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.

December 29, 2017

December 29, 1947 was the subway’s most crowded day ever

By Michelle Cohen

After battling the mad crush of pre-holiday shoppers on city sidewalks, frenzied honking and general rudeness on streets and highways and endless airport queues, it's a little scary to think the worst might be still to come in the normally quiet days between Christmas and New Year's Eve–and on the subway, no less. The New York City subway system racks up 1.8 billion rides a year. The average ridership tally in 2015 was 5.7 million people daily; that number is the highest it's been since 1948. The New York Times tells us, though, that the actual record-setting day for subway rides was December 29, 1947, when a staggering 8,533,468 riders were counted. So, what drove so many into the subway's multitudinous depths?
Find out more

‘True Blood’ actor Denis O’Hare sells landmarked Fort Greene carriage house duplex for $1.7M

Denis O’Hare image via Wikimedia Commons

December 15, 2017

‘True Blood’ actor Denis O’Hare sells landmarked Fort Greene carriage house duplex for $1.7M

By Michelle Cohen

The Fort Greene condo listed in September by actor Denis O'Hare of "American Horror Story" and "True Blood" fame has sold for $1.7 million according to city records. The Tony Award-winner and Emmy nominee purchased the duplex at 159 Carlton Avenue for a mere $175,000 in 1998. The landmarked 2,015-square-foot carriage house was formerly the Feuchtwanger Stable. O'Hare's husband, interior designer Hugo Redwood, spent the last 19 years renovating the historic condo, preserving the arched windows that once allowed horses and carriages to enter, transforming the space into an open, loft-like home. The condo was listed for $1,595,000.
Take a look

JFK’s TWA Flight Center Hotel tops out, on track to open in 2019 with the world’s largest hotel lobby

Image courtesy of MCR and Morse Development; Photo: Max Touhey.

December 15, 2017

JFK’s TWA Flight Center Hotel tops out, on track to open in 2019 with the world’s largest hotel lobby

By Michelle Cohen

MCR and Morse Development announced this week the topping out of the TWA Hotel at JFK Airport less than a year after breaking ground on the project. Designed by celebrated 20th-century architect Eero Saarinen in 1962, The hotel is set to reopen in early 2019, when it will become JFK's only on-airport hotel. Saarinen’s iconic TWA Flight Center terminal building will serve as the hotel's lobby; at 200,000 square feet, it is thought to be the world's largest hotel lobby. Hotel guests and passengers will be able to access the hotel through the famous Saarinen passenger tubes that connect directly to JFK’s Terminal 5 as well as through via the AirTrain system.
Find out more about the rebirth of this mid-century modern icon

Image via Wikimedia Commons.

December 14, 2017

New Amtrak app helps you navigate through Penn Station’s chaos

By Michelle Cohen

If you've ever found yourself lost in a maze of corridors or trampled in a boarding stampede at Penn Station, help may have arrived in the form of yet another useful mobile app. Beginning this week, Amtrak will offer a free app, FindYourWay, that helps travelers–65,000 of whom pass through the station each day–find their way through the station and avoid the crush of crowds that form around electronic boards announcing train departures, the New York Times reports.
Find out more

For $55M, own the 47-acre Long Island waterfront estate once home to Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

Photo of Brangelina via Wiki Commons

December 14, 2017

For $55M, own the 47-acre Long Island waterfront estate once home to Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

By Michelle Cohen

Photo of Brangelina via Wiki Commons A property spanning 47 acres of Long Island waterfront that includes a 22,000-square-foot Tudor revival-style mansion in the secluded Gold Coast village of Lloyd Neck is on the market asking $55 million. In addition to offering a private cove with its own pier, a 30-by-60-foot pool, lush gardens and a tea house, the estate was famously home to Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and family in 2009 when Jolie was filming “Salt” on Long Island (h/t New York Post). And it's only a 15 minute trip to Manhattan by helicopter.
Tour the grounds of this amazing waterfront retreat

MTA to close East River tunnel to speed repairs

Image ©6sqft

December 13, 2017

MTA to close East River tunnel to speed repairs

By Michelle Cohen

As part of an effort to speed up its emergency repair plan, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has announced plans to close the E and M line tunnels under East River between Manhattan and Queens for five days at the end of this month, the New York Times reports. The shutdown will start early on December 26 and end early on Dec. 31, taking advantage of a rare lull: Almost a million fewer people use the subway during that time than other weeks of the year— five million compared with 5.9 million according to MTA data.
Find out the timing is right for a shutdown

Michael C. Hall buys $4.3M El Dorado classic six

Michael C. Hall image via Wikimedia Commons.

