Real Estate Trends

November 5, 2018

New flyover video of Google’s Pier 57 shows off huge multi-level rooftop park

The transformation of Pier 57 from a former maritime port and bus garage into a modern mixed-use development is fully underway. A flyover video of the site uncovered by CityRealty last week shows off its planned 80,000-square-foot outdoor rooftop park, which claims to be the largest public outdoor space in Chelsea. Led by RXR Realty and Youngwoo & Associates, the $380 million project will bring 265,000 square feet of office space, with Google as the primary tenant.
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November 2, 2018

Surpassing 1,000-foot mark, SHoP’s skinny supertall shows off incredible Central Park views

Without even reaching its final height of 1,428 feet tall, SHoP Architect's Midtown supertall is already boasting amazing views. New photos released this week of 111 West 57th Street, which recently surpassed 1,000 feet high, show off views from the tower's 64th, 72nd, and 73rd floors. Upon completion, the Billionaires' Row tower will become the tallest residential building in the world, taking the title from 1,396-foot 432 Park Avenue, (until 1,500-foot Central Park Tower tops out). With a super slender frame (a ratio of 1:24), 111 West 57th Street is also set to become the skinniest skyscraper in the world.
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November 2, 2018

Upper East Side townhouse once home to Michael Jackson and Marc Chagall sells for $32M

The six-story Beaux-Arts mansion at 4 East 74th Street on the Upper East Side has been home to several prominent occupants throughout history from President Grover Cleveland’s law partner to artist Marc Chagall; Michael Jackson rented the house the '90s, and it served as the exterior of Nate Archibald’s residence in “Gossip Girl.” According to The New York Times and property records, the 16-room mansion sold in October for nearly $32 million.
Have a last look
November 1, 2018

Historic Bronx General Post Office is for sale again after food market plans dissolve

The historic Bronx General Post Office on the Grand Concourse is once again for sale, Welcome2TheBronx reports. The familiar neighborhood landmark was purchased from the postal service in 2014 by developer Young Woo & Associates and the Bristol Group for $19 million, as 6sqft previously reported. After suggesting a new life for the 80+-year-old building as "a crossroads for community, commerce and culture" including a food market that could become a dining/drinking/shopping destination, the developer has put the building up for sale for an undisclosed price.
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November 1, 2018

After five years, supermodel Adriana Lima sells Midtown West condo at a not-pretty discount

Sure, she sold her former Midtown West condo at nearly 50 percent off, but considering she's Victoria's Secret's longest-running and "most valuable" Angel, we're guessing Adriana Lima will be just fine to take the blow. The Brazilian supermodel bought the three-bedroom apartment at 146 West 57th Street in 2003 for $1,995,000. Six years later, she married NBA player Marko Jarić, and after the couple had two children, they put the 42nd-floor pad on the market for $5.5 million in 2013. But after five years, a 2016 divorce, and four price chops, the pad has finally sold, reports the Post, for the much-discounted price of $3.3 million.
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October 29, 2018

$9.5M Harlem penthouse sets uptown record for most expensive condo

The sale of a $9.45 million penthouse in Harlem closed last week, setting a new record for the most expensive uptown condo sale, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. The 11th-floor apartment at Circa Central Park, which hugs the northern end of Central Park on the corner of West 110th Street, features five bedrooms and a private terrace measuring over 1,200 square feet. The sale is the most expensive condo sale above 96th Street on the West Side of Manhattan, and 102nd Street on the East.
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October 29, 2018

FXCollaborative reveals new renderings of slender Fidi condo tower

Trinity Place Holding’s new residential tower rising at 77 Greenwich Street in lower Manhattan has just released a teaser site and new renderings showing the 500-foot-tall building in all its future glory. With architecture by FXCollaborative and interiors by Deborah Berke Partners, the tower is four stories in to its 42-story height; sales are scheduled to begin in spring of 2019.
More details and renderings, this way
October 26, 2018

Long Island City’s Skyline Tower will be the first billion-dollar condo in Queens

Skyline Tower at 23-15 44th Drive in Long Island City, Queens, just got approved to begin sales, with a marketing plan that estimates a $1.088 billion sellout price, making the 66-story condominium the first in the borough to break the one billion mark, Bloomberg reports. The milestone isn't the only superlative for the building, formerly known as Court Square City View. The 778-foot tower is on a course to become the borough's tallest building.
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October 24, 2018

First tower in Cobble Hill’s LICH-replacing River Park condo project launches sales

