Real Estate Trends

Find Prewar Manhattan Glamor in Modern Midtown for $10K a Month
August 3, 2016

Find Prewar Manhattan Glamor in Modern Midtown for $10K a Month

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For old-world Manhattan living it would be hard to argue with the Parc Vendome, from its award-winning formal English tea gardens to graciously-configured apartments—like this 2,000 square-foot, two-bed-plus-office beauty—with wood-burning fireplaces, entry galleries and capacious closets. Built in 1931, the elegant two-building complex at 333 West 56th Street was converted to condominium apartments in 1983. In addition to space and charm and a fortunate location blocks from both Lincoln Center and Central Park, you'll have an impossibly lovely south-facing private terrace and open city views, all for $10K a month (gas and electric are included).
Get a closer look
Famed Basketball Sportscaster Marv Albert Buys $10M Tribeca Penthouse
August 2, 2016

Famed Basketball Sportscaster Marv Albert Buys $10M Tribeca Penthouse

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It was all the way back in the fall of 2014 that sportscaster Marv Albert sold his Lincoln Square penthouse for $15 million. We're not sure where he's been living since, but he's just picked up another penthouse, this time at 5 Franklin Place in Tribeca, the new luxury condo from ODA Architects. According to city records released today, "the voice of basketball" paid $10.3 million for the 3,700-square-foot, four-bedroom home that comes with an additional 660 square feet of terrace space.
See what the place looks like
City Will Study Residential Rezoning of Gowanus, But Locals Want More Affordable Housing
August 2, 2016

City Will Study Residential Rezoning of Gowanus, But Locals Want More Affordable Housing

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When the area surrounding the Gowanus Canal was designated a Superfund site by the EPA in 2010, it seemed all but impossible that the contaminated, warehouse-laden neighborhood could get on par with the rest of Brooklyn. But recent years have brought major cleanup efforts along the 1.8-mile Canal, leading to new additions like a Whole Foods (quite possibly the first sign of gentrification) and subsequent interest from developers in creating higher end housing. This fall, reports DNAinfo, the Department of City Planning will launch a study to explore a rezoning of Gowanus that would allow for more residential developments in what is currently an industrial section. Locals, however, have similar concerns to those who opposed the recent, controversial East New York rezoning--that it will only incentive developers, causing displacement of longtime residents, and that any affordable housing put forth in the plan would still be out of reach for the lowest income residents. They've therefore created their own redevelopment plan called Bridging Gowanus, which, as the Times notes, calls for "greater density and more affordable apartments in return for improvements and guarantees that preserve the precarious soul of the district."
More details ahead
Tom Brady and Gisele Pick Up a $20M Pad in Robert A.M. Stern’s 70 Vestry
August 2, 2016

Tom Brady and Gisele Pick Up a $20M Pad in Robert A.M. Stern’s 70 Vestry

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Pre-deflategate, in 2013, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and his supermodel wife Gisele Bündchen bought a sprawling apartment at glassy Flatiron tower One Madison. The following year, they put it on the market for $40,000 a month, and it rented out in just two days. But it looks like they'll soon be selling, as the Post reports that the power couple has picked up a $20 million+ pad at Robert A.M. Stern's forthcoming Tribeca project 70 Vestry Street. Though it's not confirmed which unit they acquired, sources say it's 5,000 square feet, on a high floor, and comes with a large terrace. Rumor also has it they chose the waterfront building because of the privacy that its covered porte-cochère entrance provides.
More this way
Two-Bedroom Williamsburg Condo With Pool Views Gets a Price Chop to $1.5M
August 1, 2016

Two-Bedroom Williamsburg Condo With Pool Views Gets a Price Chop to $1.5M

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The Williamsburg development 135 North 11th Street probably starts looking good to buyers every summer considering it boasts its own private pool, complete with lounge chairs and cabanas. This particular apartment, a two-bedroom unit, looks down upon the pool from a private balcony. The funky space has just gotten a price chop, reducing from its ask of $1.62 million to $1.495 million last week. It last sold in 2011 for $728,048.
Take a look around
Could Facebook’s Entry Into Residential Real Estate Offer a Model for Housing in Expensive Cities?
August 1, 2016

Could Facebook’s Entry Into Residential Real Estate Offer a Model for Housing in Expensive Cities?

