Midtown East

On Saturday night, after what seems like an eternity of speculation followed by lamentation, the iconic Four Seasons hosted its last dinner. Last summer, Seagram Building owner Aby Rosen of RFR Realty chose not to renew the iconic restuarant's lease, and even before this, he faced criticism when he removed Picasso's largest ever work, Le Tricorne, from the space. But despite the constant contention, the developer is speaking out, hoping to get a little credit for the work and money he has put into the office building. "I see myself as a custodian," he told the Times, referring to the fact that it costs RFR an estimated 20 percent more to maintain the landmarked structure than it would a typical tower of the same size and age. But experts say this is par for the course when one willingly purchases a designated building, which Rosen did in 2000 for $379 million.
Rosen breaks down the specifics

Architecture And Design

July 13, 2016

Get a Peek at the Modernist Treasures Headed for the Four Seasons Restaurant Auction

The Wright auction house is gearing up for the July 26 auction of kitchen and dining room items from the iconic Four Seasons restaurant. As 6sqft previously reported, news that the restaurant would decamp from the building surfaced last summer, when Seagram Building owner Aby Rosen did not renew the lease for what has been seen as the quintessential Midtown “power lunch” spot for the last decades of the 20th century since it opened in 1959. The restaurant’s interiors feature custom designs by Pritzker Prize-winner Philip Johnson and furniture, tableware and other modernist treasures by the likes of by Seagram Building designer Mies Van der Rohe, Hans J. Wegner and others and custom-made Knoll furniture. With an emotional forward by Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, the auction catalog offers a preview of items up for auction with estimates. Included will be banquettes designed for the space by Philip Johnson Associates, Eero Saarinen Tulip stools, chairs and tables from the bar of the Grill Room, pans, flatware and dishes created for the restaurant by Ada Louise and L. Garth Huxtable and more.
Take a look at the items in the Four Seasons auction

Where to Find the Most Incredible Staircases in New York City

Images courtesy of Steven Holl Architects

July 5, 2016

Where to Find the Most Incredible Staircases in New York City

By Jason Carpenter

Stairs let interior designers show off their best combination of form and function. The flagship stores, public works, and designer condos of New York make for the perfect opportunities to test the boundaries of practicality and beauty in design. Here are seven of the most beautiful and interesting staircase designs to be found in New York City.
See our staircase gallery here

June 27, 2016

New Owners May Close Waldorf Astoria for Three Years for 1,100-Room Condo Conversion

Hilton Worldwide Holdings, who had owned the landmarked Waldorf Astoria since 1972, agreed in October 2014 to sell the 1,413-room hotel to Beijing-based financial and insurance company Anbang Insurance Group for $1.95 billion. The deal closed the following February, along with plans from the new owners to convert part of the Art Deco building into luxury condos, and now the Wall Street Journal brings additional details on the conversion. The overhaul, which could close the property for up to three years and cost upwards of $1 billion, would convert as many as 1,100 hotel rooms to condos, with the hotel portion featuring between 300 and 500 luxury guest rooms. Currently, the hotel employs about 1,500 people, but this major decline in hotel rooms will eliminate hundreds of jobs. Sources say Anbang and Hilton have already reached severance agreements totaling at least $100 million.
More details ahead

June 20, 2016

Donald Trump’s Secret ‘Public’ Gardens Gave Him Extra Height at Trump Tower

In light of his media-circus presidential campaign, there seems to be endless exposes about Donald Trump's past real estate drama. From his failed attempt to own the Empire State Building to a lost battle with China over two bi-coastal skyscrapers, the Donald's development empire has very often skirted the rules. The latest saga dates back to 1979, when, as Crain's uncovers, Trump struck a deal with the city for a zoning variance to build an extra 200,000 square feet, or 20 stories, at Trump Tower. In return, he agreed to create a public atrium, as well as 15,000 square feet of public gardens. But these gardens, which yielded almost all of the 244,000 square feet of office and residential space that Trump still owns in the tower (worth roughly $530 million), are hidden, hard to access, and not maintained.
The full story, right this way

