Midtown East

This palatial Beekman Place mansion, designed by Eldridge Snyder, has served as a domicile to the head of CBS and to the shah of Iran's twin sister. The majestic home stands eight levels tall, with eight to ten bedrooms covering 10,500 square feet. Unfortunately, the home has had a visit from the price chopper, falling from an initial asking of $49.9 million in February 2014 to a current asking of a much lower $37.5 million.
More pics inside

Photo via Le Travelist

April 29, 2015

The Four Seasons: An Iconic Interior Landmark Faces an Uncertain Future

As you probably already know, 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the NYC landmarks law. And one of the ways the city is marking the historic event is with an exhibit at the New York School of Interior Design called Rescued, Restored, Reimagined: New York’s Landmark Interiors, which focuses on some of the 117 public spaces throughout the five boroughs that have been designated interior landmarks. In conjunction with this exhibit, Open House New York recently hosted an interior landmark scavenger hunt (for which 6sqft took eighth place out of 40 teams!), which brought participants to designated interior spaces in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn over the course of seven hours. One of the spots we visited was the Four Seasons restaurant inside the famed Seagram Building. Through our scavenger hunt challenges here, we learned just how groundbreaking this restaurant was for its innovative design and role as the quintessential Midtown "power lunch" spot. But the Four Seasons, despite its landmark status, is facing an uncertain future.
Learn about the past, present, and future of the Four Seasons here

St. Patrick’s Cathedral Reveals $177M Restoration, Now What?

The restored façade of St. Patrick’s Cathedral © 6sqft

April 21, 2015

St. Patrick’s Cathedral Reveals $177M Restoration, Now What?

By Penelope Bareau

"Is that St. Patrick's Cathedral?" asked the passerby. "Yes. It's just been cleaned." "So that's why I didn't recognize it. I was looking for something gray." To the pleasure of all, St. Pat's has emerged from its cocoon and it is brilliant to behold. Scaffolding is still up inside the cathedral, sharing the space with worshippers; and work may go on through the rest of this year. It is an enormous building, after all, occuping a full city block between 50th and 51st Street, and Fifth and Madison Avenues. On the outside the building was always impressive; now it is magnificent. It makes one think of the panoply and power of the Church, stately processions, gorgeous robes, bejeweled crosses and cardinals' rings, incantations of the priests and congregation extolling the glory of God. It also makes one think of the cost—$177 million—and wonder how far that money would go to aid the poor and feed the hungry of the earth, traditional missions of Christianity. Not very far, maybe, since world hunger is not assuaged by one meal. But to be a glittering promise of sublime afterlife for millions—that is conceivably worth it.
What's next for St. Patrick's?

Uncategorized

April 16, 2015

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

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 12, 2015

Construction Update: SOM’s 252 East 57th Street Getting Its Glass Skin

With foundation work complete, the World Wide Group / Rose Associates' tower at 252 East 57th Street is rapidly making its climb into the Midtown East skyline. The 57-story development composed of 93 condos and 173 rentals is designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), with SLCE serving as the architects of record. Despite the tower's location along the eastern fringe of cloud-busting billionaire's row, the 715-foot building won't be competing for any height records–for instance, 111 West 57th Street is double its height at 1,428 feet. Instead, the tower is shaping up to be more of a typical Midtown East affair, falling in line with its Second Avenue context by providing a broad 80-foot-high base along the avenue and a sheer 50-story rectangular slab rising above. Recent residential towers along Second Avenue such as The Milan, The Veneto, and The Three Ten share 252's massing, which planners prescribed to conform new skyscrapers to the rows of existing walk-up buildings.
More details on the project here

April 9, 2015

Beekman Residence with Elegant Sunken Living Room Asks $1.8M

Here’s an elegant prewar co-op at 434 East 52nd Street asking $1.749 million. The two-bedroom Beekman residence features northern and southern exposures and a stunning sunken living room. It would be interesting to see what the space would look like with less busy furniture and fewer pictures overshadowing the rich detail, but even with the distracting decor, you can see that this is a great place for a full-time residence or pied-a-terre.
More pics inside

Distinctive Homes

REVEALED: 900-Foot Norman Foster-Designed Condo Tower Coming to Sutton Place

Rendering of the new tower (L); The four-building assemblage at 426-432 East 58th Street (R)

