Real Estate Trends

November 18, 2015

MoMA Files Plans for American Folk Art Museum Expansion; Fifth Avenue Has the Highest Retail Rents in the World

The Diller Scofidio + Renfro expansion design for the American Folk Art Museum appears to finally be moving forward. [Curbed] This new tool helps you find a bank that invests locally. [Next City] Fifth Avenue is the world’s most expensive place for retail. [Crain’s] New construction photos of Zaha Hadid’s High Line-hugging condo building. [Tectonic] […]

November 17, 2015

VIDEOS: Jeremiah Moss’ Shuttered Storefronts and Alicia Glen’s Opposition to Retail Rent Control

“The evidence of disease is everywhere,” claims Jeremiah Moss. No, he’s not talking about New Yorkers’ health; this is something he believes is even more merciless: hyper-gentrification. Moss, the pseudonymic chief editor behind the "bitterly nostalgic" blog Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York and the founder of the anti-gentrification movement #SaveNYC, and James and Karla Murray, authors and photographers of "Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York" submitted a short film to last month's Municipal Arts Society Summit 2015. The ten-minute clip opens with a sinister assertion that “the soul of New York is dying,” and plays as a visual obituary of the small businesses we have lost over the past two decades. Shortly after Jeremiah's melancholic melodrama, Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen was asked whether New York should adopt commercial rent control policies. Unconvinced this is an applicable solution, she instead emphasized that a "healthy and vibrant mix of businesses" is important and "bad" businesses must be allowed to fail. Nor is Glen convinced of the plight of the mom and pop, calling it a Manhattan-centric argument. While she acknowledges certain neighborhoods are changing rapidly, she says independent businesses are thriving in other boroughs.
Watch Jeremiah's video and hear more of Glen's argument
November 16, 2015

New Renderings of SuperPier: Google’s New NYC Digs + Bourdain Food Market To Arrive in 2018

Last month at the Municipal Arts Society's (MAS) 2015 Summit for NYC, Seth Pinsky, executive vice president at RXR Realty, shared a presentation regarding the development of the long-planned rehabilitation and conversion of Pier 57 aka "SuperPier." In addition to some new looks at the project, he revealed that the developers have largely secured financing and are finalizing talks with the Hudson River Park Trust. RXR are co-developing the project with Young Woo & Associates, and Handel Architects and !Melk Landscape Architecture and Urban Design are the commissioned designers. According to Pinsky, the 450,000-square-foot development will invest $350 million of private capital to redevelop the structure, and in return create hundreds of jobs, generate millions of dollars of revenue for the Hudson River Park Trust, and create a new destination for New Yorkers and visitors alike. The former NYCEDC head confirmed that the project will include 250,000 square feet of office space for a major technology company [Google], a 170,000-square-foot food and retail market [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. He also noted construction will begin during the first half of next year, with completion aimed for early 2018.
Lots more renderings and details ahead
November 16, 2015

REVEALED: Inside Bjarke Ingels’ Spectacular 57th Street Tetrahedron

Those moving into Bjarke Ingels epic pyramid VIA 57 West next year will have a lot to look forward to. New renderings of the hotly-anticipated construction sited along West 57th Street have just been released (h/t Curbed) alongside a new teaser website inviting visitors "to a special preview" of the building. The new images, which come courtesy of The Durst Organization, reveal bright modern interiors with expansive river views, floor-to-ceiling doors and windows, varying room shapes, individual balconies, and lots of luxe fixtures, finishes and amenities.
Take a tour here
November 16, 2015

Starting Prices for Herzog & de Meuron’s Village Condos; Mansions for Under $1M

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat has announced its 2015 building of the year. [CTBUH] Will the meatpackers of the Meatpacking District survive in the rapidly changing neighborhood. [Crain’s] Crown Heights gets a new art gallery. [Untapped] The developer of Herzog & de Meuron’s curved residence rising at 156 Leroy on the Hudson has revealed […]

November 16, 2015

Chloe Sevigny’s Former East Village Co-op Sells for $2.1M

Queen of indie films Chloë Sevigny unsurprisingly lived in the East Village in 2005, scooping up a garden-level co-op at 119 East 10th Street for $1,199,000 and becoming neighbors with fellow indie royal Parker Posey. By 2013, Sevigny made the inevitable move to Brooklyn (she stated that the East Village had become like a frat house) and sold her one-bedroom Manhattan pad for $1.76 million to tech power couple Halle Tecco and Jeffrey Hammerbacher. Despite the stylish renovation that the couple undertook, they listed the residence this summer for $2.2 million. The Post now reports that the home sold for just under its asking price to Shana Randhava, the executive director of the Estee Lauder Companies. Interestingly, they note that Sevigny "has been quoted about her love for Estee Lauder products, particularly their 'luxury compacts.'"
Check out the place
November 13, 2015

