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 15 best NYC holiday markets and indie pop-up shops
November 30, 2016

The 15 best NYC holiday markets and indie pop-up shops

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December's first days bring a dazzling parade of holiday gift markets all vying for the opportunity to find new homes for a bounty of goodies and crafty gifts. We're all familiar with the big NYC markets at Bryant Park and Union Square, but some of the best finds—and the most fun—can be found at smaller, cooler pop-ups and neighborhood markets. Some are only around for a weekend, others for the whole month or longer. In addition to locally-made jewelry and crafts, vintage finds, artfully curated fashions, home items and other things we didn't know we needed, these hip retail outposts sparkle with drinks, food, workshops, tarot readings, nail art, music, and family fun to keep shoppers' spirits bright.
Find out where to get the goods
$16.8M Village townhouse has details, a celebrity history–and a secret artists’ cottage in back
November 30, 2016

$16.8M Village townhouse has details, a celebrity history–and a secret artists’ cottage in back

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This 185-year-old West Village townhouse at 121 Washington Place would enchant any lover of historic homes. Well-preserved details are everywhere, from a brick facade to a distinguished wood-paneled library and full-length arched drawing-room windows. Then there are the features that would thrill any homeowner; at 22 feet wide, the four-story house has an elevator and, best of all, the unexpected surprise of a pint-sized skylit English cottage/artists' studio with a full bath at the back of an idyllic walled garden. Even beyond its current charms, this home and its unique little studio have seen many a colorful, creative life and hosted artists, poets and other notables from Mark Twain to Hillary Clinton.
Read on to find out more
Fidel Castro Threatens to Sleep in Central Park in Outrage Over Hotel Prices During 1960 Visit

Castro at the U.N.  General Assembly

November 28, 2016

Fidel Castro Threatens to Sleep in Central Park in Outrage Over Hotel Prices During 1960 Visit

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Just four months after Cuban President Fidel Castro led a successful revolution to overthrow Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959, he visited New York City for 11 days on an invitation from the American Society of Newspaper Editors. With his signature green army uniform and boots, bushy beard, and exuberant nature, Castro reportedly hired a PR firm (though it seems he hardly needed to), enjoyed the city’s famous hot dogs, and "kissed ladies like a rock star, and held babies like a politician," according to Mashable. During a tour of the Bronx Zoo, which he called “the best thing New York City has,” Mr. Castro is said to have jumped a railing and stuck his hand into a cage to pet a Bengal tiger.
More shenanigans to come
With massive skylights and a private rooftop garden, this $5.75M Soho loft is like a greenhouse with benefits
November 28, 2016

With massive skylights and a private rooftop garden, this $5.75M Soho loft is like a greenhouse with benefits

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It doesn't get much more Soho than this rare (in this century) live/work-legal penthouse at 35 Wooster Street, in one of the neighborhood's most iconic buildings–not least of all due to the fact that the popular art institution and gallery The Drawing Center anchors the building as the street-level tenant on landmarked Wooster Street. This beautifully-preserved pre-war cast-iron three-bedroom loft has the typical open layout, tons of detail and character (including high ceilings, a fireplace and amazing skylights), and plenty of light.
See more
Taxpayers could be footing $3M annual bill to move Secret Service into Trump Tower
November 28, 2016

Taxpayers could be footing $3M annual bill to move Secret Service into Trump Tower

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Plans are underway to turn what the New York Times calls “White House North” into an armed bunker as the president-elect’s family defers D.C.. As 6sqft reported last week, Donald Trump has said he'd like his family to remain in Trump Tower, though the gilded Fifth Avenue fortress that Trump, wife Melania and son Barron call home is particularly difficult to secure. The round-the-clock protection the family has been receiving from the NYPD has come at a cost to the city of over $1 million a day. Now, the New York Post reports that the Secret Service is in talks with the Trump Organization over plans to occupy two floors of the 68-story tower. It's standard policy for the federal agency to provide full protection for every president at their various homes–it cost around $2 million a year for the U.S. Coast Guard to protect George H. W. Bush’s estate in Kennebunkport, Maine during his presidency, for example. But in this instance taxpayers would be paying the incoming president's own company for the space in a lease deal which could cost more than $3 million a year.
Wait, what??
$12.8M massive, mod Flatiron pad is like having your own private design showroom
November 22, 2016

