Manhattan

August 22, 2017

Zaha Hadid’s futuristic 520 West 28th Street gets rental listings, from $15,000/month

Just last month, closings began on Zaha Hadid’s 520 West 28th Street, a structure 6sqft crowned as Building of the Year in 2016. Now, rental apartments at the luxury residential building have officially hit the market (h/t Curbed NY). The late architect’s signature curved and organic architectural style is complemented with interiors like a marble-clad kitchen island, glass walls and energy-efficient lighting. In total, the building has 39 units, with three currently on the rental market: Units No. 31, No. 17 and No. 18. The three units range from $15,000 per month to $22,500 per month.
Take a peek inside
August 22, 2017

To avoid the PATH, will Hoboken commuters pay for pricey ferry service?

As 6sqft reported in April, NY Waterway launched an additional ferry route running from Hoboken to Midtown Manhattan in response to a train derailment and delays at Penn Station. And since Amtrak closed a few tracks for repairs, more commuters have opted to take the scenic ferry as an alternative. While the eight-minute ride was normally only available during transit crisis, it will become a permanent transit option on Sept. 5. And although the ferry is perhaps a quicker and more scenic alternative, it comes with a steep price of $274.50 per month, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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August 22, 2017

90 apartments up for grabs at Extell’s 555Ten in Hudson Yards from $613/month

Applications are currently being accepted for the second phase of affordable apartments at 555 Tenth Avenue and 41st Street in booming Hudson Yards on Manhttan's West Side. Extell Development’s luxurious 610-foot-tall, the mixed-use tower includes 56 stories and spans 725,000 square feet. The amenities seem endless, with residential access to the building’s 24-hour fitness center with a yoga studio, indoor pool, outdoor rooftop pool, outdoor landscaped space, a bowling alley and a putting green. New Yorkers earning 40 and 120 percent of the area median income can apply for units ranging from $613 per month studios to $2,875 three-bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify
August 21, 2017

East Harlem statue of unethical M.D. should be the next ‘hero’ to fall, says community board

As protest and debate sweep the nation over the toppling of statues, centered around well-known Confederate names like Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, here in New York City a lesser-known monument to medicine is in the spotlight for its offensive nature. The New York Times reports that Manhattan Community Board 11 is calling upon the city to remove an East Harlem statue of a white, southern doctor, Dr. James Marion Sims. Regarded as the father of modern gynecology, Sims achieved his success by performing experiments on slaves without consent and without anesthesia.
Definitely no hero here
August 21, 2017

New renderings of Hudson Yards’ Norman Foster-designed tower and food pavilion

A decade after first embarking on Hudson Yards--the largest private development in the nation's history--developer Related Companies is in the thick of things, with listings live at 15 and One Hudson Yards and construction underway at 30, 35, and 55, as well as The Shed cultural center and the Vessel public art piece. Keeping the momentum moving, Yimby has now uncovered a new rendering of Norman Foster's 985-foot 50 Hudson Yards, which at $3.94 billion will be the city's most expensive office tower, and the first view of the food and beverage pavilion that will sit in the Eastern Railyard.
All the details ahead
August 21, 2017

Soak in the Village from your lovely outdoor terrace at this $6,750/month apartment

Just imagine enjoying the dwindling days of summer from this spacious wood patio lined with greenery. The outdoor space is tacked onto a 25-foot-wide Greenwich Village townhouse, at 34 West 9th Street, and your view is of the peaceful backyard gardens. Walk out the front door, though, and you're in the bustle of the Village. As for the apartment, it's still got some of the townhome's original architectural details, including two decorative fireplaces. For the one-bedroom pad, with a bonus, window-less second bedroom, it'll cost $6,750 a month.
Go inside the unit
August 19, 2017

FREE RENT: This week’s roundup of NYC rental news

Thor’s Newly-Restored 98 Morningside Offering One Month of Free Rent [link] Field Condition Captures the Completed Amenities at 555Ten [link] Om Sweet Om: Downtown Brooklyn Rental, City Tower, Introduces Meditation Classes as Newest Amenity [link] Canal-Side 363 Bond Street Unveils Model Apartments; Offers 1 Month Free Rent [link] Chelsea29 Launches Leasing; Offers Two Months Free […]