10012 and 10013 Are NYC’s Most Prized Zip Codes

212 Fifth Avenue may be the considered the ultimate New York address, but zip codes 10012 and 10013 are the city's most coveted. Forbes has just released their annual list of the 500 Most Expensive ZIP Codes in the nation, and amongst the top zips were the two that make up parts of the West Village, Soho, Tribeca and the Lower East Side. However, 10012 and 10013 were the only New York City digits to break the top 10. California actually counted the most spots on the list this year, including #1. Is NYC passé?
check out the top 20 zip codes here
November 13, 2015

Construction Update: 45 East 22nd Street, Flatiron’s Future Tallest Tower, Gets Glassed

The emerald glass skin of Ian Bruce Eichner’s 45 East 22nd Street has begun its rise. The 777-foot-tall tower's structure is more than halfway up and the development team recently announced that sales have already surpassed the 50 percent mark. The svelte spire designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF), sports a granite base with a sculptural glass tower that gradually broadens as it ascends. The architects have said that the juxtaposition between the base and tower stems from a difference of opinion between the developer and architects. Originally, KPF proposed an all-glass tower, which Eichner felt would too strongly clash with the masonry aesthetic of the Flatiron District. Ultimately, KPF embraced a stone base and a team was sent to China to select and procure each granite piece that would be arranged in an irregular and non-linear fashion.
See more right this way
November 12, 2015

VIDEO: What It’s Like to Pull Into a $1 Million Parking Spot at Annabelle Selldorf’s 42 Crosby

Soho's 42 Crosby Street left us all astounded last year when it was revealed that each of its ten on-site parking spaces would be priced at one-million dollars a pop. On a per square foot basis, the 200-square-foot rectangles will fetch more than the three-bedroom condominiums upstairs. The cool modernists at Selldorf Architects designed the 111-foot tall building, which is now finally getting its layered facade of metal and glass. We admit, the exterior is not nearly as exciting as what's depicted in the renderings, but remember, it's not yet finished! So while we await Selldorf's magic to fully brew, watch this terrific film created by VUW Studio, which shows what it feels like to be that lucky automobile coming home to its seven-figure parking spot.
Watch the envy-inducing video in its entirety here
November 11, 2015

432 Park in Numbers: New Renderings and Superlatives Will Blow You Away

Now that Macklowe Properties'/CIM Group's 432 Park Avenue is nearing completion, with occupancy slated to begin in mid-2016 and 70 percent of units reportedly in contract, the development's marketing and branding agency DBOX has released a bevy of never-before-seen images of our skyline's newest icon. Being the tower of superlatives it is, it comes as no surprise that it boasts a marketing campaign to match. Employing sky-cams, drone photography, a million-dollar film, and breath-taking renderings and photography, 432 Park has perhaps the most elaborate promotional campaign ever conceived for a Manhattan condominium. With dozens of spectacular images to choose from, we hand picked a few to recap the development of this monumental supertower. We've also put together a timeline in numbers–from its record breaking height to its 1,200-pound marble sinks–to illustrate the extraordinary undertaking  that has paved the way for the tower to become the most successful and desirable condominium ever erected in the city (sorry One57).
See it all right here
November 11, 2015

Julia Roberts Makes a $5.35M Sale on Her ‘Beachy’ Greenwich Village Apartment

It didn't take much time for Julia Roberts to unload her apartment at 45 West 10th Street. According to the Observer, Ms. Roberts has just closed a $5.35 million sale on her Greenwich Village pad, pulling in more than $850K over her original $4.5 million ask. The apartment, which was being described as “easy breezy” and “Hamptons/California-style beachy” when it was listed in July, went to investment exec Nicolas de Croisset who recently tied the knot in a lavish beachside wedding in Greece with Vogue's Phoebe de Croisset. Not a bad starter home for newlyweds...
Take a tour of ROberts' former digs
November 11, 2015

Two Cutting Edge Condo Designs Planned for Midtown

Developer Macklowe Properties has started construction on 200 East 59th Street, a new 35-story residential condominium development designed by CetraRuddy. [6sqft inbox] Go inside the Hudson Yards construction site. [Tech Insider] Brooklyn Bridge Park is asking for $90 million to repair its wooden piers. The organization is requesting that money generated by two controversial Pier 6 towers […]

November 11, 2015

Could This 19-Story Tower Replace Two Beloved Kips Bay Businesses?

The busy architects over at Issac & Stern posted on their website an image of a yet-to-be-built 19-story tower at 378-380 Third Avenue in Kips Bay. Their page indicates the building will be residential and commercial and will encompass approximately 61,000 square feet of floor area. The development would replace two existing five-story walk-ups that each contain well-regarded drinking and eating establishments. The ground floor of 378 Third Avenue is occupied by the east side branch of the highly rated Italian restaurant Coppola’s Trattoria, and next door at 380 Third Avenue, the ground floor is occupied by the bar Tavern on Third, which hails itself as one of the best Chicago Bears bar in New York City.
More details ahead
November 10, 2015

