Real Estate Trends

Frank Lloyd Wright’s horseshoe-shaped home in Connecticut sells for $6M

Photos by Udor Photography

January 29, 2024

Frank Lloyd Wright’s horseshoe-shaped home in Connecticut sells for $6M

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A 1950s Connecticut home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright has sold for $6 million. Known as "Tirranna," an Australian Aboriginal word meaning "running waters," the home at 432 Frogtown Road in New Canaan measures over 7,000 square feet and sits on 14 acres, making it one of the largest private residences ever completed by the famous architect. The horseshoe-shaped home, which cantilevers over a pond and waterfall, has had only four owners in the last 70 years, according to Mansion Global. The property was listed in May by Coldwell Banker Realty's Marsha Charles and Albert Safdie for $8 million and closed last week.
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NYC brokerage to pay state $260K after allegedly charging excessive broker fees

Photo by Tomas Anton Escobar on Unsplash

January 26, 2024

NYC brokerage to pay state $260K after allegedly charging excessive broker fees

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A Manhattan real estate brokerage accused of scamming tenants with excessive broker fees has agreed to pay the state $260,000 in penalties. Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday announced a settlement with brokerage firm City Wide Apartments, Inc. after an investigation by the New York Department of State, which licenses real estate agents, found the firm charged exorbitant brokerage fees, in one case charging more than $20,000 in added fees to tenants searching for housing.
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Central Park Tower penthouse last listed for $149.5M finds buyer

Image courtesy of Extell

January 18, 2024

Central Park Tower penthouse last listed for $149.5M finds buyer

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Only two weeks into 2024 and New York City is already seeing record real estate deals. A 12,557-square-foot penthouse in Central Park Tower at 217 West 57th Street has entered contract, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal. The duplex condo at the Billionaires’ Row tower, considered the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere, was first listed in March for $175 million and most recently asked $149.5 million, according to CityRealty. The final deal turned out to be closer to $115 million, according to the Journal. The buyer has not been named.
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NYC developers filed plans for just 9,909 housing units in 2023

Image courtesy of robertotmn on Flickr

January 9, 2024

NYC developers filed plans for just 9,909 housing units in 2023

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In 2023, housing production in New York City slowed dramatically. According to a new Real Estate Board of New York report, developers filed 285 multi-family foundation plan applications with just 9,909 apartments proposed, a 78 percent drop in total unit filings from 2022 when there were over 45,500 units proposed. The number of dwelling units proposed last year is 50 percent of the roughly 20,000 units produced per year between 2000 and 2020. REBNY blames the expiration of the 421-a tax break for the major decline.
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Former Barneys flagship in Chelsea to become luxury condos

Streetview of Barneys New York at 115 7th Avenue © 2023 Google

January 5, 2024

Former Barneys flagship in Chelsea to become luxury condos

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The former Barneys flagship store in Chelsea is going condo. Douglas Tiesi's Argentic Investment Management, which took over the shuttered department store at 115 7th Avenue from developer Ben Ashkenazy in 2020, sold the property to Flushing developer and architect Raymond Chan for $22 million, as first reported by the Real Deal. Ashkenazy paid $57 million for the building in 2014. Chan plans to convert the property into a luxury residential development with ground-floor retail space, according to Curbed.
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6sqft’s top stories of 2023!
December 29, 2023

6sqft’s top stories of 2023!

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As 2023 comes to a close, 6sqft is looking back on our most popular stories of the year. Over the last 12 months, readers pored over articles on everything New York City-related, from new fare evasion-stopping subway turnstiles and the construction of the city's largest all-electric skyscraper to the best seafood spots and the return of the holiday nostalgia trains. Readers enjoyed getting a look inside some of the city's most unique real estate listings, too, including the homes of photographers William Wegman and Annie Leibovitz and a historic Brooklyn carriage house turned Passive House.
what you read this year
Every NYC borough saw a decline in chain stores over the past year

Image courtesy of Peter Burka on Flickr

December 12, 2023

Every NYC borough saw a decline in chain stores over the past year

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Nearly 250 chain stores in New York City have closed in the last year, the second-largest decrease since the pandemic began in 2020. The Center for an Urban Future (CUF) on Tuesday released its annual "State of the Chains" report, which found a 3.1 percent decrease in the number of chain stores across the five boroughs over the past year. This year's decline breaks a two-year streak of moderate growth of NYC chain stores.
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Stephen Sondheim’s Turtle Bay townhouse sells for $7M

All photos courtesy of Compass

November 29, 2023

Stephen Sondheim’s Turtle Bay townhouse sells for $7M

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Late songsmith Stephen Sondheim's Turtle Bay townhouse has sold for the asking price of $7,000,000. As first reported by the Wall Street Journal, the unnamed buyer of 246 East 49th Street lives in New York and is a fan of the Broadway legend. The seven-bedroom home hit the market in July and entered contract the following month.
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Real estate industry leads on return-to-office in Manhattan

Photo by Tomas Anton Escobar on Unsplash

September 26, 2023

Real estate industry leads on return-to-office in Manhattan

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Real estate employees are in the office more often than any other office workers in Manhattan, according to the results of a new survey. The Partnership for New York City found that 75 percent of workers in the real estate industry are in their Manhattan workplace daily, compared to 58 percent of office workers in the borough across all fields. However, across the board, the survey found the extent of remote work far less than previously assumed with an estimate of 59 percent as the "new normal" for workers at their desks on an average weekday.
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Central Park Tower penthouse gets $55M price cut

Photo courtesy of Cody Boone for SERHANT.