$12.8M massive, mod Flatiron pad is like having your own private design showroom

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Even with a dizzying ask of $12.8 million, you know you're headed for off-the-charts territory when a 4,200-square-foot, three+ bedroom apartment starts with a sunken foyer that opens into an 800-square-foot sunken living room. And if you're thinking that's bigger than lots of people's entire apartment, consider the fact that there are many rooms like it in this full-floor home in the Photo Arts Building at 5 East 16th Street. And you haven't even seen the atrium wall yet.
More enthusiastic modern design, this way
New Isay Weinfeld-designed Four Seasons won’t resemble the historic restaurant at all
November 22, 2016

New Isay Weinfeld-designed Four Seasons won’t resemble the historic restaurant at all

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The 21st century incarnation of the iconic Four Seasons restaurant set to open at 280 Park Avenue will bear no resemblance to the original, beyond the famous name and the sign that fronted the "Mad Men"-era power lunch spot in the Seagram Building, according to the restaurant's co-owner, Julian Niccolini. The New York Post reports that the team behind the "new" Four Seasons–Niccolini and partner Alex von Bidder, the Bronfman family, landlord Steve Roth of Vornado and representatives of landlord SL Green Realty–approved the new restaurant's design, by Brazilian architect Isay Weinfeld, last Friday.
A new femininity for the three-martini lunch?
Betsey Johnson unloads her pretty pink Upper East Side condo for $1.8M
November 22, 2016

Betsey Johnson unloads her pretty pink Upper East Side condo for $1.8M

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Iconoclastic designer Betsey Johnson has found a buyer for her Upper East Side condo at 30 East 85th Street. The zany fashionista with a passion for pink purchased the 850-square-foot pad at the top of the market in 2008 for $1.85 million and listed it for $2.25 million in May. With no takers, the price was chopped to $1.8M in October, and the home recently went into contract according to the New York Observer.
See more of the girly-glam pad
Site of planned Norman Foster-designed Sutton Place condo tower to be auctioned off next month
November 21, 2016

Site of planned Norman Foster-designed Sutton Place condo tower to be auctioned off next month

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The 262,000-square-foot project that includes plans for a 900-foot-tall luxury condominium tower drawn up by British architect Sir Norman Foster of Foster + Partners that embattled developer Joseph Beninati had hoped to build in the heart of Sutton Place is set to be auctioned next month, according to Crains. As 6sqft previously reported, the sale of the property at 3 Sutton Place was authorized in September to pay back creditors and partners who were owed money from the derailed project, and a source has told Crain's that an auction is scheduled for December 13 with bids due by December 8.
Find out more
Shipbuilding companies work around the clock to meet 2017 ferry service deadline
November 21, 2016

Shipbuilding companies work around the clock to meet 2017 ferry service deadline

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City officials are pushing to have the $325 million citywide ferry service, helmed by Hornblower and managed by the city's Economic Development Corporation, up and running a few months before next November, when Mayor Bill de Blasio stands for re-election. As 6sqft reported in September, two bayou-based shipbuilding companies, Horizon Shipbuilding in Bayou La Batre, Ala. and the awesomely-named Metal Shark in Franklin, La., are racing to complete the 19 new boats scheduled to hit the water this summer. The ferry service will be the most extensive passenger ferry service of its kind in any U.S. city.
Get a sneak peek at the shiny new fleet-to-be
This $649K co-op has pre-war charm, East Midtown convenience and room to grow
November 21, 2016

This $649K co-op has pre-war charm, East Midtown convenience and room to grow

By
How much you love the location of this surprisingly-spacious-for-six-figures co-op at 155 East 49th Street just north of Turtle Bay in East Midtown might just depend on how much you like skyscrapers. Because though the spot is convenient to everything from MoMA and shopping to Grand Central Station and the subway, there are tall towers in every direction and many more, even taller, on the way. But this 10-story co-op does a pretty good job making the case for classic brick amid towers of glass and steel.
Take a look
This $2.6M Flatiron loft is creative, crafty and colorful as a wildflower garden
November 18, 2016

This $2.6M Flatiron loft is creative, crafty and colorful as a wildflower garden

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Think of this loft co-op in a former garter factory at 32 West 20th Street as one big, soft, colorful tote bag–the kind your favorite third grade art teacher would pack to the brim every day–there are pockets for stuff, sure–in this case a bedroom and a bath and a half–but really it's a big, open space with room for floaty scarves, bright skeins of yarn, beads and baubles, paints and brushes. At 2,000 square feet there's plenty to work with when it comes to carving out just the kind of space you need.
Stop and smell the flowers, this way
Over 97 percent of fines issued to deadbeat landlords never collected, audit shows
November 18, 2016

Over 97 percent of fines issued to deadbeat landlords never collected, audit shows

