Real Estate Trends

Photo via Wiki Commons Less than three months ago, the Blackstone Group and Ivanhoe Cambridge's colossal purchase of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village went public. At the time, it was revealed that as part of the $5.46 billion deal Blackstone would reserve 4,500 of the complex's 11,200 apartments for middle-income families for the next 20 years, with an additional 200 units set aside for low-income tenants. But what's just come to light is the $625 million worth of air rights that came along with the buy. The majority of the roughly one million square feet will be transferred elsewhere, but about 250,000 square feet will remain within Stuy Town. As the Post first reported, "These include 200,000 square feet for a community facility, 25,000 square feet for residential and 25,000 square feet for commercial use."
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Real Estate Trends

January 5, 2016

Long Island City Rental Tower Will Offer Micro Units for ‘Gen Y Professionals’

Yesterday, 6sqft discussed how Long Island City's Purves Street is a hotbed of construction activity with no less than four residential towers underway along the 500-foot, one-block stretch. On a site situated between Thomson Avenue (where the pioneer condo Arris Lofts rises) and Court Square, Twining Properties has begun excavation work for a 27-story, 168-unit rental tower at 44-14 Purves Street. According to the developer's project page, the rental tower will be known as Watermark Court Square and is to offer "efficient apartment layouts designed for mobile professionals." The handsome albeit unremarkable design by Handel Architects is faced with grey brick and large windows. According to Department of Buildings filings, the ground-up, 302-foot-tall tower will rise along 44th Drive, while a two-story existing building will be rehabilitated along Purves.
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January 5, 2016

Median Sale Price in Manhattan Hits 27-Year High at $1.15M

If you thought you were going to get a deal on a Manhattan apartment this year, you might want to reconsider your big plans. A new report from Douglas Elliman shows that in the fourth quarter of 2015, the borough's median sale price jumped 17 percent to $1.15 million, breaking a 27-year record, according to The Real Deal. If that wasn't enough to make you pause, the report also shows that the average sale price increased 12 percent to $1.9 million and the average price per square foot rose more than 28 percent to $1,645, both record setters. And while co-op sales were down 4 percent, condo sales were up a staggering 28.6 percent, with a median price of $1.7 million. Luxury listings are in a class all their own; their median sale price reached $6 million, a 25 percent increase.
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Real Estate Trends

REVEALED: 45 Broad Street, Slated to Be Among the Highest Condo Buildings Downtown

** UPDATE as of 1/6/16: Pizzarotti CEO Rance MacFarland confirmed to Curbed that 45 Broad Street will be a 1,100-foot-tall, 86-story supertall tower. It will have 245 units that will cater to “entry- and mid-level buyers,” as well as five floors of commercial and retail space.

January 5, 2016

REVEALED: 45 Broad Street, Slated to Be Among the Highest Condo Buildings Downtown

Last October, it was announced that the long-vacant lot in the heart of the Financial District at 45 Broad Street would be redeveloped into a 65-story residential skyscraper by way of a partnership between Pizzarotti IBC and Madison Equities. Now, via Pizzarotti's project page, we have our first look at the design of the 300,000-square-foot CetraRuddy-designed tower that the development group affirms "will be the highest condo in Downtown Manhattan." The team will have to move quickly, though; at least two condo towers are proposed to be taller including Shvo's supertall at 125 Greenwich Street.
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January 4, 2016

Dr. Zizmor of Subway Ad Fame Retires and Sells Bronx Mansion All in One Day

Local celebrity Dr. Jonathan Zizmor has been both charming and perplexing subway riders for decades, thanks to his dermatology ads that subtly peddle cosmetic surgery against a rainbow background. But these will soon be a thing of the past, as the Daily News reported this morning that Dr. Zizmor has officially retired and closed his Upper East Side practice. And just hours later, Curbed broke the news that the doctor's Mediterranean Revival mansion in the Fieldston section of the Bronx has gone into contract for $3.075 million after three years on the market. (Bet you never thought you'd hear so much Dr. Zizmor news in day!)
Take a tour of his grand home

Real Estate Trends

January 4, 2016

Website Launched for Rabsky Group’s New Long Island City Rental Tower ‘The Halo LIC’