December 13, 2017

Michael C. Hall buys $4.3M El Dorado classic six

By Michelle Cohen

The iconic El Dorado seems to have retained some of its celebrity cachet despite the decampment of Alec Baldwin and Bruce Willis; the New York Post reports that Michael C. Hall of "Dexter," "Six Feet Under" and David Bowie’s “Lazarus” fame just snagged a 10th floor apartment at 300 Central Park West. The Golden Globe winner and his wife Morgan paid $4.3 million for a newly-renovated 2,200 square-foot two-bedroom unit in the Emery Roth-designed co-op, according to city records. The Golden Globe-winner also owns a two-bedroom apartment in the pricey Greenwich Lane complex at 160 West 12th Street which was on the rental market last year for $15,000 a month.
Take a peek

December 12, 2017

LPC approves Achim Menges’ futuristic rooftop pavilion and stage for Pier 17

By Michelle Cohen

Between the controversial–and eventually nixed–condo tower and the news of ESPN's new studio plans, it's hard to keep up with what's taking shape at Pier 17 in the Seaport district. The latest arrival comes from above: Developers Howard Hughes Corporation announced plans earlier this year for a "crown jewel" for the new pier, a rooftop stage and installation with a see-through canopy that will maintain sightlines of Lower Manhattan. The high-tech topper was designed by German architect Achim Menges, known for ethereal, high-concept structures made with 3-D printers or woven from carbon fibers. Set for a summer 2018 opening, the new performance space will occupy 60,000 square feet according to Downtown Express. The project on Tuesday was approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, who said it will "set a standard for all future temporary seasonal structures."
Renderings of the high-tech sky canopy this way

December 12, 2017

$6.25M Flatiron loft’s bohemian-luxe style reflects its owner’s international flair

By Michelle Cohen

Iconic even among the Flatiron district's classic loft buildings and historic architecture, the neo-Gothic 1892 MacIntyre Building at 874 Broadway rises 12 stories above the downtown neighborhood with its handsome turrets, Byzantinue columns and Romanesque arches. Asking $6.25 million, this corner loft co-op occupying two of the building's floors is right at home, overlooking Union Square. A thorough renovation merged two units, resulting in one massive three-bedroom home with a custom-engineered steel and glass staircase and 12-foot ceilings. According to city records, the loft's current owner is writer-director Tannaz Hazemi ("Before the Bomb"), whose culturally diverse international lifestyle may well have influenced the loft's spin-the-compass bohemian-luxe decor.
Tour this fabulously funky loft

Distinctive Homes

Christmas tree prices rise as competition and soaring expenses threaten small vendors with extinction

A Christmas tree stand at 6th Avenue and 14th Street. Image: 6sqft

December 11, 2017

Christmas tree prices rise as competition and soaring expenses threaten small vendors with extinction

By Michelle Cohen

Each year in December, scores of Christmas tree vendors descend on New York City from as far as Quebec to turn the city's sidewalks into a virtual pop-up forest. What makes this seasonal opportunity so appealing? The “coniferous tree” exception, a City Council law dating from 1938, says vendors can sell and display Christmas trees on a sidewalk in December without a permit as long as they get an ok from adjacent building owners and they don't block the sidewalk. Sellers lobby adjacent storefronts for permission, sometimes paying a fee and often in competition with other sellers. This year, as the New York Times reports, competition from chain stores–and other vendors jockeying for prime spots in parks and other public locations that come with high fees–are chopping into the profits for the army of tree sellers that descends on the city at holiday time. Costs get passed to consumers–and prices are soaring.
Why trees are demanding more green this year

Joy Behar’s $3.5M Upper West Side co-op is in contract after just two months

By Michelle Cohen

Comedian Joy Behar's three-bedroom Astor Court co-op at 205 West 89th street has entered contract a mere two months after it was listed for $3.5 million. "The View" co-host has been doing her share of real estate restructuring recently: 6sqft reported last month that Behar and husband Steve Janowitz dropped $2.4 million on a three-bedroom Lincoln Square condo at 62 West 62nd Street about 20 blocks south. Behar had traded up to the larger Astor Court unit in 2013, having previously lived in a smaller apartment in the building. In 2016 she sold her Hamptons vacation home; a month later she dropped nearly $5 million on a gorgeous property in Sag Harbor.
Get a final glance

