Nearly two years after selling her chic Greenwich Village penthouse, Rosie O’Donnell finally has a new NYC home (she spends the majority of her time at her other house in Nyack). According to city records, Rosie dropped $8 million on a triplex penthouse at Midtown East‘s 255 East 49th Street. The uber-modern residence is a sprawling 3,563 square feet and has swanky features like a black granite fireplace in the living room, a huge glass walled television in the master bathroom, a sculptural Guggenheim-inspired staircase, an indoor two-person Swedish sauna, and a giant rooftop terrace with views of the Empire and Chrysler Buildings and the East River.

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Ahead of repair work set to begin at Penn Station next week, Amtrak said it will reroute some trains each weekday to Grand Central Terminal. For the first time since 1991, passengers will use the iconic Beaux-Arts terminal to reach destinations along the Hudson River Valley, like Rhinecliff, Hudson and Albany. As the New York Times reported, Amtrak will reroute six of their Empire Service trains to Grand Central instead of Penn Station from July 10 to Sept. 1.

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A vintage postcard of the Airlines Terminal Building, via drivingfordeco.com

For more than 30 years, the Art Deco-style Airlines Terminal Building served millions of travelers as a spot where flight tickets servicing New York could be purchased and where passengers could board shuttle buses to take them to the various airports. The building, located on the southwest corner of Park Avenue and 42nd Street, sat on the former site of the Hotel Belmont, which was built in 1906 and later demolished in 1930. Construction of the Airlines Terminal began in 1939 to create the chic, futuristic design, which included a steel frame and a crown flanked by two eagles.

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With the installation of its first steel column, One Vanderbilt, soon to be New York City’s second-tallest skyscraper, officially began vertical construction on Friday. Banker Steel Company provided the 26,000 tons of domestically milled and fabricated structural steel for development, which included the first 20-ton column installed. According to the team, the construction of One Vanderbilt is three weeks ahead of schedule. SL Green Realty and AECOM Tishman say the supertall skyscraper will add to the modernization of East Midtown’s business district, as the office building will boast column-free floors, floor-to-ceiling windows, and 360-degree views.

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New York City’s classic pre-war co-ops are in an elegant class by themselves, with beamed high ceilings, big casement windows, entry halls and galleries, maid’s rooms and gracious spaces in general. The more interesting among them tend to be those in which the customized luxury of their longtime residents has been preserved. Such is case with this spacious duplex at 322 East 57th Street in Sutton Place (where you’ll find a lot of preserved customized luxury). The listing describes the three-bedroom deco-era co-op, listed for $5.195 million, as “exquisite, dramatic and unique.” Designed in 1933 by renowned architect Joseph Urban, the 3,300 square-foot apartment was for 40 years the home of the late Senator Jacob Javits and his wife, Marian, who died earlier this year. And while it’s likely that there are many updates to be made, there are also many surprising details that have returned with today’s trends.

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Conceptual image depicting all of the proposed sites of the East Midtown rezoning fully built out, via CityRealty

The City Planning Commission unanimously approved the long-awaited rezoning plan for Midtown East on Wednesday, which will rezone 78 blocks in hopes of modernizing the neighborhood. The plan, which was released last August, follows Mayor Bloomberg’s failed attempt to rezone the area in 2013. According to the Real Deal, the proposal would create 6.5 million square feet of new office space over the next twenty years. This would potentially encourage taller and more modern office towers, attracting more commercial and corporate tenants.

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Image of Greenacre Park courtesy of Sasaki

As a small oasis in the center of Manhattan, Greenacre Park is home to honey locust trees, azaleas, pansies and a 25-foot-high waterfall, all taking up just 6,360 square feet of space. However, the city’s plan to rezone Midtown East to allow for more commercial buildings worries some advocates who say it may deplete Greenacre Park from any sunlight, as the Times reported. But the Municipal Art Society, New Yorkers for Parks, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Councilmember Daniel Garodnick, are backing a campaign called “Fight For Light” to protect the park’s right to sunlight.

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Though we’re getting used to bidding farewell to our favorite vestiges of old New York, the May 17 reopening of historic and elegant cocktail establishment Campbell Apartment brings a rare reprieve to that familiar scenario, as The New York Times reports. Shuttered in July, the iconic lounge tucked away deep within Grand Central Terminal will reopen as an expanded version of the original. Both its slightly hidden nature and the establishment’s dress code will not be returning in its newest incarnation. The new, easier-to-find bar will be run by the Gerber Group, who says they want the bar to be less stuffy, hopefully without losing any of the historic and genteel appeal that made it a favorite grown-up rendezvous spot and a great way to impress a date.

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A rescued collection of terra cotta building facade figures–including naked cherubs, smiling porpoises and the head of Neptune–that once adorned an 18-story office building next to Grand Central Station are in need of a new home. The building was demolished to make way for the under-construction One Vanderbilt skyscraper; at the urging of New York Landmarks Conservancy Chair Lloyd Zuckerberg, the new building’s developer, SL Green Realty Corp., saved the three terra cotta panels from the facade of 51 East 42nd Street. Warren and Wetmore, the building’s architects, also designed the station.

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