April 7, 2015

REVEALED: 900-Foot Norman Foster-Designed Condo Tower Coming to Sutton Place

First spotted by the eagle-eyes at SkyscraperPage, a New York Press article has given us our first look at a potential 900-foot skyscraper reportedly designed by Foster + Partners and developed by the Bauhouse Group. The New York City-based real estate development and investment firm had recently closed on the three-building $32 million rental portfolio in tony Sutton Place at 428-432 East 58th Street. In March, the firm acquired a fourth property at 426 East 58th Street. According to the New York Press story, "A sales brochure put together by Cushman and Wakefield dubs the project as the 'Sutton Place Development'... there are indications that Bauhouse is looking to offload the site to another developer, and that whoever winds up buying the lot could build even higher than 900 feet." Bauhouse is expected to release further details and renderings to the community this spring.
More details ahead

Landmarked Religious Institutions in Midtown East Look to Change Air Rights Rules

St. Patrick’s Cathedral, via Wiki Commons

April 6, 2015

Landmarked Religious Institutions in Midtown East Look to Change Air Rights Rules

With declining memberships, it has become a common issue among New York City religious institutions that they're land-rich but cash-poor. To solve the problem, religious leaders are turning to the sale of air rights, allowing developers to build on unused land or above the existing structure or altogether transferring the rights to an adjacent property. It's the latter trend that's become the center of debate with St. Patrick's Cathedral, along with other landmarked institutions, as they're looking to change the air rights rules to allow transfers to properties that are not directly adjacent. The Wall Street Journal takes a close look at this trend and a city plan that would allow East Midtown landmarks to sell their air rights to sites that are several blocks away.
More details ahead

Image: One Vanderbilt via SL Green/KPF

March 4, 2015

A Massive Modern Tower Could Sprout Next Door to Controversial One Vanderbilt

By Diane Pham

Foes of One Vanderbilt could soon find themselves with choice words for a new supertall enemy on the rise in the Midtown corridor. The Post reports that developer Howard Milstein is now looking to design and develop a brand new tower at 335 Madison Avenue. Millstein’s move takes advantage of the new Vanderbilt corridor zoning that would […]

New Developments

March 2, 2015

Record $150M Sony Building Penthouse Will Also Be the City’s Biggest

By Annie Doge

Those who found themselves gobsmacked when news broke that the Sony building’s penthouse would be priced at $150 million, look out, here’s another jaw-dropping fact headed your way. TRD has reported that not only will the unit be the priciest in history if sold, but when complete, it will also hold the title of the city’s largest. At […]

Distinctive Homes

February 27, 2015

Elegant Throwback Penthouse in Sutton Place Returns for $5.1M

Who needs a shiny new development when you can have a penthouse in the highly sought-after Sutton Place neighborhood that has brag-worthy qualities like soaring coffered ceilings, a solarium, and terraces on all four sides. But for some reason, it just can’t seem to sell. The apartment at 345 East 57th Street first appeared on the market a year ago, asking $6.5 million. Then it was briefly taken off the market in December after a price cut to $5.9 million. Now it’s back, hoping the third time is a charm, and that an avid fan of Edith Wharton novels drops in with $5.1 million in her pocket.
More pics inside

Distinctive Homes

February 20, 2015

Troubled Plaza Penthouse Returns with the Same $59M Asking Price

This troubled triplex penthouse at The Plaza just can’t seem to catch a break. It’s been a steady fall from grace ever since 2008, when an unhappy buyer who bought the $53.5 million place sight unseen sued for his $10.7 million deposit plus damages, claiming the home was misrepresented. Well, London-based developer Christian Candy purchased the pad for a comparatively dirt cheap $25.4 million in 2012 and tried to sell it for $59 million a couple of times in 2013. Now the plagued penthouse is back at the same $59 million asking. There’s something to be said for consistency. Let’s just hope the stars align this time and this “townhouse in the sky” finds an owner.
More pics inside

Distinctive Homes

February 20, 2015

One Vanderbilt May Offer Sky-High Observation Deck

When we talk about One Vanderbilt we typically focus on the base of the building–how it relates to its neighbor Grand Central and how it interacts with the planned public plaza in Vanderbilt Corridor. But at a presentation last night about the project, hosted by Open House New York and put on by Jamie van Klemperer, […]

