Real Estate Trends

Earlier this week, Governor Cuomo revealed plans to transform a revamped Penn Station-Moynihan Train Hall complex into a "world-class 21st century transportation hub." Despite the flashy new renderings and promise of a 2020 completion date, not everyone is sold on the plan, including Vishaan Chakrabarti, former principal of SHoP Architects and founder of the Practice for Architecture and Urbanism. As outlined in the Times, he feels that Cuomo's scheme has one glaring omission--Madison Square Garden. Instead of demolishing the arena, as earlier plans had called for, Chakrabarti proposes repurposing it and "using its stripped skeleton to make a glass pavilion, which becomes a neighborhood gathering spot, not just a station." The venue would then move to the west end of the Farley Building.
Lots more details and renderings ahead

Skyline-altering tower to rise 928 feet along Fifth Avenue in Nomad

View to the southwest of the Empire State Building with a conceptual 928-foot-tall tower at the site of 262 Fifth Avenue.

September 29, 2016

Skyline-altering tower to rise 928 feet along Fifth Avenue in Nomad

By Katy Cornell

A near supertall skyscraper is coming to Nomad, according to a recent Department of Buildings filing for 262 Fifth Avenue. Boris Kuzinez, an Israeli-Russian billionaire, submitted plans last week for a 54-story, 928-foot-tall mixed-use tower on the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 29th Street where a trio of pre-war buildings currently stand. The tower […]

September 29, 2016

New renderings for JDS and SHoP’s 1,000-foot Lower East Side supertall

Last 6sqft checked on the rental building at 247 Cherry Street in the Two Bridges area of the Lower East Side, it was revealed that the tower would rise to 1,000 feet, not surprising considering it comes from the supertall power team of JDS Development and SHoP Architects. And now, after a Community Board 3 meeting earlier this week where JDS and SHoP addressed the controversial project, CityRealty.com brings a new set of renderings that show close-ups of the 77-story building's green terra cotta facade and sky decks.
Check out all the new views

September 29, 2016

MTA board member asks who will pay for Penn Station overhaul

As 6sqft previously reported, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced plans early this week for a $1.6 billion overhaul of Penn Station, and further details revealed that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority would be responsible for $150 of the project's costs. Since those plans were released, questions have been raised about where that organization's share of the tab would be coming from in an already stretched budget.
So where is this money coming from?

September 28, 2016

$1.5B in construction financing secured for Midtown supertall One Vanderbilt

By Diane Pham

It's full steam ahead for SL Green's new Midtown supertall, One Vanderbilt. Early this morning the developer announced it had closed on $1.5 billion in financing for its 1,401-foot, full-block office tower slated to rise directly adjacent to Grand Central Terminal. As SL Green Managing Director, Robert Schiffer expressed in a statement: “Closing on the construction financing means that nothing stands in the way of One Vanderbilt becoming an iconic addition to the Manhattan skyline.”
find out more here

September 28, 2016

REVEALED: Governor Cuomo unveils plans for new Penn Station-Moynihan Train Hall complex

In a presentation (pdf) Tuesday at the Association for a Better New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that plans for transforming a revamped Penn Station-Moynihan Train Hall complex into a "world-class 21st century transportation hub" were back on track and ready to roll, complete with a slew of new renderings and the selection of a developer-builder team including the Related Companies, Vornado, and Skanska AB, to redevelop the Farley Building.
Find out all the details

The scene on the day of the explosion, via Uptown Radio

September 27, 2016

Second Avenue explosion victim sells vacant lot for $6M

When the Second Avenue gas explosion tore through three East Village buildings in March 2015, George Pasternak lost his property at 123 Second Avenue, which housed the famed Pommes Frites and a deli, by no fault of his own. And when the city demolished what remained, he was charged $350,000. But this past March, he listed the vacant lot for $9.7 million, and now 6sqft has uncovered property records that show he's made the sale for $6 million, significantly less than the asking price.
READ MORE

Real Estate Trends

September 27, 2016

Sales launch with new renderings at 242 Broome Street, Essex Crossing’s first condos

