Manhattan

Meg Ryan will be joining Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel, Jennifer Lawrence, Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, and Harry Styles at Tribeca's “paparazzi-proof” 443 Greenwich Street. The Real Deal spotted her her trust, Third World Dog, listed as the buyer of a $9.39 million, three-bedroom unit in the building, just a month and a half after her $10.9 million Soho loft went into contract.
Get the details

June 14, 2017

Tribeca Film Festival co-founders cut the price of their massive Dakota pad to $25M

By BASIS Independent Manhattan

As 6sqft previously reported, Tribeca Film Festival co-founders (with Robert DeNiro) Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff have been trying to sell their sprawling pad in the storied Dakota since last March, when they listed the 7,500-square-foot combo of no less than four individual units for the suitably vast sum of $39 million. A year and some months later with no takers, the couple, who announced their divorce in 2014–have edited a cool $19 million out of the picture and are now asking $25 million (h/t Curbed).
You might want to bring breadcrumbs for this

Distinctive Homes

Looking back at New York’s ‘Summer of Love’ and the birth of the East Village

Hippies singing and playing music in Washington Square Park in the late 1960s. Photo: Peter Keegan

June 14, 2017

Looking back at New York’s ‘Summer of Love’ and the birth of the East Village

By Cait Etherington

It has been 50 years since 1967’s “Summer of Love” when young people from around the world flocked to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district and to other urban neighborhoods, including New York’s East Village, to trip out at psychedelic dance parties, sleep in city parks, and live and do whatever they pleased. While the hippie subculture was already flourishing prior to the Summer of Love, by mid 1967, hippies and their music, style, and communal way of life had caught the attention of the mainstream media and as a result, reached a critical mass of young people who were now eager to ditch their suburban homes to “turn on, tune in, and drop out.” Reactions to the Summer of Love in New York were predictably mixed. An estimated 50,000 young people descended on the city to join the movement, but many New Yorkers, including longstanding residents, police officers, and politicians, had little interest in spending the Summer of Love soaking up the good vibes. In the end, the city’s Summer of Love saw as much conflict and violence as peace and love, and debates about rental prices, real estate values, and the gentrification of the Lower East Side were all part of the conflict.
find out more here

History

June 14, 2017

New private school brings top global academic program to NYC’s Upper West Side

BASIS Independent Manhattan, a K-8 private school teaching the acclaimed BASIS Curriculum, is opening this fall in a 45,000-square-foot school at 795 Columbus Avenue. Although new to NYC, BASIS Curriculum Schools is no strangers to praise. Steadily since 1998, they've grown their network to 28 campuses around the world while gathering many accolades, including that of U.S News and World Report. This year, BASIS Curriculum Schools was ranked #5 on the publication's list of the "Top 10 Best High Schools in the Country." Designed with the modern child in mind, BASIS Independent's upcoming Manhattan campus will feature state-of-the-art facilities that support everything from daily physical education in the elementary grades, multiple recess breaks, weekly engineering sessions, and, for middle school students, the study of chemistry, physics, and biology in a laboratory setting. Indeed, thoughtful spaces designed to elevate performance are at BASIS Independent's heart, and they work in tandem with the school's curriculum developed to provide students with the strongest academic foundation—and for a fraction of the tuition expected in NYC, at that. Ahead, Head of School Jesse Rizzo shares how the upcoming New York City schoolhouse has been designed to help create and fortify Manhattan’s next school community.
find out more about BASIS' Manhattan school here

City Living

9/11 Tribute Museum reopens in new 36,000-square-foot space to tell victims’ personal stories

Image © 9/11 Tribute Museum

June 13, 2017

9/11 Tribute Museum reopens in new 36,000-square-foot space to tell victims’ personal stories

When it comes to remembering the 9/11 terror attacks, personal stories can be the most moving reminder. The 9/11 Tribute Museum opened in 2006 in a former deli near the National September 11 Memorial and Museum site, intended as a temporary shrine to the victims during construction of the larger museum–and it has grown even since the latter opened. The Tribute Museum offers tours of the rebuilt World Trade Center site led by survivors, first responders, relatives of victims and others with close connections to the tragedy. Crain’s reports that the museum reopened today in a much larger location, slightly further from the memorial but with more space dedicated to victims’ personal stories.
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History

June 13, 2017

This $8.5K townhouse rental is quintessential Upper West Side with parlor-floor panache

A block from Central Park in Lincoln Square, this 1,850 square-foot parlor floor-through at 52 West 69th Street is the kind of Upper West Side residence that has inspired many a dream of New York City living. Listed as having two bedrooms convertible to three, the $8,500 per month rent seems a bit less daunting when imagined as a comfortably sprawling choice for family or group living.
Get a feel for the space

