Manhattan

The Post reports that Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Diaz's Hamilton Heights townhouse at 529 West 141st Street has entered contract for $2.3 million, after he paid a mere $380,000 for it in 2002. He won't be pocketing all of it, though, as the sale comes amid an "an ugly, five-year court battle" with ex-girlfriend and state Senate candidate Marisol Alcantara over ownership of the three-family home. But $2 million split two ways is not too shabby.
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September 8, 2016

Pier55 prevails in court, construction to continue on Barry Diller-funded offshore park

By Diane Pham

All systems are go for the Barry Diller-funded Pier55 park, as a State Appellate court ruled today that work can continue on the 2.75-acre project sited along the Hudson River. As 6sqft previously reported, the main opponent of the park—better known as The City Club of New York—has been aiming to thwart the project under the claim that those involved, namely the Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT) and Pier55 Inc. (the nonprofit manager established by Diller), failed to go through adequate environmental impact evaluations. City Club served the pair with a lawsuit that eventually led to a stop work order in June. However, an appeals court lifted the stop work order shortly after, and by the end of August, the first nine piles were installed. Today's ruling upholds a lower court's decision that HRPT and Pier55 Inc. did in fact do a proper environmental review, and moreover, that HRPT was not required to put out an RFP to solicit other ideas for the site from other developers—another major point of contention. The court also decided that the park reserves the right to use the space for non-public events like ticketed concerts, although it is noted that "the lease requires that 51 percent of the performances be free or low-cost."
find out more here

Architecture And Design

September 8, 2016

Opulent private West Chelsea mansion takes shape in Karim Rashid’s former neon-filled pad

The "unbridled luxury" promised for a townhouse at 357 West 17th street is taking shape. Architect Andres Escobar was tapped by Wonder Works Construction Corp., developer of Williamsburg's pricey Oosten condominium complex, to turn the five-floor, 25-foot-wide building into a 12,000-square-foot mansion with five bedrooms, eight (!) baths, a glass elevator, a swimming pool and a two-car garage. Wonder Works purchased the West Chelsea property for $9.35 million in 2014 from designer/developer Karim Rashid, who had lived in–and occasionally rented out–a candy-colored, neon-furnished loft in the existing townhouse. Now, CityRealty.com reveals new renderings from Wonder Works showing a rooftop deck, a chandelier-graced library, a sleek two-car garage and more.
Check out the mansion-to-be

September 8, 2016

Trevor Noah renting a $15,000/month Hell’s Kitchen bachelor pad in Ralph Walker’s Stella Tower

Fresh into his second year as host of "The Daily Show," Trevor Noah is treating himself to some iconic New York real estate. The Post reports that the South African comedian is renting a $15,000 a month bachelor pad at Stella Tower, the Ralph Walker condo conversion in Hell's Kitchen. The Art Deco tower was built in 1927 as a telephone building and was converted along with Chelsea's Walker Tower in recent years by JDS Development Group. Noah's new digs are a 1,700-square-foot, two-bedroom residence that has an impressive outdoor terrace. Located at 425 West 50th Street, it's just a few blocks away from The Daily Show Studios at 52nd Street and Eleventh Avenue.
See the whole place

Celebrities

September 7, 2016

Kylie Jenner may have bought a $7M Tribeca penthouse

Unlike big sis Kim, Kylie Jenner may actually be paying for her NYC digs. Tribeca Citizen first reported information from an anonymous source that the model and youngest member of the Kardashian clan purchased a Tribeca penthouse, and Curbed determined, based on an Instagram photo and sales records, that it may be the $7 million top-floor unit at 15 Leonard Street. The five-bedroom triplex not only has luxurious interior details like floating concrete stairs and a limestone-clad master bath, but it boasts six outdoor terraces (perfect for setting up film crews).
Check it out

September 7, 2016

POLL: Are you in favor of the Pier 55 offshore park moving ahead?

