Manhattan

Located in a boutique 1931 Bing & Bing co-op in Kip's Bay, a renovated one-bedroom pad has hit the market for $799,000. The light-filled apartment at 140 East 28th Street boasts charming pre-war details like a wood-burning fireplace, arched entry, beamed ceilings, and a classic layout that efficiently separates dining and entertainment areas.
See inside

Distinctive Homes

December 19, 2017

Nolita pad that belonged to John Mayer has hit the market for $4.35M

A Nolita condo has hit the market and it once belonged to pop singer John Mayer. He picked up the two-bedroom apartment at 225 Lafayette Street in 2005 for $2.17 million. He then sold it for $3.91 million in 2013 to a buyer who using the limited liability company "But It’s Provocative LLC." The Observer has spotted that the 2,063-square-foot home been re-listed by said provocative owner, and they're asking $4.35 million. For that amount you're getting a corner unit on the 12th floor of the building, with quite a modern aesthetic.
Take a look inside his old digs

December 19, 2017

The Upper West Side’s next tall tower reveals its Art Deco design

Despite some initial construction hiccups, plans for the 668-foot residential tower at 200 Amsterdam Avenue continue to move forward. According to YIMBY, the tower's developers, SJP Properties and Mitsui Fudosan, have unveiled new renderings of the Upper West Side building, including an up-close shot of its crown. Designed by Elkus Manfredi, the exteriors feature an aluminum curtainwall and metal panels. New York firm CetraRuddy will take on the interiors of the 112-unit condominium building.
More this way

December 18, 2017

World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein lists Park Avenue pad for $14M

By Dana Schulz

After deciding that he wants to move downtown, mega-developer Larry Silverstein has put his longtime Park Avenue pad on the market for $13.9 million, reports the Wall Street Journal. Silverstein Properties is responsible for much of the World Trade Center redevelopment, so it's no surprise that Larry is opting to trade his Central Park views for those of the WTC site; last year, he and his wife Klara dropped $34 million on a penthouse at nearby 30 Park Place. The couple moved from White Plains to 500 Park Avenue 33 years ago when their children left for college.
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Distinctive Homes

December 18, 2017

William Lescaze’s modernist Upper East Side townhouse asks $20 million after a gut reno

One of New York City's earliest modern residences, designed by architect William Lescaze on the Upper East Side, is searching for a new owner after a gut renovation. Known as the Raymond C. and Mildred Kramer House, after its first owners, it was built at 32 East 74th Street in 1934. Lescaze was a Swiss-born, American architect credited with pioneering modernism in America. He designed New York's first modernist home for himself in Midtown East (pictured to the right) one year prior to this uptown commission (pictured to the left). At 32 East 74th, any remnants of his interior design have mostly disappeared after years on and off the market. The current owner paid $14.5 million for it in 2015, gutted it, and re-listed it as an investment property holding three duplex rental units. As Curbed points out, it's now asking a cool $20 million.
Take a look

Distinctive Homes

December 18, 2017

Macy’s executive pays $10.5M for Hilary Swank’s former West Village townhouse

What was once Hilary Swank's picture-perfect townhouse, at 33 Charles in the West Village has found a new owner. Mansion Global reports that Harry A. Lawton III, the president of Macy's department store, paid $10.5 million for the three-story home. The townhouse was built in 1899, designated a New York City landmark in 1969, and has more recently undergone a gorgeous renovation. Adding to the home’s cachet, Swank lived here with then-husband Chad Lowe from 2002, when she purchased it for $3.9 million, until 2006, when it was sold for $8.25 million. The townhouse was then listed this June by Corcoran for $11.995 million and went into contract early November. The sellers, according to property records, are Clyde and Summer Anderson, who run Books-a-Million, the second largest bookstore chain in the U.S.
Take a look at the digs

First official look at David Adjaye’s 800-foot Financial District condo tower

Renderings courtesy of Lightstone

December 15, 2017

First official look at David Adjaye’s 800-foot Financial District condo tower

By Dana Schulz

Nearly four years after wrapping up his first NYC project, Harlem's Sugar Hill affordable housing development, renowned British architect David Adjaye is inching closer to completing his first skyscraper in the city. Preliminary plans for his Financial District condo tower surfaced in May, but developer Lightstone has shared the first official reveal of the tower, now known as 130 William. The height has increased from 750 to 800 feet, or 61 to 66 stories, and it will hold 244 residences. Adjaye says the "rich history" of one of "the city's earliest streets" influenced the building's unique concrete form. "I was inspired to craft a building that turns away from the commercial feel of glass and that instead celebrates New York’s heritage of masonry architecture with a distinctive presence in Manhattan’s skyline," he said.
More details and renderings ahead

