Real Estate Trends

April 24, 2015

Lofty Greenwich Village Condo Offers Plenty of Space to Show Off Your Art

This is not your artsy Greenwich Village apartment of the beatnik era. The condo at 29 East 10th Street, which takes up the entire second floor, is more along the lines of "luxury loft living." It has been renovated with custom lighting and exposed brickwork to accommodate the seller's impressive, sometimes kooky, art collection. And it seems like unique design is a trend of the building, which is a former 19th century feather factory. Last year an impressive condo hit the market here asking $14.995 million. This new apartment is asking significantly less, priced at $3.95 million.
See more of the interior photos here

April 23, 2015

EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS: Take a Tour Inside the Brand New Whitney Museum!

By Diane Pham

May 1st will mark a new era for the Whitney when its brand new home along the High Line swings its doors open to the public for the first time. A project that has been decades in the making, the $422 million structure designed by Renzo Piano is a game changer for a museum that had long outgrown its Upper East Side space. Boasting a whopping 220,000 square feet of column-free spaces, this glass and steel behemoth is a dynamic assemblage of shapes and angles, and perfectly outfitted to host the Whitney Museum's 22,000 works and then some. Though the museum won't officially open for another few days, this morning 6sqft joined a trove of celebrants at the pre-opening preview of the new High Line-hugging masterpiece. Take an exclusive photo tour with us inside ahead.
All the photos here

April 23, 2015

Reality Star Bethenny Frankel Revealed as Buyer of $4.2M Soho Loft

By Annie Doge

If you've been following the roller coaster that is reality television star Bethenny Frankel's life, you know that she started out as a single, struggling entrepreneur on "Real Housewives of New York City." She then launched the Skinny Girl margarita, sold the brand to Jim Beam for a reported $120 million, got married and had a daughter, filed for divorced, and rejoined the Housewives. On the recent season of the show, she considers herself "the richest homeless person in Manhattan," as her ex-husband stayed in their $5 million Tribeca apartment at 195 Hudson Street. We think Frankel's use of the word "homeless" is a little ridiculous considering she was splitting her time between lavish Hamptons rentals and high-end Manhattan hotels, but the Daily News has revealed that the Skinny Girl is actually the owner of apartment 2D at 22 Mercer Street in Soho. A nomad no more, Frankel is waiting to move into the gorgeous loft, which she bought about seven months ago for $4.2 million, until renovations are complete. But judging by the photos of the home, we can't imagine there'd be that much to change.
Take a look around here

April 23, 2015

Billionaire Wins Deposit Back After Ditched Penthouse Purchase; LGA’s $4B Revamp Could Be Delayed Again

By Diane Pham

A billionaire who canceled his purchase of a $27.5M penthouse at 1107 Fifth Avenue—which also happens to be NYC’s first-ever penthouse—will get his $2.75M deposit refunded to him. Carlos Rodriguez Pastor didn’t want to share his terrace with neighbors in the building. [NYDN] If the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey doesn’t pick a winning […]

Real Estate Trends

Subway Rent Map Shows Manhattan Rental Prices Along Each Train Line

Map © Thrillist

April 22, 2015

Subway Rent Map Shows Manhattan Rental Prices Along Each Train Line

By Dana Schulz

The folks over at Thrillist have put together the fun new Manhattan Subway Rent Map, which shows "where you can't afford to live, by stop." The figures come from the median rent per bedroom near every Manhattan subway stop. For the most part, the trends are what you'd expect -- prices along the 4, 5, 6 line get incredibly lower above 96th Street; living near a 14th Street train station will cost you; and the A, C, E train carries pretty steep prices throughout Manhattan until you reach 125th Street. But what's interesting is that the 59th Street corridor reigns supreme, with prices across the board coming in around $2,800.
See the full map here

April 22, 2015

Living Green: Mapping NYC’s Newest LEED Rated Residential Constructions

By Diane Pham

Happy Earth Day, friends! As climate change weighs heavy on many of our minds, it’s relief to know that there are developers and architects working hard to create a healthier, more sustainable built environment. Eco-friendly residential design has been on the rise in NYC over the last decade, with buildings today boasting everything from solar panels to greywater […]

April 22, 2015

S. Bronx Next ‘It’ Area According to Experts; Liam Gallagher Slashes Price of His Essex House Pad

By Diane Pham

More and more hipsters are flocking to South Bronx. Real estate experts are eyeing it as the next big thing. [DNA Info] We’re not sure why leopard print walls would be a hard sell, but Oasis singer Liam Gallagher has cut the price his Central Park South pad to $3.1 million, down from $4 million. […]