Sales began this week at 5 River Park, the first new tower to rise in the River Park project, the seven-building masterplan redevelopment of the former Long Island College Hospital Site. The new building, whose address is 347 Henry Street, is the first to hit the market in phase two of a masterplan comprised of the project's first three new towers, which in turn are part of Fortis Property Group's $240 million plan to transform the Cobble Hill facility into market-rate condos and a clinic.
Amenities, interiors this way
October 23, 2018

Billionaire Bill Ackman in contract to buy a $22.5M Upper West Side penthouse

Hedge fund manager/billionaire Bill Ackman is set to buy a 13-room penthouse on the Upper West Side for close to $22.5 million, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Available for the first time in 40 years, the four-bedroom home at 6 West 77th Street was formerly owned by the late author, Nancy Friday. Ackman, who in 2015 bought the penthouse at One57 for $91.5 million as a "fun investment," is the founder of Pershing Square Capital Management and has a net worth of over $1 billion.
Tour the penthouse
October 22, 2018

McNally Jackson bookstore announces move after 136% rent hike

As one of New York City's finest all-around independent bookstores, McNally Jackson booksellers on Prince Street is a literary standby for the latest bestsellers as well as thought-provoking political non-fiction, art books, cards, magazines, readings and more. Though the shop occupies a spot on one of the city's most highly-trafficked "High Streets," it has endured for 15 years, long enough to be taken for granted. But that would, of course, be a mistake in the city's current environment of empty storefronts in high rent neighborhoods because only Amazon can afford the rent. And right about the time Amazon has opened a storefront in Soho, the beloved bookseller is moving out after the rent was raised to $850,000--a 136% increase. Fear not, the owner is opening again in a new location, but unlike other, less gutsy mom-and-pop proprietors, she has no fear of being very vocal about the issue, Fox5 NY reports.
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October 20, 2018

FREE RENT: This week’s roundup of NYC rental news

Images (L to R): The Niko East Village, 30-78 43rd Street, 633 Marcy Avenue and The Essex 633 Marcy Avenue in Bed-Stuy Debuts Spacious 2- and 3-Bed Rentals from $2,565/Month [link] The Greystone: Prewar Upper West Side Rentals with Amenities from $2,395/Month [link] The Essex Launches: Tallest Building in Essex Crossing Offers Rentals with 1 […]

October 19, 2018

Updated looks for COOKFOX’s Domino Sugar building, Williamsburg’s will-be tallest

Fully above ground, the second tower to rise at the massive Domino Sugar site has a pair of new renderings. Designed by COOKFOX Architects, 1 South First (previously 260 Kent Avenue) is a 42-story mixed-use tower on the Williamsburg waterfront development, which was formerly home to the sugar manufacturing facility. When 1 South First opens next fall, it will join already opened 325 Kent Avenue and Domino Park, all developed by Two Trees Management.
See them here
October 18, 2018

Developers of controversial Two Bridges towers pitch $55M in transit and open space improvements

During a City Planning Commission hearing on Wednesday, local residents and officials of the Two Bridges community voiced their strong opposition to four towers planned for the Lower Manhattan neighborhood. Those who testified against the buildings questioned the developer's draft environmental impact study (DEIS), which found the projects would not cause displacement, amNY reported. Developers also announced measures to mitigate the potential adverse effects on the neighborhood, which include upgrading the F train station at East Broadway, improving public parks, and implementing flood protection measures.
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October 16, 2018

London housing pioneer will bring NYC’s largest co-living location to Brooklyn

6sqft has checked in periodically to track the progress of co-living brands like Common and a foray into what some call "adult dorms" by co-working giant WeWork. Now, lifestyle and housing brand The Collective, the London-based creator of the world's biggest co-living community, has announced plans for a New York City flagship in Brooklyn at the border between Williamsburg and Bushwick at 555 Broadway.
When can we move in?
October 16, 2018

High-end shops compete for space in Williamsburg as North 6th rivals Bedford as the main drag

It started with Bedford Avenue. Whether you called it Williamsburg 3.0 or the New Brooklyn or any number of monikers signifying the North Brooklyn neighborhood's ascent to the international hall of coolest–and priciest–neighborhood fame, that avenue was its anchor. A Whole Foods and an Apple store soon followed. And, inevitably, as businesses flocked to the surrounding streets, the clear hegemony of Bedford began to become less evident even if its tourist population continued to grow. Now, the New York Post hails North Sixth Street, longtime home of anchor condo The Edge and more recently a growing host of retail chain shops, as the top contender.
The new 34th Street?
October 15, 2018