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Facebook recently proposed a plan to create 1,500 apartments for employees near their Menlo Park, California campus, with 15 percent of the housing set aside for low-income families. According to Wired, "Urban planners and local developers call it a generous gesture that could bring sorely needed housing to the area." The company wants to construct two new office buildings and a hotel on land near its original campus to accommodate thousands of planned hires. Some people argue that the tech company getting into the property development game will actually drive up housing prices in a market that's already one of the nation's most expensive areas.
Would company housing help in New York City?
$3M Prospect Park South Mansion on Michelle Williams’ Street Sold in Only Two Hours
August 1, 2016

$3M Prospect Park South Mansion on Michelle Williams’ Street Sold in Only Two Hours

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Recently, 6sqft brought you a look at an extraordinary 23-room mansion at 1305 Albemarle road, freshly-listed at a neighborhood record-setting $2.98 million. According to the listing agents (h/t Curbed) this impossibly grand home entered contract two hours after it officially hit the market. The head-turning house just happens to be on the same street in quiet Prospect Park South as the Colonial Revival-style mansion recently purchased by Michelle Williams; it was a key location in the Oscar-winning film “Reversal of Fortune,” and “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” did some filming on the home’s first floor. We don't know if it was the fame factor, the 10,000-plus-square-foot size, the 30-foot Ionic columns at the entrance, or the unbelievably massive and dramatic third floor ballroom complete with wet bar, but we can see plenty of reasons this house would find a new owner in a flash.
See it all right here
Revealed: Rem Koolhaas’ First NYC Building in Gramercy
July 31, 2016

Revealed: Rem Koolhaas’ First NYC Building in Gramercy

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As 6sqft previously reported, "thirty-eight years after the publication of his acclaimed book 'Delirious New York,' Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and his global architecture firm the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA)... have finally landed their first ground-up New York City commission." And now, CityRealty.com has uncovered the first official renderings of the two-towered condo development, located at 122 East 23rd Street in Gramercy. The Pritzker Prize winner has designed a crystalline glass and concrete facade with a chiseled corner on the north building that exposes its glass edges. In between the two buildings will be a courtyard surrounded by private apartment terraces. The courtyard will lead into a pool area, children's play area, and screening and party rooms on the building's lower levels. There will also be a robotic parking system that brings cars to underground storage.
More details
The Bronx Dethrones Brooklyn for Most Residential Permits Issued
July 29, 2016

The Bronx Dethrones Brooklyn for Most Residential Permits Issued

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For the past four years, Brooklyn has had more residential permits issues through the Department of Buildings than any other borough. But according to a report from the New York Building Congress shared by DNAinfo, during the first six months of 2016, the Bronx has taken the lead, accounting for nearly 32 percent of all permitted units, a major jump from its 11 percent average over the past four years. For comparison, last year Brooklyn had a staggering 26,000 units permitted, but this year fell to 1,400; the Bronx had 1,900 units authorized this year. Brooklyn's sharp decrease is part of a city-wide drop after the 421-a program expired at the beginning of the year that caused developers to rush to get their permits in at the end of 2015. But the Bronx's surge is likely due to a huge affordable housing push: "More than 43 percent of the units that began construction in the first six months of this year under Mayor Bill de Blasio's ambitious affordable housing plan... were in the Bronx."
More on the trend
Floor-Through, Two-Bedroom With Historic Touches Asks $9,500/Month in the Village
July 29, 2016

Floor-Through, Two-Bedroom With Historic Touches Asks $9,500/Month in the Village

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Charm abounds at this two-bedroom West Village apartment, which spans a full floor of the 1875 brownstone building 69 Perry Street. The interior boasts some beautiful historic details like moldings, carved fireplace mantles and original shutters. The fully-furnished apartment also comes with the owner's impressive collection of antique mantel pieces, 19 century paintings and antiques, and an Italian ceramic collection. Overall, not a bad spot to cozy up for a year.
See more of the apartment
Hip Apartment With Spacious Private Balcony Asks $695K in Ridgewood
July 28, 2016

Hip Apartment With Spacious Private Balcony Asks $695K in Ridgewood

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This super-stylish condo apartment comes from the Glenridge Mews, a complex in Ridgewood, Queens comprised of nine interconnected buildings with private walk-ways lined with lush greenery and landscaping. The outdoor space doesn't end at the apartment, as the 1,089-square-foot pad comes with a 75-square-foot private balcony large enough for a modest outdoor dinner party. And inside, tons of windows and exposures to the east, west and south ensure a bright, cheerful spot that's now asking $695K.
Take a tour
POLL: Will Whole Foods Drive Up Real Estate Values in Harlem?

