Real Estate Trends

An UES woman found apartment hunting so stressful, she gave up her search and stayed in her over-priced studio. [NYT] Joan Rivers’ opulent apartment has sold for $28 million to a Middle Eastern buyer. [NYDN] NYCHA is looking for bids from developers interested in building affordable apartments. [NYDN] Tribeca Cinemas has closed down and the building is now […]

Real Estate Trends

July 1, 2015

NYC Makes Up 5 Percent of the Nation’s Property Value

We know New York City is ridiculously expensive, but what about its property values? Because of the city's confusing "market value" system, true property values are often grossly underestimated. To provide a more accurate look, the data buffs over at Metrocosm have put together these visually telling cartograms of real property values in NYC, substituting land area for total property value. The maps not only compare values in New York with those throughout the rest of the country, but they also look at how property values are concentrated within the five boroughs. The data reveals some striking facts. New York City makes up a whopping 5 percent of the nation's property value, coming in at $1.5 trillion. When you single out Manhattan's $733 billion, it could be the 14th most valuable state in the country. The Upper East Side, which occupies less than one square mile, has $96 billion in housing value–more than entire states like New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming and Alaska.
More findings, maps, and graphs ahead

Real Estate Trends

July 1, 2015

432 Park Unveils Model Unit; Renderings for Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6 Condos

The model unit at 432 Park is unveiled on the 38th floor of the almost-completed building. [TRD] Developers secure a $725 million loan for their supertall and super-skinny tower 111 West 57th Street. [Crain’s] Renderings revealed for Brooklyn Bridge Park’s controversial Pier 6 condos, designed by ODA Architecture. [Gothamist] A ten-story condo will rise on the […]

Real Estate Trends

July 1, 2015

Average Sales Price in Manhattan Hits Record High of $1.8M

The second-quarter market report from Douglas Elliman is fresh off the presses, and it shows that Manhattan sales have never been more expensive, averaging $1.87 million for all apartments, which is an 11.4 percent jump from this time last year. New developments averaged $2,011 per square foot, which is the first time ever prices have exceeded the $2,000 per square foot mark. Other records set during this quarter are for median co-op sale price ($795,000, up 9.7 percent from last year) and average price for luxury apartments ($8.2 million, up 12.8 percent from last year).
More from the report here

Real Estate Trends

June 30, 2015

Sales Launch at Rosario Candela’s 360 Central Park West; The Condos Replacing Brooklyn Heights Cinema

Sales have launched at Rosario Candela’s 360 Central Park West. A selection of three- to four-bedroom residences have been priced between $3,950,000 and just over $5,750,000. [CityRealty] Here are the Morris Adjmi-designed condos replacing the beloved Brooklyn Heights Cinema at 70 Henry Street. [6sqft inbox] 21 Broadway buildings have been shunned by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. [NYT] Neighbors […]

Real Estate Trends

June 30, 2015

NYU Expansion Plan Gets the Final Green Light from Court of Appeals

Last October, the appellate court overturned a previous decision by the New York Supreme Court that prohibited NYU’s $6 billion, 1.9 million-square-foot Greenwich Village expansion plan. But in Feburary, opponents of the plan (including community groups like GVSHP, Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, local residents, NYU Faculty against the Sexton Plan, and even actor Mark Ruffalo) announced that the New York State Court of Appeals would hear their case one final time. According to DNAinfo, though, today the state's highest court ruled in favor of NYU, giving the expansion plan the final go ahead.
Find out more about the ruling

June 30, 2015

Designer and Art Writer Sue Hostetler Finally Sells Four-Story Alphabet City Condo for $7M

Six years ago, designer and art writer Sue Hostetler (she's the Editor-in-Chief of Art Basel Magazine) built a modern six-story townhouse at 238 East 4th Street. She and her husband, media executive Jon Diamond, decided they'd occupy the first four floors, while selling off the two-story penthouse. The Alphabet City location raised some eyebrows at the time, but before long, celebrity husband-and-wife design team Bob and Cortney Novogratz were tapped to design the upper condo, which sold for $5 million to Oscar Proust and Colleen Goujjane, owners of the well-known West Village restaurant One If By Land, Two If By Sea. But despite creating her dream home from the ground up, and even installing a paparazzi shield on the one-car garage, Hostetler first put her massive home on the market in 2012 for $8.5 million. Rachel Weisz and Danielle Craig checked it out at the time, but it's been struggling on the market for three years, including an attempt at selling the entire building for $12.4 million. Now, according to city records released today, the 6,500-square-foot residence has sold for $6,995,000, and the buyer is, quite appropriately, light and interactive sculptor Jen Lewin.
Take a look around