June 16, 2016

Marilyn Monroe’s Former Sutton Place Penthouse Is on the Market for $6.75M

The sprawling two-bedroom East Side penthouse that was once home to screen icon Marilyn Monroe and third husband Arthur Miller is for sale asking $6.75 million, the New York Post reports. This chic and elegant condo atop 444 East 57th Street, just off Sutton Place, was home to a star-studded list of 20th century residents, topped by the tempestuous Monroe and Miller when the latter was writing "The Misfits" (1961), the last play in which the troubled star would appear. The iconic pad definitely looks the part, with a recent total renovation within, postcard views of the 59th Street Bridge, East River and city skyline, and over 3,000 square feet of soiree-ready outdoor terrace space. Those same terraces have witnessed glittering parties that drew luminaries of the day from Cary Grant to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor; other celebrity residents included fashion designer Bill Blass, singer Bobby Short and Sweden's Princess Madeleine.
Elegant interiors and amazing views this way

The Four Seasons: Photo via Le Travelist

June 15, 2016

Modernist Treasures From Iconic Four Seasons Restaurant Headed for Auction

News of the iconic restaurant's impending demise surfaced last summer, as 6sqft previously reported, when Seagram Building owner Aby Rosen did not renew the lease for what has been seen as the quintessential Midtown “power lunch” spot for the last decades of the 20th century since it opened in 1959. The restaurant's interiors feature designs by Pritzker Prize-winner Philip Johnson, furniture, tableware and other items by Seagram Building designer Mies Van der Rohe, Hans J. Wegner and others and custom-made Knoll furniture. Those items will be included in the 500 lots headed for auction on July 26. Dezeen highlights critics' frustration at what Aaron Betsky, leading US architecture critic and dean of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture rues as the dispersal of "one of the rarest phenomena in Modernism: a place where the architecture, the furniture, the table settings, the service, the food, and even the clientele was of a piece."
Find out more about why critics are so upset by the auction of the iconic restaurant's interiors

June 10, 2016

Archilier Architects Design Empire State Building-Sized Tower for Former Subway Inn Site

Earlier this year, 6sqft showed you new renderings of Archilier Architects' "Hudson Rise" mixed-use skyscraper planned for Manhattan's west side. Now the design firm has published their vision for a soaring, super-thin supertall at the former site of beloved dive bar Subway Inn at 151 East 60th Street. Kuafu Properties owns the 28,619-square-foot, six-building assemblage at 143-161 East 60th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues, which they acquired from the World Wide Group last year for $300 million, according to The Real Deal. Kuafu is one of the developers behind the Archilier-designed Hudson Rise development, thus these released renderings may indeed be working images of the planned project. The slender tower shown would encompass 411,700 gross square feet of area and rise 1,240 feet high, just 10 feet shy of the Empire State Building's height of 1,250 feet, despite containing just one-fifth of the floor space. The tower would technically be the tallest building on the Upper East Side (by far), but would be 158 feet shorter than nearby 432 Park Avenue in Midtown.
More details ahead

June 7, 2016

One Vanderbilt Will Cost a Whopping $3.14 Billion

Another supertall tower will join the $3 billion+ club. The Real Deal reports that SL Green Realty has pegged the cost of One Vanderbilt, Midtown's future tallest tower, at $3.14 billion. The city's largest office landlord also said it hopes to close on a $1.5 billion construction loan by the end of the summer, leaving $1.64 in equity needed to complete the 1,401-foot tower designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox. As TRD notes, One World Trade Center became the world's most expensive office tower in 2014 when it opened with a final cost of around $3.8 billion. Bjarke Ingels' planned High Line tower known as the Spiral is also expected to run over $3 billion.
More details this way

June 7, 2016

Rendering Revealed of Midtown’s $20,000/Month Assisted Living Facility

It's being called the "One57 of Assisted Living," and though the location near Billionaires' Row and the exorbitant price points (rooms are expected to start at $20,000 a month, not covered by insurance) back up that claim, the team behind the project describes the building's design as being inspired "by classic Park Avenue apartment houses." The Wall Street Journal brings the first official rendering of the 15-story structure that will rise at the northeast corner of East 56th Street and Lexington Avenue, replacing a T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant to offer assisted-living and memory-care services to wealthy Manhattanites. Designed by SLCE Architects, it will feature private apartments, some of which will have terraces. "This is a place where these people can be reminded of things in their past, potentially by the design of the building and by the location of the building and have a significantly better quality of life," said Thomas DeRosa of co-developer Welltower Inc., clearly referring to nearby Park Avenue dwellers.
Find out more here

