Manhattan

In the light of Donald Trump's ban on Syrian refugees, 6sqft decided to take a look back at Little Syria. From the late 1880s to the 1940s, the area directly south of the World Trade Center centered along Washington Street held the nation's first and largest Arabic settlement. The bustling community was full of Turkish coffee houses, pastry shops, smoking parlors, dry goods merchants, and silk stores, but the Immigration Act of 1924 (which put limits on the number of immigrants allowed to enter the U.S. from a given country and altogether banned Asians and Arabs) followed by the start of construction on the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel in 1940, caused this rich enclave to disappear. And though few vestiges remain today, there's currently an exhibit on Little Syria at the Metropolitan College of New York, and the Department of Parks and Recreation is building a new park to commemorate the literary figures associated with the historic immigrant community.
The full history and details on the new developments

History

February 1, 2017

See dazzling new renderings of Union Square’s Tammany Hall overhaul

By Diane Pham

The redevelopment of Union Square's Tammany Hall is moving full steam ahead. As CityRealty reports, leasing has launched, and along with a brand new website, a slew of new renderings showing off the historic building's impending transformation have also been revealed.
more here

New Developments

February 1, 2017

In just a month, Second Avenue Subway eases congestion on the Lexington Avenue line by 11 percent

When the Second Avenue Subway opened on the first of the year, it changed the lives of many commuters, namely those living in Yorkville on the Upper East Side who had long walks to the 4/5/6 trains and then faced their notoriously tight cars and frequent delays. But those New Yorkers who still rely on the Lexington Avenue line have also gotten some relief: According to a New York Times analysis of MTA data, on an average January weekday, ridership fell by about 11 percent, or 88,000 trips, between 110th Street and Grand Central, undoubtedly a direct effect of the Second Avenue line's average ridership of 140,000.
More facts and figures

Transit

February 1, 2017

Lendlease-Turner selected as design-build team for $1.5B Javits Center expansion

A Lendlease-Turner Construction partnership has been chosen to coordinate and build the planned 1.2 million-square-foot expansion of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on Manhattan's far west side. Commercial Observer reports that the New York Convention Center Development Corporation, the entity that controls the state-owned venue, announced Tuesday that they had approved the team for the project, which is expected to cost $1.55 billion. Atlanta-based architecture firm tvsdesign is also part of the Lendlease-Turner consortium. According to the announcement, the winning proposal offered, "significant design, logistical and operational benefits, including increased atrium space, integrated public and support spaces and a commitment to maintaining current operations during all phases of construction."
Find out more and see new renderings

Real Estate Trends

January 31, 2017

Flatiron loft gets a spectacular renovation featuring high-end millwork and finishes

By Rebecca Paul

This beautiful loft located in the Flatiron District was designed and renovated by the firm S. R. Gambrel. Known for their innovative use of texture and color, their execution of the interior is a complex but cohesive exercise in fusing a varied palette of the two. The loft was transformed to create individual rooms, and top highlights found in each are the cabinetry details and the millwork that stretches from the floor to ceiling.
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Distinctive Homes

January 31, 2017

The mysterious origins of the famous New York Egg Cream

By Rebecca Paul

From Brooklyn Blackout Cake to Eggs Benedict, New York City is filled with gastronomic firsts. But while we have a clear origin for most of our foodie favorites, the New York Egg Cream is not one of them. This frothy sweet beverage is made from Fox’s U-Bet chocolate syrup, seltzer water, and a splash of milk, which makes its story even more confusing since the beloved drink contains neither eggs nor cream. There are a few theories currently in circulation about the name and origin of the Egg Cream, each varying in time and circumstance, but most confirming that the drink originated on the Lower East Side among Eastern European Jewish immigrants.
All the mysterious theories

History

January 31, 2017

Furnished full-floor loft with an art collection asks $6,250/month in Tribeca

This sprawling 1,700-square-foot apartment takes up the entire fifth floor of 91 Franklin Street, a five-story, five-unit rental in Tribeca. Having the top-floor unit means the space is outfitted with skylights, as well as exposures to the north and south. Any renter ready to pay $6,250 a month will also get this pad fully furnished, which includes art from the owner's extensive contemporary collection.
Time to tour the space

