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.

The New York Public Library reveals list of the most-checked-out books of 2018

Image via publicdomainpictures.net

December 17, 2018

The New York Public Library reveals list of the most-checked-out books of 2018

By Michelle Cohen

The New York Public Library has announced its annual top checkouts list for the year; The most sought-after title in the three public library systems–including books and e-books from the New York Public Library (covering the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island), Brooklyn Public Library, and Queens Library–was Jennifer Egan's "Manhattan Beach." Egan won a Pulitzer Prize for "A Visit From the Goon Squad" in 2011; her newest novel is, as the New York Times puts it in a review, "principally a novel of New York" that "pays tribute to the city’s iconography."
More of the top checkouts, this way

City Living

December 17, 2018

This charming upstate barn has enough warmth for a winter weekend at $255 a night

By Michelle Cohen

Tons of artfully created details, a wood-burning stove and modern comforts–from rain shower head to reading nooks–add up to a warm welcome at this upstate barn listed on Airbnb for $255 a night. It looks like a perfect escape from city life without having to rough it–and barns are cooler than cabins anyway. The hosts have been at this for a while, so they've got all the details covered, including wifi and a programmable smart TV so you don’t have to miss your shows. Set on four-and-a-half acres in the quaint-but-cool town of Tivoli, NY, about 100 miles from New York City in the Hudson River Valley near Bard College, the barn offers five beds on three levels, for up to six guests.
Have a look around

December 14, 2018

Moby sells midcentury Westchester gem for charity for $1.1M

By Michelle Cohen

Recording artist, real estate buff, animal rights activist and philanthropist Moby has sold his two-bedroom midcentury house in Westchester County for $1.1 million in a trade for which he has the best of intentions, according to Mansion Global. 6sqft reported in July that Moby, whose real name is Richard Melville Hall, was putting the 3,100-square-foot modern home in Pound Ridge on the market for $1.3 million just four months after buying it for $1.24M. At the time he explained the sale on Instagram by saying, "It’s one of the most beautiful houses I’ve seen, but to be honest, I’m rarely there. So I’m going to sell it and take the money to: support progressive political candidates, support my animal rights foundation, produce documentaries, and fund scholarships."
Get a last look

December 14, 2018

You can live on Billionaires’ Row for just $325K

By Michelle Cohen

It seems as if almost every day we hear of a new big-ticket sale on Manhattan's "Billionaire's Row," the glittering corridor just south of Central Park in Midtown. Eight-figure sales at a growing collection of supertalls like One57, 432 Park Avenue and 111 West 57th Street seem almost ordinary. But it's still possible to snag a home among the oligarchs and moguls: Two units on the market at the classic co-op building at 100 West 57th Street can be yours for $325K (for a studio) and $450K (for a spacious one-bedroom). If you're looking for more than a pied-a-terre, you could even combine both contiguous units and still come in under a mil.
Take a look at your options

Distinctive Homes

December 13, 2018

1820s New Paltz estate on 240 acres is a country living fantasy for $3M

By Michelle Cohen

If you've ever dreamed of getting out of the city (but not too, too far out), and nesting in a country estate amid rolling hills, White Duck Farm awaits. For $2.95 million, this 240-acre Ulster County estate is just a couple of hours from New York City in the Shawangunk Ridge-Mohonk Mountain Preserve, set back from the road and possessed of rolling pastures, woodlands, a pond, a pool, a party barn and a guest cottage–and a gorgeous, renovated brick Federal-style home (h/t CIRCA).
It's just as charming on the inside

December 13, 2018

This $5.2K/month furnished Stuyvesant Heights townhouse is a mix of sophistication and charm

By Michelle Cohen

Available from January through August of 2019 at $5,250 per month, this freshly-renovated brownstone triplex at 458 Hancock Street in Bed-Stuy's coveted Stuyvesant Heights historic district presents a great opportunity to get to know the city and the neighborhood. Interiors are bright and spacious, and you don't need to bring anything but your family or friends, and your toothbrush. The four-bedroom home with lots of space to spare plus a private deck and yard comes ready for living, complete with cool furniture and plants.
Take the townhouse tour

December 12, 2018

Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6 rental tower reveals new renderings ahead of 2019 leasing launch