To say that Long Island City is undergoing a construction boom is a bit of an understatement. The city's second most populous borough is building a business district...er high-rise bedroom community that will soon rival many American downtowns. The blocks along Jackson Avenue from the Pulaski Bridge to Queens Plaza have been sprinkled with development dust, and at the center of it all is a short dead-end street named Purves where four residential buildings are now under construction and four others have recently finished. Near the street's southeastern terminus, Simon Dushinsky's Rabsky Group has topped off its 26-story, 284-unit rental tower at 44-51 Purves Street and applying the last bits of the building's glass, metal and brick facade. In addition to a number of renderings and a new website, we've uncovered that the 308-foot tall building will be called 'Halo LIC," which we learned is an adjective for something silvery, or an archaic word for money (how fitting). The site was previously planned to give rise to a pair of shorter towers by the Criterion Group but the 28,000 square-foot lot was flipped in 2013 for $32 million.
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December 31, 2015

Isay Weinfeld’s Jardim Condominium Rises to Street Level Along the High Line

Foundation work for Isay Weinfeld's Jardim condominium is finally wrapping up and portions of the Chelsea development are now climbing to street level. Rising from the swampy banks of a bygone stream, the mid-block site at 525 West 27th Street is giving way to a set of two 11-story condo buildings encasing an elevated garden oasis. A partnership between Centaur Properties and Greyscale Development Group is responsible for the 95,000 square-foot complex; they purchased the site formerly occupied by the Pink Elephant nightclub in 2014 for $45 million.
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Should the City Impose a ‘Window Tax’ for Billionaires’ Row Central Park Views?

Google Earth rendering from CityRealty showing some of the supertalls around the south end of Central Park

December 31, 2015

Should the City Impose a ‘Window Tax’ for Billionaires’ Row Central Park Views?

"The builders are charging up to $100 million for apartments that offer helicopter views of lush foliage, jagged skylines, soothing rivers and angelic clouds. They lure the superrich, many with suspect foreign assets, to sky-high mansions. They enrich themselves by exploiting weak zoning rules to pour hideous implants into Manhattan cavities." All of this, says Max Frankel, who was the executive editor of The Times from 1986 to 1994 and lives half a block from Central Park, may need some consequences. And he wonders if this should come in the form of a "user fee," where residents of these Billionaires' Row towers would have to pay a monthly "window tax" based on how high in a given tower their unit is located. And according to his "back-of-the-envelope calculations," this could bring in roughly $1 million a year per building for the city to use on public projects like street work, parks, education, and affordable housing.
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December 30, 2015

Attractive New Bushwick Condo Rises on One of Brooklyn’s Ugliest Streets

It's rare to see a new development in Bushwick with any kind of style and grace, but a recently finished six-unit condominium at 27 Dodworth Street actually looks like some thought went into it. Even more remarkable is that it manages to do so on what is probably the most unfortunate looking street on the eastern seaboard. So breathtakingly ugly in fact that it could be thought of, by some, as chic. And as it turns out, buyers have shelled out up to $1 million for condos along this gritty stretch near the Bed-Stuy-Bushwick border.
See the good, the bad, and the ugly

Jonah Hill’s Brother Picks Up a Quirky Soho Co-op for $2.3M

Looks like Jordan Feldstein wanted to be much closer to big bro Jonah Hill. The talent manager (his clients include Maroon 5 and Robin Thicke) picked up a loft co-op at 37B Crosby Street in Soho, just a block away from Jonah's current pad at 27 Howard Street. City records show that Feldstein paid $2.3 million for the quirky duplex, which features exposed brick, fire engine-red railings, a custom wine cellar, and a private garden.
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December 29, 2015

First Look at Six-Family Townhouses Set for North Williamsburg

At the northern edge of Williamsburg, near the Greenpoint border, work is beginning on a 12-unit project developed by Ami Barr's Djem Land LLC and designed by Queens-based InFocus Design and Planning. The building is situated at 171-173 Bayard Street, between Graham Avenue and McGuinness Boulevard, and replaces a one-story, nondescript light industrial building that the Long Island-based developers snapped up for $1.8 million in early 2014. Renderings posted on the architect's website show an orderly facade of red brick, large sash windows, and steel lintels. A somewhat strange marble cornice tops the first three levels and the fourth story is set back, simulating a modern rooftop addition atop a rehabilitated manufacturing building.
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December 29, 2015

