Real Estate Trends

February 20, 2015

New Waldorf Astoria Owners Will Add Luxury Condos to the Iconic Hotel

Back in October, it was revealed that Hilton Worldwide Holdings, who owned the landmark Waldorf Astoria since 1972, had agreed to sell the 1,232-room hotel to the Anbang Insurance Group Co., a financial and insurance company based in Beijing, for $1.95 billion. The deal closed just last week, and now the new owners are planning to convert part of the Art Deco building into luxury condominiums. According to The Real Deal, Anbang’s chairman Wu Xiaohui recently said: "We plan to renovate the two towers into luxury residential apartments with world-class amenities and finishes to reflect its culture and social status."
More details

February 19, 2015

Modern Family’s Jesse Tyler Ferguson Buys $1.2M Gramercy Co-op

By Annie Doge

Jesse Tyler Ferguson, famous for his portrayal of neurotic lawyer Mitchell Pritchett on the sitcom Modern Family, has scooped up a $1,232,500 Gramercy Park co-op with his husband Justin Mikita, according to city records released today. The one-bedroom apartment at 200 East 16th Street is pretty standard, but will still make a lovely home for the couple when Ferguson isn't in LA filming.
Check out the unit here

February 19, 2015

$300K Rental at the Surrey Hotel Is the City’s Most Expensive One-Bedroom

By Diane Pham

Why buy a $3.6 million dollar home when you can pay the same amount of money to live in a modest one-bedroom for a year? The latest unit to join the city's ever-growing collection of priciest listings is a 1200-square-foot apartment in the Surrey Hotel at 20 East 76th Street. The Post reports that the pad—which is actually the 17th-floor penthouse if that sweetens the deal any—is currently renting for $300,000 a month and comes with one "oversized" bedroom, one-and-a-half bathrooms, and access to the hotel’s English rooftop garden and five-star amenities, which include a day spa and a place to pamper your pooch, amongst other perks.
Have a look around here

February 19, 2015

The Rise of the ‘Pencil Tower;’ Floor Plans and Prices Revealed for All Sony Tower Condos

By Diane Pham

What’s happening to NYC’s skyline? Get used to seeing more and more “pencil towers” everywhere. [NYT Opinion] We got a peek at the $150M penthouse yesterday. Now find out how much buyers will shell out for the converted Sony Tower condos, and what exactly they’ll get in exchange for their millions. [TRD] Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat announced […]

Real Estate Trends

February 19, 2015

REVEALED: Long Island City’s One Queens Plaza by Raymond Chan Architect

By Ondel Hylton

Here's your first look at an upcoming 18-story, 110-unit residential building called One Queens Plaza in Long Island City. Situated at 42-10 27th Street, the tower is being developed by the ever-growing-in-ambition New York Lions Group, also the developer of the two nearby Court Square towers that we revealed earlier today. Late last month, The Real Deal broke news of the development's initial construction permit filing, which calls for a 90,000-square-foot tower that will include 8,645 square feet of commercial space, as well as a 55-car parking garage. It will be just a single stop from Midtown along the N and R lines–meaning residents can be whisked from their doorsteps to Bloomingdales in roughly five minutes.
More on the project ahead

February 18, 2015

Extell’s UWS ‘Poor Door’ Building Now Taking Affordable Housing Applications

By Diane Pham

Easily 2014's most controversial building, Extell's 40 Riverside Boulevard—a.k.a. the "Poor Door" building, and recently rechristened 50 Riverside Boulevard in light of the scandal—is back in the news, this time for reasons far less unsavory. Starting today, qualified New Yorkers can apply for one of the building's 55 subsidized rentals.
Find out how much units are going for

February 18, 2015

Why the Plan to Toll Bridges Will Succeed; Is NYC Becoming a ‘Gated Community?’

