Manhattan

The hilly terrain of the Upper West Side's Riverside park is becoming overgrown with invasive plant species, poison ivy included; but the green hordes will be no match for 24 goats that the park plans to unleash on the hard-to-reach patches human gardeners have had a hard time taming. The goats are being brought out of a cushy retirement upstate to graze on a fenced-in area between 119th and 125th Streets, I Love the Upper West Side blog reports.
'Goatham' returns, this way

City Living

Proposal to rezone strip of Central Park North includes 33-story mixed-use building

View of the proposed new tower, looking north from 5th Avenue and 108th Street

May 6, 2019

Proposal to rezone strip of Central Park North includes 33-story mixed-use building

A church has filed an application with New York City to rezone a strip of Central Park North in order to make way for a new mixed-use tower. La Hermosa Christian Church is seeking zoning changes to all or part of at least five lots along West 110th Street, as first reported by YIMBY. A 188-page environmental assessment statement prepared for the Department of City Planning this week details the development of a 33-story mixed-use tower with 160 units, of which roughly 48 would be affordable.
See the plan

May 6, 2019

Robert Indiana’s famous ‘LOVE’ sculptures arrive along the High Line

By Dana Schulz

This past fall, the Kasmin Gallery opened a 5,000-square-foot space + rooftop sculpture garden next to Zaha Hadid's futuristic condo 520 West 28th Street. And to kick off the summer season, the High Line-adjacent space has just announced a new sculpture garden show--a trio of works from Robert Indiana's famous "Love" series. The pieces showcase the word in English (Love), Spanish (Amor), and Hebrew (Ahava), which, according to a press release "represent three of New York’s most historic and influential dialects, celebrating immigration and lingual diversity in one of the most visited public art spaces in the city."
READ MORE

Events & Things To Do

Preservationist groups call out lack of transparency in Union Square tech hub development

Rendering via NYCEDC

May 6, 2019

Preservationist groups call out lack of transparency in Union Square tech hub development

The city’s plans to create a tech hub at 124 East 14th Street near Union Square have been embroiled in a preservation battle since they were first announced. Community organizations like the Cooper Square Committee and Village Preservation have advocated for the past year that any rezoning should come with protections for the adjacent neighborhood, which is largely residential. As the Daily News reported, Village Preservation recently criticized the city for its lack of transparency in the development process, while claiming that it gave out a “sweetheart deal” based on political alliances and campaign donations.
Get the scoop

Proposed project from Vornado and Rudin calls for 1,450-foot tower in Midtown East

Via Vornado Realty Trust and Rudin Management Company

May 6, 2019

Proposed project from Vornado and Rudin calls for 1,450-foot tower in Midtown East

A tentative joint venture between two developers could bring another supertall to Midtown East. Vornado Realty Trust and Rudin Management Company may team up to develop a 1,450-foot office tower at 350 Park Avenue, the Real Deal reported Friday. A leaked brochure for the potential project includes renderings of the proposed tower, revealing a glassy building with a series of setbacks that would allow for outdoor terraces and floorplates of various sizes.
See it here

Real Estate Trends

Life science campus to open at former West Harlem bakery site, adding to the Factory District’s revival

Rendering courtesy of The Janus Property Group.

May 3, 2019

Life science campus to open at former West Harlem bakery site, adding to the Factory District’s revival

From the mid-19th to early 20th century, an area in West Harlem known as Manhattanville was a bustling industrial village dotted with factories and breweries. Now the area is transforming from a unique former factory district into a home for a growing roster of commercial businesses, nonprofits, and students and researchers from Columbia University and CUNY’s City College. Leading the way on developing this evolving neighborhood is Janus Property Group. The company announced that its 11-story Taystee Lab building will break ground next week, bringing the city’s first major life science campus to the site of a former bread bakery.
More uptown excitement, this way

New Developments

Interview: How tequila entrepreneur Joe Cruz Jr. remains true to his Harlem roots

Joe Cruz Jr. (right) at the Jalisco distillery

May 3, 2019

Interview: How tequila entrepreneur Joe Cruz Jr. remains true to his Harlem roots

By Dana Schulz

With Cinco de Mayo on Sunday, New Yorkers most certainly have margaritas on the brain. And while we may typically associate tequila with Mexico, a new label here in NYC is bridging the divide between our southern neighbor and local entrepreneurship. Joe Cruz Jr. grew up in Harlem, spending much of his younger years hanging out in the Bronx. After working in the beverage industry for many years, he decided to take a mere $25,000 and create his own "ultra-smooth" tequila right from Harlem. And so in late 2017, YaVe Tequila was born. Not only has the company garnered culinary headlines (it produces the first-ever mango-flavored tequila), but it's caught the attention of local stakeholders thanks to Joe's commitment to working with his neighborhood.
Read on for our interview with Joe

