Kälin, Falko Paeper and Florian Wittmann, flips on the FX switch and gets to work pumping out one of the wildest visions ever dreamt up for our cityscape. To a soundtrack that progresses from tentative to triumphant, fast-moving foliage gets a foothold and gains ground, starting with an opening shot of a dead street rat getting subsumed by verdant moss. The flora continues its takeover of Manhattan’s man-made infrastructure and concrete canyons, with a conclusion we won’t spoil.
Watch the full video

Events & Things To Do

$12M Chelsea Townhouse Has a 30-Foot Saltwater Pool in the Living Room and a Two-Story Waterfall

April 8, 2016

$12M Chelsea Townhouse Has a 30-Foot Saltwater Pool in the Living Room and a Two-Story Waterfall

By Michelle Cohen

This week brings another superlatively funky dream home, both totally unique and impossible to sell on a grand scale, both getting a thorough market-friendly renovation. This particular property has been in and out of the media spotlight for the past decade and with reason. A five-story historic townhouse in Chelsea has plenty of dream house potential to begin with, but the house at 232 West 15th Street also has a 30-foot long, eight-foot deep heated saltwater pool (in the living room) under a two-story solarium. Also, a cascading waterfall. Also a poolside wet bar, self-irrigated planters and seven fireplaces (six wood-burning and one ethanol) and a roof deck with an outdoor shower. And two top-floor two-bedroom apartments ready to rent if you don't need the entire 4,800 square feet. Though the home has been freshly re-imagined as a sleek, contemporary vision in white, pale wood and glass, part of the fascination has been with the fabulously eclectic interiors that its current owner's family maintained, where turtles swam in the pool and a suit of armor looked on.
Tour this amazing townhouse

Open Now! Shop and Nosh Your Way Through NYC’s Best Flea and Food Markets

April 7, 2016

Open Now! Shop and Nosh Your Way Through NYC’s Best Flea and Food Markets

By Michelle Cohen

With outdoor weather finally here (more or less) the city's flea and food markets roll out the red carpet and the irresistible goodies, and it's pretty likely there's one happening near you. From the unstoppable fashion-and-foodie mecca Brooklyn Flea (now in its ninth season), to a night market in Queens and a neighborhood favorite in Park Slope to antiquing standbys in Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen and the humble (but fun) stoop sale on your block, the goods may be odd, but they're out there. Check out the list below for some of the city's top food and flea picks. Just don't blame us for the tchotchke overload–or the calories.
Find a market this weekend

Events & Things To Do

This Map Tells You How Frequently NYC Subways Actually Run

April 7, 2016

This Map Tells You How Frequently NYC Subways Actually Run

By Michelle Cohen

This New York City Transit Frequency map, from Ft. Collins, Colorado-based public transit enthusiast and urban adventurer Tyler A. Green, is a mapped visualization of how frequently the city’s subways and buses travel along each line. You can use it to see where—and on which days—trains and buses run most and least often. The darker the color of a transit line on the map the more frequent your prospects are going to be. Four viewable data layers on the map represent buses and trains on Fridays and Saturdays. Hover over lines to see exactly how many trains or buses run in an hour between any two stops.
Take a look at the map

The Updated but Still-Funky UWS Penthouse Atop the 1920s Level Club Returns for $2.6M

April 7, 2016

The Updated but Still-Funky UWS Penthouse Atop the 1920s Level Club Returns for $2.6M

By Michelle Cohen

The crimson Venetian plaster-dappled interior walls are gone, done in minimalist white emulsion; the tiger-skinned boho pasha’s palazzo decor has been swapped for restrained, contemporary pasha’s pre-war. The interior's more impetuous elements have likely been pared down so it doesn’t scare the hell out of anyone, but also to show off the home's enormous 25-foot arched windows, 360 degree views, and stylized 1920s architecture. The overall effect is loft-meets-Palm-Beach-mansion, and though it doesn't exactly say Upper West Side, it no longer says magic carpet warehouse—and it's certainly still unique. This $2.6 million piece of New York City history sits atop a building that’s even more unique. Known as the Level Club, the building at 253 West 73rd Street served as the 1920s private social club of the Levelers, a group of Freemasons. The landmarked exterior is definitely a conversation starter, with a Romanesque-style facade designed in the image of King Solomon’s temple bearing carved Masonic symbols: the all-seeing eye, the hourglass, the level, the hexagram and the beehive.
Find out more about this fascinating penthouse