By Michelle Cohen

The Landing at 15 Bridge Park Drive, the rental portion of the Pier 6 two-building development in Brooklyn Bridge Park, is preparing for a 2019 launch with a new website and new renderings of amenity spaces and exteriors, Curbed reports. 6sqft reported back in September that the lottery for 100 affordable housing units had officially opened. Rents for the tower's 40 market-rate units will start at $3,100 per month and range from studios to three-bedrooms.
See more of what's to come

December 12, 2018

New Historic Districts Council website lists every landmark in NYC

By Michelle Cohen

Preservationists, advocates, history buffs and anyone interested in finding out about the history of New York City's neighborhoods and landmarks has an exciting new resource at their fingertips. The Historic Districts Council (HDC) has launched a new website that offers a complete list of every historic district, individual landmark, interior landmark and scenic landmark in New York City.
Get a closer look

Landmarks designates new Inwood historic district

Image courtesy of NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission via Flickr.

December 11, 2018

Landmarks designates new Inwood historic district

By Michelle Cohen

The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission voted today to designate the Park Terrace West-West 217th Street Historic District in the Inwood section of Manhattan. The historic district features an enclave of picturesque early 20th-century houses with landscaped topography that stand out among the neighborhood’s apartment buildings.
Find out more

December 11, 2018

For $43M, restore two Gilded Age Upper East Side co-ops to their historic grandeur

By Michelle Cohen

A three-bedroom co-op in the Rosario Candela-designed 720 Park Avenue, the epitome of 1920s Gilded Age grandeur, is on the market for $20 million. It was once part of an even grander duplex that belonged to onetime Macy's president and ambassador to France Jesse I. Straus. The lower unit is asking $23 million. The two owners are offering a $43M combo that could restore the home to its original impressive status with eight bedrooms and staff quarters that, according to the Wall Street Journal, include a flower room, a vegetable closet and a valet room where cuffs and collars were pressed.
See more of this impressive piece of old New York history

Judge rules in favor of Studio Gang’s Natural History Museum expansion plans despite lawsuit attempt

By Michelle Cohen

In October, plans by Studio Gang to expand the American Museum of Natural History and create the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation were stopped in their tracks after New York State Supreme Court Justice Lynn Kotler issued a temporary restraining order. A lawsuit had been filed by a community group opposed to the expansion on the grounds that it would destroy public parkland and threaten the surrounding environment. Judge Kotler on Monday ruled in favor of the museum in a decision confirming that all appropriate procedures in preparation for the project were followed. The decision will allow the museum to proceed with the $383 million expansion project.
Find out more

The High Line Plinth will showcase public art as a gathering spot in the park’s newest section

Image by James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, courtesy of the City of New York.

December 10, 2018

The High Line Plinth will showcase public art as a gathering spot in the park’s newest section

By Michelle Cohen

The Spur, the last section of the High Line, extending east along 30th Street and ending above 10th Avenue, is scheduled to open in 2019. Unlike other sections of the park which are more linear and perfect for strolling, this section will feature a large-scale plaza for public programming and art and areas for seating and gathering. Anchoring the new section will be the High Line Plinth. As Designboom reports, the Plinth will be one of the only sites in New York City with the purpose of featuring a rotating series of new contemporary public art commissions.
Renderings of the Plinth, this way

See new images of Barry Diller’s $250M Pier 55 park taking shape in the Hudson River

Photo by CityRealty

December 10, 2018

See new images of Barry Diller’s $250M Pier 55 park taking shape in the Hudson River

By Michelle Cohen

Back in July 6sqft reported construction progress at the enthusiastically on-again Pier 55 public park project on the Hudson River funded by billionaire businessman Barry Diller. The park broke ground in April, and some snaps courtesy of CityRealty revealed new concrete pylons arranged in various heights that will act as the wave-shaped floating park’s support structure. Now, the New York Times details further and more fascinating progress on the $250 million park and performing arts venue, including the installation of its stylistic anchor in the form of a system of concrete supports called pots, the underpinnings of Diller's unconventional architectural vision. And CityRealty once again reveals photos of what's happening in the Hudson just west of the Meatpacking District.
Take a look at what's rising from the Hudson

December 10, 2018

This Hudson carriage house, featured on Netflix, could be your upstate getaway for $325 a night

