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.

Taylor Swift says broker lawsuit in $18M townhouse buy is unfounded

Google Street View of 153 Franklin Street; Taylor Swift via Wiki Commons

March 8, 2018

Taylor Swift says broker lawsuit in $18M townhouse buy is unfounded

By Michelle Cohen

As 6sqft previously reported, downtown Manhattan real estate investor Taylor Swift was recently sued by Douglas Elliman for allegedly stiffing a broker on the commission for an $18 million Tribeca townhouse at 153 Franklin Street that she bought this past fall. Now, according to The Real Deal, the pop star's management company Firefly Entertainment filed a motion to have the brokerage’s $1 million suit dismissed. Firefly claims the lawsuit is “the latest in a long line of lawsuits” by Elliman and that the real estate agency had little if any involvement in the townhouse deal.
What's the story here?

Celebrities

Is New York City housing getting more affordable?

Image: Wikipedia

March 8, 2018

Is New York City housing getting more affordable?

By Michelle Cohen

According to a recent article by the Wall Street Journal, New York City housing may, in fact, be consuming less of our hard-earned dollars. Housing costs are responsible for an increasingly smaller chunk of New Yorkers' monthly budget, a new U.S. Census Bureau survey shows. The survey, conducted every three years, points to a record amount of new housing and a rental vacancy rate that's the third-highest since the survey first began in 1965. The Census Bureau survey found that the number of housing units had increased by 117,000 since 2011, a number that includes over 35,000 more rental apartments and 15,000 condos due to arrive in 2018 and 2019.
Really?

March 8, 2018

CNN anchor Jason Carroll is selling his chic Chelsea pad for $1.75M

By Michelle Cohen

CNN correspondent and former “Ahead of the Curve” co-anchor Jason Carroll just listed this stylish, sparkly one-bedroom home in the rakishly-named Lion’s Head condominium at 121 West 19th Street in Chelsea for $1.75 million. The super-social location near Nomad and the Village makes this one-bedroom unit a great bet if you like being surrounded by tons of shopping, food and fun. Carroll bought the place for just $785,000 back in 2006, so he's looking to make a nice $1 million profit.
Get a closer look

March 7, 2018

Williamsburg’s Dime Savings Bank restoration and new residential tower get LPC approval

By Michelle Cohen

The path to its latest incarnation just got easier for the historic Dime Savings Bank of Williamsburgh's full restoration as part of Charney Construction and Tavros Capital's development of a new 22-story residential tower next door at 209 Havemeyer Street. As New York Yimby reports, on Tuesday the Landmark Preservation Commission gave the go-ahead to the proposed design for the new development in the Williamsburg neighborhood and agreed to designation hearings for the historic building as a new landmark.
Find out more

New Developments

Hudson Yards arts center The Shed announces first commissions and reveals interior renderings

The Shed under construction as seen from the High Line, February 2018. Photo by Ed Lederman.

March 7, 2018

Hudson Yards arts center The Shed announces first commissions and reveals interior renderings

By Michelle Cohen

The Shed, New York City’s first arts center dedicated to commissioning, producing, and presenting new work across the performing arts, visual arts, and popular culture, has unveiled the first seven commissions for its 2019 inaugural season. The Shed will open to the public at its home on Manhattan's west side in spring 2019 with an expansive multi-use hall, two floors of column-free galleries, and an intimate theater that lends itself to a wide variety of performance. Also, The Shed’s largest and most iconic space has been newly named The McCourt in recognition of a $45 million gift by Frank McCourt, Jr. and his family. The new space, formed when The Shed’s movable shell is extended over the building’s adjoining plaza, will be able to accommodate large-scale performances, installations, and events.
Find out who's heading to The Shed

Rendering: MoMA PS1 courtyard featuring ‘Hide & Seek’ by Jennifer Newsom and Tom Carruthers of Dream The Combine.