December 14, 2017

1880s Yorkville townhouse, fresh off a renovation, is asking $6.5M

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

This Yorkville townhouse at 433 East 85th Street manages to strike the right balance between historic and modern. The home was built in the 1880s, according to the listing, but it has hit the market for the first time since a major renovation. Prewar details like wood-burning fireplaces and moldings are complemented by impressive new finishes of imported Calacatta Gold, marble glass mosaics, and natural limestone. And the backyard was totally redone, now decked out with 700 square feet of comfortable outdoor space. It's all asking $6.5 million.
Take a look

Distinctive Homes

NYC’s first elevated train and the world’s first streetcar began in Greenwich Village

The Ninth Avenue El near 14th Street c. 1914. Via Bain Collection, Library of Congress.

December 14, 2017

NYC’s first elevated train and the world’s first streetcar began in Greenwich Village

Greenwich Village is known as the birthplace of many things – the modern gay rights movement, Off-Broadway theater, the New York School of artists and poets, the “new urbanism” pioneered by Jane Jacobs, among many other trailblazing firsts. Less closely associated with the Village, however, are radical and transformative innovations in transportation technology. But while little known, the Village was in fact home to the first elevated rail line, and the first streetcar.
The whole history right this way

Image via Wikimedia Commons.

December 14, 2017

New Amtrak app helps you navigate through Penn Station’s chaos

If you've ever found yourself lost in a maze of corridors or trampled in a boarding stampede at Penn Station, help may have arrived in the form of yet another useful mobile app. Beginning this week, Amtrak will offer a free app, FindYourWay, that helps travelers–65,000 of whom pass through the station each day–find their way through the station and avoid the crush of crowds that form around electronic boards announcing train departures, the New York Times reports.
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Lottery opens for 98 units at site two of Lower East Side’s Essex Crossing, from $519/month

Rendering of 115 Delancey Street via Handel Architects

December 13, 2017

Lottery opens for 98 units at site two of Lower East Side’s Essex Crossing, from $519/month

Applications are now being accepted for 98 mixed-income apartments located at 115 Delancey Street, known as site two of the sprawling nine-site Essex Crossing Development. The 26-story tower is the tallest building on the $1.9 billion complex and will host the Essex Street Market and a 14-screen Regal Cinemas Theater. Qualifying New Yorkers earning 40, 60, 120 and 165 percent of the area median income can apply for units ranging from a studio for $519/month to a three-bedroom for $3,424/month.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

December 13, 2017

Soho style arrives at this dreamy Turtle Bay loft asking $999K

You wouldn't necessarily expect an artist loft up for sale in Turtle Bay, but here's one asking just a hair under $1 million at the Turtle Bay Towers condop complex. The open floorplan was renovated in the style of a Soho loft, according to the listing, but you get all the conveniences of being in East Midtown. After its renovation the space saw a big price jump in just a few years--it was asking $689,000 in 2012 before selling for $649,000.
Head inside

Distinctive Homes

December 13, 2017

Essex Crossing rental gets new renderings and a new name to honor jazz legend Sonny Rollins

Legendary jazz saxophonist and New York City native Sonny Rollins lived in an apartment on the Lower East Side home for many years during the late 1950s. Although the building he called home has long been demolished, the sprawling development rising on the same site, Essex Crossing, will pay tribute to the iconic artist by naming one of the buildings after him. The Rollins, a 15-story rental building at 145 Clinton Street, sits near the entrance of the Williamsburg Bridge, a spot where Rollins practiced every day for two years. As the New York Times reported, the Rollins, designed by Beyer Blinder Belle, will include 107 market-rate apartments, which start at $3,150 for a studio, $4,450 for a one-bedroom, $5,800 for a two-bedroom and $8,450 for a three-bedroom. Leasing will begin in January for these market-rate units.
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Real Estate Trends

Apply for a mixed-income unit at CetraRuddy’s Hell’s Kitchen rental, from $596/month

Rendering of 572 Eleventh Avenue courtesy of the Moinian Group

December 13, 2017

Apply for a mixed-income unit at CetraRuddy’s Hell’s Kitchen rental, from $596/month

A CetraRuddy-designed building at 572 Eleventh Avenue is now accepting applications for 46 newly constructed, mixed-income studios, one- and two-bedroom apartments. Developed by the Moinian Group, the Hell's Kitchen rental, which recently topped out this June, rises 13 stories high and features 10,000 square feet of commercial retail at its cellar and ground floors. Qualifying New Yorkers earning 40, 60 and 130 percent of the area median income can apply for units ranging from a studio for $596/month to a two-bedroom for $2,715/month.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

Michael C. Hall buys $4.3M El Dorado classic six

Michael C. Hall image via Wikimedia Commons.