December 8, 2017

Escape to this extraordinary mini-castle overlooking Lake George for $395/night

By Michelle Cohen

The Airbnb listing for this unique retreat with the Adirondack Mountains and lakes as a backdrop offers a castle to match your fairy tale. Located in Bolton Landing, New York, Highlands Castle, the larger, grander fairytale venue next door, was featured by 6sqft in 2015 when it was listed for sale for $12.8 million. The entire property is the work of one John Lavender, who built the magical castles a mere 30-some years ago complete with knights, turrets, life-size lion statues and secret passageways to make good on a promise he'd made to his three-year-old son a decade prior that he’d build him a castle. The same #1 dad is offering the mini-castle on the property as an unforgettable mountain-country escape.
Tour the mini-masterpiece

December 7, 2017

This $3.7M Cobble Hill townhouse is period-perfect with rooms to spare and harbor views

By Michelle Cohen

On a quintessential tree-lined Cobble Hill block just to the east of the Columbia Street Waterfront, the equally quintessential historic townhouse at 388 Henry Street is seeking a new owner for only the third time in 100 years. Asking $3.7 million, the four-story, two-family home is filled with period details, with plenty of room for new ones.
Tour all four floors

Distinctive Homes

‘I Love New York’ design legend Milton Glaser brings new works to NYC subway stations

Milton Glaser’s new subway posters, L-R “Give Help,”” To Dream Is Human,””It’s Not About Me, It’s About We.” Images © Milton Glaser for SVA.

December 7, 2017

‘I Love New York’ design legend Milton Glaser brings new works to NYC subway stations

By Michelle Cohen

"I Love New York" design legend Milton Glaser will debut three new works this week in places that can always use more love: New York City subway stations. The three posters, according to Glaser, are a direct counterpoint to President Trump's attack on humanity and reflect the designer's commitment to justice using art and design to inspire social engagement. Milton's signs join the School of Visual Arts' enduring "Underground Images" ad campaign which has for the past half-century featured the work of a roster of A-list current and former design faculty including Ivan Chermayeff, Edel Rodriguez, Paula Scher and Tom Geismar in NYC subways. The series has challenged millions of New Yorkers to "think big, take chances and never stop learning. "
Find out more about the new posters and their meanings

December 6, 2017

Private island mansion with celebrity history and NYC views returns for $8.7M

By Michelle Cohen

Back in 2015, 6sqft covered this unusual property. The mansion at Tavern Island is, in fact, on a 2.7-acre private island off the coast of Connecticut. Even cooler is the island's history: The property's main house was built in the 1930s and was home to screenwriter Lillian Hellman when she was writing “The Little Foxes,” Mansion Global reports, and theater impresario Billy Rose owned the island in the 1960s and hosted lavish parties for the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Maureen O’Sullivan, and Barbara Streisand. In addition to these epic bragging rights, the new owner of the island will gain a six-bedroom English Colonial mansion dating to 1900, private beach, swimming pool, and a docking area and boat for access the mainland. According to property records, the current owners bought the island for $950,000 in 1981.
Tour this astounding island property

December 6, 2017

Mini-loft meets hobbit-hole in this $675K Hell’s Kitchen triplex

By Michelle Cohen

Part gnome-tastic rustic hobbit-hole and part "downtown loft," this cozy little triplex at 520 West 50th Street in the heart of Hell's Kitchen has the kind of rustic charm, wood details, and interesting layout that's classic to a neighborhood quickly filling up with fancy architecture. Asking $675,000, the one-bedroom co-op is perfect for a new, modern overhaul, but the kitchen and bath have been updated and it's definitely not a cookie-cutter box. And it is, after all, minutes from the Theater District and an explosion of things to do in Midtown and the far west side.
check out all the angles

Distinctive Homes

Helmut Lang’s throwback “Taxi Project” collection uses real NYC cab drivers as models

Credit: Alex Lee. Image courtesy of Helmut Lang

December 5, 2017

Helmut Lang’s throwback “Taxi Project” collection uses real NYC cab drivers as models

By Michelle Cohen

Iconic fashion brand Helmut Lang has launched a capsule collection called the "Taxi Project," named in celebration of the fact that the eponymous Austrian designer–though he no longer heads the company–was the first designer to advertise on top of the city's yellow cabs starting in 1998. InStyle reports that as part of the project, actual NYC taxi drivers posed for an editorial shoot by Alex Lee, held in a body shop in Queens, in which they're wearing the new hoodies and tee. The brand is having a giveaway of items from the sporty collection–via taxi, of course.
Find out more and win free stuff

Former IRT Powerhouse on West 59th Street, once the world’s largest, gets landmark status

Image via NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission.

