Real Estate Trends

February 12, 2016

Apply Today for an $827/Month Apartment at the Controversial Towers Next to St. John the Divine

The Enclave at the Cathedral is a set of two brand-new rental buildings in Morningside Heights from the Brodsky Organization. Offering a total of 428 residential units, the 13- and 15-story undulating towers were involved in quite a bit of controversy for their position obstructing the 123-year-old Cathedral of St. John the Divine, which just happens to be the world's largest cathedral. But if this little issue doesn't bother you, and you earn between $29,726 and and $51,780 annually, you can apply starting today for one of 87 affordable units, according to the NYC HDC. They include 27 studios priced at $827/month; 40 one-bedrooms at $931/month; and 20 two-bedrooms at $1,123/month.
Find out if you qualify
February 12, 2016

Cute Two-Bedroom Condo in Prime Williamsburg Is Priced Under $1 Million

It seems like you can't find anything in Williamsburg for less than $1 million these days, but here's a condo that's priced just below seven digits. This two-bedroom unit at 211 Berry Street, an older condo complex in the neighborhood that's been slapped with a cool name (Northside Condo), has got a price tag of $995,000. This is not one of those North Brooklyn loft condos with a pool, roofdeck or resident lounges, which accounts for the lower price in the central Williamsburg location -- it's located right near the main drags of Bedford and Metropolitan avenues.
Take a look
February 12, 2016

Revealed: Central Park Tower Shows Off Its Retail Base

Now dubbed the Central Park Tower, Extell's 1,550-foot-tall supertall on Billionaires' Row was originally known as the Nordstrom Tower, so named because of its ground-floor tenant who will be opening their first Manhattan flagship store. But despite the fact that we architecture nerds were saying "Nordstrom" for years, we had no idea how the store would actually factor into the 95-story building's overall design (which was recently knocked down from a whopping 1,775 feet with the loss of its spire). But now, the Seattle Times (the department store is based out of the Washington city) has revealed renderings of the retail base, reports NY Yimby.
All the details and renderings
February 11, 2016

HOK Architects Files Permits for 21-Story UES Condo Tower, Will Yield New Subway Entrance

Yesterday, Hellmuth Obata & Kassabaum (HOK) filed permit applications with the city's Department of Buildings to construct their first residential tower in the city–an 18-story, mixed-use condominium tower at 147 East 86th Street on the Upper East Side. The 210,000-square-foot project will anchor the northeast corner of Lexington Avenue and 86th Street and will sit directly atop the Lexington line's 86th Street subway station, for which the developers will build a new entrance. The $340 million project is being shepherded by a joint venture among Stillman Development, Ceruzzi Properties, and Kuafu Properties, who will build retail on the first few floors of the building and high-end condo units up top. Much of the site is owned by the the estate of real estate mogul Sol Goldman. Filed plans show that the development will contain 63 units and rise 210 feet, the maximum height allowed in the zoning district.
More details and renderings this way
February 11, 2016

Groundwork Begins at Downtown Supertall 45 Broad Street

Wasting no time getting started, Madison Equities and Italy-based Pizzarotti Group have begun soil testing at the site of their upcoming supertall tower 45 Broad Street. After 6sqft revealed a trio of preliminary renderings last month, Pizzarotti Group's CEO Rance MacFarland told Curbed that the tower will stretch 1,100 feet high and have 86 floors. He also shared that it will contain 245 condo residences catering to "entry- and mid-level buyers."
Get a look at the current site
February 11, 2016

Notorious Novogratz Townhouse Where Heidi Klum Summered Sells for $14.5M

It only took nine years and a $10 million price chop, but the notoriously-hard-to-sell townhouse at 400 West Street has finally found a buyer for $14.5 million, reports the Post. Husband-and-wife design team Bob and Cortney Novogratz bought the West Village townhouse for $4.3 million back in 2007, and then undertook a complete renovation, adding an indoor basketball court, eight-person elevator, and insane rooftop terrace complete with a pizza oven and hot tub. All these amenities, coupled with the colorful and funky decor, caught the eye of Heidi Klum, who rented the home several times over the years, most recently for $70,000/month this past summer.
See the full spread
February 10, 2016