New Waldorf Astoria Owners Will Add Luxury Condos to the Iconic Hotel

image via KerSaber

February 20, 2015

New Waldorf Astoria Owners Will Add Luxury Condos to the Iconic Hotel

Back in October, it was revealed that Hilton Worldwide Holdings, who owned the landmark Waldorf Astoria since 1972, had agreed to sell the 1,232-room hotel to the Anbang Insurance Group Co., a financial and insurance company based in Beijing, for $1.95 billion. The deal closed just last week, and now the new owners are planning to convert part of the Art Deco building into luxury condominiums. According to The Real Deal, Anbang’s chairman Wu Xiaohui recently said: "We plan to renovate the two towers into luxury residential apartments with world-class amenities and finishes to reflect its culture and social status."
More details

February 18, 2015

Sony Building Penthouse Will Ask a Record-Breaking $150M

There's a new priciest listing record in town, and it goes to the $150 million triplex penthouse at the Chetrit Group's Sony Building condo conversion, according to The Real Deal. The 21,504-square-foot unit will occupy floors 33 through 35 of the 37-story tower at 550 Madison Avenue and have a private elevator, eight bedrooms, eight bathrooms, and ten powder rooms. If it gets what it's asking for, it will break the record for the current highest condo sale, the $100 million penthouse that sold at One57 last month.
Check out the impressive Sony Tower floorplans here

February 5, 2015

Grand Central Owner Enlists Harvard Professor to Stop 1 Vanderbilt and ‘Unconstitutional’ Seizing of His Rights

By Diane Pham

Discord around the construction of One Vanderbilt continues to grow, and the latest contender to enter the ring is Harvard Law professor, "liberal constitutional scholar" and President Barack Obama's former educator, Laurence H. Tribe. Grand Central owner Andrew Penson has tapped the big-time lawyer to battle the city in his fight against the 1,514-foot supertall, according to The New York Times. Yesterday, with Tribe in tow, Penson went head-to-head—yet again—with the tower's developer SL Green at the City Planning Commission hearing. The meeting got as heated as one would expect, and "unconstitutional" and "ridiculous" were just a couple of the words thrown around.
Find out more here

Real Estate Trends

January 30, 2015

Gale Brewer Shows Support for One Vanderbilt, Negotiates Even More Public Improvements

By Diane Pham

Gale Brewer is no shrinking violet when it comes to city planning, and having her on your side is never a bad thing. The borough president of Manhattan has just come out as a full-fledged supporter of not only Midtown East's rezoning, but more notably, One Vanderbilt, the controversial 1,514-foot supertall slated to pop up right next door to Grand Central. Curbed reports that Brewer coupled her approval with an announcement that her office negotiated a slew of additional community benefits from developer SL Green—the developer that has already put up $210 million for the improvement of Grand Central’s subway station.
More on what's included in the plan

New Developments

January 16, 2015

$2M Tudor City Place Penthouse Will Get More Than Your Spidey Sense Tingling

By Stephanie Hoina

If you missed the opportunity in 2013 to snap up this one-of-a-kind Midtown East penthouse that played home to Spiderman’s green nemesis, you’re in luck. Back on the market for a cool $2 million–$400,000 more than when it was last listed–this duplex residence at Windsor Tower features dramatic proportions, which made it the perfect pad for Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin in the popular movie.
Learn more about this one-of-a-kind home

Distinctive Homes

January 13, 2015

Chetrit Group Plans $1.8B Sellout for 96 Condos in the Sony Tower

Back in June, we learned that the Chetrit Group was planning to partially convert the Philip Johnson-designed Sony Tower at 550 Madison Avenue to high-end condos. And it has now been revealed that the 96 condo units will amount to a jaw-dropping $1.8 billion sellout, according to plans the developer filed with the Attorney General's office. By comparison, the initial total sellout at One57 was $2 billion, and at 432 Park Avenue it was $2.4 billion.
More on the luxury conversion

January 12, 2015

EVENT: Is the Vanderbilt Corridor the Future of East Midtown?