Real Estate Trends

April 21, 2015

City’s First Micro-Apartment Project ‘MY Micro NY’ Ready for Stacking

By Ondel Hylton

Just in time for Earth Day, New York's first micro-unit apartment building, dubbed My Micro NY, is entering its final construction phase. When finished later this year, urbanites will have a chance to live within the center of the city in a brand new building flush with amenities, all for under $3,000. Developed by Monadnock Development and the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the soon-to-be-nine-story structure wrapped up foundation work this past winter, and a one-story steel platform is ready to receive 55 modular units. The units are currently being built off-site at the Brooklyn Navy Yard by a team of 50 workers. In late May, the units will be shipped to the Gramercy Park lot at 335 East 27th Street where they will be stacked and bolted together along with stairs, an elevator, and other shared spaces.
More details ahead

April 21, 2015

The Times Critiques the Design of the New Whitney; Gorgeous Four on Degraw Townhouses Listed

By Diane Pham

Architecture critic Michael Kimmelman reviews Renzo Piano’s design of the Whitney Museum. [NYT] Visualizing Manhattan’s income inequality in two charts. [The Atlantic] Writer and 6sqft contributor, Emily Nonko launches The Bed-Stuy Blog. [The Bed-Stuy Blog] 20 NYC institutions shuttered by rent hikes. [Curbed] The remaining three townhouses at the new development Four on Degraw in Boerum Hill, have hit […]

Real Estate Trends

The Rise of Single People Hurts Affordable Housing

By Diane Pham

NYC's affordable housing crisis makes headlines daily, but while most are quick to point to the exploitation and mismanagement of existing apartments as the root of the cause (which to a great degree it most certainly is), the Washington Posts asks us to consider the effect single folks have on a city's housing inventory. Today, more and more folks are living longer and marrying later (if at all), and living alone at any given age no longer carries the stigma it once did decades ago. 26 percent of modern American households consist of just one person now, compared to the 1940s when this number topped out at just seven percent. While this dynamic shift seems more like a cause for celebration (yay, we're evolving and defying convention) it does have some serious implications when it comes to available housing. "Our housing stock wasn't built for a society full of singles," says reporter Emily Badger.
more on the issue here

NYC Apartments a Better Investment than Gold, Says Expert

A midtown apartment filled with modern art designed by Robert Couturier

April 21, 2015

NYC Apartments a Better Investment than Gold, Says Expert

By Dana Schulz

Laurence D. Fink, chairman of Blackrock Inc., the world’s biggest asset manager, said at a conference today in Singapore that luxury apartments in cities like New York, as well as modern art, have trumped gold as a store of wealth. According to Bloomberg, Fink said, "Gold has lost its luster and there’s other mechanisms in which you can store wealth that are inflation-adjusted...The two greatest stores of wealth internationally today is contemporary art... and I don’t mean that as a joke, I mean that as a serious asset class. And two, the other store of wealth today is apartments in Manhattan, apartments in Vancouver, in London."
READ MORE

Real Estate Trends

April 21, 2015

Extell’s ‘Poor Door’ Building Receives a Staggering 88,000 Applicants

By Diane Pham

Poor doors be damned. It looks like the anger and public outcry swirling around Extell's new 50 Riverside Boulevard condo didn't do much to deter New Yorkers from vying for a low-income unit at the building. The Times reports that the development company received a whopping 88,000 applications for the building's 55 affordable apartments after they opened up the lines back in February. The overwhelming demand is most certainly a win for developer Gary Barnett, who found himself in the hot seat for creating a separate entrance for low-income tenants, away from the market-rate residents. When speaking to the paper, Barnett called the whole poor door ordeal a “made-up controversy” adding to that “I guess people like it. It shows that there’s a tremendous demand for high-quality affordable housing in beautiful neighborhoods."
So do poor doors really matter?

Going Green and Curbing Gentrification: How the Bronx Is Doing It Differently

Image: View Grand Concourse via photopin (license)

April 20, 2015

Going Green and Curbing Gentrification: How the Bronx Is Doing It Differently

By Emily Nonko

“Ladies and gentlemen, the Bronx is burning." The infamous phrase, uttered in a 1977 broadcast of a Bronx fire, has stuck in the mind of many New Yorkers even today. Indeed, the Bronx saw a sharp decline in population and quality of life in the late 1960s and 1970s, which culminated in a wave of arson. By the early 1980s, the South Bronx was considered one of the most blighted neighborhoods in the country, with a 60 percent decline in population and 40 percent decline of housing units. Although revitalization picked up by the '90s, the Bronx never quite took off like its outer-borough counterparts Brooklyn and Queens. While media hype, quickly rising prices and a rush of development has come to characterize those two boroughs, the Bronx has flourished more quietly. The borough, nevertheless, has become home to growth and development distinct from the rest of New York City. Innovative affordable housing, adaptive reuse projects, green development and strong community involvement are redefining the area. As Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said during this Municipal Arts Society discussion in 2014, this is "The New Bronx."
Keep Reading About What's Going on in the Bronx