Presenting Driggs Haus: 19 Condos Coming to Williamsburg-Greenpoint Border

The Driggs Haus at 247 Driggs Avenue is a 23,500-square-foot condominium building developed by Greenpoint Luxury Development LLC (who purchased the three-story structure that previously stood on the site for $950,000 in 2013) with Gertler & Wente Architects handling the design. The project, situated at the corner of Graham and Driggs Avenues near McCarren Park, has been slow to wrap up construction, with its topped-off concrete frame shrouded in netting for some time now. Ultimately, there will be 19 homes spread throughout the project's five floors, and a soon-to-be-launched website marketing the units brings us a handful of new images and details.
Find out more
February 9, 2016

Actress and Comedian Ellie Kemper Buys $2.8M Classic Upper West Side Co-op

In her critically acclaimed Netflix show "The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," her character, a former abductee who ends up in NYC, lives in an eclectic Brooklyn apartment. In real life, actress and comedian Ellie Kemper goes for a more traditional look, as is evidenced by her recent purchase -- a classic six co-op at 325 West End Avenue on the Upper West Side. According to city records released today, Kemper and her husband Michael Koman, a writer and producer, paid $2.8 million for the three-bedroom spread.
See the whole apartment
February 9, 2016

New LLC Disclosure Law Probably Won’t Have Much Impact on the Condo Market

Will new federal regulations aimed at clamping down on shell companies buying luxury real estate send a chill through Manhattan’s high-end real estate market? The reaction to a page one article in the New York Times last month suggests fear is in the air. But that fear may be misplaced for two reasons: firstly, the Treasury Department’s database of buyers’ names will not be public, as many have inferred; and secondly, in New York, title insurance is not mandatory when you're making an all-cash deal.
FInd out more here
February 9, 2016

Housing Lottery Kicks Off for $801/Month Middle-Income Apartments in the Brooklyn Cultural District

It's been quite a week to up your chances of snagging an affordable apartment in the city, with housing lottery applications being accepted for 175 West 60th Street, PS 186, EŌS, and 149 Kent Avenue. Now in booming Downtown Brooklyn, near BAM in the Brooklyn Cultural District, the Ashland at 250 Ashland Place has kicked off its lottery process, offering 282 below market-rate apartments, according to the NYC HDC. Unlike many of the recent launches, aimed towards low-income households, the Ashland is geared towards middle-income applicants earning between $28,835 for single individuals up to $200,400 for a family of six. Those who fall within the income guidelines have the opportunity to pay rents ranging from $801 for studios to $3,649 for three-bedroom units.
Find out more
February 9, 2016

Apply for a $641/Month Apartment in Central Harlem Starting Thursday

The latest in a rush of housing lottery kick offs is happening on Thursday at 260 West 153rd Street in Central Harlem, according to the NYC HDC. The brand new building is courtesy of affordable housing gurus L&M Development (who are also behind 149 Kent Avenue in Williamsburg, where a lottery is launching tomorrow). Of its 51 apartments, 34 are set aside for low-income residents earning between $23,349 and $43,150 annually. Rents will range from $641/month studios to $836/month two bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify
February 9, 2016

Crane Up! Third Hudson Yards Office Tower Rises to Street Level

One year since groundwork began, 55 Hudson Yards is starting its ascent into the the far west side skyline. The future 51-story, 1.3-million-square-foot tower is the third office building to rise from the 28-acre Hudson Yards master plan, behind the Coach building at 10 Hudson Yards and Time Warner's 30 Hudson Yards. Fifty-Five Hudson is being spearheaded by a partnership between Mitsui Fudosan America, Inc. (MFA), Related Companies, and Oxford Properties Group. Previously the parcel was owned by Extell Development who once planned a diagrid-ed skyscraper named One Hudson Yards (formerly the World Product Center). The site is positioned just north of the west side rail yards on a full-block parcel bound by Hudson Yards Boulevard, Eleventh Avenue, West 34th Street and West 33rd Street. The building will open onto the new Hudson Boulevard and the recently open subway station for the 7 train. A brick-faced ventilation building that serves the subway extension rises from the southwest corner of the parcel and will be absorbed into the building's massing.
More details, renderings, and construction views
February 8, 2016

Housing Lottery Commences for EŌS, Live in NYC’s Shortest Skyscraper for $566/Month

The affordable housing lottery for the Durst Organization's nearly finished rental tower EŌS at 855 Sixth Avenue launches today, according to the NYC HPD. One year ago, 6sqft reported on the 42-story structure's topping out, which at exactly 500 feet makes it officially tied as the shortest skyscraper in the city. Now, with full leasing slated to begin this spring, the application process for the 75 newly constructed, below-market rate apartments set aside for low-income residents is open. Rents in the Midtown West tower will range from $566/month studios to $930/month two-bedroom units.
More renderings and details ahead
February 7, 2016

