Manhattan

It might be difficult to imagine a having-it-all situation for $850K, especially on the Upper East Side, but this unusual apartment for well under a million at 225 East 86th Street definitely says "home" for someone who loves breezy country cottage style and wants more than the average boxed condo. And with living, dining and sleeping spaces divided over three levels, plus a rare glass-enclosed atrium, this heavenly home has plenty of room for guest visits as well as alone time. What's more, despite its retail cornucopia, Yorkville is very much a residential neighborhood–one whose residents will surely rejoice with the advent of the Second Avenue Line, making the whole package an even sweeter deal.
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Distinctive Homes

December 28, 2016

Lovely prewar duplex in Carnegie Hill is up for both rent and sale

You've got options when it comes to this prewar duplex at 1281 Madison Avenue, a Carnegie Hill cooperative that's a block away from Central Park. After being on the market for $3.125 million (price chopped down from $3.495 million) it is now also on the rental market, asking $10,000 a month. The two-bedroom, two-bathroom pad has some lovely prewar details still intact, like the large wood-framed windows, equipped with window seats, parquet floors, fireplaces and 11-foot ceilings.
Take a look around

Distinctive Homes

December 28, 2016

City says Trump Tower evacuations to be ‘a common occurrence’

By Dana Schulz

Yesterday afternoon, after a suspicious package was found in the building atrium, Trump Tower was evacuated along with the entire area between 50th and 59th Streets and Madison and 6th Avenues. Ultimately, it was found to be a bag of children's toys left behind, but in a tweet after the incident, de Blasio spokesman Eric Phillips said such evacuations at the Tower "will be a common occurrence." According to the Daily News, Trump spokesman Dan Scavino sent out a thank you tweet, to which Phillips replied, "No problem. We’ll send you the bill."
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Celebrities

December 28, 2016

Elegant UES co-op brings designer details to a gilded-age Georgian mansion for $1.1M

Many an Upper East Side apartment boasts gracious rooms, decorator swag and grandeur to spare. This one-bedroom co-op at 18 East 84th Street in a prime spot just off Fifth Avenue has designer cred with cool, creative execution–and it doesn't sacrifice a bit of grandeur. This enviable "penthouse" residence is on the top floor of a turn-of-the-century Georgian mansion with plenty of original historic details joining unique and stylish interiors; it's currently asking $1.095 million.
Take the tour

Distinctive Homes

December 27, 2016

Craigslist founder makes plans to convert his Village duplex into a two-family home

It's more common to see NYC's rich and famous buy to combine, but Craig Newmark—better known as the brains behind Craigslist—appears to want to cozy up in smaller quarters. Back in May, Newmark dropped nearly $6 million on a massive 6,075-square-foot, three-bedroom duplex at 52 West 9th Street, and now according to The Real Deal, he's making plans to transform the generous spread into a two-family home.
more here

Celebrities

December 27, 2016

Upper West Side studio with custom design elements asks just $398K

If you're on the hunt for holiday apartment deals, this Upper West Side studio has just hit the market for $398,600. It is located on the ninth floor of the Master Apartments, an Art Deco co-op at 310 Riverside Drive that was recently entered into the National Registry of Historic Places. The apartment has been renovated with some unique features, like custom blinds and a murphy bed, that help maximize the limited square footage.
Take the tour

Distinctive Homes

December 27, 2016

Amy Schumer finally sheds her Upper West Side walk-up penthouse

Amy Schumer will have a little extra to celebrate over this week. According to the Post, the comedienne has finally found a buyer for her Upper West Side co-op. Schumer originally put the adorable pad up for sale in November 2015 for $2.075 million and it's been on and off the market since then seeing several price chops. The home was last listed for $1.625 million and is said to be in contract with an unknown buyer for an unknown amount.
more details and photos inside here

December 23, 2016

This darling prewar apartment asks $535K in the East Village

This one-bedroom apartment is being marketed as both charming and quiet, located at the prewar cooperative 315 East 12th Street in the East Village. You're not getting tons of square feet but it's just enough for a first-time buyer who can afford the price tag of $535,000. This unit's asking price has been creeping up over the years: it was asking $249,000 back in 2006 and then $449,999 in 2008.
Look around

Distinctive Homes

December 23, 2016

‘True Blood’ star Alexander Skarsgård eyes East Village synagogue penthouse

Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård, of "True Blood" and "Tarzan" fame, may be sinking his teeth into a swanky new East Village pad. The Post reports that he was seen checking out the duplex penthouse at 415 East 6th Street, the Meseritz Synagogue condo conversion. The apartment isn't publicly on the market, but it's still vacant and was last listed for $4.39 million.
See the pad

December 23, 2016

Get an advance preview of the Second Avenue Subway’s 96th Street station TODAY

If you can't wait until January 1st to scope out the new Second Avenue Subway line, today Governor Cuomo is holding an "open house" from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the 96th Street station. Cuomo debuted the station yesterday afternoon at a press event in advance of the official New Year's Day opening, offering select New Yorkers a glimpse at the completed work. The open house is the first time the greater public will have access to the Second Avenue Subway since the start of construction.
more details this way