New Developments

May 31, 2016

After a Luxurious Gut Renovation, this Beekman Townhouse Asks $14.5M

By Emily Nonko

It's pretty bold for a listing to deem its property "sheer perfection," but that's the case when it comes to 319 East 51st Street, a townhouse in the Beekman enclave of Midtown East. The home was last purchased by the hedge fund executive Timothy Greatorex and his wife Deborah Greatorex for $4.6 million in 2011. After a top-to-bottom, dripping-in-luxury gut renovation, it's back on the market for a cool $14.5 million.
See more of the reno

Distinctive Homes

Richard Meier Flips Favored Palette from Ivory to Ebony for Developer Pal’s Turtle Bay Tower

Photo: Rendering of 685 First Avenue designed by architect Richard Meier for developer Sheldon Solow VIZE/RICHARD MEIER & PARTNERS ARCHITECTS

May 19, 2016

Richard Meier Flips Favored Palette from Ivory to Ebony for Developer Pal’s Turtle Bay Tower

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Meier has long been known for his modestly-scaled building designs with exteriors on the whiter side of pale. But for developer Sheldon Solow's new 42-story 556-unit residential building, currently under construction at East 39th Street and First Avenue on Manhattan's East Side, the New York Five starchitect will be designing a tower of black glass. The developer will be unveiling a residential tower, Meier's tallest and largest in New York City, according to the Wall Street Journal, that will consist of a rectangular slab with a recessed niche above the midsection, "a polished specimen of neo-Modernist simplicty" in typical Meier fashion–except it will be clad in glassy black. The mix seems to perfectly represent a collaboration between old friends and East Hampton near-neighbors Meier and Solow, who has pointed out that "All my buildings are black."
Find out more about the new rental, condo and commercial project

Rafael Viñoly Apologizes for Dissing 432 Park

Image of Rafael Viñoly via Rafael Viñoly Architects Facebook page for Fall 2011/Winter 2012 issue of Pin-Up: Magazine for Architectural Entertainment

May 13, 2016

Rafael Viñoly Apologizes for Dissing 432 Park

Image of Rafael Viñoly via Rafael Viñoly Architects Facebook page for Fall 2011/Winter 2012 issue of Pin-Up: Magazine for Architectural Entertainment On Monday, the architecture world was gobbling up the comments starchitect Rafael Viñoly made about 432 Park Avenue at a Douglas Elliman talk last week. He admitted that the 1,400-foot supertall "has a couple of screw-ups," referring to the interior design and layout, as well as the window framing, which he blamed on developer Harry Macklowe. But it looks like the architect is a bit red in the face, because he penned a lengthy public letter to design blog Dezeen apologizing for his loose lips. "In the context of what we understood to be a private and off-the-record conversation, I expressed frustration, inartfully, about the consequences of my profession's diminished position in the real estate development eco-system. Sometimes I get a little excited and say things that can easily be taken out of context and stripped of their humor. I have to improve," he said.
Read more of his apology letter

Architecture And Design

May 11, 2016

The ‘One57 of Assisted Living’ Will Charge Seniors $20,000 a Month

Luxury isn't exactly the word that comes to mind when one thinks of a T.G.I. Friday's, or an assisted living development for that matter, but the chain restaurant's midtown location will soon yield the "One57 of Assisted Living." Bloomberg reports that Welltower Inc., the country's largest senior-housing owner by market value, teamed up with developer Hines (who is also behind the nearby MoMA Tower) to purchase the site at 56th Street and Lexington Avenue, just a few short blocks from Billionaires' Row and the prestige of Park Avenue, where they'll build a 15-story tower "to accommodate wealthy Manhattanites in need of assisted-living and memory-care services." And wealthy is not an understatement -- monthly rents will start at $20,000, and keep in mind that this isn't covered by insurance.
More details ahead

New Developments

May 9, 2016

Rafael Viñoly Admits 432 Park ‘Has a Couple of Screw-Ups’

432 Park Avenue is the supertall that New Yorkers love to hate. From calling it the "oligarch's erection" to spilling the beans about cracks in its facade, critics of the tallest residential building in the western hemisphere are quick to try to bring the tower down from its 1,400-foot pedestal. And strangely, its very own architect is the latest jump on the bandwagon. The Post reports that Rafael Viñoly admitted at a Douglas Elliman talk last week that his creation "has a couple of screw-ups," namely the window framing, which he blames on developer Harry Macklowe, and the tiny issue of "the interior design and layout." (And The Real Deal has an entire roundup of zingers he delivered during the talk.)
Find out more this way