By Michelle Cohen

Hudson, NY, is the place to head these days for a picture-perfect out-of-the-city weekend. Filled with fabulous restaurants, chic shops and darling dive bars, the Columbia County town's mix of sophistication and small-town life hits just the right note. If you've dreamed of moving there and fixing up a quaint townhouse, you can live vicariously for a few nights–at $325 each, via Airbnb–at this charming carriage house. Featured on the Netflix renovation show, "Stay Here," The Hudson River Carriage House is just a half block from the Warren Street main drag, but it's so cute you may just want to stay in.
Have a look

December 7, 2018

1960s modern house in Brooklyn Heights designed by Merz Architects is for sale asking $3.9M

By Michelle Cohen

As one of a trio of distinctive townhouses on an almost-hidden historic Brooklyn Heights street known by locals as Willowtown, the house at 44 Willow Place is a gift of mid-20th-century architecture and holds a spot on the star map for modern house lovers–and it's on the market for $3.9 million. Designed by the beloved local architect duo Joseph and Mary Merz in 1965 for Ron and Hortense Clyne, the home is a timeless example of Modernist design as both visually appealing and ultimately livable. Treasured by the community as both brilliant designers and active preservationists, the architects also built the better-known home at 40 Willow Place along with a house at number 48.
Take a tour

Distinctive Homes

December 6, 2018

New York State Pavilion to receive a $16.5M FEMA grant for Hurricane Sandy repairs

By Michelle Cohen

Designed by Philip Johnson for the 1964-65 World’s Fair to embody the architectural essence of Space Age futurism, the New York State Pavilion has been battered by the ensuing decades to the point of becoming valued as an "historic ruin." As 6sqft previously reported, plans to restore the site have been progressing slowly even with new funding from the city. Now, Curbed reports, the iconic site in Flushing, Queens, will be getting a $16.5 million grant from FEMA for Hurricane Sandy-related repairs.
Find out more

Architecture And Design

December 6, 2018

Central Park releases access map for people with limited mobility

By Michelle Cohen

A new map from the Central Park Conservancy includes lots of new information about the park's playgrounds, trails, restrooms, entertainment areas and other spaces that decodes the park for people with disabilities and/or limited mobility. Helpful information includes information on park terrain, letting visitors know how steep various trails are, and where there are stairs or other potential obstacles.
Full map, this way

Uncategorized

Controversial Two Bridges towers get city approval despite community ambivalence

Rendering courtesy of Handel Architects.

December 6, 2018

Controversial Two Bridges towers get city approval despite community ambivalence

By Michelle Cohen

Update 12/7/18: The City Council and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer filed a suit in the Manhattan Supreme Court "claiming city planners usurped the Council’s authority over land-use issues in approving the project," reported The Real Deal. The City Planning Commission gave the green light Wednesday to a controversial application filed by four developers to build three new residential towers in the Lower East Side's Two Bridges development, which are expected to add 3,000 housing units between them, The Real Deal reports. 700 units will be affordable. The large-scale residential towers were approved in a 10-3 vote on Wednesday, after a lengthy, often acrimonious review process. The towers are comprised of JDS Development’s 1,000-unit rental tower at 247 Cherry Street, L+M Development and CIM Group’s 798-foot tower at 260 South Street; and Starrett Corporation’s 730-foot building at 259 Clinton Street.
Find out more

December 5, 2018

The official SantaCon 2018 map is here. Consider yourself warned.

By Michelle Cohen

Like most things requiring crowd control, SantaCon began life with the best of intentions; long ago (in the early '90s) in San Francisco, a group of merry pranksters called the Cacophony Society thought it might be a hoot to poke fun at both the proliferation of people in Santa suits and the proliferation of “cons," while participating in a (alcohol-free, by the way) performance-art-inspired flash mob. As such things do in modern cities, the once-subversive event snowballed, and to paraphrase the Eagles, call someplace paradise–and wake to find four frat dudes barfing outside your window. The drunken ho-ho-hordes are now too legit to quit, and you might as well know where they’ll be on Saturday, December 8, 2018, which is the official date of this year’s SantaCon. Whether your intent is to join in the fun, or to avoid being totally broadsided by a thousand drunk adults in Santa suits, use this map from the event's organizers.
Map, venue list, rules and caveats, this way