Only one of the 10 towers at Essex Crossing--the 1.65 million-square-foot, mixed-use, mega-development underway on the Lower East Side--will offer condos, and those looking to buy a residence there now have their chance. Curbed reports that sales have launched at 242 Broome Street, the SHoP-designed tower that will house 55 one- to three-bedroom condos, 11 of which will be affordable. As 6sqft previously shared, market-rate units will range from $1,275,000 to $7,000,000. Along with this news comes the first set of interior renderings from DXA Studio, whose designs "balance serenity with modernism."
More details and renderings ahead

‘House of Cards’ and ‘The Strain’ actor Corey Stoll buys $2.4M Windsor Terrace townhouse

Native Upper West Sider and actor Corey Stoll--best known for his Golden Globe-nominated role as Congressman Peter Russo on "House of Cards" and for playing Dr. Ephraim Goodweather on "The Strain"--has a new Windsor Terrace townhouse, according to LL NYC. He and his wife, Broadway actress Nadia Bowers, dropped $2.4 million on the charming and quaint home, which was recently renovated and is just one block from Prospect Park.
Take a tour

September 23, 2016

Sales have launched for LES luxury condos next door to Katz’s deli for $1.075M and up

Developer Ben Shaoul's new Lower East Side condos adjacent to Katz's famous deli at 196 Orchard Street have just hit the market. Definitely in line with the 21st century version of the storied neighborhood, the 96 newly-minted apartments have luxurious finishes, expansive views and enviable amenities, with units starting at $1.075 million for a studio.
This way for more details and lots of interior renderings

September 23, 2016

Bill and Hillary Clinton pick up $1.16M Westchester property next to current home

Despite hopes for a move to Washington D.C., the Clintons are expanding their Westchester property, as the couple has picked up a $1.16 million ranch-style residence right next door to their current home, a larger house that they bought back in 1999 for $1.7 million. As the Post first reported, the powerful pair now own an entire cul-de-sac at the end of a Chappaqua block. In addition to giving the Clintons more space to stretch out in, the buy will apparently also make life easier for the Secret Service.
Find out more

September 21, 2016

POLL: Is Journal Square the Next Brooklyn?

These days, everything seems to get the Brooklyn stamp. The Post even went so far as to declare Pennsylvania's Amish Country the new incarnation of the borough. But a bit closer to home, Jersey City's Journal Square is making serious headway in the race to become the next frontier. As CityRealty.com recently explained, the slightly-inland area, easily accessible to Manhattan via the PATH train, is prime for development due to lower land and construction costs than the waterfront. At least 10 major residential projects are planned for Journal Square, and according to Ken Pasternack, chairman of developer KABR Group, "Rents for a new-development high rise will be $40 a square foot here, as opposed to $100 in Manhattan. We’re betting tens of millions of dollars that in the next 10 years, the neighborhood will be a brand on par with Brooklyn."
Do you agree?

Real Estate Trends

September 21, 2016

Sales launch at Renzo Piano’s first residential project in NYC

Last we heard from starchitect Renzo Piano's 565 Broome SoHo, his first residential project in the city, it was March and with construction underway, a slew of new renderings came online of the Soho condominium. Now Curbed reports that sales have finally launched at the pair of glassy, 30-story structures, with currently available units ranging from a $990,000 studio to a $6,135,000 two-bedroom (the penthouses and duplexes will top $20 million). Perhaps the most noteworthy tidbit from the press release is that some residences will feature "enormous private terraces with 25-foot private, saltwater pools," which seems to be a growing trend in the luxury market.
More details and new views

September 21, 2016

Debt-beleaguered site of Norman Foster’s 3 Sutton Place condo tower is cleared for sale

A US Bankruptcy Court judge has approved a plan to sell the 3 Sutton Place site at at 426-432 East 58th Street, one of the city's most luxurious old enclaves, reports the New York Post. Brokers have been selected to conduct the marketing of the 262,000-square-foot project that includes plans for a 900-foot-tall condominium tower drawn up by British architect Sir Norman Foster of Foster + Partners.
Find out more

