Real Estate Trends

The most expensive condo in Queens just raised its asking price. The penthouse at 46-30 Center Boulevard in Long Island City made news last year when its price actually dropped from $4.25 million to $3.65 million during the so-called Amazon effect, a time when condo prices soared in the neighborhood as the tech giant prepared to move there. Sticking with its outlier trend, the penthouse is now listed for $3.988 million, despite Amazon pulling out of its planned headquarters in LIC earlier this year.
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Tribeca stays on top and Hudson Yards emerges as #2 on the city’s priciest neighborhood list

Photo: Ajay Suresh via Flickr.

July 16, 2019

Tribeca stays on top and Hudson Yards emerges as #2 on the city’s priciest neighborhood list

According to Property Shark's just-released ranking of New York City's most expensive neighborhoods, Tribeca once again takes the top spot in residential sales with a median price of $4.34 million. The bigger news is Hudson Yards, on the list for the first time as the city's second-costliest neighborhood in Q2 of 2019 at $3.86 million. Also notable was Little Italy, the city's third most expensive neighborhood, which saw median home prices increase by 153 percent over last year's numbers.
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Real Estate Trends

Boerum Hill residents sue to undo 80 Flatbush rezoning as tower plans advance

Rendering via Alloy Development and Luxigon.

July 12, 2019

Boerum Hill residents sue to undo 80 Flatbush rezoning as tower plans advance

Nearly a year after the New York City Council voted to approve 80 Flatbush, a five-building mixed-use development in Downtown Brooklyn, a group of Boerum Hill residents has mounted a court battle to halt the rise of tall buildings on the site and roll back the rezoning that allows them. As the Brooklyn Eagle reports, the 400 & 500 State Street Block Association, comprised mainly of residents who live in the neighborhood's sprinkling of low-rise brownstones, have filed a lawsuit seeking the annulment of the 2018 zoning changes that gave the green light to an 840-foot skyscraper, a 510-foot tower, 670 market-rate apartments and 200 affordable units, two public schools and office and retail space on the property, which is bounded by State Street, Third Avenue, Schermerhorn Street and Flatbush Avenue.
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Real Estate Trends

July 12, 2019

‘Real Housewives’ star Ramona Singer sells longtime Upper East Side home for $4M

Real Housewives of New York City star Ramona Singer has officially parted ways with her beloved Upper East Side apartment of 20 years. The empty-nester decided to list the four-bedroom Yorkville abode last year and downsize to a smaller space now that her 24-year-old daughter, Avery Singer, is no longer living at home. She initially listed the unit for $4.995 million and, as The Real Deal reports, just closed for a little over $4 million. Singer has already found a new home about 20 blocks south, where she’s been settling in with her old furniture. “It’s good when you move that you have your same furniture, ’cause it makes you feel familiar and not so strange,” she recently told Bravo.
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Jersey Shore’s first five-star hotel opens in Asbury Park, with room rates up to $1,050/night

Photo by Nikolas Koenig

July 9, 2019

Jersey Shore’s first five-star hotel opens in Asbury Park, with room rates up to $1,050/night

A slice of New York City luxury moved to the Jersey Shore last week. The Asbury Ocean Club, a 17-story hotel-condo, officially opened its doors on the boardwalk of Asbury Park, an evolving seaside community in Monmouth County. The 54-room hotel occupies the building's fourth floor, overlooking both the ocean and pool deck. Marketed as just a 70 minute-drive from NYC, the Asbury Ocean Club hopes to attract New Yorkers with its proximity and its prices. During peak season, rooms start at an introductory rate of $425 per night and go up to more than $1,050 per night for a penthouse suite. In the winter, rooms are offered as low as $195 per night, according to the hotel's website.
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$20M first phase of Brooklyn’s new 407-acre Shirley Chisholm State Park opens

Photo by Mike Groll/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo via Flickr.