Distinctive Homes

June 12, 2017

INTERVIEW: Amit Khurana and Michael Gabellini on designing in NYC with architect Tadao Ando

By Michelle Sinclair Colman

Before 152 Elizabeth Street, Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando had never designed a building in New York City. The ultra-high-end, seven-unit, seven-story Nolita condominium is currently on the rise at the corner of Elizabeth and Kenmare Streets. Every detail of this Ando building reflects the famed architect’s philosophy that, “a living space should be a sanctuary. It has to be a place where you can reflect on your life.” Ando’s signature use of concrete and glass creates a strong yet minimalist beauty that finds balance at a location on the convergence of numerous neighborhoods. As architecture critic Carter Horsley puts it, “152 Elizabeth is not a dramatic masterpiece by one of the world’s greatest architects but a very refined and subtle ‘enclosure’ with wonderful detailing, a delightful surprise in this brand new, gee-whiz world of starchitects.”
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Site of East Village gas explosion sells for $9.15M

Image of the site via Google Street View

June 12, 2017

Site of East Village gas explosion sells for $9.15M

In March 2015, an explosion caused by an illegal tap into the gas main destroyed three buildings and killed two people in the East Village. Last month, Maria Hrynenko, the owner of the wrecked properties at 119 and 121 Second Avenue, sold two of the lots to Yaniv Shaky Cohen’s Nexus Building Development Group Inc. for $9.15 million, according to the New York Post. The third site destroyed by the explosion at 123 Second Avenue sold last year to Ezra Wibowo for $6 million, about $4 million less than the asking price.
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Real Estate Trends

June 10, 2017

Lots of greenery at this sun-filled studio, asking $389K in the Upper West Side

By Emily Nonko

The right design can make a studio apartment feel larger, as this one on the market for $389,000 proves. It is located in the Upper West Side's Broadmoor co-op, 235 West 102nd Street. It's been on and off the market for a few years now, asking as low as $309,000. The cozy space is aided by big windows and plenty of greenery. Prewar details like beamed ceilings and bordered hardwood floors don't hurt, either.
Go take a look

Distinctive Homes

June 9, 2017

David Rockefeller’s historic Upper East Side mansion lists for $32.5M

By Dana Schulz

David Rockefeller, billionaire philanthropist, former head of Chase Manhattan, and grandson of John D. Rockefeller, passed away just three months ago at the age of 101. For the 69 years prior, he lived with his wife Peggy at this historic Upper East Side mansion at 146 East 65th Street. Now, as the Wall Street Journal reports, the rare 40-foot wide townhouse has hit the market for $32.5 million, and the listing photos showcase Rockefeller's impressive collection 18th-century furniture and Chinese and European porcelains (paintings by Cezanne, Gauguin, Matisse, and Picasso have unfortunately been blurred out).
Learn more about the storied home

Celebrities

June 9, 2017

Proposed state Senate bill would ban brokers from using ‘SoHa’ in listings

As real estate developers and brokers continue rebranding neighborhoods with new nicknames, some community members fear this gentrifies and strips the history away from their nabes. Like NoLo (SoHo + Nolita + Lower East Side) and DoBro (Downtown Brooklyn) before it, SoHa, the new branding moniker for South Harlem, has been met with resistance from residents. According to Crain’s, newly elected state Senator Brian Benjamin, a native of Harlem, talked with so many residents that opposed the term SoHa, he has introduced a bill banning people, specifically brokers, from using the nickname as a marketing tool.
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June 9, 2017

The Urban Lens: Kalliope Amorphous captures the faces of the Upper West Side

By Dana Schulz

6sqft’s ongoing series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, creative and conceptual photographer Kalliope Amorphous shares her series "Upper West Side Story." Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. "I'm always chasing after something nostalgic and timeless," says Kalliope Amorphous, which is why her long-time home on the Upper West Side was the perfect setting for a portrait study. "There's a strong sense of community here and it feels more like a neighborhood in the classic and old-fashioned sense," the self-taught photographer explains. In this black-and-white series, Kalliope captures the many faces of one of the city's most historic areas, exploring its long-standing energy and evolving residents, as well as her favorite themes of identity, mortality, time, and consciousness.
See the series here

