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.

Mayor pulls Theater District air rights plan after disputes with City Council over floor price

Image via Wiki Commons

February 28, 2017

Mayor pulls Theater District air rights plan after disputes with City Council over floor price

By Michelle Cohen

Image via Wiki Commons The de Blasio administration pulled the plug Monday on proposed legislation that would give the city a 20 percent cut of any air rights sales in midtown Manhattan's Theater District, according to Crain's. The reversal followed disputes with City Council members over a key element–a floor price for the sales. The proposal had been part of a long effort to get theater owners to up the amount they contribute to a fund used for venue maintenance and support for smaller theaters. There is now speculation as to whether the move could cast a shadow on the administration's Midtown East rezoning plan, which is a similar policy initiative.
Find out more

Policy

City’s most expensive rental is back for $500K/month, chauffeur-driven Jaguar included

February 28, 2017

City’s most expensive rental is back for $500K/month, chauffeur-driven Jaguar included

By Michelle Cohen

As 6sqft asked when the 39th floor at The Pierre Hotel at 795 Fifth Avenue hit the rental market two years ago, if you’ve got the cash, why buy when you can rent for $6 million a year? Now that opportunity to refresh your enormous outlay every month is again seeking a renter at $500,000/month, keeping its title as the city’s most expensive rental. The massive 4,786-square-foot space has merely a butler’s kitchen, but the assumption is, of course, that you wouldn't want to be slaving over a hot stove in a full-service hotel anyway. And that service includes twice-daily maid service, an on-call physician, room service, two restaurants and a chauffeur-driven Jaguar.
See what this hefty price tag gets you

$1.6M Washington Heights row house is on a hidden historic street across from Manhattan’s oldest home

February 27, 2017

$1.6M Washington Heights row house is on a hidden historic street across from Manhattan’s oldest home

By Michelle Cohen

In the heart of the Jumel Terrace Historic District in Washington Heights, already known for the Morris Jumel Mansion, the oldest house in Manhattan, the quaint row houses of Sylvan Terrace are tucked away on one of the city’s “secret” streets. The mansion is not only famous for being General George Washington's temporary headquarters during the Revolutionary War but for hosting dignitaries from John Adams and Thomas Jefferson to Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton; in more modern times, "Hamilton” fans may know it as being the spot where the musical’s creator Lin-Manuel Miranda penned songs from the Broadway hit. The historic row of houses, built in the 1880s, was restored by the Landmarks Preservation Commission; 16 Sylvan Terrace was further renovated by its current owners and is now on the market for $1.625 million.
Take a peek inside this historic row house

Sun worshippers: Rent this West Village townhouse with terraces and glass walls for $25K a month

February 27, 2017

Sun worshippers: Rent this West Village townhouse with terraces and glass walls for $25K a month

By Michelle Cohen

While it's immediately evident that this quaint brick townhouse at 65 Bedford Street in the West Village couldn't be in a more charmed location, a connected panel of windows on the home's top floor is the only indication of more to come. The 4,000-square-foot, 20-foot-wide renovated townhouse has the necessary combination of modern and traditional, including an elevator, walls of windows and multiple terraces. The entire package–four bedrooms, four stories–is on the rental market for a one- year lease at $25,000 a month.
Check out all those windows

Distinctive Homes

J.P. Morgan’s 120-year-old ‘Great Camp Uncas’ in the Adirondack wilderness reduced to $2.7M

February 24, 2017

J.P. Morgan’s 120-year-old ‘Great Camp Uncas’ in the Adirondack wilderness reduced to $2.7M

By Michelle Cohen

A standout even among the region's Great Camps, the secluded Camp Uncas was built in 1895 by Brooklynite William West Durant, who is credited with perfecting the iconic Adirondack Great Camp style. The compound's biggest claim to fame, however, is that it once belonged to financier J.P. Morgan, who purchased the 1,500 acre property from Durant in 1897; for the fifty years that followed, it served as a vacation home for Morgan and his family. Though the property has traded hands several times since, the appeal of its iconic architecture remains as compelling as its history. Designated as a national landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 2010, this historically significant piece of the Adirondacks is for sale for $2.7 million, reduced from its original 2015 ask of $3.25M.
Explore this extraordinary historic property

Ivanka Trump’s Park Avenue starter pad, still without a buyer, gets a rental price chop to $13K a month

February 24, 2017

Ivanka Trump’s Park Avenue starter pad, still without a buyer, gets a rental price chop to $13K a month

