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.

March 16, 2017

Bid on a VIP tour of Yale with Robert A.M. Stern and other starchitect experiences

By Michelle Cohen

The Van Alen Institute announces their fourth annual Auction of Art + Design Experiences, offering a rare international sampling of curated events with leading names in the creative world. Like an omakase of "distinctive experiences" with some of today's most notable innovators in the architecture, design and culture spheres, the benefit auction, available via Paddle8, offers a Robert A.M. Stern-led VIP preview of the architect’s addition to the Yale University campus, an afternoon in the archives of Lina Bo Bardi’s Casa de Vidro outside São Paulo, a workout at Medellín Sports Coliseum with its architect, Giancarlo Mazzanti, a visit to a collection of stilted Miami beach houses with architect Terry Riley, meditation studio time with Winka Dubbeldam and a tour of John Lautner-designed horror story homes in the Hollywood hills, to name just a few.
More cool experiences to bid on, ahead

March 16, 2017

$5M renovated Tribeca loft is a veritable showcase of super-hot decorating trends

By Michelle Cohen

Besides being a gorgeous light-filled three-bedroom (with room for a fourth) corner loft in trendy Tribeca, this $4.95 million condominium at 161 Hudson Street is, as the listing puts it, "the epitome of chic downtown style." Unobstructed sky views, sound-proof windows, central HVAC, a laundry room and a gracious layout with bedrooms on opposite sides for privacy are part of the infrastructure. But when it comes to fixtures, finishes, materials and design, the 2,315-square-foot loft is a perfect opportunity to see today's top decorating trends–all in one place.
What’s having a serious moment in home decor? Let’s take a look

Distinctive Homes

March 15, 2017

This $4,250/month sublet is the perfect spot to get acquainted with the East Village

By Michelle Cohen

In the heart of it all at 50 Avenue A, this fully-furnished sublet is a walk-up on the third floor of a building known as Hearth House. Built in 1929, its quirky architecture fits right in with mid-century gems like the Burger Klein building just up the street; the building's terraces add a rare and fun way to survey the neighborhood from above. Unlike many East Village apartments, this one has two real bedrooms, two full baths and plenty of room for living.
Take a look around

Distinctive Homes

March 15, 2017

$1.8M Forest Hills home has an English garden, attic studio, and a unique history

By Michelle Cohen

It’s also more modern than you might think. In 1909, noted architect and urban planner Grosvenor Atterbury, employed with the firm McKim, Mead and White, was, with partner Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. (son of the famous landscape architect) commissioned to plan a new community in Forest Hills, Queens. The result was one of the first–and most successful–uses of the prefabricated housing process that we’ve seen to date. These rarely-on-the-market homes–like this semi-detached brick townhome at 20 Ingram Street–have withstood the test of time, possessing both a timeless quality and, in this case, a fascinating sense of an early modern era long past but still somehow present in these unique rooms.
Get lost among the rooms and the garden

March 14, 2017

Rare East Coast Eichler home asking $490K shows off its unique modern design with new interior photos

By Michelle Cohen

The single-floor house at 130 Grotke Road in Chestnut Ridge, NY really is, as the listing boasts, a "unique home straight out of the pages of CA Modern Magazine." 6sqft previously covered the home–one of a trio of East Coast Eichlers; the four-plus-bedroom, 2,000-square-foot 1962 slate gray beauty is on the market for $489,900. Joseph L. Eichler, whose modernist tract homes can be found throughout Northern California as well as the Greater Los Angeles area, was one of the most prolific residential homebuilders of the mid-20th century. Today, his homes are “collected” by modern design buffs for their ahead-of-their-time design and anti-McMansion cachet.
Take the tour

March 14, 2017

Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller were neighbors, but this $5M Sutton Place condo is glamorous on its own

By Michelle Cohen

Celebrity connections get our attention, especially when the celebrities are as fascinating as Marilyn Monroe and husband Arthur Miller, who shared an elevator landing with this beautifully renovated apartment at 444 East 57th Street. As 6sft previously wrote, the pair's Sutton Place penthouse, on the market last June for $6.75M, "was home to a star-studded list of 20th century residents, topped by the tempestuous Monroe and Miller when the latter was writing “The Misfits” (1961), the last play in which the troubled star would appear," and of terraces that "witnessed glittering parties that drew luminaries of the day from Cary Grant to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor." The elegance that brought them to this legendary 1927 white glove building is very much in evidence in this four-bedroom home spanning nearly 3,000 square feet.
Have a look inside