September 18, 2023

Central Park Tower penthouse gets $55M price cut

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The highest residence in the world just got a lower price tag. The triplex penthouse at Central Park Tower was listed for $250 million last September, considered the most expensive home in the country if it found a buyer. But after a year on the market, the apartment is now asking $195 million, a price cut of $55 million, or 22 percent, as Bloomberg first reported. The discounted ask means the penthouse is no longer in the running for the priciest home sale in the United States.
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See Amazon’s new NYC office at historic Lord & Taylor building

Photo credit: Bilyana Dimitrova, courtesy WRNS Studio.

September 13, 2023

See Amazon’s new NYC office at historic Lord & Taylor building

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A historic Fifth Avenue department store is now a modern office building. Amazon this week debuted its new digs at the former Lord & Taylor store in Midtown, which was built in 1914 and served as its flagship location for more than a century. After purchasing the building in March 2020 for nearly $1 billion, Amazon hired WRNS Studio to design the landmark as a 21st-century workplace that embraces its fashionable roots. Three years later, in the midst of Midtown's recovery from the pandemic, the renovated building is now home to 2,000 employees.
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$92M condo at 432 Park enters contract, priciest deal of 2023 so far

Photo by Miikka A. on Unsplash

August 30, 2023

$92M condo at 432 Park enters contract, priciest deal of 2023 so far

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A $92 million condo at 432 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan has entered contract, the biggest deal of the year in New York City so far. The five-bedroom apartment on the skyscraper's 79th floor first hit the market in September 2021 for $135 million but underwent a significant price cut this spring, according to CityRealty.
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NYC’s Gramercy Park Hotel to reopen with rooftop bar and Danny Meyer restaurant

Image via WikiCommons

August 28, 2023

NYC’s Gramercy Park Hotel to reopen with rooftop bar and Danny Meyer restaurant

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After closing during the pandemic, Manhattan's famed Gramercy Park Hotel will reopen under new ownership, the Wall Street Journal reported. MCR Hotels, the nation's third-largest hotel owner and operator, has purchased a 99-year lease to the hotel, located directly across from the exclusive Gramercy Park, for roughly $50 million and expects to reopen the property as one of the city's most luxurious hotels in 2025 following renovations. Plans include upgrades to the lobby, the 197 guest rooms, the first-floor restaurant (Danny Meyer's Maialino), and the 7,000-square-foot rooftop bar.
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$80M penthouse sale at 220 Central Park South is one of year’s biggest deals

Photo of 220 Central Park South in front of 111 West 57th Street (cropped) by Jim Henderson via Wikimedia Commons

August 21, 2023

$80M penthouse sale at 220 Central Park South is one of year’s biggest deals

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One of New York City's best-selling condo buildings locked in one of the biggest deals of the year so far. An 8,000-square-foot duplex penthouse at 220 Central Park South on Billionaires' Row is selling for roughly $80 million, the Wall Street Journal first reported. The seller is linked to investment firm Nima Capital, which paid around $65.6 million for the property in October 2020.
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The Four Seasons in Midtown set to reopen next fall

Photo by Acediscovery on Wikimedia

August 8, 2023

The Four Seasons in Midtown set to reopen next fall

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The Four Seasons hotel in Midtown will reopen next year after being closed since 2020. Following a dispute, hotel owner Ty Warner and Four Seasons management on Thursday announced an agreement was reached to reopen the hotel in the fall of 2024. Located at 57 East 57th Street, the 52-story building designed by I.M. Pei closed in March 2020 during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and is one of the last high-end hotels to reopen. Early on during the pandemic, the hotel was used as an emergency location for doctors caring for Covid-19 patients coming from the Upper East Side.
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Once listed for $110M, Woolworth Building penthouse sells for $30M

Photo credit: Chris Coe, Optimist Consulting

August 7, 2023

Once listed for $110M, Woolworth Building penthouse sells for $30M

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Six years and an $80 million price cut later, one of New York City's most iconic penthouse properties has found a buyer. The Woolworth Building's seven-story penthouse has sold for $30 million, not even a third of the original $110 million asking price. According to the Wall Street Journal, Scott Lynn, chief executive of Masterworks, an online art-investment service, is the buyer. After hitting the market for the jaw-dropping price in 2017, the penthouse, known as the Pinnacle, saw several price chops in recent years and was last publicly listed for $59 million, according to CityRealty.
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Trevor Noah finds buyer for Hell’s Kitchen penthouse with plunge pool, last asking $11M

