Real Estate Trends

It’s already been pretty well documented that proximity to subway lines increases rental value. But what about subway access right in the building? Brooklyn Paper recently reported on the new AVA DoBro tower in Downtown Brooklyn that offers, in addition to swanky amenities like a heated dog run and an espresso bar, a brand new subway entrance […]

March 10, 2016

What to Know As a Foreign National Buying or Renting in New York

By Diane Pham

Buying and renting in the city can pose a challenge even for long-time New Yorkers, but for foreign nationals without citizenship or the right credit history, opportunity can quickly turn into an impossibility. But not all hope is lost for internationals looking to invest in a home stateside—one just needs to be educated on the buying process. […]

Real Estate Trends

March 10, 2016

S9 Architecture Reveals New Design for Apartment Tower at 111 Varick Street

Late last year 6sqft posted a gallery of renderings visualizing a new high-rise for Madigan Development and Robal Parking Corporation's development site at 111 Varick Street in Hudson Square. Now, on S9 Architecture's recently revamped website, we have a revised look at a different and enlarged design for the site. The published set of images shows a slightly taller tower of similar massing clad in a skin of rippling panels where each band of floors resembles a strip of paper repeatedly folded onto itself and thereafter wrapped around the building envelope.
More details ahead

March 10, 2016

Conservative Queen Ann Coulter Buys $577K Upper East Side Co-op

By Annie Doge

Most residents of the Upper East Side are Hillary supporters, but that didn't stop outspoken conservative political commentator Ann Coulter from buying a co-op in the 'hood. According to city records released today, she bought the two-bedroom home at 12 East 87th Street for $577,000. Interestingly, the sale is significantly under its $1.8 million market value, but it does have a tenant in place who's paying $1,600 a month, and the cash-only listing states that it's for "investors only."
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March 9, 2016

From the ‘Seinfeld Law’ to Doggie Interviews, The Craziest Co-Op Board Stories Around

By Lauren Price

If you think you’re in like Flynn because you’ve got the dough, you’re still far from done if you’re buying a co-op. Since co-ops account for some 75 percent of New York’s housing stock when it comes to buying, you’d better hold onto your hat. That’s because you still haven’t sat in the personal interview-hot seat with the building’s gatekeepers to not just assess your finances, but to evaluate your worth as an individual. Whether you're a billionaire, a celebrity, of just a regular Jane with designs on one of these spaces, just keep in mind that there are a set of commandments that are never to be broken. Because when they are, there will be hell to pay. We've gathered up some of the best co-op board horror stories around, with anecdotes that involve everyone from Jerry Seinfeld to Steven Spielberg to a feisty little dachshund caught up in a bait-and-switch.
some unbelievable co-op board stories here

Real Estate Trends

March 9, 2016

First Look At Harlem’s Baldwin Condominiums, Inspired By James Baldwin

In a corner of Harlem hemmed in by a steep ravine within Jackie Robinson Park and the Harlem River, a residential enclave is undergoing a renaissance. Among a string of four recently finished sale buildings, a seven-story, six-unit condominium has begun work at 306 West 148th Street, between Bradhurst Avenue and Frederick Douglass Boulevard. Conceived by Bottom Line Construction & Development (no comment), the 10,000-square-foot building is to be called The Baldwin after the eminent Harlem-born novelist, poet, playwright and social critic, James Baldwin. Channeling the author's spirit, the condo will capture in its residences "the sophisticated details and artistic flare of contemporary Harlem living."
Find out more

March 9, 2016

Affordable Housing Lottery at Colgate Close Starts in Soundview, Priced $696/Month

In the Soundview neighborhood of the Bronx, the Arker Companies has commenced the affordable housing lottery process for their latest ground-up building, Colgate Close. Located at 1092 Colgate Street, where the semi-industrial area along the Bronx River evolves into a low-scale residential community, the five-story complex will contain 32 studio and one-bedrooms targeted for low-income households earning between $25,200 and $30,250 for a single person and $27,052 and $41,460 for two people. Depending on income, studios will be priced at $696 or $847 per month and one-bedrooms at $749 and $910 per month.
More details this way