City Living

Rendering via MVVA and the Hudson Yards Development Corporation

May 3, 2019

Arts center near Hudson Yards faces demolition from city to make way for new park

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

To make room for New York City's most expensive park project ever, a handful of properties near the Hudson Yards site face demolition. One of those buildings is Affirmation Arts, a gallery on West 37th run by William Hillman. According to THE CITY, Hillman said he is willing to give his building to the city for free, on the condition it remains a cultural center. "I would like to give this building to the people of New York City to share with the world," Hillman said during a hearing Tuesday.
More here

Uncategorized

Go inside 7 landmarked houses in Greenwich Village this weekend

Image of a past house tour courtesy of Village Preservation

May 2, 2019

Go inside 7 landmarked houses in Greenwich Village this weekend

This Sunday, Village Preservation will hold its 21st annual Spring Benefit House Tour. As this year also marks the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District, all the homes and the reception site are landmarked structures located within the district. The tour is the main annual fundraiser for Village Preservation, allowing us to conduct hundreds of educational programs throughout the year and work to protect the irreplaceable history and architecture of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and Noho. The addresses of the homes are kept secret to all but ticket buyers, and until the tour. But we can offer a sneak peek at some of the amazing historic homes you will be able to see on the tour--from the current home of Linda Ellerbee and the former residence of Marlon Brando to a one-time speakeasy and a sleek, modern renovation.
What you can expect on this year's tour

Events & Things To Do

May 2, 2019

Members-only rooftop pool to open at the American Copper Buildings, with fees starting at $1,600

Just in time for summer, a members-only pool is opening atop one of Manhattan's most recognizable buildings. Starting Memorial Day Weekend, the Sentry Club at the American Copper Buildings in Murray Hill will offer guests a private rooftop with poolside cabana service, event space for parties, and classes focused on wellness. But it will cost you: memberships start at $1,600 for the entire summer and go up to $3,200 for the season. The pool will be open starting Thursday, May 23 through Labor Day.
Dive in

Uncategorized

May 2, 2019

Loft in Soho’s first building designated to low-income artists is now asking $3M

In 1978, a ragtag band of artist residents of Soho's 45 Crosby Street won what the New York Times called "an impressive victory." The city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development had granted the former industrial building's title to its residents in exchange for merely the "sweat equity" of getting it up to code (estimated cost: $164,000), making it the city's first loft building exclusively set aside for low-income artists. Now, a 2,100-square-foot loft co-op in the building, which has been home to artists ever since, is asking $3 million.
Times change, the loft remains a classic

Distinctive Homes

Manhattan intersection is permanently renamed to honor 50th anniversary of ‘Sesame Street’

Image credit: Paige Polk/Mayoral Photography Office

May 2, 2019

Manhattan intersection is permanently renamed to honor 50th anniversary of ‘Sesame Street’

The city has officially renamed the intersection of West 63rd Street and Broadway in Manhattan "Sesame Street," to honor the beloved educational program's 50th anniversary. As part of a year-long celebration, Mayor Bill de Blasio was joined by Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Oscar, Elmo and other members of the "Sesame" crew at a renaming ceremony at the bustling West Side corner–the location of the Sesame Workshop offices. "We’re here because we believe in what Sesame Street means today and what it’s meant for half-a-century, what it’s done for our children."
de Blasio and Big Bird: separated at birth?

City Living

$3.5M East Village carriage house boasts a private courtyard and an expansive roof terrace

Listing images by Evan Joseph

May 2, 2019

$3.5M East Village carriage house boasts a private courtyard and an expansive roof terrace

Here’s a rare opportunity to live in a freestanding home right in the heart of the East Village with this carriage house at 217 East 5th Street. The one-bedroom residence spans over four levels and includes three outdoor spaces that are ready for all your entertaining needs. Fresh off an extensive renovation—the top three levels were stripped to the studs and entirely rebuilt—the rare property seeks $3.49 million.
Get the full tour