New Renderings Revealed for 217 West 57th Street, the Will-Be Tallest Residential Building in the World

Rendering via NY Yimby

April 20, 2015

New Renderings Revealed for 217 West 57th Street, the Will-Be Tallest Residential Building in the World

By Dana Schulz

It's been relatively quiet on the Nordstrom Tower front since we saw some skyline renderings in September. But now YIMBY has uncovered the official renderings for Extell's 217 West 57th Street, the 92-story, 1,775-foot supertall that will take the title of tallest residential building in the world when completed, surpassing Mumbai’s World One Tower by 29 feet. The images continue to show how the tower will dominate the skyline, but they also give us a detailed look at the façade and a peek into one of the penthouses.
See all the renderings here

April 20, 2015

The Nation’s Largest Wealth Gap Is In…; Eco-Activist Plans to Swim the Gowanus on Earth Day

By Diane Pham

The nation’s largest wealth gap is in Manhattan. Surprised? [Crain’s] A clean-water activist plans to take the ultimate plunge on Earth Day, swimming 1.8 miles through Brooklyn’s toxic Gowanus Canal. [Brooklyn Paper] Five real estate myths that snag buyers and sellers. [Washington Post] Real estate crowd funding firm Prodigy Network has plans to develop shared […]

Real Estate Trends

1 WTC Observatory Elevators Will Give Riders a 515-Year Time-Lapse View of NYC Skyline

The Lower Manhattan skyline in 1796

April 20, 2015

1 WTC Observatory Elevators Will Give Riders a 515-Year Time-Lapse View of NYC Skyline

By Diane Pham

Tourists and die-hard New Yorkers who plan on shelling out $32 to take in the vistas from the One World Trade Center observation deck will also get the unique experience of taking in the city's skyline through the last 515 years. The Times reports that the five elevators servicing the building's 102nd-floor observatory will be equipped with three wrapping, high-tech monitors that will display a time-lapse view of Lower Manhattan as its takes its patrons on a 47-second, 23 mph ride to the top. The screens will project everything from Manhattan's start as a verdant, marshy wonder to its rise as the world's capital in all its sky-scraping glory. But, most notably, the ride will highlight the south WTC tower brought down by terrorists on 9/11.
Watch a video of the experience here

Real Estate Trends

Rendering of the penthouse, which occupies the tower’s top three floors

April 17, 2015

Rupert Murdoch Lists One Madison Penthouse for $72M, Is Reportedly Buyer of $25M West Village Townhouse

By Dana Schulz

The Wall Street Journal reports today that News Corp. and 21st Century Fox chairman Rupert Murdoch has listed his penthouse at One Madison for $72 million. He bought the 6,850-square-foot triplex last February, in conjunction with a full-floor unit on the 57th floor below, for $57.25 million. He originally intended to use the smaller apartment as a guest suite, and moved into it while architect Jose Ramirez built out the penthouse. But Murdoch has now shifted gears, putting the penthouse on the market, keeping the 57th-floor unit, and buying a $25 million West Village townhouse where he plans to live full time. Interestingly, the townhouse is reportedly the former purple bed and breakfast turned single-family mansion, which hit sales records on Wednesday.
More details on Murdoch's real estate moves

April 17, 2015

Staten Island’s Revival Offers Brooklyn Cool Alongside $600,000 Six-Bedroom Homes

By Diane Pham

It's only a matter of time before Staten Island gets pinned as the next Brooklyn. As new developments pop up along the northern tip, the oft-forgotten borough is seeing the tides turn in its favor. Today the Times ran a piece on some of the biggest projects coming to the island, and unlike those popping up in Manhattan, this bunch is far more focused on livability and community building. Moreover, with rooftop beehives, shared vegetable gardens, small-batch espresso, pet spas, artisanal shops shilling specialty olive oils, and cheese caves in the pipeline, Staten Island is also starting to sound a lot like some of the city's most hipster-run areas. In fact, in casting its net for local testimonials, the Times was able to find Ridgewood and Bushwick refugees that have already high-tailed it southwest. And it's no wonder, with real estate being offered at just a fraction of the price—one couple in the story closed on a house with "numerous porches and six bedrooms, for $620,000"—it's only a matter of time before we turn to our significant others and say, "Let's move to Staten Island!"
More on Staten Island's next steps here