The proposed East Midtown Rezoning has been a hotly debated issue over the past few years. First introduced by Mayor Bloomberg, and backed by Mayor de Blasio, the rezoning would allow developers to build larger and taller than the current Grand Central Terminal district zoning allows in exchange for financial contributions to the area's infrastructure needs. The Department of City Planning feels the rezoning would ensure that the area maintains its spot as a global business center, but others think it would forever ruin the historic nature of the neighborhood. One of the most major components of the project is One Vanderbilt, a 68-story, 1,514-foot zigzag tower that will stand adjacent to Grand Central. Along with the building comes a reconfiguration of the Vanderbilt Corridor, the streetscape around the Terminal. A panel discussion at the Museum of the City of New York on January 20th will examine both the tower and the corridor and what they mean for Midtown East.
More about the event here

January 2, 2015

Daphne Oz, Co-Host of ‘The Chew,’ Buys $1.6M Midtown East Apartment

By Annie Doge

Daphne Oz, daughter of the well-known Dr. Oz and co-host of the talk show "The Chew," has bought a $1,625,000 Midtown East apartment along with her husband John Jovanovic, according to city records. The three-bedroom unit at 140 East 40th Street offers plenty of space for the growing family, as the couple welcomed their first child last February. It's also much closer than the couple's previous New Jersey residence to the ABC Studio in Lincoln Center where "The Chew" is filmed.
Take a look around the Oz pad here

December 17, 2014

1100 Architect Transforms a Boring Midtown Loft into Their Client’s Pop Art Dream Home

By Rebecca Paul

This home, which was previously your average-fair Midtown penthouse, was transformed by 1100 Architect to represent the playful and vibrant Pop art sensibility of the artists their clients admire most. With an art collection boasting names like Warhol, Riley, Lichtenstein and others, this penthouse renovation could be a mini-MoMA. The interior furnishings reflect the Pop style's infamous geometric forms and hard-polished surfaces like marble agglomerate floors, lacquer, stainless steel, glass, and plastic.
Tour this bright pad here

On Sale Now: An Unofficial Black Friday Bargain Hunt!

135 West 70th Street Penthouse BC; Listing photo Douglas Elliman.

November 28, 2014

On Sale Now: An Unofficial Black Friday Bargain Hunt!

By Michelle Cohen

Late November can be an anxious time for both buyers and sellers; unpleasant weather, family events and just plain seasonal shutdown mode can reduce the traffic at open houses to a trickle and get properties pulled off the market until after New Year’s Day or even springtime. Sellers may panic and prices get cut in the hopes of getting the deal done before year’s end; it’s a good time for intrepid buyers to stay in the game, though, because the competition factor is at a minimum. After reading about Leo DiCaprio who, like Macy’s, Wal-Mart and Kohl’s, jumped the gun on the traditional discount day by price-chopping his haute-holistic Delos Living penthouse, we rounded up some stellar dwellings that received significant markdowns just in time for the popular post-Thanksgiving Day shop-a-thon. So if you’re on the hunt–or you’ve got a two-bed-two-bath-with-killer-views-sized stocking to fill–check out our list of sale merch of the real estate persuasion that–we hope–won't require you to queue up at the crack of dawn.
10 more discounted deals that are better than lords a-leaping

November 17, 2014

One Vanderbilt: New Images of Midtown East’s Zigzag Supertower

Recently at the Municipal Art Society's 2014 Summit for NYC, James von Klemperer, FAIA , a principal at Kohn Pederson Fox & Associates, briefed the audience with new details on the architecture firm's upcoming supertall project known as One Vanderbilt. In case you haven't been paying attention, the 68-story, 1,514-foot zigzag building is expected to become the tallest office tower in Midtown and third tallest in the city behind One World Trade Center (1,776 feet to spire tip) and Extell's Nordstrom Tower (1,775 feet to spire tip).
Check out all the new images of the supertall tower here

November 13, 2014

118 East 59th Street: Boutique Skyscraper To Rise in Hybrid Area Between Midtown and the UES

An exclusive condo tower is set to rise within the quickly changing area where Midtown East's commercial bustle tempers down into the elegant residential blocks of the Upper East Side. Located at 118 East 59th Street near Park Avenue, the unassuming site is being developed by Hong Kong-based Euro Properties, their first foray into the Manhattan market. The mid-block tower will soar 38 stories yet contain only 29 units–another example of the city’s new and somewhat oxymoronic building type, the boutique skyscraper, which typically contains fewer units than a standard six-story co-op building, and even fewer inhabitants. This 59th Street project will join the ranks of 432 Park Avenue (1,398 feet/104 units), 520 Park Avenue ( 781 feet/31 units), and 125 Greenwich Street (1,375 feet/128 units) as buildings with the greatest height-to-unit-count disparity.
More on the tower here

November 12, 2014

Lavish Former Home of Socialite Marietta Tree Asks $10 Million