Distinctive Homes

First hearing for Tin Pan Alley’s possible landmark designation draws debate

Via LPC

May 1, 2019

First hearing for Tin Pan Alley’s possible landmark designation draws debate

The Landmarks Preservation Committee heard mixed testimonies yesterday during a public hearing over the designation of five buildings on West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues known as Tin Pan Alley. The buildings in question—ranging from 47-55 West 28th Street—are notable for the significant concentration of sheet music publishers they housed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As music publishers continued to flock to the block, the nickname “Tin Pan Alley” was coined in 1903 to describe the sound of piano music that could be heard from every corner. Though most everyone in attendance agreed on the historical significance of these buildings, some pointed to the racist tunes that were also written there as a reason to block the landmark designation—with even the buildings’ owner, controversial developer Yair Levy, arguing against it.
More info

New glamping experience on Governors Island offers boat rides, seafood dinners, yoga and more

Image courtesy of Collective Retreats.

May 1, 2019

New glamping experience on Governors Island offers boat rides, seafood dinners, yoga and more

A new option for summer fun without leaving the city begins today: Urban camping on Governors Island kicks off its summer season, courtesy of Collective Governors Island. The activity-packed retreat experience includes private boats, new menus, kids' activities, wellness programs and more, plus a chance to sleep under the stars with stunning views of the Statue of Liberty and New York skyline while enjoying plush beds with 1,500 thread count sheets, private en-suite bathrooms and decks, electricity and wi-fi.
Find out more

Getting Away

City can open a homeless shelter on Billionaires’ Row, judge rules

Via Wikimedia

April 30, 2019

City can open a homeless shelter on Billionaires’ Row, judge rules

A judge on Monday approved the city's plan to open a homeless shelter near Manhattan's Billionaires' Row neighborhood. Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Alexander Tisch dismissed the lawsuit from the West 58th Street Coalition, a group of residents who claimed the shelter would have "an enormous impact on our densely populated, narrow, high-pedestrian-traffic street." The ruling comes more than a year after Mayor Bill de Blasio first announced plans to open a shelter for 140 single men at the converted Park Savoy hotel, located next to One57, a supertall with a penthouse that sold for $100 million in 2015.
Find out more

April 30, 2019

Grand Central Terminal’s departure boards are going digital

Grand Central got a questionable makeover yesterday when one half of the retro Departures board was switched to digital displays. The controversial upgrade has been in the works since March and is part of Metro-North’s Way Ahead initiative which will replace the station’s gate boards, digital track indicators, departure monitors and platform displays with a new, modern system that promises brighter, easier-to-read, and more accurate displays that can help curb congestion in the busy terminal.
More info

Transit

April 30, 2019

See more renderings of historic Times Square Theater’s $100M overhaul

In October 2017, Stillman Development International signed a 73-year lease on the Times Square Theater, with plans to overhaul the historic venue, which has been closed for the last 30 years, with a $100 million renovation. Headed by Beyer Blinder Belle, the project includes lifting the limestone facade of the theater five feet, restoring original design elements, and adding 52,000 square feet of retail. With the plaster removal process officially underway, more renderings have been released that show off the large terraces, an outdoor rooftop restaurant, and two-story glass box that will cantilever over 42nd Street.
More here

Architecture And Design

Historic Village icon White Horse Tavern is now closed for renovation under new ownership

Photo by Eden, Janine and Jim via Flickr.

April 30, 2019

Historic Village icon White Horse Tavern is now closed for renovation under new ownership

As 6sqft reported earlier this year, the building that is home to White Horse Tavern, the 140-year-old West Village bar famous for its notable literary and artist clientele, was recently purchased by Steve Croman, a notorious landlord who served prison time for tenant harassment. The tavern, which opened on Hudson Street in 1880, is also under new management; the historic bar will be run by restauranteur Eytan Sugarman, who, as Gothamist reports, was behind Midtown's Hunt and Fish Club. The latest development raises new fears: The bar has been closed, according to a sign posted on the door, for "much needed repairs and upgrades." Readers are assured, "Have no fear, we have no intention of changing any of the historical elements that make the White Horse Tavern the landmark that it is."
Find out more

April 29, 2019

New ‘Then and Now’ map shows over 2,200 historic buildings in Greenwich Village

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the landmark designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District on April 29, 1969, Village Preservation has released an online map and tour of the district. The online tour shows each and every one of the over 2,200 buildings in the district as they looked in 1969 and today.
Find buildings on the interactive historic district map and more