March 8, 2016

Beyer Blinder Belle Publishes Renderings of Essex Crossing’s Site 5

By Emrys Fitzgerald

The nine-site Essex Crossing plan underway on the Lower East Side will bring more than 1.9 million square feet of residential, commercial, and community space to the largest undeveloped swath of land in the borough south of 96th Street. The long-tweeked master plan is being developed by an alliance named Delancey Street Associates, which consists of BFC Partners, L+M Development Partners, and Taconic Investment Partners. The plan's site 5, located just a block southwest of the Manhattan entrance of the Williamsburg Bridge at 145 Clinton Street, will bring 211 apartments, 73,000 square feet of retail space, and a 15,000-square-foot park to the full-block parcel between Grand, Clinton, Broome and Suffolk streets. Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners are the designers of the red-brick tower and recently published a set of renderings, first shown to the community in 2015, giving us a more detailed look at the $110 million, 15-story building.
More details and renderings ahead

March 7, 2016

New Renderings of the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Office Space and Food Hall

After announcing two weeks ago that they'd be launching a free shuttle service to connect with 13 subway lines, the Brooklyn Navy Yard has now released additional details about the shuttle, as well as new renderings of Building 77's $185 million renovation, reports Brownstoner. The 1,000,000-square-foot structure, a former ammunition depot, is the largest on the site, and when it reopens in 2017 it will offer luxury commercial space, a 16,000-square-foot rooftop, and its hotly anticipated food hall to be anchored by Lower East Side mainstay Russ & Daughters. The shuttle will have WiFi and will also connect to the LIRR. Additionally, the Navy Yard will get seven Citi Bike kiosks and 1,600 parking spaces.
More details and all the renderings

Donald Trump’s NYC Properties Owe the City $27K in Unpaid Fines

Donald Trump's fellow Republican presidential candidates have been focused on him releasing tax documents, but since he claims he's not in the position to do so since he's been audited, this little tidbit might make for some good temporary fodder -- Trump's luxury Manhattan properties owe the city for 19 unpaid violations that have amounted to $27,536 over the past 12 years. I Quant NY scoured the city's building records to find that since 2000, at least 14 of his Manhattan properties have received 460 separate violations, totaling $304,165 in fines. Sure this may be a drop in the bucket for the GOP frontrunner, but it's the lack of compliance that seems troubling, especially since only 6 percent of the instances were dismissed. And 2015 had the most violations to date, with 62 separate fines for "Failure to Maintain an Elevator."
Get the rest of the details

Real Estate Trends

March 5, 2016

East 61st Street Condo Finally Reveals Itself, $82.5M Sellout Projected

At the northeast corner of East 61st Street and Second Avenue, a long shrouded condominium project is finally showing us some skin. The 19-story building addressed at 301 East 61st Street exhibits a creamy stone exterior, with inset balconies and vertical fins projecting from a floor-to-ceiling glass curtain wall. The building is being developed by Orlando-based Inverlad Development who purchased the 3,800-square-foot lot for $15.4 million in 2012.
Find out more

March 4, 2016

Why Micro-Apartments in Carmel Place Are So Expensive

We’ve been hearing a lot recently about the city’s new micro-apartments. As 6sqft has reported, NYC’s first micro-apartment complex Carmel Place (formerly My Micro NY) at 335 East 27th Street began leasing at the end of last year. The nine-story modular development in Kips Bay has 55 studios that are 260 to 360 square feet. Of these, 22 are affordable and they’ll go from $950 to $1,500 a month. Market-rate units on the other end range from $2,540 to $2,910. According to CityRealty, the average rental price per square foot for New York City apartments overall is $51, while Carmel Place units ring in at $98 per square foot. The idea of micro-housing was presented, in part, to address the need for more affordable apartments. So why is it that the result is what a recent New Yorker article calls “micro-luxury" housing?
Small Is Beautiful–but Not Affordable

Over 100,000 Unofficial ‘Ghost Tenants’ May Be Living in NYC Public Housing

Photo via Wiki Commons

March 4, 2016

Over 100,000 Unofficial ‘Ghost Tenants’ May Be Living in NYC Public Housing

By Ondel Hylton and Julian Friedman

Although 400,000 is the official head count of residents in New York City’s public housing units, estimates say that figure may be much higher, and that 100,000 to 200,000 more people live there off the books, Slate reports. In a way it's hardly news: People live with relatives, friends and roommates while they aren't the primary leaseholders–almost standard fare in a regular rental apartment (though market rate tenants may run afoul of the lease if anyone wanted to make a case). The city's public housing units are over 50 years old and in dire need of updates and repairs, but because the city is becoming ever more unaffordable for anyone on a meager income, the real tally of people who live in these buildings could be as much as 50 percent higher than the official number.
Find out more about NYCHA's shadow population