‘Running With Scissors’ Author Augusten Burroughs Sells Battery Park City Condo

If you've read any of Augusten Burroughs' memoirs ("Running with Scissors," "Dry," or "Wolf at the Table," to name a few) you'll know that his life was quite tumultuous. His NYC home, however, is just the opposite. The Battery Park City studio condo at 225 Rector Place is completely plain and neutral and void of any bells and whistles. His past partner Dennis Pilsits purchased the residence in 2008 for $600,767, but then transferred it over to Burroughs in 2011, presumably as part of their split. Now, according to city records, the New York Times #1 bestselling author has unloaded the pad for a mere $637,000.
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December 29, 2015

Karl Fischer’s Greenpoint Development Gets a Makeover; Interiors Revealed

With its hodgepodge exterior once called "the Noah's Ark of bad design" and simply described as just plain "fugly," it seems Karl Fischer has taken the hint by reworking the design of 26 West Street into something slightly less offensive. Since the rendering reveal last April, construction is now well underway and a new image of the project has emerged on Fischer's website that shows the use of more red paneling and factory-style sash windows, a greater incorporation of balconies, and the placement of additional arched windows along its western, river-facing facade. Also shown and reflected in DOB filings is a seventh story, bringing the likely rental project up from 72 units to 96. Additionally, Fischer has now revealed the project's interiors, which seem to mix the two favored Brooklyn styles of rustic and industrial.
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December 28, 2015

Horror Author Peter Straub Sells His Historic UWS Townhouse for $7M

When he put his Upper West Side townhouse on the market for $8.2 million in April, 6sqft wrote: "With accolades like the Bram Stoker Award, the World Fantasy Award, and the International Horror Guild Award to his name, one might proceed with caution when entering the home of American author and poet Peter Straub." But as we discovered, the Queen Anne-style home is anything but scary. Rather, it's a historically preserved masterpiece with rich colors, tasteful furnishings, and plenty of character. And now, according to city records, it's sold for $7,050,000, after Peter and his wife Susan called the residence at 53 West 85th Street home for 30 years.
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December 27, 2015

Park Slope Duplex With Spiral Staircase and Private Roof Deck Asks $6,500 a Month

By Emily Nonko

Here's a Park Slope rental that comes from a three-story brownstone that's been converted into three condo apartments. This unit pretty much fits your idea of what a Park Slope apartment should be: it's located on a charming block with other brownstones, there are lovely interior details, and it's large enough to fit a family. (This is a neighborhood with a lot of babies.) It's a duplex with 1,400 square feet, three bedrooms and two bathrooms total. The condo is now on the rental market for $6,500 a month. It looks like condos in this building have been selling for over $1 million for the past few years -- this apartment actually closed in 2012 for $1.150 million.
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December 23, 2015

Google Officially Signs Lease for 250,000 Square Feet at SuperPier

Just in time for construction to commence in the new year, things are swiftly moving ahead at Pier 57, aka the SuperPier. Last month, 6sqft uncovered a slew of new renderings of the the 450,000-square-foot, $350 million development, which is set to include 250,000 square feet of office space for a major technology company, a 170,000-square-foot food and retail market from Anthony Bourdain, and an elevated park with an outdoor movie and performance amphitheater on the roof to be used for screenings for the Tribeca Film Festival. Google has long been assumed as the office tenant, and according to the Wall Street Journal, it's official, as the company has "signed a 15-year lease with development team Youngwoo & Associates LLC and RXR Realty." Bourdain's food hall is also expected to close soon.
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Real Estate Trends