History

Rockefeller Center office tower will be converted into Airbnb rentals

75 Rockefeller Plaza via Google Street View

April 29, 2019

Rockefeller Center office tower will be converted into Airbnb rentals

Ten floors of an office tower in Rockefeller Center will be converted into short-term rentals, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. RXR Realty, which has leased the tower at 75 Rockefeller Plaza since 2012, has partnered with Airbnb to transform a portion of the 87-year-old building into roughly 200 units of high-end lodging. In a press release, RXR CEO Scott Rechler described the new venture as a "travel experience that immerses guests in a dynamic, thriving community in the heart of Rockefeller Center that's vastly different than anything else in the market today."
Get the scoop

New 125th Street project will bring 300 affordable apartments to East Harlem

Rendering courtesy of S9 Architecture

April 26, 2019

New 125th Street project will bring 300 affordable apartments to East Harlem

Long in the works as part of the larger East 125th Street Development project, One East Harlem officially broke ground yesterday. Located at 201 East 125th Street, the 19-story building designed by S9 Architecture will rise on the corner of 125th Street and Third Avenue, bringing over 400 mixed-income apartments, nearly 300 of which will be affordable, 65,000 square feet of commercial space, 5,000 square feet of cultural facilities, and 10,000 square feet of public open space to the neighborhood. Developed by a consortium—Richman Group Development, Bridges Development Group, and Monadnock Development—One East Harlem is slated for completion in 2021.
More info

The Lower East Side’s forgotten Lung Block: The Italian community lost to ‘slum clearance’

“A Group of ‘Lung Block’ Children,” from Ernest Poole, The Plague in Its Stronghold, Tuberculosis in the New York Tenement, 1903. Courtesy of the Department of Records

April 25, 2019

The Lower East Side’s forgotten Lung Block: The Italian community lost to ‘slum clearance’

By Lucie Levine

In 1933, a new development rose on the Lower East Side. It was Knickerbocker Village, the first federally-funded apartment complex in the United States, and one of the first developments that would later fall under the umbrella of the city’s “Slum Clearance” program. The “slum” that Knickerbocker Village replaced wasn’t just any rundown collection of buildings – it was the notorious “Lung Block” between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, bounded by Cherry, Monroe, Market and Catherine Streets, which in 1903, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ernest Poole named the most congested and disease-ridden place in the city, or, perhaps, the world. But was it? “The Lung Block: A New York City Slum and its forgotten Italian Immigrant Community,” a new exhibit opening April 25th at the NYC Department of Records curated by researchers Stefano Morello and Kerri Culhane, will revisit the neighborhood and the immigrant community that called it home. With maps, journals, photos and other artifacts, the exhibit will consider the connections between health and housing, affordability and gentrification, public health and progressive reform, and architecture and the immigrant experience.
Learn more about this community

Image: Wikimedia cc.

April 25, 2019

Macy’s may build a skyscraper above its flagship Herald Square store

Classic retailer Macy’s Inc. is in early talks with the city about the possibility of building an 800-foot-tall office tower above the company’s Herald Square flagship location, Bloomberg reports. The retail brand, which has a 10-story office tower under construction atop its downtown Brooklyn store, is looking at ways to leverage its prime real estate in the bustling midtown crossroads. In this case, the tower would be used as office space for other companies.
Find out more

Uncategorized

April 25, 2019

Soho loft with a 40-foot rooftop lap pool can be yours for $75,000 a month

You wouldn't need to worry about where to get away this summer if you lived in this ultra-luxurious Soho penthouse, which comes with a stunning 40-foot lap pool and two landscaped roof terraces. Part of an overall building renovation by COOKFOX, this glamorous six-bedroom, 6,900-square-foot unit at 62 Wooster Street comes with all the best modern amenities—and a price tag to match! The residence is currently available to rent for $75,000 a month.
Get the full tour

Distinctive Homes

April 24, 2019

Built in 1842, this $9.8M Gramercy mansion is one of the neighborhood’s oldest homes

Located within the Gramercy Park Historic District, this classic four-story Greek Revival-style townhouse at 216 East 18th Street, asking $9.75 million, was one of the first in the district to be built. It was constructed–along with its neighbor at 214 East 18th Street–in 1842 for wealthy businessman, civic leader and Native American rights activist William E. Dodge. The townhouse is a rare 25 feet wide; within are 5,000 square feet of living space that includes 15 rooms and seven fireplaces with original mantles intact. Also intact is a stunning combination of plaster molding, high ceilings and tall windows.
Take the tour

New Essex Market officially opens on the Lower East Side next month

Rendering by SHoP Architects via NYCEDC

April 24, 2019

New Essex Market officially opens on the Lower East Side next month