Developers Chop 432 Park’s Full-Floor Apartments Into Smaller, Cheaper Units

Is the city's tallest residential tower seeing a slowdown in sales? Crain's reports that 432 Park developers CIM and Harry Macklowe have begun splitting full-floor apartments at the 1,396-foot-tall tower into two with the hopes of attracting smaller ticket buyers who can't swing $80 million for a posh pad—but wouldn't be opposed to shelling out $40 million. The paper adds that the move "may signal a slowdown in sales for $50 million-plus apartments," particularly as the market gets inundated with ultra-luxe developments. "There is some concern that there aren't enough buyers who can afford apartments priced in the tens of millions of dollars—an increasingly common figure for the latest crop of ultra-luxury condos."
find out more here
November 10, 2015

Architect Lee Mindel Lists Penthouse; Chinese Finger Trap-Like Hotel Proposed for Hudson Yards

Remember this $10.7M sculptural penthouse featured on 6sqft? Turns out the owner is architect Lee Mindel. [WSJ] Here are all the marketing stops Extell is pulling to attract foreign buyers to One Manhattan Square. [BB] Blackhouse Development has tapped L.A. architecture firm M-Rad to design a wild 740-foot tall hotel at the Hudson Yards. “Imagine a hotel that can move […]

November 9, 2015

Rendering Revealed for Brooklyn’s First 1,000-Foot Tower

News broke back in August that Brooklyn's first tower over 1,000 feet might rise in Downtown Brooklyn as the result of the $90 million acquisition of Brooklyn’s landmarked Dime Savings Bank building by JDS Development. Previously, they bought the site next door for $43 million, and combined with the bank's 300,000 square feet of development rights, they acquired the means to build a tower of nearly 600,000 square feet at 340 Flatbush Avenue Extension. 6sqft got a taste of what's to come when we revealed a video that showed the insane views from the top of the could-be tower, but now Yimby has unveiled the official renderings and specs for the project, which come courtesy of starchitects SHoP. As previously speculated, it will reach 1,000 feet, making it the tallest building in the outer boroughs. The 90-story, vaguely Art Deco tower will have 466,000 square feet of residential space, amounting to 550 condo units, as well as 140,000 square feet of commercial space.
More on the development ahead
November 9, 2015

Seven Floors of One57 Hit the Market for $250 Million

It may not be the penultimate $100 million penthouse, but an investor with enough dough can still make headlines buying into the city's most expensive condo tower. According to the Journal, Extell is selling a block of 38 rentals in its blockbuster One57 for $250 million. The paper writes that unloading the units will bring the developer $3,800 a square foot, or an average of more than $6.5 million per apartment—more than double the $1,800 average of Manhattan condos sold during the third quarter.
FInd out more
November 9, 2015

‘Scrubs’ and ‘Clueless’ Star Donald Faison Sells $2.5M Harlem Brownstone

Depending upon your age, you may know actor Donald Faison best for his role as Murray on "Clueless" or as Dr. Chris Turk on "Scrubs." But long before he became a household face, Faison grew up right here in Harlem, with his parents active in the National Black Theatre in Harlem. In 2010, he returned to his roots and bought a historic townhouse at 206 West 137th Street for $1.4 million, but The Real Deal reports that he's now sold the six-bedroom home, last listed for $2.5 million.
Take a look around
November 8, 2015

Morris Adjmi’s 465 Pacific Street Now 50 Percent in Contract

Just one month after kicking off sales, Boerum Hill's hottest new condominium development, 465 Pacific Street has already signed half of its 30 units into contract. Even more impressive is that the $55 million development is slated for completion some 18-months from now, with foundation pouring just commencing last month. The project is conceived by a partnership between Avery Hall Investments and ARIA Development Group who paid $18 million ($373 per buildable square foot) for the L-shaped lot in May 2013, a record for a large Brooklyn parcel according to Crain's New York.
more on the project
November 6, 2015

More Manhattan Rentals Are Listed Above $15,000 Than Under $2,000

Looking for a rental under $2,000 a month? Keep your fingers crossed and head to the Upper East Side. In a new analysis of on-line residential exclusive listings data as of October 8th, The Real Deal concludes that there are more Manhattan rentals priced above $15,000 than there are under $2,000, further proving that the uber-luxury market is not letting up. But for the latter category, the neighborhoods of Yorkville, Carnegie Hill, and Lenox Hill are the best bet. In fact, the UES has more listings below $2,000 than all of Manhattan south of Central Park.
More on the trends this way
November 6, 2015

Construction Update: FXFowle’s Circle-Hugging Harlem Condominium Rises Over Central Park

Artimus Construction's upcoming Harlem condo development Circa Central Park is rapidly rising skyward. After lengthy site remediation work due to a pre-existing BP gas station, the structure is finally above ground and already beginning to frame its sixth floor. Ultimately, the building will stand 11 stories/140 feet high and will contain some 126,362 square feet of total floor area. Artimus picked up the 13,500-square-foot site at 2040 Frederick Douglass Boulevard (285 West 110th Street) for $25 million in late 2013 after being selected through a bidding process conducted by the city's Economic Development Corporation. As part of the deal, Artimus must build space for the local Millennium Dance Company, which will occupy 8,000 square feet of the ground floor, and 20 percent of the building's 51 apartments must be designated as affordable housing.
More details ahead