Real Estate Trends

June 30, 2015

New Map Plots Every Airbnb Listing in NYC

"Adding data to the debate" is the tagline of this new interactive map called Inside Airbnb, which has plotted all listings as of June 1st from the popular room-sharing website. The searchable bird's eye map was created by Bed Stuy photographer Murray Cox to show "how Airbnb is being used to compete with the residential housing market" in cities around the world (h/t Gothamist). In addition to looking at the trend across the city as a whole, the map allows users to zoom into a specific neighborhood and look at how an Airbnb presence has changed in a given area over the past few years.
Learn more about the map

Real Estate Trends

June 30, 2015

Rent Guidelines Board Approves Freezes on One-Year Leases for First Time in History

In a historic decision made last night, the Rent Guidelines Board voted 7-2 last night to freeze rents for the first time on one-year leases for New York City’s more than one million rent-stabilized apartments. The board, entirely appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio, also moved to increase rents on two-year leases by just two percent, the lowest in the board's 46-year existence. The decision follows last week's lackluster vote at the state level to only extend but not strengthen rent regulations. "Cuomo betrayed us, the RGB can save us," tenants chanted at the meeting.
Find out more here

Michelle Williams Buys Colonial Revival Mansion in Prospect Park South That Needs a Little TLC

Actress Michelle Williams is clearly a fan of big, beautiful Brooklyn houses. 6sqft got the scoop back in September that she was listing her lovely Boerum Hill townhouse for $7.5 million. The ivy-covered, corner-lot home came complete with a three-car garage and more space than is usual for the neighborhood. Likely for these reasons, she sold the house for well over the asking price ($8.8 million to be exact), just two months later. And after keeping us in suspense for seven long months as to where she and nine-year-old daughter Matilda would move, Ditmas Park Corner revealed today that Williams purchased an historic Colonial Revival-style home in Prospect Park South. Last listed for $2.45 million, the eight-bedroom home at 1440 Albemarle Road is referred to as "The Tara of Prospect Park South" in the listing. It boasts a two-story front porch with fluted Ionic columns, dormer windows, eight fireplaces, and leaded and stained glass windows. The landmarked house is definitely in need of some TLC, but that shouldn't be a problem for Williams, as she told a neighbor "I love living somewhere that feels like the suburbs but is next to an express train."
Check out the interiors, this way...

June 29, 2015

FAO Schwarz Readies for a Move to Times Square; The Top 20 Power Players in NYC Real Estate

FAO Schwarz is wrapping up negotiations for a Christmas opening in Times Square. [CO] My Micro NYC has finished stacking its modular housing pods. [Field Condition] Jennifer Lawrence spotted looking at an apartment at Tribeca’s 443 Greenwich. [NYDN] The 20 biggest power players in NYC real estate. Norman Foster, Dbox, Soo K. Chan, Annabelle Selldorf and […]

Real Estate Trends

June 29, 2015

Joan Rivers’s Opulent UES Penthouse May Have a New Owner

It's been almost five months since the late, great Joan Rivers's opulent Upper East Side penthouse hit the market for $28 million, and now the Post is reporting that the lavish triplex at 1 East 62nd Street may have a new owner. "Last Thursday, its final day, art and antiques storage specialists packed and hauled the remainder of what was heading to Christie’s and elsewhere... The sale’s not gone to contract, but there is a buyer," notes the paper.
Find out more here

June 26, 2015

Inside a Bed-Stuy Home with Over $10M in African Art; Greenpoint Landing Breaks Ground

Model and Kardashian friend Gigi Hadid checks out an apartment on the East Side. [NYDN] Greenpoint Landing broke ground today. The half-mile, 22-acre stretch along the East River will include 1,400 affordable housing units, a new 640-seat public school, and four acres of resilient public green space along the waterfront. [6sqft inbox] Why it’s a renter’s market and […]

Real Estate Trends

June 25, 2015

Bloomberg’s Ex Lists Her Noho Pad for $12M; China’s Richest Man Buys in the Adirondacks

Susan Brown, Mayor Bloomberg’s ex-wife, is asking $11.7M for her NoHo penthouse. [NYDN] China’s wealthiest man just purchased 28,100 acres of land in the Adirondacks for $23M. [NYDN] Poor whites tend to live in wealthier neighborhoods than do middle class blacks and Latinos, a new study reveals. [Washington Post] The New York City Economic Development Corp […]

Real Estate Trends

June 24, 2015

Mike Myers Selling Two Soho Apartments for $21.5M; South Street Seaport Named an Endangered Historic Place

Mike Myers ups the ante on his penthouse listing, adding another unit and a few extra million dollars to the price tag. [Curbed] South Street Seaport is one of the nation’s most endangered historic places. [Crain’s] The developer of the Rheingold Brewery site in Bushwick is allegedly trying to nix including any affordable housing. [DNA […]

Real Estate Trends

June 24, 2015

POLL: How Do You Like the Nordstrom Tower’s New Name, Central Park Tower?