December 13, 2017

Michael C. Hall buys $4.3M El Dorado classic six

The iconic El Dorado seems to have retained some of its celebrity cachet despite the decampment of Alec Baldwin and Bruce Willis; the New York Post reports that Michael C. Hall of "Dexter," "Six Feet Under" and David Bowie’s “Lazarus” fame just snagged a 10th floor apartment at 300 Central Park West. The Golden Globe winner and his wife Morgan paid $4.3 million for a newly-renovated 2,200 square-foot two-bedroom unit in the Emery Roth-designed co-op, according to city records. The Golden Globe-winner also owns a two-bedroom apartment in the pricey Greenwich Lane complex at 160 West 12th Street which was on the rental market last year for $15,000 a month.
Take a peek

December 12, 2017

LPC approves Achim Menges’ futuristic rooftop pavilion and stage for Pier 17

Between the controversial–and eventually nixed–condo tower and the news of ESPN's new studio plans, it's hard to keep up with what's taking shape at Pier 17 in the Seaport district. The latest arrival comes from above: Developers Howard Hughes Corporation announced plans earlier this year for a "crown jewel" for the new pier, a rooftop stage and installation with a see-through canopy that will maintain sightlines of Lower Manhattan. The high-tech topper was designed by German architect Achim Menges, known for ethereal, high-concept structures made with 3-D printers or woven from carbon fibers. Set for a summer 2018 opening, the new performance space will occupy 60,000 square feet according to Downtown Express. The project on Tuesday was approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, who said it will "set a standard for all future temporary seasonal structures."
Renderings of the high-tech sky canopy this way

December 12, 2017

COOKFOX unveils design for five eco-conscious high-rises in Hudson Square

COOKFOX Architects released new renderings this week of its five proposed high-rise buildings in Hudson Square, part of the redevelopment of St. John's Terminal into a nearly two-million-square-foot complex of housing, retail and office space. As CityRealty learned, the design calls for an industrial-meets-earthy design with deftly sculpted towers detailed with geometric setbacks and planted terraces. Located near Pier 40, the proposed buildings will hold a total of 1,586 apartments, with 30 percent of them below market rate, office spaces, a hotel and about 400,000 square feet of retail.
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December 12, 2017

Former ‘ Million Dollar Listing’ star lists Lenox Hill co-op that’s bursting with color for $4.8M

Calling this apartment colorful would be a total understatement. Each room of the Lenox Hill co-op, at 875 Fifth Avenue, is decked out in bold paint colors, artwork, and decor. The space was renovated in 2014 by the interior designer Nick Olsen for Michael Lorber, a former star of "Million Dollar Listing," who purchased the pad in 2014 for $3.6 million. Now fully renovated, the three-bedroom spread overlooking Central Park is on the market for $4.795 million.
Check out the decor

Distinctive Homes

December 12, 2017

Where I Work: Glaser’s German bakery has been satisfying Yorkville’s sweet tooth for 115 years

By Dana Schulz

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 Glaser's Bake Shop, a 115-year-old German bakery in Yorkville.Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! In the early 20th century, New York's German immigrants relocated from the East Village to the Upper East Side neighborhood of Yorkville, which soon became known as Germantown. The community was so culturally rich, that German was spoken more than English in this area. 86th Street was dubbed "Sauerkraut Boulevard" and was lined with German butchers, restaurants, and bakeries. After the dismantling of the Second and Third Avenue elevatrated trains in the 1940s and '50s, most of the German community moved out, but several of these old-time businesses still remain, one of which is Glaser's Bake Shop. When German immigrant John Glaser opened his bakery in 1902, there were half a dozen nearby competitors. 115 years later, the perfectly preserved storefront on First Avenue and 87th Street is the last of its kind in Yorkville, but it's still filled everyday with new neighbors and long-time residents alike, eager to satisfy their sweet tooths with the extra chocolately brownies, jelly donuts, Bavarian pastries, and their famous black-and-white cookies. Glaser's is now owned by John's grandsons Herbert and John, who are committed to keeping their family's traditions alive. 6sqft recently stopped by to watch Herb work on massive gingerbread village and chat with him more about the baker's history and how he's seen Yorkville change over the years.
Get a behind-the-scenes look and hear from Herb