December 5, 2017

Former IRT Powerhouse on West 59th Street, once the world’s largest, gets landmark status

By Michelle Cohen

This morning, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the former IRT Powerhouse (now the Con Ed Powerhouse) at 12th Avenue and 59th Street an official New York City landmark. The Beaux-Arts style building, designed in 1904 by McKim, Mead & White, is considered a remarkable example of the style applied to a utilitarian building. It was bestowed with such grandeur to convince the public to embrace the subway, a newly-created transportation option at the time. The monumental building not only powered the city's the first subway line but upon completion 111 years ago it was the largest powerhouse in the world.
Find out more

December 4, 2017

15 alternative Christmas trees that fit your decorating style (and your apartment)

By Michelle Cohen

For traditionalists who relish the ritual of bringing home the perfect evergreen, the idea of any man-made alternative has little appeal. But just as many tree-seekers are happy to anchor their December decor with a Christmas tree that doesn't shed and doesn't need to be sent to the curb when the season's over. The options are as varied as the reasons we love them: Some literally take up no space, perfect for tiny apartments. Others are perfectly modern, rustic, retro or Nordic to reflect the style of their owners. Below are 15 fun, festive, sustainable and re-usable alternatives to pine and fir.
deck the halls, this way

Architect Rem Koolhaas turns to the countryside for answers in upcoming Guggenheim exhibition

Koppert Cress, a farm in the Netherlands that uses low-energy magenta LED lamps in its greenhouses. Photo credit: Pieternel van Velden, courtesy of Guggenheim Museum.

December 4, 2017

Architect Rem Koolhaas turns to the countryside for answers in upcoming Guggenheim exhibition

By Michelle Cohen

World renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, known for being both innovative and committed to urban living, has turned his eye toward a new frontier–literally. The focus of the peripatetic starchitect’s upcoming 2019 exhibition, titled “Countryside: Future of the World,” to be installed in the spiral rotunda at the Guggenheim Museum, will be the world’s rural landscapes and how they have been altered by technology, migration and climate change. According to the New York Times, Koolhaas asks us to consider the countryside–that is, "anything but the city," for reasons of architecture, culture–and politics, in light of events like Brexit and President Trump's election.
Find out more

New renderings and more funding for South Williamsburg’s Dime Savings Bank site

The Dime, rendering courtesy Fogarty Finger Architecture and Interiors.

December 1, 2017

New renderings and more funding for South Williamsburg’s Dime Savings Bank site

By Michelle Cohen

6sqft reported in May that a 23-story mixed-use tower was headed for one of Williamsburg‘s most closely-watched developments, the site anchored by the Neoclassical-style Dime Savings Bank of Williamsburgh building at 209 Havemeyer Street at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge. Now, New York Yimby reveals new renderings courtesy of the project's architects, Fogarty Finger Architecture and Interiors. In addition, the site's developers, Charney Construction & Development and Tavros Capital Partners, have received a $150 million loan to restore the historic bank and build the new tower. According to The Real Deal, the loan coincides with the closing of the purchase of the bank building itself–the site's final parcel–for $12 million.
More renderings this way

December 1, 2017

Two Dakota neighbors seek a $20.5M buyer to restore their apartment pair to its original splendor

By Michelle Cohen

Just listed at the venerable Dakota at 1 West 72nd Street–with over 85 feet of Central Park views–is an opportunity to combine two apartments and re-create the gilded-age grandeur of a front-facing corner residence. 6sqft recently covered a beautifully-preserved eight-room co-op in the building, on the market for the first time in 50 years, asking $12.5 million. Now, the owners of that unit and the apartment next door are offering the rare pair for $20.5 million, in hopes that a deep-pocketed buyer will combine the two and enjoy the original 4,800 square-foot home as it was created in 1884 (h/t WSJ).
See what 4,800 square feet in the Dakota looks like

This might be an uptown rat sampling a salad Niçoise. Image: Wikipedia.

November 30, 2017

Is that an uptown rat or a downtown rat? Study says there’s a difference.