Transit

December 23, 2016

Rent the East Village party pad where Bret Easton Ellis wrote ‘American Psycho’

The East Village loft owned by novelist and literary bad boy Bret Easton Ellis is available for rent for $5,900 per month. Ellis has been renting out the studio apartment since he decamped for Los Angeles a decade ago; he told the Observer he's been holding on to the 950-square-foot, second-floor condo in the American Felt Building at 114 East 13th Street as a back-up plan, "if Los Angeles just doesn’t work out." The "American Psycho" scribe says he spent the late '80s living in the lofty studio–in his early 20s at the time–writing the iconic 1991 novel of late 20th century privilege, materialism and delusion and throwing massive Holly Golightly-esque bashes packed with his contemporaries back in the day in an East Village very different from today's.
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December 22, 2016

42 new affordable condos available at West Harlem’s Parkadon, from $225K

Qualifying New Yorkers can now apply to purchase one of 42 affordable condos in West Harlem's Parkadon Condominiums. Currently under construction, Harlen Housing Associates has been planning the structure located at 70 West 139th Street for nearly a decade and construction finally commenced on the project in 2015. Although move-in day is still a ways off, the building has topped off and the brick facade is currently being applied. Once finished there will be a total of 64 units (the difference pegged as market-rate) across 55,355 square feet, which includes 1,878 square feet of communal space on the ground floor. The NYC Housing Partnership relays that affordable apartments will range from one- to two-bedrooms priced from $225,545 and $440,381 and will be available to those earning between $50,400 and $149,490.
find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

Ghost tunnel under Central Park will reopen along with Second Avenue Subway

Image Wiki Commons

December 22, 2016

Ghost tunnel under Central Park will reopen along with Second Avenue Subway

There are countless relics from the subway's past hidden beneath NYC, but one of the most intriguing will reveal itself again in just 9 days when the Second Avenue Subway (SAS) invites straphangers to swipe their Metro cards for the first time. As Quartz noticed this past summer, a peculiar loop cutting through Central Park appeared when the MTA released their new subway map touting the addition of the SAS. Reporter Mike Murphy immediately questioned the mysterious addition that would move the Q train further north without issue ("I felt like people would have noticed if the MTA had been ripping up Central Park to build a tunnel," he wrote). After a bit of digging, he found out the half-mile stretch was built over 40 years ago and, at least according to archival maps, it's only been used twice since then.
find out more

Transit

December 22, 2016

Live in one of Manhattan’s rare rooftop cabins for $4,200 a month

Here's another tiny, pricey top-floor studio calling itself a "penthouse" in a buzzy downtown Manhattan neighborhood. Except this particular diminutive dwelling really is one-(or maybe two- or three-) of-a-kind in the city: It’s a rooftop cabin. Curbed calls it "NYC's most unusual rental." Every so often we get a chance to marvel at these quirky homesteads perched atop otherwise ordinary apartment buildings, and we don’t know whether we’d be thrilled to bits every morning to wake up in a country cabin on a city rooftop, or if we’d be totally over it. Let’s go with thrilled to bits–and take a closer look at this unusual aerie at 15 West 28th Street, asking $4,200 in monthly rent.
It's a cabin on the roof. How cool is that?

December 21, 2016

Live/work loft with an eight-foot wall of windows asks $4,950/month in Midtown West

This Midtown West condo, at 448 West 37th Street, is known as the Glass Farmhouse—and this live/work loft is certainly glassy. The completely open, 1,550-square-foot pad has 13-foot, beamed ceilings, with eight feet of windows underneath. And all that space, the listing suggests, "allows endless possibilities for decoration and setup as you want." Although the building is a condo, this one is up on the rental market for nearly $5,000 a month.
Check it out

Distinctive Homes

December 21, 2016

VIDEO: Neil Patrick Harris gives a holiday tour of his Harlem brownstone

By Dana Schulz

Neil Patrick Harris and hubby David Burtka first made real estate headlines when they purchased a $4 million Harlem brownstone in 2013, setting a neighborhood record. They then spent over a year renovating the five-story residence at 2036 Fifth Avenue to be the perfect family home for their twins Gideon and Harper (now five years old) and two dogs. Last year, the couple invited Architectural Digest in for a tour, showing off their elegant but fun design choices, impressive art collection, and restored architectural features. They've now opened up their home again, this time for Vogue's 73 Questions (h/t Apartment Therapy), complete with Christmas decorations.
Watch the video here

December 21, 2016

The Urban Lens: Visiting Gramercy’s Pete’s Tavern, where O. Henry penned ‘The Gift of the Magi’