Arianna Huffington Wants You In Her Bed

April 6, 2016

Arianna Huffington Wants You In Her Bed

By Michelle Cohen

No, really. To herald the the arrival of the media maven’s new book, “The Sleep Revolution,” which addresses the common malaise of not getting enough sleep and how it’s affecting us rather terribly, Arianna Huffington has “turned her bedroom into a sleep sanctuary.” By way of a contest accompanied by an Airbnb listing–with fabulous, full-color photos of the ultra-feminine 158 Mercer Street loft, which she purchased for $8.15 million in 2012–Arianna has invited one lucky winner and a guest to spend a night in her New York City apartment.
What else do I get?

This $1.6M Co-op in Park Slope’s Ansonia Court Has a Factory Past and a Colorful Present

April 6, 2016

This $1.6M Co-op in Park Slope’s Ansonia Court Has a Factory Past and a Colorful Present

By Michelle Cohen

We recently mentioned south Park Slope's coveted Ansonia Court at 420 12th Street when we featured a compact loft in the Carroll Gardens Mill Building. The two are somewhat similar on the outside; this former clock factory is also a converted industrial building in a neighborhood of pre-war apartments and row houses. But this two-bedroom co-op is far from small. It could easily be converted to three bedrooms, and its four-rooms-on-paper have outsized proportions. The home's current owner has made a colorful home in the high-ceilinged, brick-and-window lined loft, but whether quirky, minimalist or rustic, the original factory construction wouldn't go unnoticed.
Take the tour

Distinctive Homes

$770K Industrial Carroll Gardens Loft Is in a Converted 1938 Jute Factory

April 5, 2016

$770K Industrial Carroll Gardens Loft Is in a Converted 1938 Jute Factory

By Michelle Cohen

You might not associate Carroll Gardens with industrial loft buildings, but rather with quaint brick row houses and the charming landscaped front gardens that give the neighborhood its name. But the Mill Building at 376 President Street is a fine example of the former (There's a building by the same name in Williamsburg that was once home to supermodel Agyness Deyn, if you're confused). Similar to Park Slope's Ansonia Court, which so many love for its rustic, almost-gritty Brooklyn factory charm, this 55-unit former jute factory offers a rare warmth and period details unique to this kind of converted industrial building. It's no less a modern condo though, with an elevator, parking and central A/C. This compact one-bedroom loft, asking $770,000–it last sold for $440,000 in 2012–has been updated with custom interiors that make the best of the apartment's factory bones.
Have a look

Distinctive Homes

Popular Articles

This 1970s East Village Windmill Was Decades Ahead of Its Time

Raising the windmill on the roof of 519. Photo credit: Travis Price via Gothamist

April 5, 2016

This 1970s East Village Windmill Was Decades Ahead of Its Time

By Michelle Cohen

If you want to build a windmill today, you can thank a handful of dedicated tenants in a building at 519 East 11th Street in the East Village of the 1970s. The story of the Alphabet City windmill is one of many stories, recounted in Gothamist, from the bad old days of Loisaida–as the East Village's far eastern avenues, also known as Alphabet City, were once called–the kind the neighborhood's elder statesmen regale you with, knowing well that you know nothing firsthand of a neighborhood of burned-out buildings and squatters who bought their homes for a buck. But this particular story isn’t one of riots or drug deals on the sidewalk; it’s one of redemption, no matter how brief in the context of time. The windmill was installed above an East Village building that was saved by the community, built and lifted to the roof by hand–or many hands. According to legend, the windmill kept the lights on during the chaos of the 1977 blackout.
Read all about it

$8M Tribeca Penthouse Is a Downtown Dream With a Dramatic Staircase and Heavenly Sunsets

April 4, 2016

$8M Tribeca Penthouse Is a Downtown Dream With a Dramatic Staircase and Heavenly Sunsets