July 3, 2019

$20M first phase of Brooklyn’s new 407-acre Shirley Chisholm State Park opens

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Tuesday the opening of the first phase of New York's newest park–and the largest state park in New York City. Brooklyn's 407-acre Shirley Chisholm State Park on Jamaica Bay offers hiking, biking, fishing and picnicking under the watch of a colorful mural honoring Chisholm by Brooklyn muralist Danielle Mastrion. Under a second $20 million phase currently being designed and expected to be completed in 2021, the park will include a grand entrance on Fountain Avenue, lawn patios, a patio overlooking Hendrix Creek and pop-up environmental education facilities. A native of the borough, Chisholm, a former representative of the 12th Congressional district in New York for seven terms, was the first African American woman elected to Congress in 1968; she ran for President in 1972 as the first African American woman to do so.
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Berlin is imposing a five-year rent freeze—Could it work in New York City?

Photo via Pixabay

July 1, 2019

Berlin is imposing a five-year rent freeze—Could it work in New York City?

By Cait Etherington

In June, New York State rolled out a slate of proposals to protect renters. Among other changes, the new legislation closes several loopholes that have permitted owners to legally spike rents following renovations—a tactic that has been successfully used to deregulate more than 150,000 units over the past two decades. In essence, under the new legislation, owners will no longer be able to deregulate rent-regulated apartments at all. While the new legislation is certainly good news for many renters, for the tens of thousands of New Yorkers who now already live in unregulated apartments, the current legislation doesn’t fix their current woes. But could a five-year rent freeze help? It may sound impossible, but this is precisely what Berlin—once an oasis of inexpensive rents—has just approved as a way to put the brakes on rising rental prices.
Could this work in NYC?

Real Estate Trends

$1.3M Cobble Hill condo adds contemporary details to traditional loft bones

Listing images by Matt Vacca, courtesy of Compass

June 27, 2019

$1.3M Cobble Hill condo adds contemporary details to traditional loft bones

Located in a former warehouse at 29 Tiffany Place that was converted to condos in 1999, this loft-like Cobble Hill pad underwent a recent renovation which, among other upgrades, transformed it from a three bedroom to a two bedroom with a bigger living room. The unit last sold in 2015 for $1.155 million, and has just hit the market asking $1.295 million.
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June 27, 2019

Cuomo unveils new looks for next phase of $8B LaGuardia Airport overhaul

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced today that the first of four concourses at LaGuardia Airport's new state-of-the-art Delta terminal is on track to open this fall. The concourse is a major milestone in the $8 billion plan to construct an entirely new LaGuardia Airport. The new 105,000-square-foot concourse will feature views of Citi Field and Flushing Bay through floor-to-ceiling windows, gates that can accommodate a wide range of aircraft and dining options from the city's top eateries. New renderings released with the announcement show the concourse and the arrivals/departures facility scheduled to open in 2021.
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Nearing pinnacle, disputed 668-foot Upper West Side tower gets city board approval

In a race to the top of sorts, developers of the 668-foot residential tower rising at 200 Amsterdam Avenue got the green light to keep climbing, Curbed reports. On Tuesday the city's Board of Standards and Appeals upheld its initial approval for the tower, which has been embroiled in a heated zoning lot dispute. The board approved the project last year, but in March the state Supreme Court overruled the city’s decision, ordering the board to re-evaluate the permit for the project led by developers SJP Properties and Mitsui Fudosan, who have already proceeded with construction at the 69th Street site. The tower is expected to top out this summer.
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New renderings reveal amenities at Eliot Spitzer’s Williamsburg-waterfront development

Renderings courtesy of Citi Habitats New Developments

June 25, 2019

New renderings reveal amenities at Eliot Spitzer’s Williamsburg-waterfront development

New renderings of 420 Kent Avenue, the Williamsburg waterfront development located just south of the Williamsburg Bridge, offer a first peek at the building’s amenity package as the project enters its final phase of construction. Set to open for leasing in August, residents will have access to more than 25,000 square feet of indoor amenities, in addition to 80,000 square feet of outdoor space—including an outdoor pool and a 400-foot-long waterfront esplanade—and 20,000 square feet of retail space. The development’s public esplanade will link the entire Brooklyn waterfront and is set to officially open on July 4th—just in time to give Williamsburg residents a front-row seat to the Macy’s Fireworks Show on the East River.
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Jennifer Lopez and A-Rod find a buyer for their short-lived 432 Park pad

