By Devin Gannon, Wed, October 6, 2021 Photo by Jason Krieger on Unsplash
More apartments sold in Manhattan in the third quarter of 2021 than at any point during the last 30+ years of tracking, a new real estate market report says. According to a Douglas Elliman report published this week, there were 4,523 closed co-op and condos sales in the quarter, more than triple the same period last year and 76.5 percent higher than the same time in 2019. Even more indicative of the market turnaround following Covid-19, this quarter passed the previous sales record of 3,939 reported in the second quarter of 2007. And in its own market report, The Corcoran Group found sales volume in Manhattan topped $9.5 billion, the highest quarterly volume total ever recorded. This passes the previous record of $8.54 billion set in the second quarter of 2019.
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By Dana Schulz, Wed, October 6, 2021 Photo by Jason Puma
Assuming the condo at Brooklyn Heights’ Quay Tower closes for its $10,650,000 asking price, it’ll become Brooklyn’s priciest condo sale of the year. This is not the first record-setter for the luxury waterfront tower. In April 2020, a penthouse closed for $20,301,000, making it the borough’s most expensive residential sale ever at the time. (It was outdone by a $25.5 million Brooklyn Heights townhouse sale in January of this year, but it’s still the borough’s biggest condo sale.) The latest sale is for a 4,544-square-foot, four-bedroom unit with amazing skyline and harbor views.
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By Devin Gannon, Tue, September 21, 2021 Renderings courtesy of COOKFOX Architects
Google will buy the Manhattan office building it currently leases for $2.1 billion next year. The tech giant announced on Tuesday plans to purchase St. John’s Terminal at 550 Washington Street in Hudson Square during the first quarter of 2022. Google already leases the former freight terminal, which is currently undergoing a major renovation and addition as part of the company’s new 1.7 million-square-foot campus in the neighborhood. As the Wall Street Journal first reported, the deal marks the priciest sale of a single office building in the United States since the start of the pandemic, as well as one of the most expensive ever recorded.
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By Dana Schulz, Mon, August 9, 2021 All photos courtesy of Common
Jersey City was recently ranked the 17th-best city in the nation for young professionals, which isn’t surprising considering it’s a 10-minute PATH ride to lower Manhattan and has seen a true artistic renaissance unfold over the last decade. But that doesn’t mean it’s an affordable place for young professionals to live, which is where the new 122-unit micro-apartment property Nest comes in.
Located at 190 Academy Street in Journal Square, the property is overseen by innovative multifamily property manager Common and was developed by KSNY and Strategic Properties. The fully-furnished studio apartments start at just $1,277/month and, in the creative spirit of Jersey City, are showing that affordability doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice good design. (And just wait ’til you see the amenities.)
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By Dana Schulz, Tue, July 20, 2021 220 Central Park South as seen in May 2020. Photo by Jim.henderson (cropped) via Wikimedia Commons.
As was first reported by the Wall Street Journal in June, a buyer shelled out $157,500,000 for two units at 220 Central Park South. Property records showed the $82.5 million purchase of the 60th-floor unit and the $75 million purchase of the 61st-floor unit, both made using an LLC. But CNBC has now revealed that the buyer is billionaire Joe Tsai, Alibaba co-founder and owner of the Brooklyn Nets. The sale is the second biggest in New York City history and the third-largest ever in the U.S. The number-one spot occurred at the same Billionaires’ Row tower, with billionaire Ken Griffith’s $238 million purchase in early 2019. Read more
By Dana Schulz, Tue, June 29, 2021 Photo by Sebastiandoe5 via Wikimedia Commons
An $88 million profit? That’s what the current owner of the 96th-floor penthouse at supertall tower 432 Park Avenue is hoping to achieve. As the New York Times first reported, billionaire Saudi real estate developer Fawaz Alhokair has listed his apartment at the 1,400-foot-tall condo for $169 million, double what he paid for it in 2016. If it fetches the asking price, it would become the second most expensive home ever sold in New York City and would set a record with its $20,500 per square foot price tag.
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By Devin Gannon, Tue, May 18, 2021 New atrium proposed for 60 Wall Street; Conceptual renderings courtesy of Paramount Group
The eccentric 1980s atrium at the Financial District office tower 60 Wall Street is getting a 21st-century makeover. As part of a major renovation, owner Paramount Group is ditching the indoor palm trees and man-made rock displays and creating a public space they feel is more attractive in a post-pandemic era. With designs from Kohn Pedersen Fox, the updated atrium of the 47-story tower will boast a new skylight and a 100-foot-tall, block-long interior green wall.
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By Karen Zabarsky, Mon, April 12, 2021 Photo by Valentin Wechsler on Unsplash
In November 2020, Heather White decided it was time to move to Brooklyn and open her gym’s second location there. She founded Trillfit, a runaway fitness sensation, in Boston and was ready to expand. People in her life told her New York is not the place to be right now. Her response: New York is always the place. “When everybody goes left, we go right.”
It’s the best-kept secret among New Yorkers—now is the time to move to New York City.
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By Dana Schulz, Mon, March 29, 2021 Photo by Clay LeConey on Unsplash
A year ago, there was so much uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and politics, which made real estate somewhat of a gamble, at least in hard-hit New York City. When it came to the headlines, it seemed all anyone could talk about was the mass exodus from the city. Home prices were soaring in the surrounding suburbs, with stories of lines around the block for open houses and bidding wars. But in the city, vacancies were at an unprecedented high.
A year later, though, and a quarter of New Yorkers are vaccinated, and we’re starting to see “normal” life resurface. To understand how the residential real estate market is rebounding, we spoke to experts in the field, including brokers, developers, and data gurus, to get their thoughts on timing, prices, the luxury market, surrounding suburbs, and more.
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By Devin Gannon, Wed, February 10, 2021 Photo by Jeffrey Blum on Unsplash
After three consecutive quarters of decline, the total residential sales volume and residential transactions in New York City during the final quarter of last year increased considerably. According to a new report released this week by the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), total sales increased to $9 billion in Q4 2020 from $6.5 billion in Q3, a roughly 40 percent increase in sales volume. Notably, the outer boroughs drove the surge in sales, with a sales volume increase of 90 percent in Brooklyn and 69 percent in Queens during this period.
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