By Michelle Cohen

If the address at 16 Debrosses Street sounds familiar, perhaps it's because the same Tribeca loft building was home to a young Lena Dunham, whose artist parents owned–and sold for $6.25 million in 2014–a duplex loft on the fourth floor. Dunham's first film, "Tiny Furniture," was filmed in the space. While that lovely and artsy loft may have been one kind of downtown dream, this tricked-out triplex penthouse, on the market for $7.995 million, is definitely another. Its 3,324 square feet may offer plenty of room for art, but this dressed-to-impress space seems better suited to entertaining and admiring the sunset against the skyline, from the Freedom Tower to the Hudson, from floor-to-ceiling windows and two separate terraces.
Check it out

Distinctive Homes

An Art Collector’s $14.5M West Village Carriage House Is Both Private Gallery and Family Home

April 1, 2016

An Art Collector’s $14.5M West Village Carriage House Is Both Private Gallery and Family Home

By Michelle Cohen

Purchased in 1996 for $950,000 by French music producer, newspaper publisher, entrepreneur and passionate lifelong art collector Jean Lignel, this West Village carriage house received a renovation by architect Jeffrey Flanigan that transformed the 1834 landmark into both a family home and a made-to-order art gallery with 6,700 interior square feet and 1,825 square feet of outdoor space. Lignel’s collection includes many works by Keith Haring, Warhol, and celebrated contemporary artist (and mother of filmmaker Beth B) Ida Applebroog among many others. In addition to being able to showcase large art pieces, modern conveniences–like an elevator and a garage–abound. Lignel first listed this "West Village Arthouse" (as the current listing calls it) in 2007 for a whopping $20 million, possibly fresh from its extensive–and no doubt expensive–renovation. Since then, the home has been on and off the market, with broker swaps and price chops happening each time. In this latest go-round, the three-story historic home with an artistic pedigree is listed at $14.5 million.
Take a look inside this private gallery and family home

NYC Water 101: From the Catskill Aqueduct and Robotic Measurements to Your Tap

March 31, 2016

NYC Water 101: From the Catskill Aqueduct and Robotic Measurements to Your Tap

By Michelle Cohen

New York City is the nation’s largest municipal water supplier. While many locals happily choose tap water at restaurants and extol the virtues of New York’s wettest, we sometimes wonder how and where the magic happens–even more so recently, in light of some other cities’ far less stellar experiences with the local water supply. This recent New York Times article clears things up, so to speak, on how 9.5 million people (and growing, apparently) can keep the good stuff flowing. The source: More than 90 percent of the city's water supply comes from the Catskill/Delaware watershed, about 125 miles north of NYC; the other 10 percent comes from the Croton watershed. The watershed sits on over a million acres, both publicly and privately owned, but highly regulated to make sure contaminants stay out of the water.
Robots, radiation and more of the journey

$8M Park Slope Brownstone Is Historic and Luxurious With a Professional-Grade Gym

March 31, 2016

$8M Park Slope Brownstone Is Historic and Luxurious With a Professional-Grade Gym

By Michelle Cohen

It's pretty rare to come across an historic home that manages to be "sophisticated and elegant" with "prolific original architectural details" and also be a block from Prospect Park. But this amazing Park Slope townhouse, a restored Romanesque brownstone, "perfectly integrates historic detailing with a modern sensibility" and boasts a professional-grade gym in the basement and a private landscaped rose garden. The 6,000 square feet of perfection at 178 Eighth Avenue, which probably already has plenty of offers over its $8 million ask, is luxurious in the best possible way, from gorgeous chandeliers to wall treatments that have plenty of flair but never veer into the whimsical or look "decorated." There's not an ostentatious frill or questionable architectural choice in sight; no Hermès leather walls. No spotlit purse-cochere. It's almost too understated in places, but not even close to austere.
Take a look at the house and fail to drool.