Distinctive Homes

January 31, 2017

Extell buying former Carnegie Deli site

Yesterday, workers removed the iconic neon sign outside Carnegie Deli, but the final nail in the coffin comes from the news that mega-developer Extell is buying the pastrami mecca's former home on a block where they already own two other sites. The Post got word that Gary Barnett's firm will close on a deal as soon as today for the six-story building at 854 Seventh Avenue. The 79-year-old deli closed on December 31st, but in 2015, Extell paid $9.1 million to owner Marian Harper Levine for their air rights.
Find out more

Real Estate Trends

January 30, 2017

Hidden tunnel connecting New Yorker Hotel to Penn Station unearthed

By Hannah Frishberg

Under the New Yorker Hotel, a former guest convenience has been rendered an Art Deco artifact by the times. While not built to be a secret, a tunnel connecting the Midtown hotel's lobby to Penn Station was sealed on the station's side sometime in the 1960s and subsequently forgotten, according to Atlas Obscura.
See what the tunnel looks like today, almost a century later

January 30, 2017

Pier 55 offshore park may be flatter than originally proposed

Despite the fact that the 535 concrete piles that will support the planned undulating base of the Pier 55 offshore park have already been erected, the Hudson River Park Trust is now looking towards a flatter design. The Architect's Newspaper obtained a copy of a permit modification request that the group submitted to the Army Corps of Engineers that reduces the park's overall size slightly from 2.7 to 2.4 acres and replaces many of the hollow pentagonal pots that would have sat on top of the columns with "a flat structural base sandwiches between the piles and the landscaping."
Find out the reason for the major change

Architecture And Design

January 30, 2017

Actress Amy Irving re-lists lovely Central Park West co-op for $9M

By Annie Doge

Actress Amy Irving was nominated for an Academy Award for "Yentl" and a Golden Globe for "Crossing Delancey," but aside from her work on stage and screen, the actress made headlines when divorcing from Steven Speilberg in 1989. At the time, a judge vacated their prenup that had been written on a cocktail napkin, entitling to Irving to half of Speilberg's net worth, or a whopping $100 million. In 2006, she used some of this cash to buy a stunning co-op at 50 Central Park West for $6.9 million. Nine years later, she bought another classic co-op nearby at 75 Central Park West for $8.9 million; the following year, renovations to her apartment sparked a fire in the building that damaged Hank Azaria's unit a few floors above. But now that the reno is presumably done, Irving is trying hard to unload her first Upper West Side property. She first listed it in September 2015 for $11.5 million, but after several price chops, it's now returned for $8,995,000.
Take a look around

Karim Rashid’s East Harlem HAP Five gets its bright pink trim

Final rendering of HAP FIVE (l), Construction progress as of January 27; CityRealty

January 30, 2017

Karim Rashid’s East Harlem HAP Five gets its bright pink trim

Construction is progressing at the very Karim Rashid-esque HAP Five residential project at 329 Pleasant Avenue in East Harlem, CityRealty reports. The building's frame has been enclosed in glass and its balconies are getting the hot-pink trim chosen by neighborhood residents after a bolder color scheme was nixed. HAP Investment Developers has specified that the project will be rental apartments instead of condos; the 21,500-square-foot, eight-story new project will offer 20 apartments including studios and one- and two-bedroom units created by the award-winning designer, all of which will have open kitchens and offer access to either a balcony, terrace or backyard.
New construction photos, this way

January 30, 2017

Elegant Central Park West penthouse hits the market for the first time in 30 years, asks $20M

The listing for this prewar triplex penthouse on the Upper West Side says it's "like a house hovering twenty-two floors above Central Park," but one look at the sprawling floor plan suggests that "mansion" might be a better word. Five bedrooms may sound ordinary, if luxurious, but countless other rooms and suites, three enormous terraces on the middle floor, a wraparound terrace on the bedroom floor and helicopter views in every direction put this iconic home atop a classic Emery Roth-designed co-op at 320 Central Park West in a class by itself—and its $20 million ask certainly reflects its status.
Check out those views, this way