By Michelle Cohen

As 6sqft previously reported, Ms. Trump and husband Jared Kushner, now senior adviser to President Donald Trump, first listed their apartment at 502 Park Avenue for $4.1 million in December; Ivanka purchased the home for $1.52 million in 2004. The classic and somewhat girly Park Avenue pad with Tiffany-box blue walls has also been on the rental market, first at $15K and, as Mansion Global reports, just reduced to $13,000 a month. Ivanka also owns one of the building’s penthouses–it's the Trump/Kushner family's main home when they're in town– that she bought for $16 million nearly six years ago.
Tour the classic uptown condo

$10M Upper East Side townhouse is introducing its neighbors to the future

February 24, 2017

$10M Upper East Side townhouse is introducing its neighbors to the future

By Michelle Cohen

Sleek casement windows and a minimalist grey facade are the first sign that this otherwise unassuming mid-block home at 419 East 84th Street isn't your average $9.99 million Upper East Side townhouse. Inside, the Euro-chic flush surfaces, exposed brick, and wide open spaces of a downtown loft condo span five stories, from the garden floor au pair suite to the floating glass staircase to a wood-beamed skylit top floor. At 6,000 square feet, though, it's the size of three lofts, with the added perk of being situated in classic Yorkville, just a block from Carl Schurz Park and two blocks from the new Second Avenue Subway.
Hop in the elevator and take the tour

Distinctive Homes

Transformable Ollie chair unfurls with the pull of a string

February 23, 2017

Transformable Ollie chair unfurls with the pull of a string

By Michelle Cohen

If you've ever wished an ergonomic, well-designed comfortable chair would materialize when you need it, the Ollie Chair has your back. Ollie is a transformable seat that unfurls and retracts with no more than the pull of a string. Created by Brooklyn Navy Yard-based kinetic furniture company RockPaperRobot, the chair offers a portable, elegant and comfortable solution for today's office-anywhere work style–and its customizable cool design makes it a welcome addition to your decor.
So where can I get one?

Design team suggests a new mission-driven gentrification model geared toward artists and small businesses

Image: mx.org

February 23, 2017

Design team suggests a new mission-driven gentrification model geared toward artists and small businesses

By Michelle Cohen

We’ve definitely seen a lifetime’s worth of the trajectory that runs from warehouse to art studio to luxury loft, starting with neighborhoods like Soho and picking up speed as developers got into the act, anticipating the next "it" enclave with manageable rents attracting the young and creative. A team of New York-based designers developed a proposal for reaping the benefits of economic growth in the city's industrial areas without pricing out all but the wealthiest players. Soft City reports the details of this “mission-driven gentrification” concept, which suggests an all-new development model for the city's manufacturing neighborhoods (known as M1 districts), helmed by mission-based organizations and a building typology that caters to small businesses and artists.
Bright ideas, this way

For $9.5M, this sprawling Gramercy co-op has a sunken living room and keys to the park

February 23, 2017

For $9.5M, this sprawling Gramercy co-op has a sunken living room and keys to the park

By Michelle Cohen

At a house-sized 3,809 square feet, this jumbo co-op at 50 Gramercy Park North, on the market for $9.5 million, is likely two apartments that were combined. As a result, there's more room for bedrooms, living and entertaining space and more floor-to-ceiling glass to take in the view. The building is also home to the Gramercy Park Hotel, so you get hotel-level amenities as part of the deal, along with a coveted key to the park.
Big rooms and big views this way

Distinctive Homes

Popular Articles

125-year-old Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine finally declared a city landmark

Image via Wiki Commons

February 22, 2017

125-year-old Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine finally declared a city landmark

By Michelle Cohen

Image via Wiki Commons On Tuesday the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to designate the 125-year-old Cathedral Church of St. John The Divine, the world's largest cathedral; in addition, 115 neighboring buildings became the Morningside Heights Historic District. The designated district runs from West 109th to 119th streets between Riverside Drive and Amsterdam Avenue and includes the famously unfinished cathedral and surrounding campus. With the designation, calendared by the LPC in September, comes a 3-D online map that provides more information about the buildings in the district, most of which were constructed between 1900 and 1910, including townhouses dating back to the late 1800s as well as pre-war apartment buildings.
Find out more

$2.5M artist’s townhouse in Clinton Hill has a painter’s studio, full bar, and color everywhere

February 22, 2017

$2.5M artist’s townhouse in Clinton Hill has a painter’s studio, full bar, and color everywhere

By Michelle Cohen

This three-story, two-family Clinton Hill townhouse at 578 Myrtle Avenue, zoned to allow a commercial establishment on the ground floor, has plenty of living space and lots of income potential. Asking $2.5 million, the current setup as a painter's single-family home and workspace further underscores the freedom and fun of townhouse living. The light-filled top floor is currently used as a studio for the artist-in-residence (his favorite subjects are "ballet dancers, bullfighters, and women of the night, lounging in opulent bedrooms," as seen above) whose enjoyment of rouge, magenta, blue and beyond can be seen throughout the house.
No, we have no idea what's on the back of that chair

