Manhattan

March 7, 2018

Inwood Library project will have 175 affordable apartments and a new Pre-K

The former site of the Inwood Library is undergoing a major upgrade, with the city announcing a shiny new development that will hold the branch, 175 units of deeply affordable apartments, and a brand new pre-k facility. The decision to tear down the old library building is the result of months of community engagement and neighborhood planning exercises through the city's Inwood Affordable Housing and Library Planning Process.
See interior renderings
March 7, 2018

Hudson Yards arts center The Shed announces first commissions and reveals interior renderings

The Shed, New York City’s first arts center dedicated to commissioning, producing, and presenting new work across the performing arts, visual arts, and popular culture, has unveiled the first seven commissions for its 2019 inaugural season. The Shed will open to the public at its home on Manhattan's west side in spring 2019 with an expansive multi-use hall, two floors of column-free galleries, and an intimate theater that lends itself to a wide variety of performance. Also, The Shed’s largest and most iconic space has been newly named The McCourt in recognition of a $45 million gift by Frank McCourt, Jr. and his family. The new space, formed when The Shed’s movable shell is extended over the building’s adjoining plaza, will be able to accommodate large-scale performances, installations, and events.
Find out who's heading to The Shed
March 6, 2018

Bjarke Ingels reveals new rendering for West Chelsea hotel/condo project, The Eleventh

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has released new design details and a teaser site for its first New York condominium and hotel project at 76 Eleventh Avenue near the High Line in West Chelsea (h/t Designboom). Known as "The Eleventh," or as it's being written now, The XI, the project is comprised of a pair of twisting asymmetrical bronze and travertine towers joined by a skybridge. The building’s windowed facade is said to be inspired by the Meatpacking District’s iconic warehouses.
Check in on construction, this way
March 6, 2018

‘This American Life’ host Ira Glass gets $1.65M for chic Chelsea condo

Rodents be damned--despite being sued by their condo board for an alleged bedbug and rat infestation last year, “This American Life” host Ira Glass and his wife Anaheed Alani have sold their renovated Chelsea apartment at 159 West 24th Street for $1.65 million. They bought the apartment in 2012 for $1,265,000 and put it on the market this past November for $1.75 million, with the listing stating that the home was "unoccupied."
Take a tour
March 6, 2018

Extell’s Target-topping East Village luxury rental is now open; rents start at $3,695/month

Ambitiously dubbed EVGB–for "East Village's Greatest Building"–Extell Development's new rental building at 510 East 14th Street between Avenues A and B just hit the rental market. In addition to amenities like a fitness center, saltwater pool and rooftop deck, the new building is perhaps best known for its also-new retail anchor tenant, a two-level Target store, the chain’s first location in the neighborhood. The building's 110 market-rate and 50 affordable–the lottery for those launched recently–units are expected to be ready for occupancy by April. According to the building's just-launched website, available apartments range from studios for $3,695 a month to a three-bedroom unit for $12,425.
Take a look and find out more
March 5, 2018

$4.25M for a full-floor Soho loft with its with original 19th century wainscoting and moldings

Here's a stunner of a loft apartment, occupying the full floor of the Soho cooperative 27 Howard Street. A private key-locked elevator opens into a white, bright living room with high ceilings and brick walls. Plenty of details give the space personality, including a working wood-burning fireplace, walls of windows, and the building's original 19th-century wainscoting and moldings. On the opposite side of the open living space, there's a spacious master bedroom (with a tricked-out bathroom), plus a media/guest room in between. The 2,000-square-foot pad has just been listed for $4.25 million.
Take a look
March 5, 2018

Concept renderings for West Midtown skyscraper show super-slender ‘high performance office tower’

Architecture firm RB Systems has just published a set of renderings that explore the new supertall tower typology that's been gaining popularity in New York City in recent years. First spotted by New York Yimby, the "New York’s Super Slender” tower in the renderings is shown on a small (only 30 meters by 30 meters) vacant West Midtown site at 265 West 45th Street. The tower was designed to squeeze onto a 98-foot wide lot, which would put it among New York City's most slender towers. Rising 1,312 feet high, the theoretical building would provide modern, ergonomic, sustainable office spaces. The project reflects a likely path for skyscraper design in the coming years, when the city's towers will need to meet the challenges of dense city centers and a dearth of large vacant lots coupled with a demand for new properties.
Find out more
March 5, 2018