Where I Work

December 12, 2017

Waterline Square mega-development tops out on the Upper West Side

Waterline Square, a mega-development consisting of three luxury residential high-rises and measuring 2.2 million square feet, officially topped out this week, one of the most ambitious projects to hit the Upper West Side in decades. GID Development Group commissioned three major New York City architecture firms, Richard Meier & Partners, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates and Rafael Viñoly, to design One Waterline Square, Two Waterline Square and Three Waterline Square, respectively. The 263 condominiums of the development, located between West 59th Street and West 61st Street on the Hudson River, will commence closings in late 2018. There will also be 800 rental units available, with 20 percent of them below market rate. Hill West Architects serves as the executive architect on the project.
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December 12, 2017

$6.25M Flatiron loft’s bohemian-luxe style reflects its owner’s international flair

Iconic even among the Flatiron district's classic loft buildings and historic architecture, the neo-Gothic 1892 MacIntyre Building at 874 Broadway rises 12 stories above the downtown neighborhood with its handsome turrets, Byzantinue columns and Romanesque arches. Asking $6.25 million, this corner loft co-op occupying two of the building's floors is right at home, overlooking Union Square. A thorough renovation merged two units, resulting in one massive three-bedroom home with a custom-engineered steel and glass staircase and 12-foot ceilings. According to city records, the loft's current owner is writer-director Tannaz Hazemi ("Before the Bomb"), whose culturally diverse international lifestyle may well have influenced the loft's spin-the-compass bohemian-luxe decor.
Tour this fabulously funky loft

Distinctive Homes

December 11, 2017

Producer Bob Weinstein makes no profit on $15M Upper West Side townhouse sale

By Annie Doge

Bob Weinstein, founder of Dimension Films and co-founder of Miramax Films, which he started with his brother, disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein, has all but broken even on the sale of his Upper West Side townhouse. He bought the huge home at 39 West 70th Street for $15 million back in 2009 with ex-wife Annie Clayton. They listed it for $19 million last February and then dropped the price to $17.9 million earlier this month, but city records published today show that it was sold again for $15 million. Not only did the buyer get a bargain, but they'll get to enjoy the home's period details, rear garden, terraces, roof deck, and a gym with a half-sized basketball court.
See inside

December 11, 2017

Extell’s proposal for the Upper West Side’s tallest tower faces backlash from the community

Architecture firm Snøhetta revealed last month their design for a 775-foot condominium tower at 50 West 66th Street, slated to be the tallest building on the Upper West Side. Developed by Extell, the condo will rise 69 stories and contain 127 units, featuring series of “sculptural excavations” that are “evocative of the chiseled stone of Manhattan’s geologic legacy,” according to the architects. As the New York Times reported, critics of the project from the UWS community say the tower would violate zoning restrictions in the area. Local advocate groups, joined by Council Member Helen Rosenthal and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, are pushing back against the construction of Extell's ultra-luxury tower. In a statement, Rosenthal said, "We will fight this project with every tool at our disposal."
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$80M Upper East Side mansion could set a record for most expensive townhouse ever sold in NYC

Google Streetview of 12 East 69th Street

December 11, 2017

$80M Upper East Side mansion could set a record for most expensive townhouse ever sold in NYC

A 20,000-square-foot Upper East Side mansion--complete with its own red velvet movie theater, panic room, and double-height library, has entered contract priced at $80 million. And according to the Wall Street Journal, if it closes at that price the property will become the most expensive townhouse ever sold in New York City. The sale would beat out a record set just this year, when the 25,000-square-foot, 41-foot-wide townhouse at 19 East 64th Street belonging to art heir David Wildenstein closed for $79.5 million. This home, located at 12 East 69th Street, came on the market in 2013 for roughly $114 million but was delisted after a price cut to $98 million in 2014.
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December 11, 2017

Joy Behar’s $3.5M Upper West Side co-op is in contract after just two months

Comedian Joy Behar's three-bedroom Astor Court co-op at 205 West 89th street has entered contract a mere two months after it was listed for $3.5 million. "The View" co-host has been doing her share of real estate restructuring recently: 6sqft reported last month that Behar and husband Steve Janowitz dropped $2.4 million on a three-bedroom Lincoln Square condo at 62 West 62nd Street about 20 blocks south. Behar had traded up to the larger Astor Court unit in 2013, having previously lived in a smaller apartment in the building. In 2016 she sold her Hamptons vacation home; a month later she dropped nearly $5 million on a gorgeous property in Sag Harbor.
Get a final glance

City will replace Nolita’s Elizabeth Street Garden with 121 affordable apartments for seniors

Rendering courtesy of Curtis + Ginsberg Architects

December 8, 2017

City will replace Nolita’s Elizabeth Street Garden with 121 affordable apartments for seniors