March 13, 2017

Modern-spotting: The lost Eichlers of Rockland County, New York

By Michelle Cohen

Yes, there are Eichler homes in New York! They are sometimes called "lost Eichlers," as most of noted mid-20th-century developer Joseph Eichler's homes exist in Northern and, to a lesser degree, Southern California. Three custom-built Eichler houses were constructed (and still stand) in the Rockland County, New York community of Chestnut Ridge, just north of Eichler's hometown of New York City. Joseph L. Eichler, whose modernist tract homes can be found throughout the Bay Area in Northern California as well as the Greater Los Angeles area, was one of the most celebrated residential homebuilders of the mid-20th century. His homes are enthusiastically “collected” by modern design buffs, and their renovations appear on the covers of design and home decor magazines like Dwell and Metropolitan Home.
Find out how a tiny East Coast enclave continues to enjoy the Eichler lifestyle

March 13, 2017

City’s new interactive Facilities Explorer map shows you which public resources are in your neighborhood

By Michelle Cohen

From parks and kids' camps to food pantries, a new map–just launched in Beta mode–from the Department of City Planning lets you visually explore a database of over 35,000 records from 43 different city, state and federal agency data sources, according to DNAinfo. You can see how your community stacks up when it comes to schools, police precincts, waste dumps, free legal help, ADA facilities, resources for children and seniors and much more, and find resources when you need them. The intention of the NYC Facilities Explorer is to give community boards, council members and agencies an easy way to locate services quickly when they're considering future projects in various parts of the city.
Find out more

Uncategorized

March 13, 2017

For $337K, this petite Upper East Side studio is perfect for girls’ night in

By Michelle Cohen

Though this 388-square-foot pre-war co-op at 330 East 70th Street is no airplane-hangar sized loft, it has all the makings of a sweet landing spot on a tree-lined Upper East Side block. Though pastel paint and flirty upholstery needn't stay, plenty of closets and a dressing room outside the bath would please any diva. The boutique full-service elevator building is also a block from the Second Avenue Subway, making the $337,000 ask seem like an even better idea.
Get a closer look

Distinctive Homes

March 10, 2017

Rare 19th-century Williamsburg townhouse offers gardens and river views for $4M

By Michelle Cohen

This four-unit, 19th-century townhouse at 52 South 6th Street isn't your average Williamsburg dwelling, if only because 19th-century townhouses are the exception in the trendy north Brooklyn neighborhood. This particular home, however, didn't get the memo and awaits with sunny interiors, gardens, and a waterfront spot where–according to the listing–you can watch the boats on the East River from your front porch, all for $4 million.
See what's happening in the garden

Charming and surprisingly spacious Ditmas Park co-op asks just $399K

By Michelle Cohen

The listing also calls this lovely one-bedroom co-op at 601 East 19th Street sweet, cozy and tranquil, and we have to agree with those adjectives, at least from the looks of this top-floor apartment in an elevator building in Flatbush-Ditmas Park. Freshly updated interiors highlight charming details both old and new, like original arched entryways and chevron-patterned hardwood floors. Best of all, the sprawling co-op has more room that you'd expect for $399,000–700 square feet including a very large bedroom, separate kitchen and tons of closets–all a short walk from the B and Q subways, cafes and shops at Newkirk Avenue and Cortelyou Road.
Take the tour

Distinctive Homes

March 8, 2017

Kristen Visbal’s ‘Fearless Girl’ statue defies Wall Street’s bull to promote women in business

By Michelle Cohen

A post shared by Melanie Hunt (@melaniehunt1331) on Mar 7, 2017 at 4:50am PST Early Tuesday morning a bronze statue of a young girl in high tops, face defiant, hands firmly on her hips, was placed in front of the iconic charging bull statue in lower Manhattan’s Bowling Green park. The statue, created by artist Kristen Visbal, was installed by international asset management company State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) to bring attention to the need for more women on corporate boards–and for more female business leaders in general.
What's behind the girl

Events & Things To Do

March 8, 2017

West Village loft offered for $1 returns for $40,000 a month–roommates not included