August 18, 2017

A magic carpet and koi pond await at this $1.55M SoHo co-op

Yes, that's a magic carpet hanging from the ceiling of this SoHo co-op... or at least we're pretty sure it is. This apartment, located at 11 Charlton Street, is actually full of quirks. Besides the ceiling decor, a sliding partition separates the living room from the bedroom transforming this from a studio to a one-bedroom apartment. Outside, a koi pond sits in the spacious, 700-square-foot private garden. This unit has been on and off the market for about a year now, asking as high as $1.795 million. Now it's back on with a new listing price of $1.55 million.
Take a look
August 18, 2017

Watch The Shed, an 8-million-pound structure, glide effortlessly alongside the High Line

The Shed courtesy of Diller Scofidio +Renfro, via The New York Times Construction of The Shed, a six-level flexible structure that can adapt to different art forms and technologies, continues to progress where the High Line meets Hudson Yards. While the building, an independent non-profit cultural organization, has an expected opening date of 2019, the massive eight-million-pound structure can now slide along the High Line for five minutes on a half-dozen exposed steel wheels that measure six-feet in diameter (h/t NY Times). The Shed, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, in collaboration with Rockwell Group, features a movable shell on rails that sits over the fixed base of the building, allowing for it to change size depending on the type of event.
See the Shed slide
August 18, 2017

MTA will ‘modify’ Times Square subway mosaics that resemble the Confederate flag

The day after Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo announced plans to review and remove controversial public Confederate structures and markers throughout the city, the MTA says it will do the same. Well, sort of. Over 90 years ago, station architect Squire J. Vickers installed mosaics resembling the Confederate flag at the 40th Street entrance for the 1, 2, 3 trains to honor early New York Times owner and publisher Adolph S. Ochs, who had "strong ties to the Confederacy" and was buried with a Confederate flag when he died in 1935. But yesterday, MTA spokesperson Kevin Ortiz told Gothamist, "These are not confederate flags, it is a design based on geometric forms that represent the 'Crossroads of the World' and to avoid absolutely any confusion we will modify them to make that absolutely crystal clear."
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August 17, 2017

A 15-year-old Greenwich Village student inspired the hit song ‘Summer in the City’

Everyone knows the folk-rock classic "Summer in the City" by the Lovin’ Spoonful, which topped the charts 51 years ago this August in 1966. But fewer know the song’s roots in Greenwich Village--lead singer John Sebastian actually grew up in the neighborhood and the act got their start in the local clubs--and fewer still know a 15-year-old Village student was responsible for a significant part of its composition.
Get the whole story
August 17, 2017

Cuomo releases new renderings of Moynihan Station as major construction gets underway

At a press conference this morning in the under-construction space, Governor Cuomo announced that major work has begun on transforming the James A. Farley Building into the state-of-the-art, 225,000-square-foot Moynihan Train Hall. Along with the news that the $1.6 billion project will create 12,000+ construction jobs and 2,500 permanent jobs, come new renderings of the station, showing more exterior views and looks at the 700,000-square-foot shopping and dining concourse.
All the renderings and more details this way
August 17, 2017

Bus station beneath Javits Center proposed in new plan to fix cross-Hudson commuter hell

As the "summer of hell" days of emergency repairs to Penn Station's rail system roll by, the Regional Plan Association, a nonprofit transportation advocacy group, is intent on tackling the transit system's biggest messes; specifically, the association warned that “public transportation across the Hudson River is in crisis,” and is in the process of updating its regional plan to address that issue and other transportation snarls. Among the group's suggestions: building a terminal for intercity buses underneath the Jacob K. Javits center on Manhattan's West Side, the New York Times reports.
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August 16, 2017

On this day in 1974, the Ramones played their first gig at CBGB in the East Village

On August 16, 1974, four men dressed in leather motorcycle jackets and Converse high-tops hit the stage at CBGB, an iconic East Village dive bar, for the very first time. After this debut performance, the Ramones, who hailed from Forest Hills, Queens, became the first regulars at CBGB, a spot known for the cutting edge punk rock musicians that played there, like Talking Heads, Patti Smith and Blondie. In the year 1974 alone, the Ramones played there over 70 times.
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August 16, 2017

The Manhattan Skyscraper Explorer is your building-by-building skyline map

Tall buildings—from supertalls to garden-variety skyscrapers—seem to grow like weeds in New York City: A recent boom in tall Midtown residential towers has ushered in a new focus on life in the clouds. And we're always comparing ourselves to other vertical cities. We also know there have been growth cycles and slower periods when it comes to the city's skyscrapers. Now we can survey the landscape of Manhattan's tallest buildings all at once thanks to the mapping wizards at Esri (via Maps Mania). The Manhattan Skyscraper Explorer reveals each of the city's tall towers, showing its height, when it was built, what it's used for and more.
Explore New York's tallest
August 16, 2017