Four New Townhouses Coming to Williamsburg Lot Overlooking the BQE

Construction is underway for a set of two-family townhouses at the northwest corner of Grand Street and Marcy Avenue in Williamsburg. The eyesore of a vacant lot at 50 Marcy Avenue and 349-353 Grand Street will give way to four identical rowhouses designed by KMP Design and Engineering with Patoma Partners as the developers. According to the building permits, each townhouse will have approximately 9,500 square feet of residential space and 5,500 square feet of commercial space. The ground floors will feature offices and retail and the collective eight apartments are planned to have four bedrooms each.
More here
February 6, 2016

Slate Property Group Files Permits to Demolish Tenement Building in Murray Hill

Slate Property Group filed permits fully demolish a five-story walk-up building at 203 East 33rd Street in Murray Hill. No details of their plans have been made public, but the team has the ability to transfer development rights from the string of adjacent properties they own to construct a mid-size building. Built in the early 1900's, the structure is one of seven adjacent tenement buildings between Second and Third Avenues that the development group purchased in 2013 that are altogether called The Collective. In all, the buildings comprise 146 rental apartments and eight retail spaces. A $10 million renovation and rebranding reconfigured the units into smaller apartments with high-end appliances aimed at young college students and post-graduates. All seven buildings are linked with an underground tunnel, which features a screening room and a game room. Other amenities include a part-time doorman, dishwashers, and a huge shared rooftop terrace with outdoor seating.
More details here
February 5, 2016

Hamilton Heights’ PS 186 Kicks Off Affordable Housing Lottery Today, Starting at $508/Month

Earlier this week, Curbed reported that one of the first affordable housing developments financed under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s housing plan will kick off its lottery today. The former school building at 525 West 145th Street in Hamilton Heights has been rehabbed into apartments and a community space and now goes by the name The Residences at PS 186. The project will bring 78 sure-to-be-sought-after affordable apartments to low- and middle-income households earning between $18,729 and $142,400 per year. In all, there will be 19 studio units, 47 one-bedrooms, and 12 two-bedrooms available for various income ranges and household sizes. The cheapest units will be two studio apartments priced at $508 per month, available for single-person households earning between $18,789 -$24,200. Half of the units will be set aside for local residents and five percent for city employees.
Lots more details and find out if you qualify
February 4, 2016

Extell’s 831-Foot-Tall One Manhattan Square Begins Its Climb Above Chinatown

Still in disbelief that a 68-story building (though it's being marketed as 80 stories) could rise at the edge of Chinatown? Well behold One Manhattan Square's construction site, buzzing with activity and flagged by a stalwart kangaroo crane foreshadowing the 850-foot-tall tower to come. Unlike the Chinese investment market, Extell's skyscraper is heading in one direction -- up. And after more than a year of site preparation and foundation work, the first pieces of re-bar have emerged from their mucky surrounds and are peaking above the lot's blue construction fences.
Get a look
February 4, 2016

Rangers Goalie Henrik Lundqvist Sells Midtown West Penthouse for $5M

King Henrik (as Rangers fans call him) is leaving his Midtown West palace, as the Post reports that the world-famous Swedish hockey goalie has sold the penthouse at 310 West 52nd Street for $4,995,000. Lundqvist originally listed the 2,035-square-foot duplex for $6.5 million back in 2014, reportedly because he and his wife Therese are looking for a larger place downtown for themselves and their two daughters. The uber-contemporary and strangely purple decor is a bit surprising, considering Lundqvist often makes it onto "best dressed" and "most beautiful people" lists.
More right here
February 4, 2016

New Williamsburg Rentals Will Boast Galvanized Metal Exterior

Here's our first look at a 15,000-square-foot, four-story rental building anticipated for a small 5,000-square-foot lot in North Williamsburg. The development will expand upon an existing one-story garage at 202-204 North 10th Street, and ultimately carve out four duplex rentals. All units will have terraces, and the ground floor will house two retail spaces, one of which will be a restaurant. A rendering posted on Studio Esnal's website depicts the project clad in a simple galvanized metal skin with three rows of deeply inset square windows. Details of the flowering rainforest spilling from the roof are not provided.
More info ahead
February 3, 2016