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A recent audit by Comptroller Scott Stringer found that the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) only collected 2.46 percent of the $35.1 million in overdue fines sent to its enforcement unit in the past two years, meaning that tens of millions of dollars owed by bad landlords remained unpaid by October of 2015. Landlords get hit with fines of up to $1,000 a day for failing to fix items like a lack of heat or lead paint, but the audit charged that building owners are getting away with dodging the fines, the New York Daily News reports.
'A free pass to break the law'
November 17, 2016

City Planning Commission votes to raise fee for Theater District air rights transfers

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The City Planning Commission has voted to up the cost of air rights transfers in the special Midtown Manhattan district that includes Broadway's theaters, The Real Deal reports. Currently, when developers purchase air rights from theaters between West 40th and West 57th Streets from Sixth to Eighth Avenues, they pay $17.60 per square foot to the Theater Subdistrict Fund. Transferable development rights can usually only be used for adjacent properties, but the city created the special district in 1998 to help the theater industry thrive amid sharply rising real estate prices; within the district, air rights can be moved more freely in a larger area outside the usual “arms length” restrictions.
What does this mean for Broadway theaters?
A penthouse off Central Park on the Upper East Side for $190K? Believe it!
November 17, 2016

A penthouse off Central Park on the Upper East Side for $190K? Believe it!

By
For those of you who say you'd live in a closet just to be near the park, this might be your dream home. And this petite penthouse at 103 East 84th Street isn't just any closet (though it does appear to be under 200 square feet); not only is this unique co-op in a lovely full-service elevator building off Park Avenue, but the space that has been called "Manhattan's most adorable penthouse" boasts a charming and sizeable private terrace to rival many a million-dollar property.
Find out more about this charming garret
Triboro’s ‘Wrong Color Subway Map’ uses art as an antidote for subway confusion
November 16, 2016

Triboro’s ‘Wrong Color Subway Map’ uses art as an antidote for subway confusion

By
David Heasty and Stefanie Weigler, the husband-and-wife team behind Brooklyn’s Triboro design firm, want you to spend more time looking at the New York City subway map. To that end, they’ve created versions of the familiar underground map in vibrant colors that definitely aren’t part of the official MTA version. Intended as less of a subway map replacement and more of a "beautiful memento of the city," Triboro introduced their Wrong Color Subway Map this fall, citing Massimo Vignelli’s iconic 1972 design as inspiration (h/t Wall Street Journal).
More maps, this way
Central Park squirrels: Once exotic, now basically in charge
November 16, 2016

Central Park squirrels: Once exotic, now basically in charge

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Squirrels may be so common in today’s city parks that they threaten to make off with our junk food, but at one time the creatures were rare and exotic visitors whose delightful presence was carefully encouraged. Dan Lewis of Now I Know tells us that the ubiquitous squirrel may have been indigenous to North America, but Central Park's squirrels didn't come with the territory: The bushy-tailed natives had become all but extinct on Manhattan island by the 1850s due to rapid development. Just a year before the park’s creation, one lone squirrel, heading down a tree trunk on its way to extinction, stopped traffic as charmed New Yorkers marveled at the antics of the "unusual visitor" to the extent that they had to be dispersed by police, according to accounts by a paper of the day.
So how did they get here?
For $4.2M this four-bedroom Village loft condo is the picture of understated luxury and charm
November 16, 2016

For $4.2M this four-bedroom Village loft condo is the picture of understated luxury and charm

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While the $4.2 million price may sound steep, this sprawling 10th floor loft at 8 East 12th Street on the east side of Greenwich Village checks the boxes for just about every dreamy detail you'd need or want in a city apartment. At 2,330 square feet with four bedrooms, closets galore and an enormous great room, there's more than enough space for family, friends and guests. High-floor views go all the way down to One World Trade, and high ceilings accentuate the brightness in every room–and then there are the sunsets. Though there may be no million-dollar parking spots or Olympic-sized pool, this covetable condo is far from no-frills. Central air, a laundry room, marble baths and a chef-ready European kitchen are just a few just-right details; the building is located in one of the finest spots a Manhattan dweller could ask for, just blocks from Washington Square Park, the East Village, the Union Square Greenmarket and nearly every subway in the city.
Get a closer look
Upper West Side buildings to dump Trump name following petition

Trump Place Apartments courtesy of Nick Normal’s Flickr

November 15, 2016

Upper West Side buildings to dump Trump name following petition

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“The building is beautiful, the service is impeccable,” Marjorie Jacobs, a resident of the Upper West Side complex currently known as Trump Place told Bloomberg in October, “But the name is very embarrassing." An outcry by similarly-minded residents and a petition have culminated in the decision to remove the president-elect's name from the buildings and instead name them according to their street addresses at 140, 160 and 180 Riverside Boulevard, reports Crains.
Find out more
Live a Tribeca artist’s loft life in the center of it all for $7,500K/month
November 15, 2016