Distinctive Homes

January 28, 2017

$14K/month multifunctional Flatiron loft is ready for all your creative endeavors

This Gramercy/Flatiron pad at 333 Park Avenue South, available for rent furnished or unfurnished for $14,000 per month, has all your classic loft details such as rustic beamed ceilings, wooden columns, and massive industrial windows. But it's also been reconfigured into a multifunctional, multi-level home that has plenty of separate zones for photo studio work, office space, entertaining, living, and any other use you could think of. Add in the slew of custom built-ins, chic decor, and artsy wall treatments, and that five-digit price tag seems a lot more reasonable.
Investigate the possibilities

Distinctive Homes

January 27, 2017

Lottery opens for 40 affordable units across Central Harlem, starting at $822/month

Second to the Bronx, Central Harlem has seen perhaps the most new affordable housing opportunities in the city. The latest is a 40-unit lottery spread across four buildings near Jackie Robinson Park--304 West 152nd Street, 232 West 149th Street, 2797 Frederick Douglass Boulevard, and 2472 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard. The units are available to those earning 50 or 60 percent of the area media income and range from $822/month studios to $1,371/month four-bedrooms.
Find out more

Affordable Housing

January 27, 2017

Inside the Village East Cinema, one of NY’s last surviving ‘Yiddish Rialto’ theaters

By James and Karla Murray

Moviegoers at the Village East Cinema may be surprised to learn that they are visiting a recently restored New York City designated landmark. The Village East Cinema has a fascinating history as one of the last surviving “Yiddish Rialto” theaters along Second Avenue in the East Village. Today, the cinema is known for premiering many independent films and an eclectic mix of art and commercial releases. The theater’s most significant visual aspect, however, is its main auditorium’s ornate and colorful ceiling, which is regarded as having one of the most remarkable works of plaster craftsmanship in New York City.
explore the spectacular space here

January 27, 2017

FREE RENT: A roundup of NYC’s latest rental concessions

By Ondel Hylton

No Security Deposit + One Month Free for Full-Floor Apartments on Lower East Side [link] Glenwood Offering Free Rent at Lincoln Square High-Rise, Hawthorn Park [link] One Month Free on All Units at Luxury High Rise LINC LIC; Studios from $2,395 [link] Now 95% Leased, 180 Franklin Avenue in Clinton Hill Offers Two Months Free […]

Real Estate Trends

January 27, 2017

SL Green says One Vanderbilt will bring in $200M a year

SL Green Realty CEO Marc Holliday said Thursday that the midtown office tower One Vanderbilt is expected to pull in as much as $198 million a year in net operating income when complete in 2020 and fully leased, The Real Deal reports. That figure, in 2028 dollars, likely includes $42 million in admission fees for the building's planned observation deck and is based on the assumption that the tower will be leased out at an average of $155 per square foot. If realized, that figure would put the 1.7-million-square-foot, 1,401-foot-tall tower in a league with some of the the city's significantly larger trophy properties.
Find out more

January 27, 2017

Daughter of rock legend Peter Gabriel lists sunny East Village co-op for $1.65M

Rocker Peter Gabriel's daughter, Anna Gabriel, is unloading her East Village pad for $1.65 million. Gabriel, who has shot music videos that include notably Beyonce’s “Countdown” and “Sweet Dreams,” purchased the apartment at 303 East 8th Street in 2006 for $1.05 million, according to public records. (You can see some photos of her living space here.) Now the two-bedroom unit--which boasts 17 windows across four exposures--is looking to find a new owner.
Take a look

Distinctive Homes

January 27, 2017

Built for an aviation pioneer, this 1940 International Style mansion asks $40M

Known as the Sherman Fairchild Mansion, the extraordinary modern-fronted townhouse at 17 East 65th Street is one of those New York City sights that might stop you in your tracks in the middle of an otherwise sedate Upper East Side sidewalk. The current façade of this five-story home was designed by William Hamby and George Nelson in 1940 for brilliant and prolific aviation pioneer/inventor Sherman Fairchild (well-known architect Michael Graves was commissioned to design yet another facade for the home in 1979, but that version was never built). The 25-foot-wide, 9,440 square-foot modern townhouse has been on and off the market since 2014; it's currently asking $40,000. While the home's exterior is provocative and unique–especially given the Upper East Side location a block from Central Park–the interiors, which have undergone a thorough renovation by the current owner, noted Renaissance art dealer Martin Zimet of French & Company, are yet another surprise.
Take a look inside