Architecture And Design

May 7, 2016

Leasing Begins at Neo-Brutalist Rental Tower in Midtown East

Leasing has begun at Midtown East's newest rental building at 235 East 44th Street. Developed by CMSJ Development, the 70,000-square-foot, ground-up building contains 67 units across its 19 floors. For current availabilities, monthly prices start at $3,300 for studios, $4,500 for one-bedrooms, $6,105 for two-bedrooms, and $8,100 for three-bedrooms. Designed by Gerner Kronick + Valcarcel Architects, it's is situated mid-block along a dense urban canyon just two blocks east of Grand Central Terminal and one block west of the United Nations. Its street-facing exterior is finished in GKV's trademark aesthetic of exposed cast-in-place concrete, reminiscent of the Brutalist movement of the 1950s and '60s. The tower's glass walls and concrete floor slabs undulate in opposite directions, softening the raw materials and adding fluidity to the building's form.
Interior apartment details this way

May 4, 2016

432 Park Avenue Reveals Glowing White Cube for Retail Space

While most of the news surrounding Rafael Viñoly's iconic 432 Park Avenue has been about big ticket closings at the Billionaire's Row blockbuster with a $3.1 billion projected sellout, developer Macklowe has revealed more about what the news-making skyscraper's 130,000 square feet of retail and office space, divided over several floors, will look like. Adding an even more attention-getting element to the tower, a portion of the building's retail space will be located in a two-story white glass cube at the corner of East 57th Street and Park Avenue.
Find out more

April 25, 2016

Chetrit to Sell Sony Building, Abandons Plans for Robert A.M. Stern-Designed Condos

In a very unexpected twist, The Real Deal has learned that the Chetrit Group is selling the Sony Building, scrapping its flashy plans to convert the office building's upper floors to luxury condos designed by none other than Robert A.M. Stern. Olayan America, a division of the Saudi conglomerate Olayan Group, is in contract to purchase 550 Madison Avenue, partnering with European and Asian asset manager Chelsfield. According to the Post, they'll pay between $1.4 and $1.5 billion, a profit of at least $300 million for Chetrit. In a statement, Olayan said they'll lease space to "high-quality commercial tenants."
Find out more

New Developments

April 11, 2016

One of Manhattan’s Last Wood Frame Homes Is Up For Rent Asking $13K/Month

By Emily Nonko

There are very few wood frame homes remaining in Manhattan -- with some sprinkled throughout neighborhoods like the Upper East Side and the Village -- but here's one at 312 East 53rd Street, in Turtle Bay. It was constructed in 1866, right before the city prohibited further construction of wooden buildings due to the fire hazard. Since then, this home, and its wood-framed neighbor next door, amazingly still stand. Residents of both homes can be traced all the way back to 1866 -- No. 312 was once occupied by Lincoln Kirstein, who would go on to found the New York City Ballet. Its latest owners are Jessica and Robert Nacheman, a principal at the engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti, who bought it back in 2012 for $2.275 million and put it up for rent.
See more of the interior

April 6, 2016

The Last Day to Dine at the Iconic Four Seasons Is July 16th

Despite its interior landmark status and role as the quintessential Midtown "power lunch" spot, the Four Seasons has been facing an uncertain future for the past year. In May, a small victory was had when the Landmarks Preservation Commission rejected Aby Rosen's plans to re-conceptualize the Philip Johnson-designed space, but it was short-lived, as Crain's now reports that the Four Seasons will close its doors on July 16th after serving New Yorkers since 1959. Rosen did not renew the lease and plans to replace the restaurant with what will be considered a more "hip" eatery. As the Post shares, of-the-moment restauranteurs Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi, and Jeff Zalaznick (of the Major Food Group and trendy restaurants like Parm and Dirty French) signed to take over and partner with Rosen, who will increase the rent to $3 million a year.
The full story here