Justin Timberlake wants to offload his sleek Soho Mews penthouse for $8M

A year ago, Justin Timberlake, his wife Jessica Biel, and their young son Silas decided to call Tribeca home with a $20 million penthouse buy at 443 Greenwich Street. That left Timberlake with an unwanted penthouse at the Soho Mews, which the singer/actor/all-around celeb paid just over $6.5 million for in 2010. Curbed now reports that he's listed the sleek spread on the market for $7.995 million with Stribling broker-to-the-stars Jared Seligman. Any interested party will be buying into a celebrity-friendly condo that Meg Ryan and Jake Gyllenhaal have also called home.
See JT's former home
March 5, 2018

116-year-old Yorkville bakery Glaser’s announces summer closing

When 6sqft met with Herb Glaser, the third-generation co-owner of Yorkville's 116-year-old German bakery Glaser's, he attributed the business' longevity to the fact that his grandfather "had the foresight and the ability to buy the building that we are in." So it came as a bit of a surprise when we learned over the weekend that the beloved bake shop will be closing its doors this summer. A bittersweet Facebook post stated that "After many years of daunting hours and hard work, the third generation of bakers have come to the difficult decision to hang up their bakers' hat and move towards retirement."
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March 2, 2018

Interior designer Bunny Williams lists tasteful Upper East Side co-op for $4M

Interior designer and "high society tastemaker" Bunny Williams has just listed her classic six Carnegie Hill apartment at the 1185 Park Avenue cooperative. The apartment--now full of antiques she has collected from around the world--is asking $3.995 million with a maintenance is $4,685 a month. (According to the New York Times, she purchased it for about $900,000.) The two-bedroom, three-bathroom spread is on the fourth floor of the 15-story prewar co-op, one of the last in the city designed with a drive-through central courtyard.
Take the interior tour
March 2, 2018

How COOKFOX Architects outfitted their Midtown office with wellness technology and outdoor space

6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and off-beat workspaces of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we’re touring the Midtown offices of architecture firm COOKFOX. Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! When COOKFOX Architects started looking for a new office space three years ago, it was a no-brainer that they'd incorporate their signature biophilic tools, but their one non-negotiable requirement was outdoor space to connect employees directly with nature. And though the firm has come to be associated with so many contemporary projects, they found their ideal space on the 17th floor of the 1921, Carèrre and Hastings-designed Fisk Tire Building on 57th Street. Not only did it offer three terraces (that the team has since landscaped with everything from beehives to kale), but the large, open floorplan allowed the firm to create their dream wellness office. 6sqft recently took a tour of the space to see how employees utilize the space day-to-day and learn more about how COOKFOX achieved LEED Platinum and WELL Gold status by incorporating natural materials for finishings and furniture, temperature control systems, lighting that supports healthy circadian rhythms, and, of course, plenty of connections to nature despite being in the middle of Midtown Manhattan.
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March 2, 2018

A 17-year-old artist created a model of Midtown out of recycled motherboards and hot glue sticks

Zimbabwe-based artist Zayd Menk spent three months working on this 165 by 80 centimeter model of Midtown Manhattan. The 17-year-old student, who built the piece of art for a school project, used a plethora of electronic bits and pieces to build the reduced model: 263 hot glue sticks, 11 CPUs, 27 motherboards, 10 CRT motherboards, 15 batteries, 2 clocks, 4 watches, 3 hard drives, 3 graphics cards, 4 audio cards, 7 power supplies and 13 floppy disk readers (h/t designboom). The used electronics, plus lots of math and scouring of the internet, come together in Menk's project in an art form he refers to as "recyclism."
Learn more
March 2, 2018

Lovely garden apartment in an 1893 West Village building is renting for $4,100/month

This apartment, occupying the garden floor of a historic West Village apartment building, is sure to charm you. Located at 225 West 10th Street, the five-story, 20-unit prewar brick building was constructed in 1893 and converted to condos in 1997. (It's a walk-up, making the ground-floor location of this pad even sweeter.) This bright, well-designed condo is now up for rent asking $4,100 a month. And as you might expect, it comes with access to its own private garden space.
Take a look
March 2, 2018

Real estate investor wants Amazon to build second headquarters on a Hudson River landfill