15 Hudson Yards reveals model home with shoppable interiors by Neiman Marcus fashion director

The first phase of the Hudson Yards megaproject, including the public square and gardens and its centerpiece, Vessel, as well as The Shops & Restaurants at Hudson Yards, which will be anchored by NYC's first Neiman Marcus store, is preparing to open this March. Now, Fifteen Hudson Yards has announced that that Neiman Marcus fashion director Ken Downing has designed and styled the interiors for a new model home at the 88-story luxury condominium. Furthering the connection between the upper-crust department store and the development's high-end aspirations is a freshly-launched Neiman Marcus microsite that will allow people to purchase select items in the residence.
Interiors you can buy, this way
October 15, 2018

Artist Abby Leigh unloads Upper West Side co-op for $4.8M

Abby Leigh may be famous around the world for her contemporary art, but here in NYC, she's becoming just as well known for her big-ticket real estate wheeling-and-dealing. In June of 2014, just three months after her husband, Tony-winning “Man of La Mancha” composer Mitch Leigh, passed away, she bought a $4.8 million Upper West Side artist co-op at 27 West 67th Street. The following year, she both listed her Upper East Side townhouse for $28 million (it sold for $20.4 million in 2016) and bought an $8 million home in one of the turrets of the former New York Cancer Hospital on the Upper West Side. And perhaps now Leigh has decided she only needs one UWS residence, as she's just unloaded the 67th Street residence for $4.8 million according to property records, breaking even on the sale.
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October 15, 2018

Coney Island’s ‘Miami-inspired’ Ocean Dreams rental project tops out

Last spring, 6sqft revealed new renderings of grocery store king (Red Apple, Gristede's) John Catsimatidis' 425-unit Coney Island rental project at 3514 Surf Avenue known as Ocean Dreams. According to The Real Deal, Catsimatidis’ Red Apple Group secured a construction loan for $130 million from Bank of America for the project back in June. Now, the New York Times has reported that the pair of 21-story luxury apartment towers overlooking the Atlantic on the island's western end has topped out and is scheduled to open next summer.
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October 15, 2018

Sales launch at Extell’s Central Park Tower, the world’s tallest residential building

Sales have launched for Central Park Tower, the tallest residential tower in the world, Extell Development announced Monday. Located at 225 West 57th Street, the 1,550-foot tower is rising on Billionaires' Row, a strip of ultra-luxury residences at the southern end of Central Park in Midtown. While Extell hasn't officially released pricing for its 179 condos, the Real Deal reported last year that 20 of the units have a price tag of $60 million and higher, with a $95 million penthouse being the most expensive. If the building achieves its projected $4 billion sellout, the tower would become the most expensive condo project in New York City.
More here
October 12, 2018

Marvel Architects reveal condo conversion of 200-year-old Nolita school

Marvel Architects has completed its school-to-condo conversion in Nolita, bringing seven condos and one private townhouse to the former site of the Old St. Patrick's School on Prince Street. The project restored the facade of the four-story building, which was built in 1826, as well as its dormer windows and arched doorways. Because the interiors of the building, dubbed the Residences at Prince, were not landmarked, the architects were able to add new modern elements like steel columns and white oak floors while retaining original brick walls and roof timbers.
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October 12, 2018

For the first time, average Brooklyn home prices break the $1M threshold

According to Douglas Elliman's latest market report, home prices in Brooklyn are higher than ever. The median and average sales prices for the borough both broke records, crossing the $800,000 and $1 million thresholds for the first time in the third quarter of this year. "As the Brooklyn market continues to reinvent itself over the past five years," says the report, "There is no standard of comparison with historical trends." It means Brooklyn, and also Queens, boast some of the fastest residential price growth in the country, with new developments cropping up and demand skyrocketing as buyers stream into outer boroughs.
Keep reading for stats
October 11, 2018

Scarlett Johansson scoops up $4M ivy-clad house in secluded Snedens Landing

Actress Scarlett Johansson has closed on a property in Snedens Landing, a haven near the Palisades known for attracting celebrities. Dubbed the "Ivy House," the Rockland County home at 40 Washington Spring Road sold for $4 million (h/t New York Post). The ivy-clad four-bedroom home was designed by Eric Gugler, an architect tapped in 1933 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to design the Oval Office in the White House. Boasting water views from every room, the stunning home overlooks the Hudson River and has a pool and adjacent cabana house.
See the starlet's home
October 10, 2018

$20M Brooklyn Heights penthouse could be the borough’s priciest sale ever

A combination penthouse at Quay Tower, a brand new luxury condo building on the Brooklyn Heights waterfront, went into contract this week for over $20 million. If closed, the deal would become the most expensive residential sale in Brooklyn history, breaking the previous record of $16.645 million for a penthouse picked up by actor Matt Damon last year. And before that, a $15.5 million brick carriage house in Cobble Hill held the record for most expensive single residence sale in Brooklyn, which was purchased by photographer Jay Maisel in 2015.
More on the deal this way