Controversial Zoning Change Would Fill Lower Manhattan Public Plazas With Retail

March 30, 2016

Controversial Zoning Change Would Fill Lower Manhattan Public Plazas With Retail

By Michelle Cohen

Whether you consider them "dead-end" corridors devoid of street life or nifty urban shortcuts (or just convenient rain shelters), the city's covered public walkways and arcades are finding themselves in something of a spotlight, reports the Wall Street Journal. This recent focus is on the covered walkways that run alongside skyscrapers in the Water Street corridor in lower Manhattan. A proposed zoning change, which would affect property owners in the Water Street Subdistrict, would allow retail to open up shop in these arcades.
Find out why some object to new retail additions

Though Pint-Sized and Pricey, This $1.15M Village Studio Has Tons of Charm and Storage

March 30, 2016

Though Pint-Sized and Pricey, This $1.15M Village Studio Has Tons of Charm and Storage

By Michelle Cohen

While space in this Greenwich Village studio at 12 West 9th Street definitely has its limits, there's plenty of loveliness and luxury–not to mention clever storage and well-planned placement–in this small package. For $1.15 million, you get one of the best addresses in the city, gorgeous light, convenience, and a sweet, if diminutive place to call home. The apartment's current owners purchased the studio just a few years ago in 2013, according to records, for a shockingly pocket-sized $455,000. For a prime Village property, even a studio, that's nearly a steal, and the sellers are certainly hoping to make the most of it.
Check out its crazy closet and more stealthy storage

Distinctive Homes

The Official 2016 NYC Bike Map Has Arrived

March 29, 2016

The Official 2016 NYC Bike Map Has Arrived

By Michelle Cohen

The Department of Transportation just released the downloadable 2016 New York City Bike Map ahead of a paper version due next month. This year's map shows 70 miles of new or "upgraded" bike-specific lanes, twelve of which are protected (physically separated from auto traffic). Also on the map are seven miles of newly-created off-street bike lanes.
Check out the map

$2.5M Greenwich Village Loft Offers Plenty of Light For an Indoor Garden

March 29, 2016

$2.5M Greenwich Village Loft Offers Plenty of Light For an Indoor Garden

By Michelle Cohen

It can be tough to find the sophistication of a Manhattan apartment building and still get the open space and old-school industrial feel of a loft, but this $2.5 million, two-bedroom co-op at 111 Fourth Avenue does a great job with the best of all possible worlds. In an amazingly convenient (though perhaps a little busy if you're seeking a neighborhood vibe) spot at the crossroads of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and steps from Union Square, you're getting enviable city views, finely finished interiors and building amenities like an elevator, laundry, landscaped roof decks and parking, while scoring all the open loft architecture, 1920s construction and walls of casement windows you could possibly wish for.
Take a look around

Distinctive Homes

‘Eloise From Hell’ Spent 35 Years in the Plaza for $500/Month, Until Donald Trump Came Along

Illustration by Hilary Knight, courtesy of Simon and Schuster

March 28, 2016

‘Eloise From Hell’ Spent 35 Years in the Plaza for $500/Month, Until Donald Trump Came Along

By Michelle Cohen

Remember the story of Herbert J. Sukenik, the famous Central Park West "hermit holdout?" Developers paid the rent-controlled curmudgeon $17 million and gave him a free massive pad overlooking the park in a legendary buyout. His female counterpart might be one Fannie Lowenstein, whom none other than Donald Trump is said to have ended up bestowing a sprawling suite in the venerable Plaza Hotel at 1 Central Park South, complete with a Steinway grand piano and maid service. For zero dollars a month. For life. Here’s how the story of the woman the hotel staff referred to as “the Eloise from Hell” became yet another Manhattan rent regulation legend, as told by Vice.
Find out more

Recently Sold for $10M in Bidding War, Furnished UES Townhouse Now Renting for $50K/Month

March 28, 2016

Recently Sold for $10M in Bidding War, Furnished UES Townhouse Now Renting for $50K/Month

By Michelle Cohen

Bidding wars have become too familiar to cause much of a shock, and things have cooled down a bit in the city's most competitive markets, but a nice turn-key townhouse can still bring out the competition in full force. This was certainly the case when this four-story townhouse at 235 East 72nd Street changed hands for $10.1 million–well over the $9.5 million ask–after a bidding war between developers Naftali Group and Toll Brothers in February. The former emerged victorious, though rumor has it that both parties may have plans for amassing properties on the prime Upper East Side block. The furnished townhouse is now seeking a short- or long-term tenant to fork over $50,000 a month for the privilege of dwelling on its four renovated floors of five-bedroom spaciousness. The 5,250-square-foot 1910 house has been completely furnished with no detail left unfinished, and since it's managed by onefinestay, renters won’t have to pay utilities and get to enjoy perks like hotel-grade linens and towels, maid service, 24/7 concierge services, and iPhones with unlimited local calls and curated property and neighborhood information.
See all 5,250 square feet of this turn-key townhouse