Historic Clinton Hill carriage house gets light from a ‘sky volume’ and a courtyard carved into its core

February 21, 2017

Historic Clinton Hill carriage house gets light from a ‘sky volume’ and a courtyard carved into its core

By Michelle Cohen

A thoroughly transformative re-design by New York studio O'Neill McVoy Architects turns a historic red brick townhouse on a slender 24- by 76-foot lot in need of light and air into an ultra-bright and inspiring modern residence for a young family. The Clinton Hill Courtyard House, in a landmarked section of the neighborhood, was built in 1877 as a carriage house for the mansion next door. The historic integrity of the home's exterior was left intact, but inside, three strategic openings–including skylights, a central courtyard, and a perforated interior stair wall--were created to let in light and air everywhere for daily living.
So much sunlight, in so many creative ways

February 21, 2017

Supreme branded Metrocards bring mayhem to NYC subway stations

By Michelle Cohen

A post shared by Chenglong Sun @N¥€ @NYU (@zoomscl35) on Feb 18, 2017 at 9:00am PST There's even more to love about the NYC subway this week, as Hypebeast and The Cut report on the branded collaboration between cult skatewear brand Supreme and the MTA. The limited-edition Supreme-branded Metrocards arrived at stores and select stations on Monday and limited outbreaks of mayhem have ensued as fans scrambled to buy the custom cards from Metrocard machines. The cards cost $5.50, though according to the MTA they're sold out, and it's reported that they're selling for $1,000 $38.88 on eBay.
Ruckus locations, this way

Port Authority may add $4 curbside taxi fee at airports

Image by Grant Wickens via flick CC

February 21, 2017

Port Authority may add $4 curbside taxi fee at airports

By Michelle Cohen

Image by Grant Wickens via flick CC As far back as 2015, 6sqft reported that the Port Authority was considering fees for vehicles pulling up curbside to drop off or pick up passengers at New York City's airports as a way to reduce the congestion that has worsened since services like Uber and Lyft have arrived. The city's airports are among the only ones in the U.S. that don't charge curbside access fees. Now the Daily News has obtained a Port Authority draft proposal outlining the proposed fees. Taxi and hired car passengers could be hit with a $4 charge for each trip in and out of Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports as early as next year. The fee would be charged to the car operators and would presumably be passed to passengers
The idea is not getting a warm reception

Transit

Marvel at the downtown Manhattan skyline from the many terraces of this $8.5M Tribeca penthouse duplex

February 21, 2017

Marvel at the downtown Manhattan skyline from the many terraces of this $8.5M Tribeca penthouse duplex

By Michelle Cohen

One of the best ways to enjoy Manhattan living is to be surrounded by the city's ever-changing, mesmerizing skyline, especially if you're lucky enough to be gazing from your own private perch. At this duplex penthouse atop the 12-unit condominium at 92 Warren Street in Tribeca, currently asking $8.5 million, the opportunities to do just that are many. Two spacious balconies and a roof deck afford dizzying views of the surrounding skyscrapers, classic lofts and the Hudson River–and you're getting the same amazing eyeful even if you stay indoors.
Take the tour

Distinctive Homes

$5K/month shabby-chic Flatiron District co-op has a solarium and private terrace

February 19, 2017

$5K/month shabby-chic Flatiron District co-op has a solarium and private terrace

By Michelle Cohen

Once you settle in to the rustic vibe of this pre-war Flatiron co-op at 41 East 19th Street, you might feel like you've been living there for years. The artful lived-in look is only part of the package; a 270-square-foot terrace adds the possibility of lavish entertaining, and a living room with a greenhouse roof keeps things sunny in all seasons of the year.
Take a look

Distinctive Homes

Hidden tennis courts in Grand Central Station were also once Trump’s exclusive club

February 17, 2017

Hidden tennis courts in Grand Central Station were also once Trump’s exclusive club

By Michelle Cohen

Even the city's most public places conceal secrets paved over by the years, some more hidden than others. Grand Central Station is no exception despite the 750,000 or so people who make their way through its halls each day. You may already know of the terminal's secret train track and whispering walls, but did you know that there are tennis courts in Grand Central? Once an exclusive club run by Donald Trump, the courts are now open to the public—and you can reserve a court at midnight.
From a Hungarian immigrant to Donald Trump to Night Owl Tennis

History

More basement apartments would help ease the city’s housing crisis, says new study

February 17, 2017

More basement apartments would help ease the city’s housing crisis, says new study