We knew the name Nordstrom Tower wasn’t going to stick; the unofficial moniker came only from the fact that the building will have a Nordstrom department store at its base. And just a week after news hit that the supertall from Extell will be the country’s highest by roof height, we’ve learned the official name: Central Park […]

June 24, 2015

Renderings Revealed for Pacific Park Mega-Development’s Eight-Acre Green Space

Formerly known as Atlantic Yards, Pacific Park Brooklyn will be a 22-acre site anchored by the Barclays Center in Prospect Heights and containing eight million square feet of mixed-use development that includes 16 condo towers and 2,250 units of affordable housing, as well as an eight-acre park. Almost a year ago, developers Forest City Ratner Companies and Greenland USA (now merged as Greenland Forest City Partners) announced that they'd chosen Thomas Balsley Associates to design the green space. And now, we're finally seeing the first set of renderings for the public space, in addition to a master plan. The Daily News first shared the renderings, showing "the long, meandering park, which will follow the footprint of the new towers." The outdoor space will boast a public plaza and promenade, toddler and children's play areas, a bocce ball court, basketball court, dog run, glowing lanterns, sloping lawns, and a water garden.
More details ahead

June 23, 2015

Join Global Architecture, Urban Planning and Real Estate Pundits at the NYT’s Cities for Tomorrow Conference

The New York Times Cities For Tomorrow conference is back again and better than ever, this time promising to deliver even more riveting talks centered on the forward-thinking innovations that are rapidly reshaping the world as we know it. This year, join Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman as he leads the two-day event, running July […]

June 23, 2015

Scoping Out Park Slope Block by Block; The Stonewall Inn Becomes NYC’s First LGBT Landmark

The Times checks out Park Slope in their latest “Block by Block” video. [NYT] The Brasserie will also join the Four Seasons as it exits the Seagram building. [NYP] The Stonewall Inn has received individual landmark status, becoming NYC’s first LGBT landmark. [6sqft inbox] The cash-strapped MTA just got a nice boost thanks to the […]

Real Estate Trends

June 22, 2015

The Four Best Skyscrapers of 2015; Booming Market Means Extra-Big Paychecks for Real Estate Execs

50 West is officially 50 percent sold. [50 West; listings] The city’s real estate boom has meant super-sized checks for real estate execs. [Crain’s] The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat have named their picks for the four best skyscrapers of 2015. [ArchDaily] How much demand really exists for super luxury condos? [TRD] Greenwich […]

Real Estate Trends

June 19, 2015

Queen Elizabeth Comes to NYC: Royal Family Picks up $8M Apartment at 50 UN Plaza

As The Real Deal reports, "Even the British royal family is getting into the business of pieds-a-terres in New York." Queen Elizabeth herself has picked up a $7.9 million apartment at 50 United Nations Plaza. City records released today list the buyer of the three-bedroom, 3,000-square-foot residence as "Her Majesty the Queen in Right of New Zealand."
More on the new royal pad

June 19, 2015

After Selling 190 Bowery, Photographer Jay Maisel Buys Record-Breaking Cobble Hill Townhouse

If you've been following the saga of 190 Bowery, the former Germania Bank Building turned private mansion, you know that photographer Jay Maisel sold it to developer Aby Rosen of RFR Realty for $55 million back in February (he paid just $102,000 for it in 1966). Since that time, it's been all eyes on Rosen. Is he removing or preserving that iconic graffiti? What the heck happened with that "public" art show inside the building? But what about Maisel? Well, he certainly made out well, swapping one mansion for another. The Times reports that he is the buyer of the $15.5 million brick carriage house at 177 Pacific Street in Cobble Hill, the most expensive single residence ever sold in Brooklyn. He did downsize a bit, though. As Curbed notes, 190 Bowery was 37,000 square feet, while his new townhouse is 10,000.
More on Maisel's new home

Real Estate Trends

June 19, 2015

Starchitect Alvaro Siza To Design a Luxury Residential Tower; Everyone Wants to Be a Real Estate Broker

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Alvaro Siza’s first NYC project will be a luxury condo tower. [Dezeen] There are 13,532 licensed brokers in New York City, the highest in 15 years. [Crain’s] Homeownership is still far out of reach for minorities in the city. [NYDN] Photos of rich dogs hanging out in fancy homes you’ll never be able […]

Real Estate Trends

June 18, 2015

Bjarke Ingels Picks Up $4M Dumbo Penthouse with Views of 2 World Trade Center