After landing on Amazon's list of 20 potential cities for its second headquarters in January, New York City is one step closer to securing $5 billion in city investment and 50,000 high paying jobs. Although the city pitched four neighborhoods for the tech-giants' HQ2 (Midtown West, Long Island City, the Brooklyn Tech Triangle, and Lower Manhattan), one investor has a different, less grounded location in mind. Real estate mogul Charles Urstadt took out an ad in the New York Post on Friday detailing his plan to bring Amazon to a landfill in the Hudson River.
More here
March 2, 2018

St. Patrick’s Cathedral to get $7.2M from sale of air rights under Midtown East rezoning

Editor's Note: The owners of 405 Park Avenue are set to buy the development rights from St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Real Deal reports. MRP Realty and Deutsche Bank Asset Management will add four floors and 205,000 square feet of office space to their existing building. JPMorgan Chase and Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last week plans for the first project under the city's Midtown East rezoning: a 70-story tower to replace its old offices at the same Park Avenue site. And with the Archdiocese of New York this week reaching a tentative deal to sell 30,000 square feet of development rights from St. Patrick's Cathedral, the second project under the new rezoning could quickly follow. According to Crain's, if the sale happens the Archdiocese could pick up at least $7.2 million in air rights.
Find out more
March 2, 2018

85th floor unit at One57 gets an $11M price chop, now listed at $59M

6sqft reported back in October that an 85th-floor unit in the building known for the city’s most expensive residential sale ever was back on the market after a total overhaul for a noteworthy $70 million. The 6,240-square-foot condominium was purchased by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll for $55.6 million in 2014. After four months, the sprawling sky mansion has been discounted by $11 million according to Mansion Global; the building's third-highest listing is now asking $59 million.
The view is just as good at $59 million
March 1, 2018

As of today, the Met will start charging non-New Yorkers $25 for admission

At the beginning of the year, the Met announced that it would begin charging non-New Yorkers (i.e. those without a state ID) $25 for admission, waiving its pay-what-you-wish policy that had been in effect since 1970. And as of today, that policy is officially being implemented through signs at all entrances, 14 new kiosks in the Great Hall, roaming museum staff with iPads, and a brochure that explains the new fee system, reports the Times.
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March 1, 2018

You can buy a $14,000 mantle and more salvaged items from the Waldorf Astoria

As 6sqft recently reported, ownership of the iconic Waldorf Astoria was among the properties involved when the Chinese government temporarily took over the debt-ridden Beijing-based Anbang Insurance Group, a firm known for snatching up prominent and expensive properties around the world. There has long been speculation about a condominium project in the works, and Bloomberg reports that the project is moving forward. Signs of change: Effects from the building's guest suites have been carted off by Scranton, Pennsylvania-based architectural salvage purveyor Olde Good Things, who is already is selling pieces of the storied hotel on its website.
See what's for sale
March 1, 2018

15 female trailblazers of the Village: From the first woman doctor to the ‘godmother of punk’

Greenwich Village is well known as the home to libertines in the 1920s and feminists in the 1960s and '70s. But going back to at least the 19th century, the neighborhoods now known as Greenwich Village, the East Village, and Noho were home to pioneering women who defied convention and changed the course of history, from the first female candidate for President, to America’s first woman doctor, to the "mother of birth control." This Women’s History Month, here are just a few of those trailblazing women, and the sites associated with them.
Learn all about these amazing women
March 1, 2018

Nina Dobrev tours $2M condo on the Lower East Side

Nina Dobrev, best known for her role in "The Vampire Diaries," appears to be making the move to Manhattan. The actress recently toured a two-bedroom pad at Blue, a Lower East Side condominium at 105 Norfolk Street, according to the New York Post.  The roughly 1,400-square-foot condo boasts lots of natural light, state-of-the-art appliances and a private outdoor space. Originally listed for $2.31 million in 2016, the condo is currently asking $1.88 million.
See inside
March 1, 2018

$2.7M Noho triplex stuns with library walls, glass ceilings, and gilded mirrors

The listing for this 3,000-square-foot home at 710 Broadway in Noho invokes Shakespeare, but we think the triplex, asking $2.695 million, has loftier ambitions. The three-story space is ideal for "an artist, photographer, bibliophile, therapist, or just somebody who likes to entertain," or even someone who doesn't: It's built for privacy, with sleeping areas tucked away on the top and bottom floors and public areas in between (h/t Curbed). A glass-topped solarium awaits off the bookshelf-lined living room, and a lower level opens onto an enclosed patio for solitary or social pursuits.
Take the tour
February 28, 2018

