Real Estate Trends

June 29, 2015

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 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
June 18, 2015

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

When we have something to celebrate we usually do it with a glass of wine and some cake, but starchitect Bjarke Ingels is toasting his recently revealed design for 2 World Trade Center with a $3.89 million Dumbo penthouse. The Daily News reports that Ingels will be moving into the three-bedroom duplex at 205 Water Street, which offers a whopping 2,344 square feet of outdoor space, spread across four terraces, that provides the perfect view of the architect's impending Financial District tower. The sellers of the industrial-chic pad are interior designer and lifestyle guru Athena Calderone and her music producer husband, DJ Victor Calderone, who bought the home for $2.3 million in 2012 and originally listed it for $4.3 million back in January.
Take a look around the impressive home
June 18, 2015

Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis Make a Sale on Their Meatpacking Apartment

A mere five months after putting their Meatpacking District pad on the market, Olivia Wilde and husband Jason Sudeikis have made a sale. The unit at 66 Ninth Avenue was originally listed for $3.995 million in January, selling at a slight discount at $3.8 million according to the Post. The condo is a pretty simple construction with two bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms, big windows, hardwood floors and new appliances—a great "starter home" the pair probably called it. Wilde and Sudeikis, who have a baby boy, high-tailed it to Clinton Hill earlier this year in search of more greenery, more space and far fewer folks stumbling drunk across their streets in stiletto heels and Italian loafers.
Have a look inside what they unloaded
June 17, 2015

Why Neighborhoods Change Names; How to Spot a City’s Next Up-and-Coming Area

East of Village, Hudson Heights, Greenwich Village North… What’s the reasoning behind changing and creating new neighborhood names? [Medium] Can new zoning keep chain stores at bay in the East Village? [Gothamist] How to spot neighborhoods that are next to hit it big. [Washington Post] What to look for in a contractor. [Brick Underground] Chelsea, formerly “Greenwich […]

June 17, 2015

POLL: Is Eliot Spitzer’s Williamsburg Development ‘Offensive?’

Yesterday, former New York governor Eliot Spitzer revealed the first official rendering for Spitzer Enterprises’ mega development on the South Williamsburg waterfront. The $700 million trio of 24-story rental towers was designed by ODA Architects, who referred to the project as a “molded iceberg.” Today, Lincoln Restler, a senior policy advisor to Mayor de Blasio, took to Facebook to […]

June 16, 2015

Renderings Revealed for Eliot Spitzer’s ODA-Designed Williamsburg Mega-Development

Leaving his political career in the past, former New York governor Eliot Spitzer is taking on the development world. After his father's death in November, the controversial politician took over the family's real estate business, Spitzer Enterprises. And he's now revealed the first rendering for his Williamsburg mega-development in the New York Times (not Twitter), showcasing a trio of 24-story rental towers designed by ODA Architects. Located at 420-430 Kent Avenue in South Williamsburg, the project is in keeping with ODA's signature boxy, glassy aesthetic. It will cost $700 million, have 856 units, and boast two rooftop pools and a park with an esplanade.
More details here
June 16, 2015

New Rendering of Renzo Piano’s Soho Condos Shows a Curvy Glass Construction

Last month it was revealed that Renzo Piano would be following up his new Whitney Museum with a 290-foot residential tower at 555 Broome Steet (previously pinned as 100 Varick Street) in Hudson Square right on the border of Soho. While at the time details on the project were scarce with just one rendering making the rounds, NY Yimby has a new image of the starchitect-designed building which reveal a far softer and curvier glass form than previously depicted.
more details here
June 16, 2015

Extell’s Nordstrom Tower Will Be the Country’s Tallest by Roof Height

The Nordstrom Tower may not become the overall tallest building to ever rise NYC, besting One World Trade Center as previously reported and then rebuffed, but new filings unearthed by NY Yimby show that the supertall will still carry a very worthy, head-craning title. Documents show that the 95-story building will become not only the tallest building by roof height in NYC, but also in the country at 1,522.83 feet.
get the scoop here
June 16, 2015

Flatiron Building-Looking Condo Tower to Rise at Brooklyn Heights Library Site

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the Flatiron Building should be highly honored by this fresh batch of renderings from Marvel Architects for the site at 280 Cadman Plaza West in Brooklyn Heights. The Daily News reports that "the 36-story tower, which will have 139 condo units, community space, retail and a new 21,500-square-foot library on the ground floor, looks like it will be Brooklyn's very own alternative to the Flatiron building, with its dramatic wedge-shaped structure." Back in September, the Brooklyn Heights Library agreed to sell their site to Hudson Companies for $52 million with the stipulation that the developer build 114 affordable housing units at two different locations nearby, as well as a new state-of-the-art library at the existing site. The project began the city's land use review process (ULURP) yesterday.
More on the development and additional renderings
June 15, 2015

New Rendering Reveals What Rafael Viñoly’s 125 Greenwich FiDi Tower Will Look Like

It's been a while since we've heard anything on Rafael Viñoly's tower slated to rise in the Financial District, but it looks like the starchitect's next supertall is inching closer to a full reveal. Ground was broken at the building's 125 Greenwich Street site about four months ago, and now this newly uncovered rendering via NY Yimby gives us a much better idea of its height, its look, and how it fits in with the downtown skyline. Previous renderings had shown a stark, tall and slim rectangle—very much a glass version of Viñoly's 432 Park—while this new and sweeping depiction highlights a structure that will taper slightly as it rises, and feature a stacked crown of what appear to be residences and sky-high terraces.
Find out more here