By Diane Pham

Here’s why the new plan to toll NYC bridges—and other traffic pricing—will succeed. [Crain’s] With housing costs rising with no end in sight, NYC is in danger of becoming a “gated community.” [TRD] The rise of the “designer neighborhood” and a look at the developers turning the last of NYC’s undeveloped land into custom, mega-sized real estate […]

Real Estate Trends

February 18, 2015

Developer Matthew Blesso Settles into a Spectacular Park Slope Townhouse for $4.05M

By Diane Pham

Developer Matthew Blesso is doing a total architectural 180. Blesso, who used to call this uber-sleek Noho penthouse home, has just closed on a far more cozy historic construction in the heart of Park Slope according to city records filed today. No official listing could be found for the three-story pre-war home, but previous reports show that it was last being rented out by its former owner William Lawrence for about $11,000 a month. The neighborhood and the townhouse are certainly quite a change for Blesso, whose last home was about as modern and metropolitan as they get.
Have a gander inside this architectural gem ahead

February 18, 2015

Sony Building Penthouse Will Ask a Record-Breaking $150M

By Dana Schulz

There's a new priciest listing record in town, and it goes to the $150 million triplex penthouse at the Chetrit Group's Sony Building condo conversion, according to The Real Deal. The 21,504-square-foot unit will occupy floors 33 through 35 of the 37-story tower at 550 Madison Avenue and have a private elevator, eight bedrooms, eight bathrooms, and ten powder rooms. If it gets what it's asking for, it will break the record for the current highest condo sale, the $100 million penthouse that sold at One57 last month.
Check out the impressive Sony Tower floorplans here

Proposed Condo Tower Could Stall Entire South Street Seaport Redevelopment Plan

By Dana Schulz

Less than a week after it was revealed that the Howard Hughes Corporation paid $31 million for more than 300,000 square feet of air rights at the South Street Seaport, it looks like the entire $1.5 billion redevelopment project could be stalled. The overall plan would breathe new life into the downtown historic district by rehabilitating crumbling piers, preserving and finding new use for landmark buildings and constructing a 42-story waterfront condo tower at the foot of Beekman Street. And it's this last point that has local officials, civic groups, preservationists and some community residents worried or downright angry. The 494-foot-tall, SHoP Architects-designed tower has already been scaled back from its original 650 feet, but concerned parties still feel that the building would "obscure views of the Brooklyn Bridge and clash with the low-scaled, early-19th-century brick buildings that make up the 11-block seaport district, once the center of the city’s maritime industry," according to the New York Times.
More on the debate

February 13, 2015

Harlem’s Affordable Live/Work Space for Artists Complete; Why Long Island is Dying

By Diane Pham

Leasing has begun at the newly renovated luxury homes at Shorecrest Towers at Trump Village. The homes, located in Coney Island, start at $1,500 for studios, $1,650 for one-bedrooms and $2,332 for two-bedrooms. [6sqft inbox] Three reasons Long Island isn’t seeing any growth when compared to other suburbs. [CityLab] HHL Architects has complete work on Artspace […]

Real Estate Trends

New Report Shows It’s More Expensive to Rent in Queens than in Brooklyn

Ridgewood via Cameron Baylock

February 12, 2015

New Report Shows It’s More Expensive to Rent in Queens than in Brooklyn

By Dana Schulz

A new report released today by Douglas Elliman shows that Queens has surpassed Brooklyn in most expensive rents. The median montly rent in Western Queens rose to $2,905 in January, a 30.7 percent jump from the same time last year. That's $4 more than North and Northwest Brooklyn's median rent, which only rose 2.5 percent to $2,901. We shouldn't be so surprised, though. With constant news of skyrocketing prices in Brooklyn, a lot of attention has been turned to Queens, especially up-and-coming neighborhoods like Ridgewood, as well as already-established hip spots such as Long Island City and Astoria.
READ MORE

Real Estate Trends

February 12, 2015

$30M Mega-Mansion Coming to Soho; New Developments Heating up the Jamaica Real Estate Market

By Dana Schulz

A massive, 13,000-square-foot mega-mansion is coming to Soho. Madison Equities will combine two existing townhouse development sites to create a completely customizable $30 million home. [NYDN] Several mega projects coming to Jamaica may prove to be the real estate tipping point for the Queens ‘hood. [TRD] Hudson Yards developers get $180 million in tax breaks. […]