As of late last month, summer construction work on the Barry Diller-funded Pier 55 was complete, with the first nine piles propping up the offshore park having been installed. It seemed as though all systems were a go at the $130 million futuristic park, but yesterday 6sqft reported that The City Club of New York, the civic group who was behind an earlier lawsuit and stop work order, may have a backer in none other than Douglas Durst. And today the Wall Street Journal shares that opponents had their first day in front a panel of state appellate-court judges to express environmental concerns and frustrations that the initial planning between billionaire Diller and the Hudson River Park Trust was done behind closed doors. What are your thoughts on the issue?
More details on the hearing, and tell us if you're in favor of Pier 55 moving ahead

Architecture And Design

September 7, 2016

C-Squat: The history of one of NYC’s longest standing squat houses

By Cait Etherington

In the 1980s, the idea that Avenue C would eventually be home to condo developments with names like Boutique 67 would have sent most local residents into a fit of laughter and possibly a fit of rage. At the time, heroin was so widely available in Alphabet City that junkies would simply line up outside local tenements […]

History

September 7, 2016

Downton Abbey director lists $5M Chelsea penthouse with glorious outdoor space

By Emily Nonko

This duplex penthouse, located at the Chelsea condo 263 Ninth Avenue, has been listed for sale by Michael Engler, a director who has earned Emmy nominations for his work on Downton Abbey, Sex and the City, and 30 Rock. $4.95 million will get you his customized loft with a "private oasis" of outdoor space--nearly 1,000 square feet over a top-floor, south- and west-facing terrace. Engler owns the apartment with his husband--Stribling broker Steven Sumser, also the listing agent for the apartment--which they bought in 2006 for $2.545 million.
Check it out

September 7, 2016

Manhattan meets Montmarte in a designer’s $2.45M Nomad penthouse

House Beautiful calls designer Leslie Klotz's rooftop loft "a wonderful mashup of Manhattan and Montmartre," and the homeowner says visitors are reminded of a Parisian artist's garret, though this designed-to-the-nines Nomad penthouse at 66 Madison Avenue is definitely more soigné than starving artist. A gut renovation of the space–it was once the building's boiler room–by the designer and former Banana Republic PR executive resulted in a light-filled aerie topped with a web of massive skylights and blessed with enough terrace space to accomodate her love of indoor/outdoor living and entertaining. Now on the market for $2.450 million, the apartment atop the full-service Madison Parq co-op is located in of one of the city's hottest downtown neighborhoods
Take the tour

Distinctive Homes

September 6, 2016

Molly Ringwald sells East Village duplex to noted fashion photographer for $1.7M

80s icon Molly Ringwald, of “Sixteen Candles,” “The Breakfast Club” and “Pretty in Pink” fame, has made a sale on her charming East Village duplex, reports the Post. The former teen idol put the two-bedroom pad on the market back in June for $1.79 million, and per city records just released, she's sold the home to noted fashion photographer (and bona fide Polish prince) Alexi Lubomirski and his wife Giada for $1.7 million.
go inside the home here

September 6, 2016

Port Authority plans to sell One World Trade Center for up to $5B

It's been almost two years since Condé Nast's 3,400 employees moved into One World Trade Center. At the time, only 58 percent of its 3 million square feet of space was leased, but the hope was that the media company's presence and perceived confidence in the $3.8 billion tower would attract more tenants. This didn't quite pan out, as it's still one third empty, and the Port Authority continues to drop $3 million a month to cover Condé Nast's old lease (this amounted to $47.6 million in 2015 alone). Due to these issues, along with the fact that the tower only brought in $13 million in revenue last year-- a mere 0.35 percent return on its investment--the cash-strapped Port Authority has made plans to sell One World Trade Center for as much as $5 billion. As Crain's notes, this would be the highest price ever paid for an office building in the country.
More details ahead

Uncategorized

September 6, 2016

Alec and Hilaria Baldwin scope out $16.5M Chelsea penthouse for growing family

It's safe to say at this point that Alec Baldwin's infamous New York Magazine tirade about leaving the public eye of New York was not literal, as two and half years later the actor and his wife Hilaria haven't budged. In fact, the couple, currently expecting their third child together, was seen checking out a $16.5 million Chelsea penthouse, according to the Post. The 5,000-square-foot apartment is located at the top of one of the London Terrace Towers towers and is being sold as an approved combination of two existing units. It's said to be currently owned by "Sopranos" creator David Chase. But Baldwin hasn't eased up on privacy concerns. Baldwin hasn't eased up on privacy concerns, however. Sources say he's visited the apartment three times and "has been hanging out in the lobby asking residents about the building and what it’s like to be there."
See the whole space

September 6, 2016

Mogul vs. mogul: Is Douglas Durst trying to stop Barry Diller’s offshore park?