By James and Karla Murray

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, award-winning photographers James and Karla Murray return with a look inside Pete's Tavern, a Gramercy favorite with beautiful holiday decorations and an interesting historical connection to Christmas. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Pete's Tavern lays claim to being NYC's oldest continuously operating bar and restaurant. Established in 1864, it's become famous for the fact that O. Henry is said to have written the classic short Christmas story "The Gift of the Magi" while dining and drinking here. We recently visited Pete's to photograph its lovely holiday decorations and to chat with restaurateur Gary Egan and manager A.C. about the establishment's unique history, connection to O. Henry, and time as a speakeasy during Prohibition.
All the photos and the interview

December 20, 2016

Chic Gramercy loft stretching over two floors hits the market for $1.75M

This apartment checks the boxes to qualify as a dreamy loft apartment: two sprawling floors with high ceilings, exposed brick, and floor-to-ceiling windows that lead to some private outdoor space. The pad is located at 215 East 24th Street, also known as the Penny Lane cooperative, in Gramercy Park. For a total of three bedrooms and three bathrooms, it'll cost you $1.75 million. It last sold in 2013 for $1.36 million.
Take a look around

Distinctive Homes

December 20, 2016

Late fashion designer L’Wren Scott’s Chelsea ‘Sky Garage’ apartment sells for $6.5 million

The Chelsea apartment that had been the home of late fashion designer L’Wren Scott has sold for $6.5 million according to public records. The 3,328-square-foot duplex at the Annabelle Selldorf-designed 200 Eleventh Avenue was listed earlier this year for $8.25 million after Scott’s tragic suicide shocked the fashion world in 2014 (h/t New York Post). Scott, who was Mick Jagger's longtime girlfriend, had purchased the home in 2010 for 5.6 million. The apartment was one of the building's famed Sky Garage units with a car elevator leading to a private 337 square-foot garage adjacent to the apartment.
Celebrity neighbors and a Sky Garage

December 19, 2016

Louis C.K. drops $2.45M on another Greenwich Village apartment

Comedian Louis C.K. (real name Louis Székely) already owns four units in a West Village brownstone, but these were joint purchases with his ex-wife, painter Alix Baily. Though they openly maintain a good relationship, he's now ventured out on his own, as the Observer reports that he dropped $2.45 million on a two-bedroom co-op at 101 West 12th Street, a larger apartment building a few blocks away.
Check it out

December 19, 2016

First look at the Second Avenue Subway’s $4.5M public art installation

If a sparkling new line isn't cause enough to celebrate, once the Second Avenue Subway opens on January 1st, 2017, millions of New Yorkers will also be treated to several stretches of world-class art while navigating the 96th, 86th, 72nd, and 63rd Street stations. As the Times first reports, the MTA has poured $4.5 million into beautifying the stations with contemporary tile artworks by famed names Chuck Close, Sarah Sze, Vik Muniz, and Jean Shin.
see more here

Gramercy Park will open to the public for one hour on Christmas Eve

Photo via Bosc d’Anjou/Flickr

December 19, 2016

Gramercy Park will open to the public for one hour on Christmas Eve

By Dana Schulz

For one precious hour, mere mortals will have the chance to walk through Gramercys Park's iron gates sans key. Curbed reports that on Christmas Eve the Gramercy Park Block Association will host its annual holiday caroling hour with the local Parish of Calvary-St. George's, and from 6:00 to 7:00pm all will be welcome.
Find out more

Events & Things To Do

December 19, 2016

Price halved for an apartment in the building Barbara Walters once lived

This opulent apartment has been patiently waiting to find a buyer. It first hit the market in early 2014 and the price was quietly dropped to $12.5 million by the end of the year. Now, it's back two years later with a reduced ask—by nearly half!—of $6.295 million. This is a four-bedroom, five-bathroom pad with all the elegant bells and whistles at 555 Park Avenue, the prestigious Upper East Side building that Barbara Walters once called home.
Take a look inside

Distinctive Homes

December 19, 2016

Louise Bourgeois’ son gifts $4M West Village townhouse to Native American tribe

Jean-Louis Goldwater Bourgeois, son of the celebrated sculptor Louise Bourgeois, is transferring the deed for his $4 million West Village townhouse to a non-profit organization run by the Lenape tribe, who were among the original Manhattanites. The 76-year-old architectural historian and activist told the New York Post, “This building is the trophy from major theft." Bourgeois explained his romance with the city and the fact that he feels guilty that he has profited from actions that have appalled him. "The right thing to do is to return it.”
Find out more

History

December 18, 2016

Book lovers will swoon over this $915K prewar Morningside Heights co-op

A New Yorker with a big book collection should like this Morningside Heights apartment, which has a room lined with floor-to-ceiling book shelves. Otherwise, the two-bedroom co-op at 611 West 111th Street has all sorts of prewar charm, like parquet floors, moldings and a bay window. The pad last sold in 2010 for $790,000 and it just hit the market yesterday with an ask of $915,000.
Go inside

Distinctive Homes

December 16, 2016

A horrifying blaze swept through Lower Manhattan 181 years ago today