Real Estate Trends

April 17, 2015

Long Island City’s Hot New Park-Front Project Liv@ Murray Park North Set to Begin Sales

By Ondel Hylton

While Manhattan buyers typically pay a great premium for a park-front address, a single subway stop away in Long Island City, a new condominium aptly named Liv@ Murray Park North will begin sales with homes starting around $400,000. Developed by George Xu and Century Development Group, the six-story, 39-unit building will house a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments designed by Queens' own Raymond Chan Architects. Liv@ Murray Park North is located at 11-35 45th Avenue along the northern frontage of the 2.5 acre Murray Park/Murray Playground. Similar in size to downtown's Gramercy Park, the community jewel is LIC's largest green space not situated along the East River. The park is also across from the neighborhood's sole historic district and is positioned centrally between the area's two booming high-rise nodes–the master-planned Hunter's Point waterfront community and the Court Square-Queens Plaza business district.
More on the project ahead

April 16, 2015

The Sutton, Toll Brothers’ ‘Modern Vintage’ Condo, Tops Out and Gets Motley Skin

By Ondel Hylton

Toll Brothers' latest condo development The Sutton has reached its 30-story apex and is currently applying a variety of skins to its frame that its designers hope will capture a "modern vintage" aesthetic. Situated at the boundary of Midtown East's Turtle Bay and Sutton Place neighborhoods at 959 First Avenue, the 90-unit tower (down from 114-units) will hold one- to four-bedroom residences priced from $1 million to more than $6 million, and provide the typical array of amenities and interiors that reflect the surrounding area's classic New York vibe.
Find out more about the project

April 16, 2015

Director David Fincher Snags a Tribeca Pad; Salt Queen Renting Her Apartment for $9K

By Diane Pham

Famed director David Fincher—of “Fight Club,” “Gone Girl” and “House of Cards” fame—may be moving to Tribeca. Fincher reportedly put down $5.75M on a three-bedroom at 7 Harrison where fellow director Steven Soderbergh also lives. [Variety] You can rent acclaimed artist Bettina Werner’s apartment at Downtown by Starck for $9,000/month—or $8,500/month if you pay it all in […]

Real Estate Trends

April 16, 2015

Two out of Six Units Already in Contract at 52 Lispenard Street, Is Jake Gyllenhaal the Next Buyer?

By Annie Doge

Sales launched exactly a month ago at the long-awaited 52 Lispenard Street in Tribeca, and in that short time two of the building's six units are already in contract at the asking price–the three-bedroom unit 3 for $7.3 million and the five-bedroom, floor-through unit 4 for $6.85 million. There are two four-bedroom units, priced at $7.2 and $8 million, also currently available. Since the Post reports today that Jake Gyllenhaal looked at two units in the building, one of which is the three-bedroom unit now in contract to someone else, we're wondering if he might just be the next buyer to sign on as one of the building's first residents.
More details ahead

April 16, 2015

New Clinton Hill Building with $1,064 Two-Bedroom Apartments Now Taking Applications

By Diane Pham

Clinton Hill rents may be skyrocketing, but there are a handful of units coming up sure to bring some peace of mind to those worried that the neighborhood is turning into another haven for the rich. DNA Info reports that a brand new building coming up at 490 Myrtle Avenue at Hall Street that will boast a terrace, veggie garden, reflecting pools with cabanas and $1,064 two-bedroom apartments. The building is sited along one of the more rapidly gentrifying areas of the neighborhood, just a block away from the Pratt Institute along a stretch of Myrtle Avenue that is about to see a serious boom in new developments and green space.
Find out more here and if you qualify for one of the units

April 16, 2015

Flashy Designer Loft in Tribeca Sells for $9.25M

By Dana Schulz

It's always interesting to see how architects and designers outfit their personal homes, and in this case the answer is very lavishly. Jennifer Tonkel, an interior designer at Kemble Interiors, along with her husband Carlos Fierro, bought this 3,650-square-foot loft at 408 Greenwich Street in Tribeca for $7.64 million in 2008, and after decorating it to their hearts' content, listed it for $10.75 million just about a year ago. The impressive home has now sold for $9.25 million, according to city records released today.
Tour the designer pad here

Real Estate Trends

Pitch a Story

Interested in seeing the property in person?

Interested in seeing the property in person?

Distinctive Post Form

Get in Touch

Send us a Tip

Interesting in learning more about purchasing a new home?

Thinking about selling your home?

Sell a Home (Footer)

Before You Move On from this Page.

Your Daily Doseof NYC Life!

Before You Move On
from this Page.

Your Daily Dose
of NYC Life!