432 via DBOX; Alex Rodriguez via Wiki Commons; Jennifer Lopez via Wiki Commons

June 19, 2019

Jennifer Lopez and A-Rod find a buyer for their short-lived 432 Park pad

By Annie Doge

Newly engaged couple Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez have found a buyer for their sky-high Midtown apartment, the New York Post reported Tuesday. The duo listed their pad at 432 Park Avenue--the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere--for $17.5 million in January, less than a year after they bought the three-bedroom apartment. It remains unclear who the buyer is and how much they ultimately paid.
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Dumbo celebration marks the 10th anniversary of the iconic Archway’s public life

The Brooklyn Flea under the Archway. Photo: Noemie Trusty, courtesy of Dumbo Improvement District.

June 18, 2019

Dumbo celebration marks the 10th anniversary of the iconic Archway’s public life

On Friday, June 21, Brooklyn's Dumbo neighborhood will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Archway under the Manhattan Bridge–the "UMBO" of Dumbo (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), so to speak. The Archway–one of the only covered outdoor spaces in New York City—has for the past decade served as the neighborhood's town square, giving hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors a prime public place for large-scale events, community gatherings, film shoots, art exhibitions and local start-up events. In celebration, expect food, music and visual arts exhibitions befitting a neighborhood with Dumbo's unique creative history.
Ahead, a transformation

VIDEO: See the city’s highest rooftop pool get lifted 680 feet atop supertall Brooklyn Point

Rendering courtesy of Williams New York/Extell

June 14, 2019

VIDEO: See the city’s highest rooftop pool get lifted 680 feet atop supertall Brooklyn Point

The tallest residential building in Brooklyn was crowned this week with the highest infinity pool in the Western Hemisphere. A video released by Extell shows a 27-foot-long pool being hoisted 680 feet in the air, taking its place atop Brooklyn Point. The 68-story tower, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, topped out in April and sits as part of the Downtown Brooklyn development City Point.
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Renderings reveal Madison Place, new 800-foot condo tower in Nomad

Rendering courtesy of DBOX

June 11, 2019

Renderings reveal Madison Place, new 800-foot condo tower in Nomad

The anticipated 805-foot condo tower currently rising in Nomad at 15 East 30th Street—dubbed Madison House—has just unveiled a teaser website and new renderings to give us a peek of the project, inside and out. The 62-story building was designed by Handel Architects, and Gachot Studios will be helming the interior design. Having already topped out, sales are expected to launch in September, including a range of one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom residences and an expansive duplex penthouse with a private terrace and elevator entry.
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Waldorf Astoria condos will launch sales in the fall

Photo by James and Karla Murray exclusively for 6sqft.

June 11, 2019

Waldorf Astoria condos will launch sales in the fall

The redeveloped Waldorf Astoria residences have a new teaser website, and according to an announcement by the historic hotel's owner, Beijing-based Anbang Insurance Group Co., the new condos will be called The Towers of the Waldorf Astoria. The Wall Street Journal reports that sales of 375 private residences at the storied hotel will begin in the fall.
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Jeff Bezos scoops up three Flatiron apartments for a record-setting $80M

Rendering of 212 Fifth Avenue by Visualhouse; Photo of Jeff Bezos via Wiki Commons

June 4, 2019

Jeff Bezos scoops up three Flatiron apartments for a record-setting $80M

The Wall Street Journal reported today that Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos is closing on three apartments at 212 Fifth Avenue, next to Madison Square Park. Bezos is scooping up a penthouse and two units that are right under it for approximately $80 million, though the precise numbers haven’t been made public yet. Combined, the apartments add up to over 17,000 square feet. The deal is reportedly the largest to ever close in New York south of 42nd Street, and the second largest deal of the year, second to Ken Griffin’s now-infamous $240 million penthouse at 220 Central Park South.
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Jeanne Gang’s first residential tower in NYC tops out in Downtown Brooklyn