A rendering of the new Harlem Whole Foods

July 28, 2016

POLL: Will Whole Foods Drive Up Real Estate Values in Harlem?

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6sqft has previously written about the Whole Foods Effect--the pattern of real estate values increasing when a new grocery store opens nearby. In fact, national data from Yahoo! Finance showed that "homes with a Whole Foods in the ZIP code appreciated by nearly 34 percent." And here in New York, the Effect seems to be taking hold in Harlem, where a Whole Foods will open next year at 125th Street and Lenox Avenue in a six-story commercial building spanning over 200,000 square feet (other tenants will include Burlington Coat Factory, Nordstrom Rack, Olive Garden and TD Bank). Citi Habitats agent Chyann Sapp told the Post that "there’s a one-bedroom two blocks away for $1,800. And the owner said that once Whole Foods opens he thinks he could easily get $2,000, $2,100 for it." The store was first announced in 2012, at which time the area's price per square foot was $594, according to appraisal firm Miller Samuel. As of 2015, it had risen to $839. Similarly, townhouse prices have doubled from $2 million to $4 million in this time.
Is Whole Foods behind it?
Rupert Murdoch’s Multi-Terraced West Village Townhouse Sells for $27.5M in Just Five Months
July 28, 2016

Rupert Murdoch’s Multi-Terraced West Village Townhouse Sells for $27.5M in Just Five Months

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Last August 6sqft reported that News Corp. head and Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch had put his West Village townhouse–the one he'd bought just five months prior for $25 million–on the market. Now, just five months after listing the 25-foot-wide, four-story brick home for $28.9M, the house has found a buyer, the New York Observer reports. Whomever is behind the entity known as West 11th Street, LLC has purchased the 6,500-square-foot Greek Revival manse for $27.5 million. The deal represents a $2.5M profit for Murdoch (and we all know how much he needs a few more million).
See what else makes this townhouse so buy-able
Maya Angelou’s Historic Harlem Brownstone Finds a Buyer for $4M
July 26, 2016

Maya Angelou’s Historic Harlem Brownstone Finds a Buyer for $4M

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The historic Harlem brownstone of author, poet, and civil rights activist Maya Angelou listed for $5.1 million in February, and after a drop to $4.95 million in March, it's now found a buyer for a reduced price of $4 million, The Real Deal tells us. Dr. Angelou purchased the four-story home, built in 1909 in the Mount Morris Park Historic District, sight unseen in 2002 to serve as her northeast residence when she wasn't teaching at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. But she didn't move in until 2004 (vandals had turned it into a "dilapidated shell"), when East Harlem-based architect Marc Anderson had completed a gut renovation that added contemporary amenities such as an elevator, two skylights, and a basement entertainment area, while retaining historic details like the original oak-front door, wainscoting, carved banister, and decorative fireplaces.
See it all
Lottery Launches for 76 Affordable Units at 300 Ashland Place, From $889/Month
July 25, 2016

Lottery Launches for 76 Affordable Units at 300 Ashland Place, From $889/Month

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It's been 14 years since Enrique Norten's ship-like design was chosen to sail upon a triangular site in an ambitious arts district planned for the area around the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Initially proposed as an eight-story glass building to house the Brooklyn Library for the Visual and Performing Arts, the project was altered to a mixed-use high-rise when Two Trees Management was brought onboard during the economic downturn in 2008. Now officially known as 300 Ashland Place, the slab-shaped tower is a silvery 32-story icon that architecture critic Carter Horsley praises as a "gleaming, but mysterious steed" in the emerging Downtown Brooklyn skyline. It will house a smattering of public uses in addition to 379 apartments above. Earlier this July, leasing began on the 300 market-rate apartments that go for roughly $2,850/month for studios, $3,600/month for one-bedrooms and $5,750/month for two-bedrooms. And now, a housing lottery has launched for the 76 affordable units that include $889/month studios, $949/month one-bedrooms, and $1,087/month two-bedrooms.
Find out here if you qualify
What You Need to Know When Buying a Townhouse in New York City
July 22, 2016