Stuff You Should Know: How Air Rights Work

Image of One57 © Wade Zimmerman courtesy of Agence Christian de Portzamparc (ACDP)

March 3, 2016

Stuff You Should Know: How Air Rights Work

By Diane Pham

“For whoever owns the soil, it is theirs up to Heaven and down to Hell.” Most folks outside the architecture and real estate industries are likely to believe that putting up a new skyscraper is simply about finding an empty lot to build up. However, those in the know understand that it takes much more than a stretch of space and a good […]

March 3, 2016

New Renderings and Video Released for Sheepshead Bay’s Waterfront Vue Condominium

Rybak Development's latest venture named the Vue Condominium will add a bit of pizzazz and a sizable plaza to a popular stretch of Emmons Avenue in Sheepshead Bay. Rising from a prominent, full-block parcel at the intersection of Emmons and Sheepshead Bay Road, the envisioned eight-story structure replaces former neighborhood fixture the El Greco Diner, whose site was snapped up by Sergey Rybak and Jason Reznik for $13 million in late 2014. The project first appeared one year ago, and now a handful of renderings and a video have been released by the developers. The 175,000-square-foot structure will be the first LEED Certified building in south Brooklyn and will house 58 condos, 26,000 square feet of retail, two commercial office units, and a 134-car garage shared by tenants and businesses. The 9,000- square-foot plaza will take up a quarter of the development site and will have raised planters, ambiance lighting and bicycle parking.
Watch the video and see more renderings

March 2, 2016

Will Donald Trump’s Divisive Rhetoric Hurt His Real Estate Business?

By Diane Pham

Trump may have swept the southern states on Super Tuesday, but in true blue New York City and other regions with liberal leanings, the presidential candidate remains as polarizing as ever. As such, since announcing his run last year, Trump has been dumped by everyone from NBC (he was axed as the host of “Celebrity Apprentice” […]

Real Estate Trends

Lightstone’s Paris-on-the-Gowanus Rental Building at 365 Bond Street Opens

363-365 Bond Street, via Lightstone Group

March 1, 2016

Lightstone’s Paris-on-the-Gowanus Rental Building at 365 Bond Street Opens

One of the Lightstone Group's two new rental buildings in Brooklyn's Gowanus neighborhood is set to open Tuesday. The new residence at 365 Bond Street, along with its neighbor at 363 Bond (a year from completion) represent a $350 million effort by the developer to build 700 luxury rental apartments on the left bank of the Gowanus Canal. Designed to look like an historic brick-walled warehouse, market-rate apartments at 365 Bond start at over $2,000 a month for a studio and over $3,000 for a one-bedroom unit, according to the Wall Street Journal. Lightstone President Mitchell Hochberg says the project was inspired by the Canal Saint-Martin neighborhood in Paris, known for a residential project near a similarly polluted waterway which helped create a "newly hip atmosphere."
Find out more

Beyond Bars: Designers Reimagine Rikers Island As a Destination

Curtis + Ginsberg Architects’ “city blocks”

February 29, 2016

Beyond Bars: Designers Reimagine Rikers Island As a Destination

The 413-acre plot of city-owned land, most of it landfill, that makes up Rikers Island is known more for its impenetrable prison than its waterfront property and breathtaking city views. Recently City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito called for the closing of the jail complex, reports Crains, calling it an "ineffective, inefficient,” symbol of outdated policies and approach to criminal justice. An independent commission headed by Jonathan Lippman, the state's former top judge, is creating a blueprint for accomplishing the prison’s closing. There is significant opposition to the idea, though others, from Gov. Andrew Cuomo to the New York Times editorial board are behind it.
Find out what could replace the jail