Bronx Rail Yards Could Become a $500M Mega-Development

Back in September, Bronx borough president Ruben Diaz Jr. put forth a plan to transform an abandoned stretch of rail tracks in Mott Haven into a Lowline-style park. There hasn't been much in the way of updates since then, but now Diaz is turning his sights to another set of tracks, this one much larger and in the northwest Bronx. The Real Deal cites findings from the borough prez that claim the MTA's Concourse Yards, a 19-acre open-air subway depot, could be decked over to yield two million square feet of development rights, resulting in a mega-project like Hudson Yards. At an estimated cost of $350-$500 million (Hudson Yards cost $800 million by comparison), the project would require no rezoning and would be "a real opportunity to not only provide much-needed homeownership, mixed-income housing and retail space, but to allow Lehman College to expand by better connecting it to the Bedford Park neighborhood and making it a true community campus," according to Diaz's report.
More details
February 3, 2016

RKTB Architects Design Two New Affordable Housing Buildings in the Bronx

Yesterday, the architecture world was abuzz with newly released renderings of Bjarke Ingels' NYPD station house in the Bronx. Nearby, a couple of other buildings are set to rise, and though they may not have the same starchitect cachet, they'll certainly attract some attention for the fact that together they'll offer 269 units of affordable housing. Designed by RKTB, the architects behind our favorite castle conversion at 455 Central Park West, the buildings are planned for Saint Anne's Avenue in the South Bronx, and their designs illustrate how far the city has come in raising the aesthetic quality of government-funded housing.
Find out all about the projects here
February 2, 2016

S.S. United States Likely Coming to Manhattan, Where Will It Dock?

The S.S. United States, a rusting symbol of the country's maritime might, has evaded the scrapyard and is likely coming to a Manhattan location. The S.S. United States Conservancy will hold a press event on Thursday at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, revealing the 63-year-old ocean liner's future home. The conservancy sent out an S.O.S. to New Yorkers interested in rescuing the vessel and revamping its 600,000 square feet of space into a self-sustaining business. Prior visions have ranged from tech offices, hotel rooms, housing, entertainment spaces, museums, and a maritime school. The location of the press event, near the United States Lines’ former terminal at Pier 86, is a clear give-away that the ship will be relocated to the city. Previously the developers of the SuperPier project had expressed interest in docking the ship alongside Pier 57, and several years back an idea was floated to dock the ship further south alongside Pier 40. More recently, rumors have honed in on three locations: a Brooklyn pier within the Gowanus Bay Terminal in Red Hook; Pier 36 just north of the Manhattan Bridge; and an undisclosed Manhattan location that is likely on the west side.
The full story ahead
February 2, 2016

Construction Update: BKSK Architects’ ‘Hi-Side’ Tower Goes Vertical on the Far West Side

BKSK Architects have designed a robust steel- and brick-faced building at 509 West 38th Street, slated to open in 2017. After a failed condo proposal, a foreclosure, and a developer switch, the project is finally ascending and is already seven stories out of the ground since we last checked a week ago. Dubbed "The Hi-Side," the 158,000-square-foot, mixed-use tower is being developed by investment firm Imperial Companies, who picked up the site from Iliad Development in an undisclosed deal. Fast forward nearly eight years, and a 30-floor, 345-foot building is rising at the site. Situated at the eastern block front of the future Hudson Park Boulevard, bands of ribbon windows along its western face will provide residents with sweeping views of the Hudson River. The base of the tower, which will feature a restaurant, is clad in a muscular rhythm of exposed steel, brick spandrels, and large multi-pane windows.
Find out more
February 1, 2016

How Do Rents at NYC’s First Micro Apartment Complex Compare to Regular Studios?

Just before the new year, listings went live for NYC's first micro apartment complex Carmel Place (aka My Micro NY aka 335 East 27th Street) in anticipation of its opening in March. The nine-story modular development in Kips Bay has 55 studios that are 260 to 360 square feet. Of these, 22 are affordable (more than 60,000 people applied for them), and they'll go from $950 to $1,500 a month depending on size and income. The remaining market-rate units will range from $2,500 to $2,900 per month, which has left many skeptics questioning why anyone would fork over nearly three grand for a space that is far smaller than conventional studios. To put this argument into an actual visualization, the data gurus over at NeighborhoodX created a simple, yet informative graph that compares the rental price per square foot at Carmel Place with that of regular studios across the city (h/t Curbed).
More here