September 19, 2016

A Trump empire built on $885 million in tax breaks has cost the city a fortune

If you've followed Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump's gold-plated real estate career, you might already know how much of his success has been due to his family's extensive political connections–and generous tax breaks, grants and incentives from the government and taxpayers. In case you haven't read Trump's 1987 bestseller "The Art of the Deal," the New York Times illuminates the role that hundreds of millions in tax breaks have played in the Trump empire. While Trump may not be much different from other developers in seeking tax breaks, the candidate vociferously paints a picture of a rigged system and a fixed game. But these very fixes have enabled him to achieve a net worth estimated at 4.5 billion and the opportunity to indulge a run for the nation’s highest office.
So what's been going on here?

September 16, 2016

Saudi billionaire seals the deal on the city’s highest home for record $88M

The most expensive apartment closing in New York City this year and one of the priciest sales ever is finally a done deal, reports The Real Deal. The apartment, the top penthouse at Rafael Viñoly-designed billionaire’s bunker 432 Park Avenue, is the priciest unit in the big-ticket building as well as being literally the city’s highest. As 6sqft previously reported, the buyer is Saudi retail magnate Fawaz Al Hokair. The sale price was $87.7 million—a skyscraping $10,623 per square foot.
More jumbo numbers, this way

Real Estate Trends

September 15, 2016

‘Humans of New York’ creator picks up $2.45M Chelsea duplex

You may not know Brandon Stanton by name, but you certainly know his photo-journalism project "Humans of New York." Launched six years ago, the social media sensation features interviews with thousands of people on the streets of New York, with special series focusing on groups like Syrian refugees and veterans, and it's now spread internationally. Stanton has encountered wild success, even authoring a book that spent 29 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and he's now scored a lovely Chelsea co-op, reports the Observer. He and fiancée Erin O’Sullivan dropped $2.45 million on the lovely duplex at 440 West 23rd Street, which features a two-level backyard garden.
See the whole place

September 15, 2016

Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber buys second condo at Trump International for $7.6M

Though we're not sure about composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's political leanings in this country (he's a Conservative in Britain), he sure does seem to love some Donald Trump real estate. The Observer reports that the British musical theater impresario has dropped $7.6 million on a two-bedroom 35th-floor unit at Trump International in an off-market deal. He and his wife Madeleine already own another adjacent unit on the same floor in the Central Park West tower, which they bought in 2012 for $5.8 million after selling a Trump Tower duplex for $16.5 million in 2010.
READ MORE

September 15, 2016

City Council approves La Central development, bringing nearly 1,000 affordable units to the Bronx

On Wednesday the New York City Council voted to approve the La Central development project in the Melrose section of the Bronx, the Daily News reports. The project, which will be designed by FXFOWLE architects, is slated to bring 992 apartments to the borough, all of them designated as affordable housing under Mayor de Blasio’s mandatory inclusionary housing (MIH) legislation. It is the biggest project to be approved to date under the MIH rules, which require some income restricted apartments in projects that need the city's approval.
Find out more and see more renderings

September 14, 2016

REVEALED: Thomas Heatherwick’s $150M climbable Hudson Yards sculpture ‘The Vessel’

It was nearly three years ago that Related Companies chairman Stephen Ross boasted that Hudson Yards' public art piece would be "New York’s Eiffel Tower," and after an unveiling today of the massive sculpture that will anchor the central public space, it seems he might not have been too far off.
More details and renderings this way

September 14, 2016

Interview: Time Equities’ Francis Greenburger, a Renaissance man in NYC

By 6sqft

Francis Greenburger is the definition of a Renaissance man. Beyond running the full-service real estate firm Time Equities, Inc., he also helms the Greenburger Center for Social and Criminal Justice, he serves as Chairman of the literary agency Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, Inc., and he is also deeply involved with the OMI International Arts Center—and this is on top of the numerous non-profits […]

September 13, 2016

$867 million in federal subsidies for three NYC sports stadiums a big loss