February 29, 2016

Riverside Center’s One West End Avenue Tops Off, Cantilevering Pool and All

Propelled skyward by the still-sizzling Upper West Side residential market and its dearth of buildable sites, the final phase of the Riverside South master plan is coming together alas. After decades on the drawing board, this southern-most, eight-acre segment collectively known as Riverside Center/Waterline Center has already spawned a pair of residential buildings designed by SLCE Architects and another by Pelli Clarke Pelli with Goldstein, Hill & West Architects (GHWA). Three other parcels to the west are now undergoing site preparation. Those lots will give rise to a trio condo and rental buildings whose developer, Boston-based General Investment and Development Companies (GID), has enlisted a trio of high caliber designers working with GHWA, the executive architect of record. Work has moved forward swiftly on the the plan's first two towers. The shorter of the pair, known as One West End , has just topped off its 491-foot concrete skeleton and is being developed through a partnership between the Elad Group and Silverstein Properties. The robust 41-story spire is the second tallest building on West End Avenue, only behind its more anonymous 521-foot-tall rental neighbor 21 West End.
Details, renderings, and construction photos this way

February 26, 2016

Actors Kerry Bishé and Chris Lowell Buy $2M Skylit Soho Loft

Actors Kerry Bishé (from the AMC drama “Halt and Catch Fire” and the film “Argo”) and "Veronica Mars" veteran Chris Lowell just picked up a gorgeous $2.25 million triplex loft with outdoor space at 196 Sixth Avenue near Hudson Square in Soho. Luxury Listings reports that the 1,292-square-foot loft has 20-foot ceilings, arched windows, exposed brick walls and massive skylights. Lowell listed his Greenwich Village loft back in December, and interestingly, his former bachelor pad also had big arched windows and exposed brick, though the new digs are definitely a bit of an upgrade and more of a love nest.
Take a look

February 26, 2016

Renderings Revealed for Downtown Supertall 45 Broad Street

Back in January, 6sqft uncovered preliminary renderings of downtown supertall 45 Broad Street, a project of Madison Equities and Italy-based Pizzarotti Group that's reportedly being designed by the architects at CetraRuddy. The design showed a presumably glass tower, "crowned by a distinctive pitched roof and an angling cantilever located some 400 feet above street level along its northern facade." After groundwork began at the site earlier this month, The Real Deal has now obtained more concrete views of the tower, which will stretch 1,100 feet high, have 86 floors, and contain 245 condo residences catering to entry- and mid-level buyers. The new renderings mimic the original massing, but show much more detail, like the golden, Gothic-inspired ribs traveling up the facade, the pointed crown, and the narrow mid portion.
More details ahead

Port Authority Will Hold Opening Ceremony for WTC Transportation Hub After All

Santiago Calatrava: WTC Transportation Hub , New York (Photo: Mega Projects and Skyscrapers, via YouTube)

February 26, 2016

Port Authority Will Hold Opening Ceremony for WTC Transportation Hub After All

On Tuesday, news broke that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey would not be holding a ribbon cutting ceremony when the World Trade Center Transportation Hub opens next week. They called Santiago Calatrava's project "a symbol of excess." Perhaps feeling the backlash from their decision, the agency sent out a press release yesterday saying that though there will still be no event to mark the opening on March 3rd at 3pm, they will hold a ceremony once the Hub is fully up and running this spring, according to the Wall Street Journal. They credit their change of heart to a desire to thank the thousands of workers who built the station. Additionally, Port Authority Chairman John Degnan said, "It will stand, along with the memorial, museum and the buildings themselves, as a tribute the resiliency of the region."
More this way

February 25, 2016

Pricing Revealed for Market-Rate Rentals at Bjarke Ingels’ Via Tetrahedron

Bjarke Ingels' ever-captivating tetrahedron, officially known as Via 57 West and located at 625 West 57th Street, is set to hit the rental market on March 1st, and ahead of the launch, the Durst Organization has released pricing information, reports Curbed. In total, the flashy building will have 709 apartments, 142 of which are affordable and start at just $565/month. The market-rate units, however, will be considerably pricier, with an average asking price of $2,770/month for studios, $3,880 for one-bedrooms, $6,500 for two-bedrooms, $11,000 for three-bedrooms, and a whopping $16,500 for four-bedrooms. Eight listings have already gone live, and they're offering two months free on a 14-month lease or three months free on a 27-month lease.
More details ahead

February 24, 2016

Poll: Do You Agree With the Decision to Forego a Ribbon Cutting for WTC Transportation Hub?