March 6, 2018

MoMA PS1’s Young Architects Program winner adds elements of ‘Hide and Seek’ to summer courtyard

By Michelle Cohen

The Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1 have announced that the 2018 winner of their annual Young Architects Program is 'Hide & Seek' by Jennifer Newsom and Tom Carruthers of Dream The Combine, in collaboration with Clayton Binkley of ARUP. Opening in June, the winning construction, a "responsive, kinetic environment that features nine intersecting elements arrayed across the entirety of the MoMA PS1 courtyard" will serve as a backdrop for the 21st season of Warm Up, MoMA PS1’s outdoor seasonal music series.
Find out more

Image: DBOX

March 6, 2018

Bjarke Ingels reveals new rendering for West Chelsea hotel/condo project, The Eleventh

By Michelle Cohen

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has released new design details and a teaser site for its first New York condominium and hotel project at 76 Eleventh Avenue near the High Line in West Chelsea (h/t Designboom). Known as "The Eleventh," or as it's being written now, The XI, the project is comprised of a pair of twisting asymmetrical bronze and travertine towers joined by a skybridge. The building’s windowed facade is said to be inspired by the Meatpacking District’s iconic warehouses.
Check in on construction, this way

March 6, 2018

Extell’s Target-topping East Village luxury rental is now open; rents start at $3,695/month

By Michelle Cohen

Ambitiously dubbed EVGB–for "East Village's Greatest Building"–Extell Development's new rental building at 510 East 14th Street between Avenues A and B just hit the rental market. In addition to amenities like a fitness center, saltwater pool and rooftop deck, the new building is perhaps best known for its also-new retail anchor tenant, a two-level Target store, the chain’s first location in the neighborhood. The building's 110 market-rate and 50 affordable–the lottery for those launched recently–units are expected to be ready for occupancy by April. According to the building's just-launched website, available apartments range from studios for $3,695 a month to a three-bedroom unit for $12,425.
Take a look and find out more

March 5, 2018

Concept renderings for West Midtown skyscraper show super-slender ‘high performance office tower’

By Michelle Cohen

Architecture firm RB Systems has just published a set of renderings that explore the new supertall tower typology that's been gaining popularity in New York City in recent years. First spotted by New York Yimby, the "New York’s Super Slender” tower in the renderings is shown on a small (only 30 meters by 30 meters) vacant West Midtown site at 265 West 45th Street. The tower was designed to squeeze onto a 98-foot wide lot, which would put it among New York City's most slender towers. Rising 1,312 feet high, the theoretical building would provide modern, ergonomic, sustainable office spaces. The project reflects a likely path for skyscraper design in the coming years, when the city's towers will need to meet the challenges of dense city centers and a dearth of large vacant lots coupled with a demand for new properties.
Find out more

Nearly 200 affordable apartments available at Bushwick’s Rheingold Brewery site from $947/month

Rendering courtesy of ODA Architecture.

March 5, 2018

Nearly 200 affordable apartments available at Bushwick’s Rheingold Brewery site from $947/month

By Michelle Cohen

The lottery (pdf) for 183 apartments at 54 Noll Street and 123 Melrose Street, known as Evergreen Gardens, launched today for one of the parcels of land being redeveloped on the site of the former Rheingold Brewery site in Bushwick. Individuals and families earning 60 percent of the area median income, or between $34,355 and $57,240, are eligible to apply for units ranging from $947/month studios to $1,230 two-bedrooms. Among its plethora of indoor and outdoor amenities, the massive ODA-designed project boasts a central park and a rooftop terrace complete with an urban farm.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

85th floor unit at One57 gets an $11M price chop, now listed at $59M

By Michelle Cohen

6sqft reported back in October that an 85th-floor unit in the building known for the city’s most expensive residential sale ever was back on the market after a total overhaul for a noteworthy $70 million. The 6,240-square-foot condominium was purchased by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll for $55.6 million in 2014. After four months, the sprawling sky mansion has been discounted by $11 million according to Mansion Global; the building's third-highest listing is now asking $59 million.
The view is just as good at $59 million

Distinctive Homes

You can buy a $14,000 mantle and more salvaged items from the Waldorf Astoria

Photo via Wikimedia; Auction images via Olde Good Things

March 1, 2018

You can buy a $14,000 mantle and more salvaged items from the Waldorf Astoria

By Michelle Cohen

As 6sqft recently reported, ownership of the iconic Waldorf Astoria was among the properties involved when the Chinese government temporarily took over the debt-ridden Beijing-based Anbang Insurance Group, a firm known for snatching up prominent and expensive properties around the world. There has long been speculation about a condominium project in the works, and Bloomberg reports that the project is moving forward. Signs of change: Effects from the building's guest suites have been carted off by Scranton, Pennsylvania-based architectural salvage purveyor Olde Good Things, who is already is selling pieces of the storied hotel on its website.
See what's for sale