New construction photos show One Vanderbilt’s 1,401-foot ascent

After beginning its vertical construction last June, One Vanderbilt's progress shows no signs of slowing. According to SL Green, the supertall is currently rising two floors per month and after the 13th floor is completed, three floors will be installed every month. The planned 1,401-foot tower, which will become the city's second tallest skyscraper when completed, will measure over one million square feet. In addition to the above-ground construction, the project includes $220 million in public transit improvements as well as a passageway for direct access to the subway.
See it here
February 28, 2018

NYC Ferry routes coming to the Lower East Side and the Bronx this summer

Two neighborhoods underserved by transit will get a bit more accessible this summer. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Wednesday that construction has officially kicked off for new NYC Ferry landings on the Lower East Side and in the Soundview neighborhood of the Bronx. Skanska USA will construct four docks at Corlears Hook, East 90th Street and Stuyvesant Cove on the East River as well as at Clason Point Park in Soundview. According to the city, the new LES and Bronx routes will serve more than 1.4 million riders each year.
More here
February 28, 2018

Fashion exec buys $17M Dakota combo of Judy Garland’s and Roberta Flack’s former addresses

6sqft takes notice when homes in the storied Dakota at 1 West 72nd Street hit the market; word was out that the three-bedroom co-op in the iconic Upper West Side building that was the alleged onetime home of Judy Garland had recently changed hands after several price chops, and Roberta Flack’s mirror-walled co-op went into contract after having been on the market since 2015. Now Mansion Global reports that power couple Eric and Stacey Bendet Eisner are the buyers of the massive co-op combo. Ms. Eisner is chief executive and creative director of clothing company Alice + Olivia, and her husband Eric (son of former Walt Disney Company CEO Michael Eisner) is an entertainment and media mogul.
See more of this iconic property combo
February 27, 2018

‘Store Front’ photographers plan a life-size memorial to lost Lower East Side mom-and-pops

Photographers James and Karla Murray published their first account of small businesses in NYC a decade ago with their seminal book “Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York,” which captured hundreds of mom-and-pops and their iconic facades, many of them since shuttered, along with interviews with the business owners. They've since published two follow-ups, "New York Nights" and "Store Front II-A History Preserved," winning countless awards and gaining local and national fame for their documentation of a vanishing retail culture. And this summer, they're bringing their work to a larger scale than ever. The Lo-Down reports that the husband-and-wife team has designed an art installation for Seward Park, a wood-frame structure that will feature four nearly life-size images of Lower East Side business that have disappeared--a bodega, a coffee shop/luncheonette (the recently lost Cup & Saucer), a vintage store, and a newsstand.
More details
February 27, 2018

Finalists for Park Avenue design contest propose an artificial mountain and a river for kayak commutes

Fisher Brothers unveiled on Tuesday the 17 finalists chosen for its "Beyond the Centerline" design competition after receiving more than 150 submissions. Participants were asked to think of creative and ambitious ideas to transform the traffic medians along Park Avenue between 46th and 57th Streets. The finalists did not disappoint. Proposals call for an Alpine mountain, a massive aquarium, floating gardens, mini-golf, an elevated walkway and more. Although a jury will select the grand prize winner, all 17 proposals will be on display for public voting at Park Avenue Plaza, located at 55 East 52nd Street, from March 5 to March 9 for the second-place prize. Below, check out all of the unique projects.
See the ambitious ideas
February 27, 2018

My 700sqft: Mommy blogger Brianne Manz balances work and parenting in Battery Park City

The term "mommy blogger" is fairly well known today, but when Brianne Manz started Stroller in the City nearly a decade ago, she was charting new waters. A fashion industry veteran, Brianne has grown the site into a full-scale lifestyle resource, offering tips on raising a family in New York City, the latest in kids' fashion, and "all things that are mommy." 6sqft recently visited Brianne at the Battery Park City apartment she and her husband found 15 years ago but now share with their three children (their oldest son in nine and two daughters are six and four). Not only did we get to see first-hand how this entrepreneur balances work and parenting, but we chatted with her about why she loves her neighborhood, why having kids in NYC is a great idea, and how anyone can create a family-friendly home.
All this and more ahead