Stuyvesant Town goes green: How the 70-year-old complex is reinventing itself in a modern age

"Think of us as a 1947 Cadillac retrofitted with a Tesla engine," says Marynia Kruk, Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village's Community Affairs Manager. Though the 80-acre residential complex's 110 red brick, cruciform-shaped buildings were constructed 70 years ago this month, their imposing facades are hiding an intense network of systems that, since 2011, have allowed the development to reduce its on-site carbon emissions by 6.8 percent, equal to over 17 million pounds of coal saved. To put this in perspective, that's roughly the same savings as 3,000 drivers deciding to bike or take the train for an entire year or planting a forest of 400,000 trees. This massive sustainability push, along with new ownership (Blackstone Group and Canadian investment firm Ivanhoe Cambridge bought the complex for $5.3 billion in October 2015), updated amenities, and an affordable housing commitment, is driving Manhattan's largest apartment complex into the future, and 6sqft recently got the inside scoop from CEO and General Manager Rick Hayduk and Tom Feeney, Vice President of Maintenance Operations, who is spearheading the green initiative.
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August 16, 2017

Actor Stephen Dorff gets $2.7M for bachelor-friendly Chelsea penthouse

When actor Stephen Dorff put his Chelsea penthouse on the market for $3 million in March of last year, 6sqft described it as "party-ready," thanks to an 850-square-foot roof terrace complete with wet bar/kitchen and outdoor shower. But it looks like "The Power of One," "Blade," and "Somewhere" star is officially saying goodbye to his bachelor pad days, as the Observer reports that he's unloaded the duplex at 251 West 19th Street for $2.7 million.
Take a tour
August 16, 2017

Live at the legendary Osborne on Billionaires’ Row for just $399K

Share a gorgeous lobby with the rich and famous at the iconic Osborne at 205 West 57th Street. Yes, you’re seeing that right, the Billionaires’ Row address has a notable vacancy: This one-bedroom lobby-level co-op is asking just $399,000. That may sound more like a stingy holiday tip for residents of nearby trophy towers like One57, but it gets you a classic Midtown West address shared by celebrities current and past including Jessica Chastain, former Knicks president Phil Jackson, and Leonard Bernstein.
Find out more about this rare find
August 15, 2017

Enter the waitlist for middle-income apartments near Lincoln Center from $2,300/month

The waitlist is open for $2,300 per month studios and $2,800 one-bedrooms at 33 West End Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The building, near Lincoln Center, Columbus Circle and Central Park, features 24-hour concierge service, a fitness center, a shared lounge and bike storage. The waitlist is accepting applications from New Yorkers who earn between $80,743 and $126,060 annually.
Find out more
August 15, 2017

INTERVIEW: Author Ed Hamilton on how the Chelsea Hotel inspired personal stories of gentrification

When it comes to the Chelsea Hotel, Ed Hamilton has seen it all. He and his wife moved to the iconic property in 1995, living among artists and musicians in a 220-square-foot, single-room-occupancy unit. The storied, artistic community nurtured inside the hotel came to an end a decade ago when the building sold for the first time and evictions followed. Since then, the property has traded hands a number of times with talks of boutique hotel development, luxury condos, or some combination of the two. Hamilton started tracking the saga at his blog Living With Legends and published a book, "Legends of the Chelsea Hotel," in 2007. After the book's success, Hamilton wrote a short story collection titled "The Chintz Age: Stories of Love and Loss for a new New York." Each piece offers a different take on New York's "hyper gentrification," as he calls it: a mother unable to afford her lofty East Village apartment, giving it up to a daughter she shares a strained relationship with; a book store owner who confronts his failed writing career as a landlord forces him out of now highly valuable commercial space. Ultimately, many of the stories were inspired by the characters he met inside the Chelsea Hotel. And his tales offer a new perspective on a changing city, one that focuses on "the personal, day-to-day struggles about the people who are trying to hang onto their place in New York." With 6sqft, he shares what it's like writing in the under-construction Chelsea Hotel, what the Chintz Age title means, and the unchanged spots of the city he still treasures.
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August 15, 2017