December 5, 2018

VOTE for 6sqft’s 2018 Building of the Year

By Michelle Cohen

The city’s most important residential projects include a glittering showcase of superlatives that continue to eclipse all that came before, with claims that include tallest (Central Park Tower), skinniest (111 West 57th Street ), most expensive (a $250 million penthouse at 220 Central Park South) and loftiest outdoor lounge (Fifteen Hudson Yards) and pool (Brooklyn Point) almost being a requirement for selling the fabulously luxurious apartments and amenities that lie within. Though some of this year’s contenders appeared on previous years’ lists, their sales launches and toppings-out in 2018 proved that their arrivals on the city's skyline–and among its residential options–are no less impactful than the anticipation that preceded them. We’ve narrowed our picks down to a list of 12 headline-stealing residential structures for the year. Which do you think deserves 6sqft’s title of 2018 Building of the Year? To have your say, polls for our fourth annual competition will be open up until midnight on Wednesday, December 12th and we will announce the winner on the 13th.
VOTE HERE! And learn more about the choices.

New Developments

December 5, 2018

Cute, compact Chelsea two-bedroom asks just under $1M

By Michelle Cohen

While this charming Chelsea co-op at 223 West 21st Street doesn't have much in the way of extra space, it's a two-bedroom apartment with a solid reserve of pre-war charm. Mint-condition renovations and an elevator building, combined with the fact that it's priced at less than a million at $995K make this listing worth a look.
See more, this way

Distinctive Homes

December 5, 2018

Snøhetta reveals more preservation-friendly redesign for Philip Johnson’s 550 Madison

By Michelle Cohen

Architecture firm Snøhetta unveiled this week a preservationist-friendly revision to a controversial design for an updated AT&T building at 550 Madison Avenue. The latest design is one of several revisions, each followed by controversy over being seen by preservationists as diverting too much from the building’s original design by Philip Johnson and John Burgee. In addition to comparisons to the original, new designs have had to consider the subsequent revamp that made it the Sony building in 1994, which replaced the building's open Madison Avenue arcade with “Sony Experience” storefronts and covered a rear public arcade with a glass roof.
'Hands off my Johnson'

December 3, 2018

This $8M Chelsea townhouse has a soap opera past, a new renovation, and a flexible future

By Michelle Cohen

Back in 2015, 6sqft featured this charm-filled brick townhouse for sale at 426 West 22nd Street; the 19-foot-wide beauty, built in 1843, was listed for $9.5 million by Emmy-winning soap opera actress Ellen Parker, best known for a long run as Maureen Reardon Bauer on “Guiding Light.” The West Chelsea home on a tree-lined block near Clement Clarke Moore Park was divided into three residences for lots of options. The home has been renovated since then, still-charming but updated and restored, with modern finishes and fixtures. It's back on the market for $7.995 million–possibilities intact.
Take a look

Distinctive Homes

The L train is back! Don’t get used to it.

Photo courtesy of Todd Shaffer via Flickr

November 30, 2018

The L train is back! Don’t get used to it.

By Michelle Cohen

The L train will be back for weekend service from December until late in January, a relief from the weekend dress rehearsal it's been staging since this summer. The bad news is that the J and M trains won't be running between Manhattan and Brooklyn on weekends until late in January. Free shuttle buses, should you choose them, can get you from Hewes Street to Essex Street and between Essex and Metropolitan Avenue. Before you head out this weekend, check the rest of the planned service changes ahead.
It's still warm enough for the bike

Transit

November 29, 2018

Design studio Snarkitecture brings Snark Park to Hudson Yards with treats and ‘childlike wonder’

By Michelle Cohen

If hanging out at 900 feet in the air isn't your thing, NYC's newest neighborhood, Hudson Yards, promises plenty of fun things to do with your feet on the ground. As the first phase of the megaproject prepares to open this spring, New York-based design studio Snarkitecture will be introducing Snark Park, its first permanent exhibition space in Hudson Yards. Known for their clever reinterpretations of the familiar, Snarkitecture’s Snark Park will be a site for immersive installations housing design environments for all ages to explore, discover and enjoy.
Find out more

All articles by Michelle Cohen

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