Live a Tribeca artist’s loft life in the center of it all for $7,500K/month

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When you tell them you live in a loft, this sprawling specimen is pretty much what you'd hope to be describing. For a mere $7,500 a month, this newly-renovated picture of loft living at 6 Varick Street (known for its authentic-but-updated lofts), where Tribeca is arguably at its most Tribecan–if not its most quiet–even comes with art supplies, or at least a place to store them.
Have a look around, this way
#NotMyAIA: Architects reject AIA statement pledging to ‘work with’ Trump

Promises and reality: Trump’s failed attempts to build the world’s tallest buildings in NYC

November 15, 2016

#NotMyAIA: Architects reject AIA statement pledging to ‘work with’ Trump

By
. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) issued a statement last Wednesday pledging that "The AIA and its 89,000 members are committed to working with president-elect Trump to address the issues our country faces, particularly strengthening the nation's aging infrastructure." The statement issued by organization chief Robert Ivy assured that the country's architects would help the incoming president and congress with construction industry-related matters: "During the campaign, president-elect Trump called for committing at least $500 billion to infrastructure spending over five years,” said Ivy–possibly providing an imperative for the message. But that does not appear to be reason enough for members, who say they do not necessarily "stand ready to work with him and with the incoming 115th Congress.” A swift and indignant backlash led to an apology by Ivy released early this week.
Read on
This $3.5M Tribeca apartment has the bones of a loft, the polished interiors of a mansion
November 14, 2016

This $3.5M Tribeca apartment has the bones of a loft, the polished interiors of a mansion

By
This two-convertible-to-three-bedroom condominium at 58 Walker Street has all the credibility it needs as an authentic Tribeca loft, but wood-paneled walls, a marble-mantled fireplace and super-luxe details assure there won't be any need to sacrifice grown-up elegance. 13-foot ceilings, massive loft windows and exposed brick walls within a cast iron loft building frame a 1,927 square-foot home whose interiors were created by the design team of kureck/jones. An added rare-in-a-loft perk: There's a private terrace off the master bedroom.
Take a tour
Queens, Brooklyn see ‘drastic’ rise in foreclosures
November 14, 2016

Queens, Brooklyn see ‘drastic’ rise in foreclosures

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October brought a significant spike in home mortgage foreclosure rates, according to The New York Post, with more than 1,100 homes heading into foreclosure. That number represents a 32 percent increase from the previous month and a 37 percent increase from one year ago, with 400 new cases in Queens (nearly twice as many as a year ago). 365 cases were recorded in Brooklyn, a 20 percent increase, with the state overall seeing a 15 percent increase since September and 10 percent year over year, according research by Attom Data Solutions.
Find out more
This $3M Clinton Hill townhouse gives you another chance to weigh in on the tub-in-the-bedroom trend
November 13, 2016

This $3M Clinton Hill townhouse gives you another chance to weigh in on the tub-in-the-bedroom trend

By
While a bathtub and hand shower in the bedroom may conjure images of East Village walkups with the shower tucked next to the kitchen fridge, or worse, the free-standing bathtub has been appearing in the best of boudoirs for some time now. This $2.995 million two-family brownstone at 107 Greene Avenue in historic Clinton Hill puts the tub at a jaunty angle right smack in the middle of the master bedroom. The rest of the home is the obligatory mix of painstakingly restored original details (wide plank hardwood floors, tin ceilings, marble mantles, original lighting fixtures and medallions, hardwood doors with elegant glass doorknobs) and modern updates (washer/dryer, Viking kitchen, laundry room), and 3,600 square feet of space, plus rental income, may be worth getting lathered up over.
Take the tour
Lawsuit: Co-op board told Madonna she can’t have daughter Lourdes stay at her pad when she’s out
November 11, 2016

Lawsuit: Co-op board told Madonna she can’t have daughter Lourdes stay at her pad when she’s out

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In a recent court filing, Madonna's attorney wrote that the pop star was “entitled” to have her “adult daughter” Lourdes live in the $7.3 million duplex that she purchased in 2008, The New York Post shares. As 6sqft previously reported, Madge sued the board at 1 West 64th Street, known as Harperley Hall, in April after they attempted to ban the performer's family and staff from being in the apartment when she wasn't there. According to court papers, the co-op building's board illegally changed her original lease in 2014 to say that no one under 16 could reside in the apartment unless an adult over age 21 was present.
Find out more
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