By Michelle Cohen

If you missed SpareRoom founder/CEO Rupert Hunt’s, er, hunt for a pair of compatible roomies for his impossibly gorgeous 3,400 square-foot West Village loft with a 1,500 square-foot roof terrace last October, you missed a shot at being Rupe’s roomie for the completely unheard of total of one dollar a month for six months. Now the six months are up, and so is the $1 offer. Take heart, though; the three-story loft at 305 Bleecker Street is just as amazing as it was in October, and it’s renting for the less shocking price of $40,000 a month–though we’ll assume that Hunt and his fortunate flatmates aren’t part of the deal.
Have a look around

Distinctive Homes

March 7, 2017

Study finds Bronx residents most in danger of housing displacement due to gentrification

By Michelle Cohen

A new report from the Regional Plan Association finds that residents of the Bronx are at highest risk of being pushed out due to gentrification compared to other New Yorkers, according to DNAinfo. The report, titled "Pushed Out: Housing Displacement in an Unaffordable Region," looks at the effect of rising housing costs in New York City and addresses what it names "A Crisis of Affordability." The report found the threat of being pushed out due to lack of affordable housing was a threat in 71 percent of census tracts in the Bronx. Following in displacement risk was Brooklyn at 55 percent, Manhattan and Queens at 31 percent each and Staten Island at 15 percent.
People moving out, people moving in

Affordable Housing

March 7, 2017

Live upstairs from Bethenny Frankel in this $4.75M Soho loft

By Michelle Cohen

For a while, anyway, as the Skinny Girl mogul and RHONY regular recently listed her renovated pad downstairs at 22 Mercer Street. But the cobblestones of Soho's Cast Iron District boast more than enough celebrities to withstand the loss, and this 2,392-square-foot loft has had its own renovation; on the market for $4.75 million, it's stellar enough that it doesn't matter who the neighbors are.
Take the tour

Distinctive Homes

March 6, 2017

This striking $3.9M duplex six is as classic Upper East Side as it gets

By Michelle Cohen

In an architecturally striking 1929 apartment building designed by George F. Pelham, among the elegant residences of tree-lined 75th Street half a block from Central Park, this unique two-floor co-op at 14 East 75th Street is the picture of Upper East Side perfection. Set up as a "classic six," dramatic details like sixteen vertical feet of windows go beyond classic. According to the listing this duplex, asking $3.85 million, is the first available in the building in 20 years.
Check out both floors

Distinctive Homes

March 6, 2017

Hidden underground tunnel will take you from Rockefeller Center to Times Square

By Michelle Cohen

New York City's avenue blocks are long, as are its winters; getting from Rockefeller Center to Times Square can be an unpleasant, cold and crowded experience–unless you take the underground passageway, the city's largest, that spans the entire two-block-plus distance. Below, take a virtual stroll from avenue to avenue (and from the B/D/F/M to the N/R/W subways): Enter on the west side of Fifth Avenue between 50th and 51st Street and exit at Seventh Avenue and 49th Street–and buy yourself a few more minutes before you burrow into that parka.
Take a virtual trip through the tunnel

City Living

March 6, 2017

Bjarke Ingels moves firm to huge new headquarters in ‘Scandamerican’ DUMBO

By Michelle Cohen

Architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has just added heft to the big-name design, media and technology shift that has been setting up shop in Brooklyn. BIG, founded by noted Danish architect–and DUMBO resident–Bjarke Ingels, just signed a lease for 50,000 square feet at Two Trees' 45 Main Street building in the Brooklyn waterfront neighborhood, with plans to relocate their Manhattan office at 61 Broadway to the new space, which is twice the size of the company's current NYC headquarters. As 6sqft previously reported, Ingels purchased a $4 million penthouse home at 205 Water Street with views of 2 World Trade Center back in 2015.
Find out more

Architecture And Design

March 3, 2017

‘Show-stopping’ Hamilton collection includes love letters and a lock of hair

By Michelle Cohen

Historic collections expert Seth Kaller throws his hat into the Hamilton ring for this year’s Antiquarian Book Fair, happening March 9-12 at the Park Avenue Armory. The Alexander Hamilton Collection (part of a larger collection titled “The Genius, Passions, Foibles and Flaws of our Founding Fathers” ) promises to be a unique collection of original letters, documents and imprints relating to the life and times of the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and founder of the New York Post, shown for the first time and offered for sale at the book fair.
See what's in the collection