Events & Things To Do

March 1, 2018

$2.7M Noho triplex stuns with library walls, glass ceilings, and gilded mirrors

By Michelle Cohen

The listing for this 3,000-square-foot home at 710 Broadway in Noho invokes Shakespeare, but we think the triplex, asking $2.695 million, has loftier ambitions. The three-story space is ideal for "an artist, photographer, bibliophile, therapist, or just somebody who likes to entertain," or even someone who doesn't: It's built for privacy, with sleeping areas tucked away on the top and bottom floors and public areas in between (h/t Curbed). A glass-topped solarium awaits off the bookshelf-lined living room, and a lower level opens onto an enclosed patio for solitary or social pursuits.
Take the tour

Distinctive Homes

7 train extension to NJ is among long-term solutions being studied to address commuter hell

Photo via Wiki Commons

February 28, 2018

7 train extension to NJ is among long-term solutions being studied to address commuter hell

By Michelle Cohen

How long does it take to get to New Jersey by subway? The answer might be "about 22 years." That's if the round of attention focused on extending the New York City subway system across the Hudson makes it a reality. According to AM New York, Transit officials have said they'll be exploring the extension of the 7 line into New Jersey as part of a study involving a cross-Hudson rail link. The link is one of several solutions being studied in an effort to alleviate a commuter crunch between the two metro areas that's expected to grow continuously over the next 20 years.
Find out more

Transit

February 28, 2018

Fashion exec buys $17M Dakota combo of Judy Garland’s and Roberta Flack’s former addresses

By Michelle Cohen

6sqft takes notice when homes in the storied Dakota at 1 West 72nd Street hit the market; word was out that the three-bedroom co-op in the iconic Upper West Side building that was the alleged onetime home of Judy Garland had recently changed hands after several price chops, and Roberta Flack’s mirror-walled co-op went into contract after having been on the market since 2015. Now Mansion Global reports that power couple Eric and Stacey Bendet Eisner are the buyers of the massive co-op combo. Ms. Eisner is chief executive and creative director of clothing company Alice + Olivia, and her husband Eric (son of former Walt Disney Company CEO Michael Eisner) is an entertainment and media mogul.
See more of this iconic property combo

February 27, 2018

Asking $10M, this huge Tribeca loft has a cashmere-lined bedroom and 20-foot fireplace

By Michelle Cohen

In the impressive converted Tribeca loft condo building at 137-141 Duane Street and 62-66 Thomas Street known as Diamond on Duane, this three- or four-bedroom loft with 75 feet of world-facing windows has a recent renovation going for it in addition to 5,800 square feet of living space. In that renovation, no luxury was spared including a cashmere-lined bedroom, and "apartment-sized" closet/dressing room, a library with a full wet bar and a 20-foot gas fireplace.
Apartment-sized closet and more, this way

Distinctive Homes

February 26, 2018

This $6K/month West Village loft comes with a ton of exposed brick and a dash of fun

By Michelle Cohen

The listing for this "truly unique" 1,200-square-foot loft at 73 8th Avenue at the Meatpacking/West Village border tells of its "ton of exposed brick," and though we're not sure that's an exact measurement, we know it's asking exactly $6,000 a month to enjoy its one bedroom, 14-foot ceilings, wide-plank cherry wood floors and private outdoor paradise.
Looks like a fun place to live

February 23, 2018

This classic $6.4M West Broadway loft is the stuff of Soho dreams

By Michelle Cohen

In a 1900-era loft-building on a bustling West Soho block, this full-floor loft co-op at 459 West Broadway spans 3,150 square feet of brick-lined, impossibly high-ceilinged living space. On the market for $6.35 million, the three-bedroom loft has all the old-school historic details that are often copied but increasingly rare in the era of the celebrity-filled loft condo.
Take a look