Photos courtesy of Shannon Dupre’

August 1, 2023

Trevor Noah finds buyer for Hell’s Kitchen penthouse with plunge pool, last asking $11M

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Trevor Noah's penthouse in Hell's Kitchen entered contract this week for $10,995,000, after hitting the market last fall, CityRealty reports. The comedian and former host of "The Daily Show" first listed the sprawling duplex at the Art Deco Stella Tower at 425 West 50th Street last October for $12,950,000, soon after announcing his departure from the Comedy Central show. The three-bedroom duplex condo, which Noah bought for $10 million in 2017, offers expansive views of Manhattan and a 1,000-square-foot landscaped terrace with a heated plunge pool with built-in speakers and a wet bar.
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See plan to convert FiDi office tower 55 Broad into 571 market-rate apartments

Image courtesy of Joe Woolhead

August 1, 2023

See plan to convert FiDi office tower 55 Broad into 571 market-rate apartments

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The plan to convert the Financial District office tower at 55 Broad Street into apartments is finally moving forward, with a closed deal and the release of new renderings this week. Silverstein Properties and Metro Loft Management on Monday announced they bought the tower for $172.5 million with plans to turn the 30-story office tower into a residential building with 571 market-rate apartments; upon completion, it will be one of New York City's largest office-to-residential conversions ever. Construction is expected to start in August and take roughly two years.
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Upper East Side rental to be razed and replaced with high-end condo from Eliot Spitzer

Rendering courtesy of the Landmarks Preservation Commission

July 25, 2023

Upper East Side rental to be razed and replaced with high-end condo from Eliot Spitzer

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An Upper East Side rental will be demolished and replaced with a new luxury condominium developed by former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's firm. The Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday approved plans from Spitzer Enterprises to raze the 25-story, 46-unit building at 985 Fifth Avenue and build a completely new tower with just 26 apartments. The commission concluded the existing building does not contribute to the cohesion of the Metropolitan Museum Historic District, allowing demolition to proceed. Designed by Studio Sofield and SLCE, the new condo building would rise 19 stories and feature a limestone facade with setbacks, according to The Real Deal.
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Industrial chic and Soho street life meet in this $4.4M loft condo

Photo credit: Yale Wagner for Sotheby’s International Realty

July 25, 2023

Industrial chic and Soho street life meet in this $4.4M loft condo

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If you've often strolled the streets of Soho admiring the iconic former warehouses and tall-windowed lofts within, this concrete and steel-filled condominium at 487 Greenwich Street could be your dream come true. Asking $4,400,000, the sprawling 4,000-square-foot-plus renovated duplex in the former Tetley Tea Company warehouse offers open-plan living on a grand scale with impossibly high ceilings, concrete columns, and beams–and a sauna in the basement.
Loft living, this way
With Deco details and dazzling interiors on the Upper East Side, The Harper launches sales

Images courtesy of The Harper

June 29, 2023

With Deco details and dazzling interiors on the Upper East Side, The Harper launches sales

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The Upper East Side residence The Harper at 310 East 86th Street has begun sales of its 63 two-, three-, and four-bedroom homes. The new condominium project was designed by the renowned architectural practice ODA, known internationally for innovative and skyline-changing designs. For the latest addition to the iconic Manhattan neighborhood, the firm used large format windows with stepped framing, creating a stunning Art Deco vibe inspired by classic New York City architecture. With occupancy expected this year–a furnished model is available now–the new building features interiors also designed by ODA and an impressive suite of state-of-the-art amenities.
See the interiors and amenities at the Harper
$52M penthouse at One High Line in Chelsea among downtown’s most expensive sales

All photos courtesy of Nicole Franzen

June 26, 2023

$52M penthouse at One High Line in Chelsea among downtown’s most expensive sales

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A penthouse at a new luxury condominium in Chelsea has gone into contract for $52 million, joining an exclusive list of downtown Manhattan's priciest homes. Designed by Bjarke Ingels, One High Line consists of two twisting towers with views of the Hudson River, the High Line, and beyond. As first reported by the Wall Street Journal, the full-floor penthouse measures roughly 7,000 square feet, in addition to a nearly 5,000-square-foot private terrace.
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NYC’s latest casino bid calls for two 46-story skyscrapers across from the Javits Center

Renderings courtesy of Silverstein Properties

June 23, 2023

NYC’s latest casino bid calls for two 46-story skyscrapers across from the Javits Center

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Larry Silverstein of Silverstein Properties has joined the cast of prominent developers competing for one of three downstate casino licenses. Silverstein Properties on Friday announced plans for "The Avenir," a hotel, casino, entertainment, and residential development on a vacant plot of land on the border of Hudson Yards and Hell's Kitchen. Located at 41st Street and 11th Avenue, just north of the Javits Center, the proposed 1.8 million square foot project includes two 46-story towers with a luxury hotel, a top-floor performance hall, affordable housing, and an eight-story casino run by Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment at the base.
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