Real Estate Trends

February 12, 2015

Carmelo and LaLa Anthony Score an $11 Million Pad Overlooking the High Line

By Annie Doge

New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony and wife LaLa have been on the hunt for a Chelsea home since last fall, and after touring countless multi-million dollar homes (like this one and this one) it looks like the pair have settled on a High Line-adjacent condo at Cary Tamarkin’s new 10-story, 15-unit complex at 508 West 24th Street. The Post reports that the hoopster is putting down $11 million for a massive full-floor home.
Check it out here

February 11, 2015

11 Beach Penthouse Asks $22.5M; How a Broker Knows a Couple Will Break Up

By Diane Pham

11 Beach in Tribeca is now 50% sold. The building’s Penthouse B has also just hit the market for $22.5 million. [6sqft inbox] Six ways a broker knows that you’re in a doomed relationship. [DNA Info] Why would anyone buy a $100 million apartment and let it sit empty? It’s art. [NYT] Former Yankees pitcher David Cone has sold […]

Real Estate Trends

February 11, 2015

A Rich (and Potentially Famous) Buyer Snags the Penthouse at 250 West for $29.5 Million

By Diane Pham

After yoyo-ing on and off the market over the last two years, the penthouse at 250 West has finally found a buyer. City records filed this afternoon reveal that the unit traded hands for $29.5 million, way down from its original $42 million asking price back in 2013. The buyer was shielded under an LLC, but it was previously reported that the penthouse was being marketed to high-profile individuals, celebs amongst them, given its private entrance separate from the door used by the rest of the residents. Leonardo DiCaprio was rumored to be one of the names to have checked out the space—though he eventually purchased a pad at the Delos. With that in mind, we wonder who nabbed this Tribeca deal.
Check out the interiors here

Real Estate Trends

February 10, 2015

Buy Your Sweetie an Empty Lot in Newark for $1000; Inside Brooklyn’s First Net Zero Condo Building

By Diane Pham

The city of Newark has announced a “Valentine’s Day Land Sale” of 100 city-owned empty lots at $1,000 apiece. [Brick Underground] Tour R-951, Brooklyn’s first net zero-capable solar-powered passive house condo building in Prospect Heights. [Inhabitat NYC] First look at the hotel planned for the huge hole near the Lorimer stop. [Curbed] A controversial plan to […]

Real Estate Trends

February 9, 2015

Mapping Where in NYC Millennials Live

By Dana Schulz

The initial results may not surprise you–young adults living in New York City tend to set up shop in North Brooklyn, the Far West Side, the Upper East Side, the East Village and western Queens. This data is courtesy of a new mapping project from the University of Waterloo School of Planning in Ontario called Generationed City. Using census and crowd-sourced data, the project compares demographic patterns of millennials (typically defined as those born between 1980 and 2000) to that of older generations like baby boomers. It looks at North American cities with populations over 1 million where it's commonly accepted that millennials live in central parts of cities. While the largest chunk of NYC-based data is pretty on par with what we already knew, there are some other trends, both within the city and compared with other cities, that are a bit more curious.
More findings ahead

February 9, 2015

Building on Sunnyside Yards Comes with a Slew of Political, Cost and Engineering Complications

By Diane Pham

Of the new city initiatives laid out by Bill de Blasio last week during his State of the City address, few were as ambitious as the mayor's plan to build 11,250 affordable apartments on Sunnyside Yards. But, as it turns out, more than just the mayor are looking to turn the 200-acre property into their legacy project. Crain's reports that since the plan was announced, Governor Cuomo has emerged with his own ideas, namely tunnels that would bring the Long Island Rail Road into the heart of Midtown. Former Bloomberg administration Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff has also chimed in with a plan of his own that encompasses a huge new money-spinning convention center. But it doesn't stop there; the clashing of ideas is just one of the burdens that comes with building on this coveted site—meaning we probably won't see any affordable housing here for more than several decades.
More on the complications here

Real Estate Trends

Foreign Shell Companies Hide the Names of the Seedy Buyers of NY’s Luxury Real Estate