What You Need to Know When Buying a Townhouse in New York City

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Historic details, gardens, privacy, numerous bedrooms and bathrooms… In a crowded city like New York where quarters often come cramped, townhouse living is truly what real estate dreams are made of. However, while townhouses can offer far more space and flexibility than say an apartment in a glass tower, unlike buying into a condo or a co-op, they also come with a whole other […]

Units at Trump’s 11 Manhattan Condo Buildings Are Still Selling at a Premium
July 22, 2016

Units at Trump’s 11 Manhattan Condo Buildings Are Still Selling at a Premium

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Historically, the Trump brand has boosted sales prices at Manhattan condos. Since 2005, units in the Donald's buildings have sold for an average of 31 percent more than other NYC condos. But with his beyond-contentious presidential run, it's been unclear if his real estate empire would take a hit in a city where 70 percent of registered voters are Democrats. New data brought to us by MarketWatch, however, shows that he's "still king of New York." According to an analysis by CityRealty.com of 2016 sales data at Trump's 11 Manhattan condos, these units sold for an average of $1,974 a square foot, compared with $1,873 for all other condos, a five percent advantage that was also echoed in 2015.
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Local Pols Say Port Authority’s $10B Bus Terminal Plan Is a Hot Mess
July 22, 2016

Local Pols Say Port Authority’s $10B Bus Terminal Plan Is a Hot Mess

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A request to put the brakes on a $10 billion plan for a new West Side bus terminal and rethink the process with more input from local officials and the public was rebuffed by the Port Authority chairman, reports Crain’s. Rep. Jerrold Nadler and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer were joined by Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris, state Sen. Brad Hoylman, Assembly members Richard Gottfried and Linda Rosenthal and Councilman Corey Johnson in backing the effort to slow the Port Authority's call to move ahead with a design competition to get ideas for the West Side plan. The controversy emerged after a board meeting on Thursday. "We’re not going to defer the design and deliverability study,” was the reply from John Degnan, the New Jersey-appointed chairman, amid concerns that the new terminal will necessitate the seizure of private property using eminent domain, threaten area homes, small businesses and other organizations and belch more carbon from a larger fleet of buses into the air in an area that already "runs afoul of federal air-quality standards."
Find out what the fuss is all about
Trendy, ‘Affordable’ Food Hall and Beer Garden Headed to the South Bronx

Image: View Grand Concourse via photopin (license)

July 21, 2016

Trendy, ‘Affordable’ Food Hall and Beer Garden Headed to the South Bronx

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Controversial South Bronx Developer Keith Rubenstein of Somerset Partners has purchased a 16,000-square-foot warehouse (expandable to 30,000 square feet) at 9 Bruckner Boulevard for $7.5 million and intends to create a Gansevoort Market-style food hall called Bruckner Market, reports The Real Deal. According to the developer, who purchased two other South Bronx waterfront sites last year, the space will offer a fresh food market, kiosks and restaurants and may have a beer garden, though he made a point of addressing how the new addition will affect the community: “It will provide great food and beverage options at affordable prices for the existing community and new community.”
Find out more
New Photos of NYC’s First Residential Urban Farm at Urby Staten Island
July 20, 2016

New Photos of NYC’s First Residential Urban Farm at Urby Staten Island

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Urban farms are nothing new to NYC, but the first one at a residential building is taking shape at Staten Island's Urby. The $250 million, 900-unit rental development is located on the borough's North Shore waterfront, just minutes from the ferry, and is a collaboration between Ironstate Development and Dutch architecture and design firm Concrete. There will be 35,000 square feet of retail space, and though the units are quite nice and modern, it's the health-centric amenities that really set this LEED-certified project apart. Urby will offer an outdoor pool, a two-story fitness center, filtered communal well, landscaped courtyards with fire pits, a rooftop apiary with beehives, a 300-car garage with electric car chargers, and access to a waterfront esplanade. In the food department, there's one of the city's largest urban farms, which is employing New York's first farmer-in-residence, as well as an on-site bodega, cafe, and communal test kitchen.
Check it all out
MAP: NYC’s Rental Concessions on the Rise, See Where Landlords Are Offering Deals
July 20, 2016