March 3, 2017

How Citi Bike stacks up against other U.S. bike shares

By Michelle Cohen

After initial skepticism and half-hearted arguments from bike-haters and snide remarks from bike snob cities like Seattle and San Francisco, New York City’s first official bike sharing system has turned out to be a success–that much we know. The numbers compiled by Priceonomics Data Studio for their client Spin reveal some surprising numbers when it comes to how we're using those bikes. D.C., for example, beat the other cities handily on most metrics, with San Francisco and Seattle consistently at the bottom of the list. Ok, so the research was done for a bike sharing startup hoping to expand its station-less system (more on that, too), but it’s interesting to compare statistics of share programs in the nation's biggest adopters of this new public transportation option–and get a chance to see how Citi Bike fares.
Find out more fascinating bike share facts

March 3, 2017

This $2.45M Chelsea loft has authenticity, style and a magical roof garden

By Michelle Cohen

The authenticity? Built in 1922, Groff Studios is a former fur factory located at 151 West 28th Street in the old-school Flower District between 6th and 7th Avenues. The building's 16 full-floor 1,800 square-foot lofts have the high ceilings, original brick walls and open spaces loft lovers look for, plus the usual perks like a key-locked elevator and two staircases. Inside this quintessentially Manhattan home you'll find an open floor plan and 18 enormous windows lining three exposures. And there's that roof garden...
Take a look

Distinctive Homes

The history of tattooing in NYC – and its 36-year ban

Charlie Wagner tattooing Millie Hull, 1939; Image courtesy of the New-York Historical Society.

March 2, 2017

The history of tattooing in NYC – and its 36-year ban

By Michelle Cohen

We think of 1960s, '70s and '80s New York City as a freewheeling island of individuality and an alternative lifestyle haven, but the practice of body tattooing–more popular throughout history than many realize–was banned from 1961 until 1997. The ban was blamed on a Hepatitis B outbreak but could have had its origins in a number of things from a pre-World's Fair crackdown to a health inspector's personal vendetta. "Tattooed New York," a current exhibition at the New-York Historical Society traces the practice of tattooing from its use among Native American tribes through its history with sailors, trendy victorian ladies and more recent ink aficionados. One of the more fascinating detours of that history tells of how the scene changed with the ban, when NYC's tattoo artists set up private shops in their apartments.
Find out more

March 2, 2017

$3M Park Slope townhouse is the ideal mix of historic detail and modern ease

By Michelle Cohen

On a quintessential Park Slope street lined with brick homes a block from Prospect Park, behind a cheerful pair of cobalt blue doors, this well-maintained, intelligently updated two-family brownstone has a move-in ready mix of historic detail and modern ease. Built at the turn of the 19th century, the 20-foot-wide home at 510 7th Street is currently configured to offer a garden-level one-bedroom apartment with a duplex above for an income opportunity in a high-rent neighborhood; it easily converts to a single family for more space, and it's a legal three-family so three units are also an option. The three-story home is asking $2.999 million.
See more

Distinctive Homes

March 1, 2017

139th Street revisited: Bob Dylan’s former townhouse on Striver’s Row for sale for $3.7M

By Michelle Cohen

Not only has this landmarked four-story home standing among the rarely available townhouses in Harlem's Saint Nicholas Historic District–better known as Strivers' Row–been featured in district house tours–it used to belong to Bob Dylan. The early 1900s townhouse at 265 West 139th Street is one of a handsome row designed the firm of McKim Mead & White; the current owners purchased it from the enigmatic Pulitzer Prize-winning polymath for $560,000 in 2000. Times have been a-changin' in the central Harlem neighborhood, and it's now on the market for $3,689,000.
Take a closer look, this way

February 28, 2017

Mayor de Blasio to unveil plan to open 90 new homeless shelters amid growing community opposition

By Michelle Cohen

The exact details of the mayor's proposal, to be announced Tuesday afternoon, are not yet known, but the focus will undoubtedly be the mayor's ongoing battle to significantly beef up the city's overwhelmed shelter system, according to the New York Times. New York–along with Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C,– has experienced an increase in homelessness in recent years, though the number of homeless people has declined nationwide. The city's shelter infrastructure is over capacity to the point that, as 6sqft previously reported, around $400,000 a day is being spent on using hotel rooms as temporary shelters. Homelessness is one of the mayor's thorniest problems; the proposal will reportedly increase the number of shelters throughout the city by nearly one third.
Why the opposition?

All articles by Michelle Cohen

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