January 26, 2017

Iconic portrait artist Aaron Shikler’s stunning UWS apartment returns for $7M

By Diane Pham

The spectacular home of late artist Aaron Shikler is for sale once again, reports LLNYC. The painter, who is best known for his brooding and soulful portraits of America's statesmen and celebrities, including John F. Kennedy, Jackie O. and Ronald Reagan, transferred the ownership of the cooperative in the famed Studio Building to his two children in 2013 before his passing in 2015. The family tried last year to sell the co-op for $7.8 million but sadly were unable to find a buyer. Now it appears they're hoping an $800,000 price cut and a bevy of new photos showcasing the ornate interiors will help close a deal.
more photos inside

Distinctive Homes

January 26, 2017

Rem Koolhaas’ Gramercy condo reveals interior renderings, launches sales

Right before the new year, the highly anticipated condo from Toll Brothers City Living at 121 East 22nd Street in Gramercy reached its full height, providing the first real views of its glassy facade and chiseled corner that resembles a giant crystal. And what makes the structure even more special is the fact that it's the first NYC project from Pritzker Prize-winning Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas's firm the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA).CityRealty now tells us that sales have officially begun, currently ranging from $1.5 million, 761-square-foot one-bedrooms to $4.7 million,2,402-square-foot three-bedrooms, and along with the launch comes the first set of interior renderings and some fresh looks at the exterior and amenity spaces.
More details and all the renderings

January 26, 2017

1894 maps show a Manhattan densely populated with immigrants

New York has always been a city of immigrants, and these historic maps—dug up by Slate—attempted to illustrate the population density and nationality in 19th century Manhattan. With data from the 1890 census, the New York’s Tenement-House Committee and Frederick E. Pierce released the maps in 1894. They tracked immigrant communities by striping each of the island’s sanitary districts (which are small service areas designated by the sanitation department) with different patterns. The stripes show the national origin of the New Yorkers that live in each area, while the width of the striped signifies the proportion of the population represented by each group.
See the full map

History

January 26, 2017

Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh lists Tribeca loft below Taylor Swift for $5.75M

Now's your chance to get in at Tribeca's celebrity heavy condo, the Sugar Loaf Building at 155 Franklin Street. Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh has listed his $5.75 million three-bedroom apartment, which is situated right below Taylor Swift's palatial, lofty pad. And at 155 Franklin, all things revolve around Taylor Swift: Sir Ian McKellen was staying in Peter Jackson's apartment and got evicted when Jackson sold the unit to Swift; and Orlando Bloom sold his apartment soon after Swift moved in with rumors of paparazzi annoyance. But if you don't mind the crowd of fans, this unit boasts 2,450 square feet as well as the same exposed brick and timber-beamed ceilings that decorate Swift's nearby abode.
Time for a tour

January 26, 2017

Travel + Leisure dubs ‘NoLo’ NYC’s next trendy neighborhood

DoBro (Downtown Brooklyn), MiMa (Midtown Manhattan), Hellsea (Hell's Kitchen meets Chelsea), BoCoCa (Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens)--typically we blame brokers and real estate marketers for inventing outlandish neighborhood acronyms as a way to make their listings and developments seem unique and in uncharted territory. But this time, the writers over at Travel + Leisure have decided to try their hand at the name game, dubbing "NoLo" the next trendy 'hood. "There's no cooler neighborhood mashup," they say, than "the parts of Soho where Nolita bumps against the Lower East Side." Here you'll find "a community of restaurants, shops, cafes and drinking spots that exude the city's cutting edge style."
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Uncategorized

January 26, 2017

Bjarke Ingels’ ‘bold yet graceful’ High Line towers get new website and flashy signage