MAP: NYC’s Rental Concessions on the Rise, See Where Landlords Are Offering Deals

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“There’s some crazy stuff going on in New York.” David Neithercut, President and CEO of Equity Residential, told Bloomberg in April during the company’s Q1 Earnings Call. COO David Santee sums up why: “We had to join the concession party to close deals.” Equity Residential is following a growing trend of many other New York City landlords, and is doing so out of necessity. They are under immense pressure to keep their buildings full in the face of increasing vacancy rates. According to the June 2016 Elliman Report, in Manhattan, “The vacancy rate rose from 2.07 percent to 2.3 percent when compared to the same month a year ago, and is the highest vacancy rate for June in four years.” The report also notes that the median rental price is up 2.2 percent since last June, and the number of new leases is up 33.5 percent as tenants continue to push back against increases applied at the time of renewal. Tenants were offered concessions on 9.7 percent of all new leases, up from 3.9 percent last June. While this has become a point of stress for landlords (Equity Residential alone gave an estimated $600,000 in concessions during the first quarter), as you may have guessed, this is great news for prospective renters.
Find out more here
Pricing Revealed for Essex Crossing’s SHoP-Designed Condo Tower
July 19, 2016

Pricing Revealed for Essex Crossing’s SHoP-Designed Condo Tower

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Though Essex Crossing will bring 1.65 million square feet of residential, community, and commercial space to the Lower East Side, only one of the 10 sites will offer condos--242 Broome Street. Located at Site One, the SHoP Architects-designed tower is currently getting its foundation poured, and along with this groundbreaking comes a sales website with new details on the project, reports CityRealty.com. The 14-story building will have a five-story base to house retail and commercial tenants and a bowling alley from Splitsville Luxury Lanes. On the fifth floor will be a cultural space (the Andy Warhol Museum previously planned to open an outpost here) and rooftop sculpture garden. Above will be 55 one- to three-bedroom condos, 11 of which will be affordable. Tentative pricing for the market-rate units ranges from $1,275,000 to $7,000,000, according to the latest edition of Elliman Magazine (the brokerage will be handling sales).
More details this way
Delivering a New Future to Bronx General Post Office While Honoring Its Past

Image courtesy of Studio V Architecture

July 19, 2016

Delivering a New Future to Bronx General Post Office While Honoring Its Past

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Blocks away from the Harlem River waterfront and the 15-acre Mill Pond Park, with easy access to public transportation and serving a vibrant community of college students, office and medical workers, and working-class families, sits the nearly 80-year old landmarked Bronx General Post Office. Acquired in 2014 by developer Young Woo & Associates and the Bristol Group as part of the postal service’s plan to pare down its real estate holdings, the building’s bold yet tasteful transformation promises to be a showcase for the borough’s long awaited rebirth. Though its glory years as the primary sorting, storage and processing hub for the majority of mail coming to and from the Bronx have long gone, the government was careful to ensure that its new life would be worthy of its storied history—and its neighborhood inhabitants. After a thoughtful and lengthy RFP process, developer Young Woo was selected to bring his vision—what he's described as "a crossroads for community, commerce and culture"—to the 175,00-square-foot facility, and he hired STUDIO V Architecture, a firm with extensive experience in adaptive reuse, to help achieve it.
Read more on their approach to this unique project here
Huge Tax Disparities Along Central Park Become Visuals in Architectural Art Installation

“Section 581” by SITU Studio, Photograph by Patrick Mandeville

July 18, 2016

Huge Tax Disparities Along Central Park Become Visuals in Architectural Art Installation

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"Section 581" by SITU Studio, Photograph by Patrick Mandeville Billionaires get off nearly tax-free and billions go uncollected due to flaws in the way the city assesses property value. As part of a new exhibit at the Storefront for Art and Architecture in Soho, interdisciplinary architecture firm SITU Studio created visual representations of these inequities in one of their most glaring examples: the buildings along Central Park. New York City's property tax structure assigns higher real property taxes to renters than it does to the infamous absentee owners of the trophy condos on Billionaires’ Row, short-changing the city of millions in annual revenue, according to CityLab. The acrylic bands in the SITU models show the disparity between the taxed value of these properties and the sky-high amounts they’d actually sell for.
Find out how the state law is giving billionaires a free lunch
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