Distinctive Homes

February 22, 2018

Configure your loft life any way you like in this $1M Bushwick condo

By Michelle Cohen

There was a time when it would be surprising to find a million-dollar condo in deepest Bushwick near the Ridgewood border. But that time has passed long ago, and turnkey loft living awaits at this $1.05 million loft at the Wy 101 Lofts at 101 Wyckoff Avenue. The four-story 1925 warehouse building has been converted to 29 lofts possessed of every modern convenience (minus the L train, starting in 2019.). Currently configured as two large private rooms and a living room/kitchen area, the 1,152-square-foot corner floor plan is ready for configuration to fit your lifestyle in true loft fashion.
Get a closer look

Distinctive Homes

February 21, 2018

Live in historic townhouse style without the commitment in this $5,500/month Clinton Hill duplex

By Michelle Cohen

Historic Brooklyn townhouses are at a premium, and they're a lot of work to maintain. Opportunities like this gorgeous duplex on one of the prettiest avenues in the Clinton Hill Historic District give you a chance to live in high-ceilinged grandeur, fabulous backyard oasis and all, without the mortgage or the commitment. It will, however, cost you $5,500 a month for this 1,700-square-foot rental at 227 Washington Avenue.
Take the tour

February 20, 2018

$3M Tribeca loft has the elegance of old New York in a 21st century condo

By Michelle Cohen

This full-floor, pre-war Tribeca loft condominium is truly, as the listing implies, a warm and stylish exception in a sea of fabulous but frosty new developments. Asking $3.095 million, the spacious 1,835-square-foot home at 42 White Street is more civilized than the average loft, though more laid-back than the average townhouse, and currently has enough books and art to satisfy an entire generation of culture-hungry New Yorkers.
Have a look around

Distinctive Homes

February 20, 2018

Could an East River pontoon bridge be a viable L train alternative?

By Michelle Cohen

Real estate investor, sailing champion and former Calvin Klein underwear model Parker Shinn has entered the impending void of the dreaded L train shutdown scheduled for April of 2019 with a new alternative. The concept, which joins a growing list that includes a gondola, an inflatable tunnel, car-free bus lanes, bike lanes and a lot of MTA re-routing, is called L-ternative Bridge, and consists of a temporary pontoon bridge between Brooklyn and Manhattan that would be capable of supporting two lanes of bus traffic and two walking/bike paths.
So what's a pontoon bridge?

Transit

Frank Gehry and Santiago Calatrava to design Hudson Yards residential towers

Rendering of Hudson Yards. Image: Danny Forster Design Studio

February 20, 2018

Frank Gehry and Santiago Calatrava to design Hudson Yards residential towers

By Michelle Cohen

Though starchitect Frank Gehry threatened to flee to France after the 2016 election, he'll likely be sticking around to design new towers at the Hudson Yards mega-development on Manhattan's west side; Gehry and fellow controversial architect Santiago Calatrava are among those chosen to work on the residential western section of Related Cos. and Oxford Properties' 28-acre complex, according to a source close to the project who spoke with the Wall Street Journal.
Find out more

New Jersey’s priciest penthouse has a hibachi dining room and glass cube roof deck

Photo: VDP

February 16, 2018

New Jersey’s priciest penthouse has a hibachi dining room and glass cube roof deck

By Michelle Cohen

Developer Alexander Hovnanian has introduced a new, head-turning $8 million penthouse at the Nine on the Hudson development in New Jersey's Port Imperial neighborhood. Inspired by Japanese design and Dutch aesthetics, the home was created to be "incomparable to other penthouses in NJ, even in NYC" atop the new U-shaped 278-unit project on the Hudson River in West New York.
Greenhouse kitchen, glass cube roof deck, this way

Bruce Willis ‘downsizes’ to a new four-bedroom Riverside Center condo

Photo: Evan Joseph Photography; Bruce Willis photo: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

February 16, 2018

Bruce Willis ‘downsizes’ to a new four-bedroom Riverside Center condo

By Michelle Cohen

Bruce Willis and his wife Emma Heming Willis found a buyer for their home at 271 Central Park West for $17.75 million within a week of listing the six-bedroom co-op after deciding to downsize a bit. According to reports the pair have just bought a new Upper West Side aerie at One West End at 1 West End Avenue. The four-bedroom condominium in the 41-story tower, part of the in the massive Riverside Center project designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli and Hill West Architects, spans over 3,000 square feet and was last listed for $7.9 million.
Take a look

All articles by Michelle Cohen

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