June 9, 2017

Kelsey Grammer’s Chelsea condo in contract for nearly $8M

By Dana Schulz

Nearly a year after first hitting the market for $9.75 million, Kelsey Grammer's condo at Jean Nouvel's glassy 100 Eleventh Avenue in west Chelsea has gone into contract, reports the Wall Street Journal. But despite the fact that that the listing showcased his piano from the set of "Frasier" and the impressive 100 feet of massive windows providing Hudson River and skyline views, the selling price came in at just under $8 million (the price was reduced to $8.95 million in March).
Check it out

June 9, 2017

Dramatic Sutton deco duplex that belonged to Sen. Jacob Javits asks $5.2M

New York City's classic pre-war co-ops are in an elegant class by themselves, with beamed high ceilings, big casement windows, entry halls and galleries, maid's rooms and gracious spaces in general. The more interesting among them tend to be those in which the customized luxury of their longtime residents has been preserved. Such is case with this spacious duplex at 322 East 57th Street in Sutton Place (where you'll find a lot of preserved customized luxury). The listing describes the three-bedroom deco-era co-op, listed for $5.195 million, as "exquisite, dramatic and unique." Designed in 1933 by renowned architect Joseph Urban, the 3,300 square-foot apartment was for 40 years the home of the late Senator Jacob Javits and his wife, Marian, who died earlier this year. And while it's likely that there are many updates to be made, there are also many surprising details that have returned with today's trends.
Check out the glass cube

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

Images (L to R): The Ellipse, 1007 Atlantic Avenue, 33 Bond Street and 70 Pine Street

June 9, 2017

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

By Emrys Fitzgerald

Live in One of the World’s Most Iconic Skyscrapers: New Leases at 70 Pine Street Include 1 Month Free [link] Downtown Brooklyn’s Topped-Out Tower with New Subway Entrance Nears Completion; See the Photos [link] Clinton Hill’s 1007 Atlantic Avenue Launches Leasing; 1-Beds from $2,215/Month [link] Model Units Unveiled at Ellipse, Jersey City’s New Waterfront High […]

Real Estate Trends

June 8, 2017

Sculptor Richard Serra drops $7M on Tribeca loft, now owns entire building

When this sprawling, full-floor Tribeca loft at 173 Duane Street first hit the market for $7.95 million at the beginning of the year, 6sqft wasn't the least bit surprised at its strikingly creative interiors, considering it was owned by artist Merrill Steiger. As we noted, it's the same building where prolific sculptor Richard Serra has lived and worked since the 1990s. At various points, he and his wife Clara have purchased the first, third, fourth, fifth and sixth floors of the early 20th-century cast-iron building, most recently paying just under $4 million for the third floor in 2011. This left only the second floor out of their hands, but LL NYC reports that Serra has just coughed up $7 million for Steiger's unit, giving him ownership of the entire building.
Take a look around

New details revealed for Upper West Side’s starchitect-studded Waterline Square

L to R: One Waterline Square by Richard Meier, Two Waterline Square by KPF, and Three Waterline Square by Rafael Vinoly

June 8, 2017

New details revealed for Upper West Side’s starchitect-studded Waterline Square

As 6sqft previously reported, the three buildings that comprise the Upper West Side's Waterline Square are rapidly rising from a five-acre site overlooking the Hudson River. For the neighborhood's most exciting and ambitious project in decades, a group of the architecture and design world's most celebrated names was chosen by GID Development Group to create the master plan, with Richard Meier and Partners, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates and Rafael Viñoly Architects each designing a residential tower. We've been graced with leaked renderings of what's to come on several occasions; now, the project's dream team has lifted the curtain on a comprehensive website that reveals so-far unseen renderings of the towers and their interiors, the 100,000 square feet of amenity space that will be shared between them and the three-acre park designed by Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects.
See the latest renderings

June 8, 2017

Diane Kruger snags eco-friendly loft in Tribeca for $4.2M

Actress Diane Kruger, who recently took home the best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival last month, just scored a chic two-bedroom unit in Tribeca for $4.2 million. The building, built in 1869, includes six units and features amenities like an on-site fitness center and a residential lounge with greenery. As reported by the New York Post, Kruger’s pad spans 1,943 square feet and has 11-foot high ceilings. Last month, the actress sold her apartment in the East Village for $1.1 million, higher than its $985,000 listing price, following a 12-offer bidding war.
See inside the chic loft

June 8, 2017

Clever use of space is key in this fully customized $450K Gramercy studio

If you're looking for a (Manhattan) budget-friendly studio in a neighborhood like Gramercy Park, chances are you'll be seeing lots of tiny spaces. But we've seen some genius ways to turn a tiny apartment into a great place to live, and this studio co-op at 22 Irving Place (where everyone's favorite downtown Manhattan neighborhoods merge) showcases some fine examples. Outfitted with custom cabinetry that often does double duty and also looks great, this diminutive dwelling packs storage and modern amenities into a bright and cheerful home with treetop views overlooking a private garden.
See more of this clever studio