Images courtesy of Studio Gang

June 4, 2019

Jeanne Gang’s first residential tower in NYC tops out in Downtown Brooklyn

The first residential tower in New York City designed by Jeanne Gang's Studio Gang topped out this week in Downtown Brooklyn. Reaching 620 feet tall, 11 Hoyt Street will offer 481 condos, an elevated park, and 55,000 square feet of amenities. Sales launched at the Tishman Speyer-developed building last September, with prices ranging from $690,000 for studios to about $3.5 million for a four-bedroom. Hill West Architects served as the architect of record for the project.
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Parker Posey picks up a cozy Chelsea co-op for $1.5M

Listing photo courtesy of Douglas Elliman; Photo of Parker Posey via Wiki Commons

May 31, 2019

Parker Posey picks up a cozy Chelsea co-op for $1.5M

By Annie Doge

Parker Posey certainly has good taste in real estate. She first landed on our apartment-porn radar for her chic East Village apartment, which she bought back in 2008. (The home is now owned by actor Alexander Skarsgärd.) She then dropped $1.35 million on a slightly more classic co-op in Greenwich Village. After personally modeling in the listing photos, she unloaded this apartment in 2016. We're not sure where she's been for the past three years, but as of this week, she is a proud new Chelsea resident. According to the Post, Posey dropped $1.5 million on this super-cute and character-filled duplex at 365 West 19th Street. Not only does it have charming details like a wood-burning brick fireplace and huge half-moon window, but there's a private roof deck.
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Photo by Laurian Ghinitoiu.

May 30, 2019

See new views of OMA’s first NYC building, with ‘prismatic’ details

The new L-shaped residential building at 121 East 22nd Street represents Rem Koolhaas's architecture firm OMA's first ground-up Manhattan project; developers Toll Brothers City Living have released new photos of the eye-catching structure on the border between the Gramercy and Madison Square Park neighborhoods, highlighting its unique design. The new condominium residence is comprised of two blocks that straddle an existing tower, the 11-story School of the Future, constructed in 1915. The building's north tower has two interlocking planes that meet to form a distinct, three-dimensional corner. The 13-story south tower features an "undulating grid of punched windows" overlooking 22nd Street.
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Google’s Chelsea takeover continues as it picks up another property in the neighborhood

The building at 450 West 15th Street is connected to Chelsea Market via a bridge; photo via Wikimedia

May 23, 2019

Google’s Chelsea takeover continues as it picks up another property in the neighborhood

Google on Wednesday picked up a 325,000-square-foot building in Chelsea, adding to its ever-growing footprint in the Manhattan neighborhood. According to the Financial Times, the company bought the building at 450 West 15th Street from Jamestown Properties for $600 million. In addition to its headquarters at 111 Eighth Avenue, Google owns the apartment buildings across the street and the Chelsea Market building, which it bought last year for $2.5 billion. And the company will serve as the primary tenant at Pier 57, a mixed-use development on the Hudson River.
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Real Estate Trends

Raising chickens in NYC: Laws, tips, and everything else you need to know

Image by furtwangl / Flickr

May 22, 2019

Raising chickens in NYC: Laws, tips, and everything else you need to know

By Cait Etherington

6sqft’s ongoing series Apartment Living 101 is aimed at helping New Yorkers navigate the challenges of creating a happy home in the big city. This week, we cover everything you need to consider when raising chickens in the city. In a city where simply finding a balcony large enough for a pot of basil can be a challenge, one may be surprised to discover that chicken coops can be found across all five boroughs. Chickens were once primarily kept by older city residents, including many who come from places in the world where a backyard supply of fresh eggs is taken for granted. More recently, everyone from Park Slope housewives to Bushwick hipsters appears to be embracing the backyard chicken craze.
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Williamsburg’s tallest tower tops out at Domino Sugar Factory development

Photo by Max Touhey

May 21, 2019

Williamsburg’s tallest tower tops out at Domino Sugar Factory development