By Michelle Cohen

Next time you see a rat in Comme des Garçons sneakers, you'll know you're in the West Village. Fordham University graduate student Matthew Combs is what you might call an urban rat scholar. Most recently Combs and his colleagues have been focused on the DNA of Manhattan's brown rats; according to The Atlantic, they've been able to produce the most comprehensive genetic rat population portrait to date. Their study revealed that there are distinctive rat subpopulations within the city's scampering masses: In particular, Manhattan's uptown and downtown rats are genetically distinguishable from one another.
Distinct neighborhoods have their own distinct rats

City Living

November 30, 2017

Art-filled ‘Musée Maison,’ Hamilton Heights home of artist/acrobat, still a tough sell at $2.7M

By Michelle Cohen

In 2015, 6sqft took a look at this unusual Hamilton Heights three-family townhouse at 532 West 148th Street, then on the market for $2.5 million. The home was purchased by Portuguese-born architect/artist Luis Da Cruz in 2006 for $995,000 and thoroughly renovated, emerging as a canvas for the artist's personal creative vision. Cruz restored the 1920 home's carved wood stairways and railings, moldings, five fireplaces, beamed ceiling and exposed brick walls, and added his signature art pieces to an eclectic industrial/bohemian decor. Luis called the home Musée Maison (aptly, Museum House), and made it his studio and workshop; he also hosted art events during which all of the work was for sale and he would perform tricks on aerial silks suspended from the ceiling. The home has apparently yet to find the perfect match, and has seen its asking price rise with the market rather than fall to entice buyers; the four-bedroom house was just re-listed for $2.7 million.
Get lost in this amazing home

Sky lounge floating high above the Lincoln Tunnel entrance at AC Hudson Yards Hotel (Credit: Danny Forster Design Studio).

November 29, 2017

New renderings by ‘Build It Bigger’ host Danny Forster show 220-room AC Hudson Yards hotel

By Michelle Cohen

Last year, 6sqft reported that demolition permits were filed by developer Arisa Realty to make way for a hotel that will rise amidst the rapidly-growing Hudson Yards development in far west Midtown, with Epstein Global listed as the architect of record. Now, CityRealty reports that preliminary renderings have appeared on the website of Danny Forster, host of the Discovery Channel show "Build It Bigger," who is working with the architects on the project's design. Plans have beens submitted for a 220-key, 120,000-square-foot hotel at 432 West 31st Street, and the the unconfirmed renderings refer to the AC Hotel Hudson Yards (Marriott AC is a subsidiary of Marriott Hotels for which the Hudson Yards hotel would represent one of the first forays into the U.S. market).
Renderings this way

All articles by Michelle Cohen

December 29, 1947 was the subway’s most crowded day ever

‘True Blood’ actor Denis O’Hare sells landmarked Fort Greene carriage house duplex for $1.7M

JFK’s TWA Flight Center Hotel tops out, on track to open in 2019 with the world’s largest hotel lobby

New Amtrak app helps you navigate through Penn Station’s chaos

For $55M, own the 47-acre Long Island waterfront estate once home to Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

MTA to close East River tunnel to speed repairs

Michael C. Hall buys $4.3M El Dorado classic six

LPC approves Achim Menges’ futuristic rooftop pavilion and stage for Pier 17

$6.25M Flatiron loft’s bohemian-luxe style reflects its owner’s international flair

Christmas tree prices rise as competition and soaring expenses threaten small vendors with extinction

Joy Behar’s $3.5M Upper West Side co-op is in contract after just two months

Escape to this extraordinary mini-castle overlooking Lake George for $395/night

This $3.7M Cobble Hill townhouse is period-perfect with rooms to spare and harbor views

‘I Love New York’ design legend Milton Glaser brings new works to NYC subway stations

Private island mansion with celebrity history and NYC views returns for $8.7M

Amy Schumer sells Brooklyn Heights townhouse at $1.25M loss

Mini-loft meets hobbit-hole in this $675K Hell’s Kitchen triplex

Helmut Lang’s throwback “Taxi Project” collection uses real NYC cab drivers as models

Former IRT Powerhouse on West 59th Street, once the world’s largest, gets landmark status

15 alternative Christmas trees that fit your decorating style (and your apartment)

Architect Rem Koolhaas turns to the countryside for answers in upcoming Guggenheim exhibition

New renderings and more funding for South Williamsburg’s Dime Savings Bank site

Two Dakota neighbors seek a $20.5M buyer to restore their apartment pair to its original splendor

Is that an uptown rat or a downtown rat? Study says there’s a difference.

Art-filled ‘Musée Maison,’ Hamilton Heights home of artist/acrobat, still a tough sell at $2.7M

New renderings by ‘Build It Bigger’ host Danny Forster show 220-room AC Hudson Yards hotel

252 East 57th Street in Midtown East

All articles by Michelle Cohen

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