The Time Warner Center

February 9, 2015

Foreign Shell Companies Hide the Names of the Seedy Buyers of NY’s Luxury Real Estate

By Dana Schulz

We've been talking a lot lately about foreign investors with their hands in the NYC real estate market, but a story in the Times took the investigating one step further by uncovering the secrecy of more than 200 shell companies at the Time Warner Center, documenting "a decade of ownership in this iconic Manhattan way station for global money transforming the city’s real estate market." Though most of these were simply wealthy Americans, at least 16 were rich foreigners who "have been the subject of government inquiries around the world, either personally or as heads of companies," ranging from environmental violations to financial fraud. In 2014, around 50 percent of all $5 million+ sales were to shell companies, but at the Time Warner Center it was 80 percent. With this growing trend, however, the government hasn't taken a closer look at the money being used to buy luxury real estate, allowing shell companies to make the movement of foreign funds largely untraceable.
Find out more about Mr. Low and this real estate trend

Real Estate Trends

February 9, 2015

Adrian Grenier Buys Five-Story Clinton Hill Townhouse for $2.1 Million

By Michelle Cohen

Recently it was reported that filmmaker, actor and Entourage star–and sometime boutique brewer and Brooklyn renovator Adrian Grenier had been spotted checking out a three-bedroom co-op in Chelsea, accompanied by his mom, Brown Harris Stevens broker Karesse Grenier. While Chelsea may be in their sights as well, city records show that the pair recently inked a deal on a huge, historic five-story townhouse in prime Clinton Hill at 112 Gates Avenue, not far from the house he brought back to life with a green reno in 2007.
More on the story this way

February 9, 2015

Photographer/Pillsbury Heir Snaps Up Turnkey Clinton Hill Flip for $3.5 Million

By Michelle Cohen

We’ve been a bit obsessed with the house at 102 Gates Avenue–a Brownstoner House of the Day not once but twice–since it hit the market as an estate sale back in 2013; lines stretched down the block and 350 people showed up on one Sunday to view the house, which was asking $1,295,000, a great price at a time when townhouse prices in the area were hitting their recent hot streak. The house, in estate condition but dripping with gorgeous original details, set off a bidding war and sold in a matter of weeks for $1,555,000, becoming a poster child of sorts for the frenzied brownstone Brooklyn townhouse market. After a high-end renovation that spared no detail, the house, a two-unit stunner with a sweet garden apartment and a beautifully restored triplex plus landscaped yard and deck, re-emerged less than one year later at the head-turning asking price of $3.35 million.
More on this brownstone Brooklyn Cinderella tale this way

February 6, 2015

Facebook Expands Its Midtown Office; Buy a Condo at the Oosten and Get a Free Trip to Amsterdam

By Annie Doge

Facebook is expanding its offices. The social media giant will add 80,000 square feet—at $100 per square foot—at its 770 Broadway locale. [Crain’s] If you buy a condo at the Oosten in Williamsburg, you’ll get a free trip to Amsterdam. [Brick Underground] How many jobs are accessible from your neighborhood? [DNA Info] The East River Waterfront […]

Real Estate Trends

As Developers Favor Large Apartments, Studio Prices Are on the Rise

Studio 505N at 540 West 49th Street, available for $815,000 via Halstead

February 6, 2015

As Developers Favor Large Apartments, Studio Prices Are on the Rise

By Dana Schulz

As anyone who lives in a studio apartment can tell you, it's often the best–if not the only–way to live without a roommate in New York. But with developers finding it much more profitable to build large apartments, studio apartments may be heading to extinction. And those existing one-room units are seeing steep price increases as demand is outpacing supply. As the Daily News reports, "Listings for new studios compose just 4% of the units in Manhattan — down from 15% in 2013... As of January, just 30 such apartments were on the market, compared with 161 in January 2012." The median price for a new Manhattan studio rose over the past year to $930,000, a whopping 60 percent increase. Comparatively, the median price for a new one-bedroom unit rose 30 percent and for a two-bedroom home it dropped by 11 percent.
More on the real estate trend here

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