New rendering of Extell’s Central Park Tower shows sparkling all-glass facade

A new rendering of Central Park Tower, slated to be the tallest residential tower on Earth, shows the most sparkling image of the residential building yet. Construction for Extell Development’s supertall, located at 225 West 57th Street on Billionaires’ Row, is underway and when completed, the tower is projected to be 1,550-feet tall. As CityRealty reported, the all-glass rendering appears to be taken about 900-feet above Central Park and leaves out rivaling towers, 432 Park Avenue and 111 West 57th Street. The $2.98 billion project is expected to be completed in 2019.
Find out more
August 15, 2017

Plan your future rooftop paradise atop Chelsea’s historic ‘Muffin House’ for $950K

We've already covered the fascinating fact that 337 West 20th Street isn't your average cooperative building: This Chelsea townhouse-turned-co-op was formerly the bakery of Samuel Bath Thomas, the Englishman who introduced New Yorkers to the English Muffin in the early 1900s, earning it the nickname Muffin House–and the original ovens, though no longer working, remain built into the basement. While all other traces of the old bakery are gone, this Chelsea aerie on the top floor of the 1850s townhouse has plenty of historic charm–and the one-bedroom apartment, asking $950,000, comes with private deeded roof rights.
Check it out
August 14, 2017

Chinese immigrants use slang names and maps to navigate the streets of NYC

Many New Yorkers navigate Chinatown by its famous street names; East Broadway, Mulberry, Canal and Orchard. However, for many Chinese immigrants living in the area who do not speak English, these names are not used. Instead, descriptive nicknames (translated from Chinese) exist like “Hatseller Street,” “Garbage Street,” and “Dead Person Street.” Even more interesting, to help Chinese New Yorkers navigate the city, maps with these streets labeled in their Chinese nicknames are made and distributed. A reporter from This American Life, Aaron Reiss, began collecting these maps and discovered the lesser-known nicknames for a lot of these city streets, many which have four or five different labels.
More this way
August 14, 2017

Look right into Stuyvesant Square Park through the huge windows at this $895K co-op

Tucked away on Rutherford Place, one of the prettiest streets in the neighborhood, this charming first-floor pre-war apartment sits along the eastern border of Gramercy and Union Square. Built in 1855 as a townhouse, the one-bedroom co-op at 224 East 17th Street has a large master bedroom and a small office space–and direct views of Stuyvesant Square Park.
See more of this pretty Gramercy pad
August 11, 2017

$1.3M West Side duplex with a greenhouse and a double-decker roof is a gardener’s dream

If you've got a green thumb–or you just like a stroll in the garden--this unusual duplex co-op at 361 West 30th Street in Midtown West is a dream come true. Though it's situated near the northern entrance to the High Line on a lovely tree-lined block, there's enough greenery and outdoor infrastructure just out the door of this convertible-two-bedroom home to keep a park fanatic busy.
Take a walk down the garden path
August 11, 2017

Bjarke Ingels’ VIA offering 36 middle-income affordable apartments, from $1,448 a month

In October of 2015, 6sqft reported that applications were being accepted for the 142 affordable apartments set aside for low-income tenants at the tantalizing tetrahedron that is starchitect Bjarke Ingels' VIA 57 West, a newly-minted rental residence at 625 West 57th Street. Word comes today that the lottery has opened for the middle-income portion of the building's affordable housing inventory. The half-block-long residential development contains 709 units, of which 20 percent have been deemed affordable. Of the 36 middle-income units available, studios have been priced between $1,448-$1,949; $1,554-$2,091 for one-bedrooms; $2,089-$2,519 for two-bedrooms; and $2,902 for three-bedrooms, each adjusted for income.
complete details here
August 10, 2017

The Village’s Twin Peaks: From a quirky ‘Swiss-chalet’ to a landmarks controversy

Few buildings capture the whimsy, flamboyance, and bohemian spirit of early 20th century Greenwich Village as does the building known as "Twin Peaks" at 102 Bedford Street. Described as a "wonderfully ludicrous mock half-timbered fantasy row-house castle" by architecture critic Paul Goldberger, the present incarnation of the building was born in 1925 as a radical remodeling of an 1830 rowhouse into a five-story artists’ studio apartment building. In the mid 20th-century, the building became even more iconic with a cream and brown paint job that mimicked its Alpine cottage inspiration. However, a more recent paint job stripped away this history, resulting in a controversial landmarks battle.
The whole story