Distinctive Homes

Actor Stephen Dorff Lists Chelsea Penthouse Loft With Party-Ready Roof Deck for $3M

March 25, 2016

Actor Stephen Dorff Lists Chelsea Penthouse Loft With Party-Ready Roof Deck for $3M

By Michelle Cohen

The Chelsea loft penthouse at 251 West 19th Street belonging to actor Stephen Dorff just hit the market for $3 million, reports the Wall Street Journal. The apartment's best feature is undoubtedly its 850-square-foot private roof terrace with a wet bar/kitchen, outdoor shower and Empire State Building views. Dorff was a teen heartthrob in the '90s–known for the boxing film, "The Power of One" (1992), and the 1998 superhero film “Blade”–and an indie It Boy of sorts in the following decade, appearing in cult films like John Waters' "Cecil B. Demented" and slacker/grunge time capsule "S.F.W.." A stream of typical "evil guy" roles followed until 2010, when he starred in the Sofia Coppola film "Somewhere," which, perhaps ironically, is the tale of a disaffected hotel-dwelling actor. But Dorff has definitely worked hard if nothing else. And he may finally be seeing the benefits: WSJ quotes the actor in a 2013 interview as describing his less-than-savvy spending habits during the early days of his career: "After movies, I would rent these really expensive houses, and then I would run out of money and have to do another movie. I didn't like that feeling of having to take something I didn't want," he says. "Now I'm into buying—forget this renting stuff."
See more of this indoor-outdoor duplex

This $925K Upper West Side Co-op Has Pre-War Details and a Hand-Painted Tableaux

March 25, 2016

This $925K Upper West Side Co-op Has Pre-War Details and a Hand-Painted Tableaux

By Michelle Cohen

When looking at Manhattan apartments, it's hard sometimes to avoid the cookie-cutter trap, especially when looking at one-bedrooms. Pre-war units can be more diverse, but there's still plenty of the generic. This lovely one-bedroom co-op in an elevator building at 329 West 108th Street is definitely exceptional in that regard. The combination of two 1890s townhouses that resulted in this boutique co-op brought with it interior details like warm wooden beams, mosaic tiles, oversized bay windows and leaded glass–which remain to charm and set the apartment apart from the crowd. Everywhere you look in this know-it-when-you-see-it home, you'll find turn-of-the-previous-century, museum quality details: quarter- and rift-sawn oak herringbone and parquet floors, leaded glass, ornate moldings, and original woodwork surrounding oversized doorways, windows and nearly 11-foot ceilings.
Take a tour

Distinctive Homes

Chatty Maps Tell You What You’ll Hear on Given Streets and How It’ll Make You Feel

March 25, 2016

Chatty Maps Tell You What You’ll Hear on Given Streets and How It’ll Make You Feel

By Michelle Cohen

Chatty Maps is an interactive project that reveals what sort of experience your ears will have on specific city streets. Leaflet-based maps of New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Washington, Miami, Seattle, London, Barcelona, Madrid, Milan and Rome map each city's roadways, which are colored to correspond to sounds on the street (transport, nature, human, music and building), based on tags taken from social media. Select your city and find a street on the map (or search for the street of your choice) to view the corresponding sounds. For each street, you also get a data visualization that attempts to track the relationship between street sounds and human emotions. Streets with dominant music sounds, for example, are associated with strong emotions of joy or sadness.
Check the map to find out how the city sounds at street level

City Living

‘Scarface’ Director Brian De Palma Buys Second Co-op in Fifth Avenue Building for $1.8M

March 24, 2016

‘Scarface’ Director Brian De Palma Buys Second Co-op in Fifth Avenue Building for $1.8M

By Michelle Cohen

Filmmaker Brian De Palma just bought a second unit at 1 Fifth Avenue in Greenwich Village according to city records. The famous director of "Scarface" and "Carrie" already owns an apartment on the 23rd floor of the Gold Coast building, where's he's lived since at least 1989, but his latest acquisition is a two-bedroom unit for which he paid $1,750,000.
Find out more about the building's celebrity residents

109
110
111
112
113