December 22, 2015

Cameron Diaz Unloads Her $4.25M West Village Pad in Less Than Two Months

The market may be in its winter slump, but that hasn't affected Cameron Diaz, whose West Village apartment has gone into contract after just 47 days, reports the Observer. The actress bought the two-bedroom home in 2008 for $2.95 million and then enlisted famed California-based designer Kelly Wearstler to outfit the pre-war condo with lots of gilding and luxe finishes. After purchasing a $9.5 million home in the Walker Tower two years ago and recently marrying musician Benji Madden, Diaz put the 12th Street residence on the market for $4.25 million last month.
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December 21, 2015

More Details Revealed for Bjarke Ingels’ High Line Towers

The latest project to come from starchitect-of-the-moment Bjarke Ingels is a set of towers that will rise along the High line at 76 11th Avenue. The renderings made waves a month ago when the angular, asymmetrical structures were revealed, and at this time it was also announced that the project would encompass a hotel, retail space, and around 300 luxury condos. But new plans filed by developer HFZ Capital Group, first uncovered by The Real Deal, show that the towers' four-story base will not include a hotel, but rather retail and office space, likely because "[commercial office space] vacancy rates in the [Meatpacking District] are notoriously low–around 2 percent–while prices are high."
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December 21, 2015

MAPS: Where to Find the Top Available One-Bedroom Rental Bargains Under $2,500

Can't seem to qualify for those popular affordable housing lotteries, or stuck on a waiting list 70,000 names long? Well, like many of us who are searching for low-priced rentals, you'll have to forage the city's daunting open market. The typical choices include shacking up with multiple roommates in prime neighborhoods, enduring long commutes in far-flung locales, or having to deal with an un-renovated, pre-war walk-up building. To make your search for these rather un-glamorous apartments a bit easier, we produced a list and map of currently available one-bedroom rentals that are priced furthest below their neighborhood medians. But act fast, because these units disappear quickly.
Check out the interactive maps and listings this way

December 18, 2015

MAP: How Much Do Murders Decrease Home Values?

By Diane Pham

We know that in New York City, living next to the deceased does little to earn you a discount on your rent or a price chop on a condo. But when it comes to murders, the story is quite different. Finder.com recently culled data from University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and popular real estate websites to find out just how much a murder that occurred on a property can affect the value of a home.
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December 18, 2015

Get a Look at the South Village’s Upcoming Boutique Condo, 54 MacDougal Street

Excavation is nearly complete at 54 MacDougal Street, a ground-up, six-story condominium being developed by Valyrian Capital and Ajax Partners. Up until 2013, a humble three-story townhouse stood at the 2,500-square-foot lot for nearly 200 years, dating its creation to around 1820 when it was built on land formerly owned by Aaron Burr. The building lot is within a once working-class and immigrant neighborhood referred to by some as the South Village. Unlike large swaths of Greenwich Village to the north and cast iron sections of Soho to the west, the motley mixture of low-rise, pre-war buildings for years lacked landmark protections. Since 2006, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) has urged the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate a 35-block stretch of the neighborhood as an historic district, making it the city’s first tenement-based landmarked district. To date, two of the three phases of the district have been designated.
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December 17, 2015

Median Manhattan Apartment Price Climbs Past $1M for First Time

"For the second year in a row, Manhattan real estate prices soared, setting new records. For the first time, the median price for an apartment—including both co-ops and condos—was above $1 million." This is according to CityRealty's newly released Year-End Manhattan Market Report, which puts the median price at $1.1 million, 13 percent higher than last year and 60 percent higher than 2005. Additionally, the average apartment sales price ($1.9 million), the average condo price ($2.6 million), and the average co-op price ($1.4 million) all broke 2014's records by $100,000.
See the report's infographic this way

Real Estate Trends

December 17, 2015

Andy Warhol’s Former Estate Sells for $50M; Redesigning the Sidewalk Shed

By Diane Pham

Backyard labyrinths are a thing now. [WSJ] Four alternative designs for the sidewalk shed. [Curbed] The Montauk estate once owned by Andy Warhol has sold for $50 million. The property was first listed for $85 million. [WSJ] The newest title-holder of the world’s most expensive home is a $310 million mansion that just sold outside Paris. […]

Real Estate Trends

December 17, 2015

Williamsberry’s Modern Mini-Me at 79 South Fifth Street Gets Glassed