Distinctive Homes

City Planning Commission officially approves Midtown East Rezoning

Conceptual image depicting all of the proposed sites of the East Midtown rezoning fully built out, via CityRealty

June 7, 2017

City Planning Commission officially approves Midtown East Rezoning

The City Planning Commission unanimously approved the long-awaited rezoning plan for Midtown East on Wednesday, which will rezone 78 blocks in hopes of modernizing the neighborhood. The plan, which was released last August, follows Mayor Bloomberg’s failed attempt to rezone the area in 2013. According to the Real Deal, the proposal would create 6.5 million square feet of new office space over the next twenty years. This would potentially encourage taller and more modern office towers, attracting more commercial and corporate tenants.
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Policy

June 7, 2017

Jon Bon Jovi puts sprawling West Village duplex on the market for $17.25M

"Never Say Goodbye" certainly doesn't hold true when it comes to Bon Jovi's real estate game. Exactly two years ago, the Jersey rocker unloaded his Soho penthouse for a hefty $34 million, shortly thereafter picking up a sprawling duplex condo at new celeb-favorite 150 Charles Street for $13 million. But now, as Curbed tells us, he's on the move again, listing the West Village pad for $17.25 million. That upgraded price tag will get you over 4,000 square feet of contemporary interiors, plus a massive 52' x 29' landscaped terrace and two smaller balconies.
Check out the whole place

The MTA considers a ‘car-free busway’ as L-train alternative

L train via Wiki Commons

June 7, 2017

The MTA considers a ‘car-free busway’ as L-train alternative

L train via Wiki Commons To mitigate the nightmare commuters will face during the 15-month L-train shutdown, the MTA and the Department of Transportation presented four possible alternatives that would make a portion of 14th Street a car-free busway. Streetsblog NYC reported that during a Manhattan Community Board 6 meeting on Monday, the agencies laid out the following options: a standard Select Bus Service (SBS) along 14th Street, enhanced SBS that includes turn and curb restrictions, a car-free busway in the middle lanes along 14th and a river-to-river car-free busway. Agency officials predict between 75 and 85 percent of the daily 275,000 daily L riders will use other subway lines, with bus service possibly absorbing between 5-15 percent of displaced trips.
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June 7, 2017

Macy’s may add public park to rooftop of Herald Square flagship

As part of a strategy to shore up its flagging retail business, Macy's is considering providing New York City with more public park space right on the rooftop of its Herald Square flagship store, the New York Post reports. Doug Sesler, EVP of Real Estate for the chain, said in an investor presentation Tuesday that the store was "Exploring ways to activate upper levels (e.g.rooftop) and overall property while retaining Macy’s store and presence." To attract shoppers and add more excitement to the shopping experience, Macy’s execs are looking at plans to develop the rooftop of the 2.2 million square-foot 34th Street store, including restaurants, green space, trees and benches.
Why a park?

Uncategorized

June 7, 2017

The MetLife Building’s letters are getting a makeover

While the Brutalist architecture of the MetLife Building, formerly the Pan Am Building, makes this 59-story skyscraper stand out among Midtown's many tall towers, its large sign touting its namesake makes it easy for all to identify. Beginning this week, the insurance company will replace the massive letters with a brand new typeface, as Crain’s reported. The installation of the new, more modern logo will be the first time the building’s sign has changed since 1993 when 15- and 18-foot-long letters spelling out MetLife replaced Pan Am’s sign. Additionally, the firm's new corporate logo--made more colorful in an attempt to shift their marketing strategy along with a new tagline "Navigating life together"--is being installed on the tower's east side.
Find out more

Architecture And Design

June 7, 2017

Sprawling five-bedroom loft in Soho offers style and plenty of space for $20K/month

It doesn't get more Soho than Prince Street, once home to big-name artists, now home to big-brand sneaker stores and...a few big name artists who bought their lofts way back when. This sprawling full floor loft at 131 Prince Street in the center of it all spans 3,600 square feet including five bedrooms; while it's all loft, it also feels like a big rambling estate that has been in the family for years. You can experience this level of space, convenience and comfort with renovations that have integrated substance and style, provided you've got $19,995 a month rent.
Take the tour

Distinctive Homes

June 6, 2017

‘Today’ show host Savannah Guthrie lists Tribeca loft for $6M