By Michelle Cohen

A study released Thursday by the Citizens Housing and Planning Council (CHPC) suggests that Mayor Bill de Blasio's initiatives to ease the city's housing woes should include a program that would convert the 38,000 or so basements in the city's single-family homes without having to make big changes to city or state laws. As Crain's reports, the study is part of the CHPC’s Making Room initiative that explores how alternative housing typologies can better meet the needs of New York’s diverse households. The council introduced the study by stating their belief that "based on the ﬁndings we present here, that a basement conversion program in New York City would be an eﬃcient and exciting way to add residential density and expand housing choices in our expensive and highly constrained urban market."
Find out more

1924 cliffside Riverdale castle-cottage has magical river views, a Broadway pedigree and a $2.6M ask

February 17, 2017

1924 cliffside Riverdale castle-cottage has magical river views, a Broadway pedigree and a $2.6M ask

By Michelle Cohen

In case you need another reason to love New York City, this singular gem of a seven-unit apartment building perched on a wild cliff overlooking the Palisades where the Harlem River meets the mighty Hudson just hit the market. Built in 1924 as a co-operative by a super-literary lawyer/developer who also happened to be the first editor-in-chief of the Harvard Law Review, the Villa Rosa Bonheur at 2395 Palisade Avenue in Riverdale, the Bronx, is one of three; her sister buildings go by Villa Charlotte Brontë and Villa Victoria. Their creator, John J. McKelvey, was looking beyond the bottom line when he built what would be the first apartment buildings in the Bronx. Ms. Rosa is now on the market for a mere $2.595 million. There's more: Her current owners are the family of the late "Beatlemania" creator Robert Rabinowitz.
Get a closer look

LOT-EK erects a stunning single-family mega-home from 21 shipping containers in Williamsburg

February 16, 2017

LOT-EK erects a stunning single-family mega-home from 21 shipping containers in Williamsburg

By Michelle Cohen

It would hardly raise an eyebrow to note that the Brooklyn couple behind the wildly popular Williamsburg barbecue joint Fette Sau hired an architect to build them a 25-by-100-foot home on a corner lot in the neighborhood. But in this case, the architects are Ada Tolla and Giuseppe Lignano of the firm LOT-EK, which means the house in question is likely to cause at least a few double-takes. Rising from that corner lot, this remarkable single-family residence was made from 21 steel shipping containers, tamed and transformed into a sleek and surprisingly livable home.
See more of this unconventional home of corrugated steel and glass

Architecture And Design

On the market for the first time since 1969, this $5M Tribeca artists’ loft is a blank canvas

February 16, 2017

On the market for the first time since 1969, this $5M Tribeca artists’ loft is a blank canvas

By Michelle Cohen

As the listing for this $4.995 million Tribeca spread at 85 Walker Street says, "vintage" doesn't do this amazing artists' loft justice. Occupying the entire fourth and fifth floors of a cast iron building that dates from 1868, it's more of what we'd call a piece of New York City history; the top-floor duplex is on the market for the first time since 1969.
Layers of history, layers of paint

Distinctive Homes

Put your favorite small businesses on the map with the city’s ‘Love Your Local’ initiative

February 15, 2017

Put your favorite small businesses on the map with the city’s ‘Love Your Local’ initiative

By Michelle Cohen

Put your favorite local, non-franchise businesses "on the map" and help them apply for a share of a $1.8 million grant. Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Department of Small Business Services have announced the launch of "NYC Love Your Local," a new opportunity to celebrate and promote the city's many independent small businesses. The program allows New Yorkers to add their favorite mom-and-pop shops to an interactive map so they can get funding and access to expert advice.
Find out how to add your local

City Living

The historic Astor Suite at the Plaza is for sale at $39.5M

February 15, 2017

The historic Astor Suite at the Plaza is for sale at $39.5M

By Michelle Cohen

The Astor Suite at the Plaza Hotel and Residences at 1 Central Park South just hit the market for an Astor-worthy $39.5 million. The listing calls the 4,284 square-foot, three-bedroom home "one of the most historic homes ever to become available in the United States." Currently owned by Esprit founder and former CEO Jürgen Friedrich, the suite boasts a roster of past residents that includes John Jacob Astor, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and John F. Kennedy.
Take the tour, find out more

Hamptons home prices sag as luxury buyers head to hipper Hudson Valley

Image: Hudson Woods by Drew Lang

February 14, 2017

Hamptons home prices sag as luxury buyers head to hipper Hudson Valley

By Michelle Cohen

The megawatt real estate of the Hamptons may be suffering from shrinkage as a new generation of glitterati increasingly chooses the rustic charm of upstate New York instead. Business Insider reports a surge in the popularity of second homes and tourist activity in Hudson Valley and Catskills towns—and a corresponding dip in Hamptons home prices—in 2016.
Is Upstate the new East End?

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