Food & Dining

March 31, 2016

Demolition Begins for 50-Story Midtown East Skyscraper, New Rendering Released

Just northeast of Grand Central Terminal at 141 East 47th Street, Brooklyn-based New Empire Real Estate (NERE) is moving ahead with plans to build a svelte 49-story condominium tower. New building permits were filed yesterday, an updated rendering has been released, and removal of the site's low-slung structures has commenced. NERE's skyscraper will rise mid-block along the northern blockfront of 47th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues. Up until the still-under-construction hotel rising at 147 East 47th Street, the block was one of the few remaining in Midtown East that had been spared the imposition of a post-war high-rises.
Get the scoop

March 30, 2016

Richard Meier-Designed Tower Finally Begins Construction at Turtle Bay South Complex

Construction has finally begun on the westernmost lot of Sheldon Solow's Turtle Bay South master plan, 16 years after the developer purchased the site. Excavators are picking away at the 30,000-square-foot site at 685 First Avenue that has long held a surface parking lot and is just a small portion of a larger, long-planned development straddling First Avenue between East 35th and 41st Streets. Last August, plans were filed for 685 First, which will be a girthy 42-story residential tower with 555 rental units and 800,000 square feet of gross floor area. The tower is being designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Meier, a surprising choice given the American architect is best known for his modest-scaled projects and white exteriors, while Solow is best known for their monolithic towers sheathed in black glass curtain walls. Nevertheless, when complete, the tower will be Meier's largest ever project in New York and will be just one of four residential towers and a pavilion he is scheduled to design for the billionaire developer.
More details and renderings ahead

March 8, 2016

Renderings Revealed of Turkey’s Shiny, New 32-Story Consulate Tower

Though Perkins Eastman's design of Turkey's forthcoming 32-story consulate tower was inspired by a Turkish crescent (a large, ornate, gilded instrument), the firm took a very streamlined approach to their vision, using swooping curves and geometric patterns to "evoke Islamic themes and Turkish art and culture," as 6sqft previously described. The Turkevi Center will rise along Consulate Row, at 821 United Nations Plaza, the corner of 46th Street and First Avenue. According to a press release first spotted by Curbed, it will "feature prominent loggias along the upper floors of the south and east faces, and be stacked atop a podium wrapped in perforated metal paneling." The project had been on the drawing board for more than three years, but Perkins Eastman have now received the green light to move ahead with the building that will house new consulate offices, passport and visa branch offices, conference rooms, a multi-purpose prayer room, fitness center, auditorium, underground parking, and residential space for staff and visitors.
Additional details and renderings ahead

March 4, 2016

Why Micro-Apartments in Carmel Place Are So Expensive

We’ve been hearing a lot recently about the city’s new micro-apartments. As 6sqft has reported, NYC’s first micro-apartment complex Carmel Place (formerly My Micro NY) at 335 East 27th Street began leasing at the end of last year. The nine-story modular development in Kips Bay has 55 studios that are 260 to 360 square feet. Of these, 22 are affordable and they’ll go from $950 to $1,500 a month. Market-rate units on the other end range from $2,540 to $2,910. According to CityRealty, the average rental price per square foot for New York City apartments overall is $51, while Carmel Place units ring in at $98 per square foot. The idea of micro-housing was presented, in part, to address the need for more affordable apartments. So why is it that the result is what a recent New Yorker article calls “micro-luxury" housing?
Small Is Beautiful–but Not Affordable

March 2, 2016

Six Architects Reimagine the MetLife Building As an Eco-Friendly Tower of the Future

Earlier this week, the six finalists in the "Reimagine a New York City Icon" competition were announced (h/t NY Yimby). The competition to reimagine the MetLife Building, sponsored by Metals in Construction magazine and the Ornamental Metal Institute of New York, isn’t part of any real-life plans for the iconic Midtown tower, but when great minds get to this kind of imagining, great ideas are born. Architects and engineers were asked to "reimagine 200 Park Avenue with a resource-conserving, eco-friendly enclosure—one that creates a highly efficient envelope with the lightness and transparency sought by today’s office workforce—while preserving and enhancing the aesthetic of the building’s heritage." Designed by Emery Roth & Sons, Pietro Belluschi, and Walter Gropius, the 59-story MetLife Building, located to the north of Grand Central Terminal, opened in 1963 as the Pan Am Building. MetLife bought the building in 1981, and though they sold it in 2005, the architectural icon keeps their name. Below are the finalists' descriptions and renderings for the tower's eco-friendly future.
See what the finalists came up with

February 3, 2016

For $23 Million You Can Be Donald Trump’s Downstairs Neighbor