Once again in the news is media mogul Barry Diller's futuristic offshore cultural pier development at Pier 55 on the Hudson River. The proposed park project, known informally as Diller Park after its main backer, who is chairman of IAC/InterActiveCorp and is married to fashion designer Diane Von Furstenburg, is helmed by the Hudson River Park Trust. The New York Times reports that the project’s main opponent, a civic group called The City Club of New York, may have an equally powerful backer. According to Diller, there is a deep-pocketed "hidden hand” funding the legal actions against the park. In a recent interview, Diller said, “The backer of all this is one Douglas Durst.”
Find out more

Friday 5: Live in Midtown for less, modern towers now offering free rent

Every Friday 6sqft rounds up five of the best rental deals showcased on CityRealty.com’s no-fee rentals page, a space where house hunters can find the best concessions being offered by landlords across the city.

September 2, 2016

Friday 5: Live in Midtown for less, modern towers now offering free rent

By 6sqft

If you love being in the thick of it all, there's no area of New York that pulsates quite like Midtown. With ample entertainment and dining options along every street and on every corner; stunning architecture spanning numerous decades and styles everywhere you look; and no shortage of transit options to deliver you to just about any neighborhood in a matter of minutes, this neighborhood is made for the truest of urban explorers and city enthusiasts. Ahead are five extra-tall modern towers that put the city's spectacular offer up close and personal—and they're all giving out free rent!
check out who's offering deals here

Uncategorized

September 2, 2016

One month after anti-Trump sale, Keith Olbermann’s former Trump Palace condo returns for $3.9M

Liberal commentator Keith Olbermann listed his Trump Palace condo on the Upper East Side for $3.9 million in April, publicly citing his opposition to the presidential candidate. Even though he took a loss on the sale (it went through for $3.8 million in July, but he bought it for $4.2 million in 2007), he couldn't hide his relief: "I feel 20 pounds lighter since I left… If they had changed the name of it to something more positive like Ebola Palace I would have happily stayed." Now, just a month after Olbermann's tweet that he was "FREEEEEEEEE!" and "got out with 90% of my money and 100% of my soul!" the 40th floor spread is back on the market for $3.9 million. As LLNYC reports, the buyer was Syrian businessman Albert Nasser, who has very different reasons for unloading the condo.
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September 2, 2016

For $2.38M, an Upper East Side maisonette with a generous side of landscaped garden

This two-bedroom co-op at 11 East 92nd Street tops the menu for prime location and well-designed space: In Carnegie Hill half a block from Central Park, with spacious bedrooms on opposite sides, the elegant first-floor home offers a wood-burning fireplace and pretty pre-war details like a step-down living room. But the best surprise is the generous private landscaped side and rear garden paradise with its own brick fireplace.
What else comes with that?

Distinctive Homes

September 2, 2016

Live in SOM’s new Hudson Yards project for $913/month, lottery launching for 169 units

6sqft revealed renderings at the beginning of the year of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill's Hudson Yards-adjacent, five million-square-foot Manhattan West project, which "will include two office towers, a rental tower with 844 apartments at 435 West 31st Street, retail space and a new landscaped public plaza designed by James Corner Field Operations, the firm responsible for the design of the High Line." As of Tuesday, September 6th, New Yorkers earning 60 percent of the area median income can apply for 169 affordable apartments in the residential tower; they'll range from $913/month studios to $1,359/month three-bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify here

Affordable Housing

September 1, 2016

Former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown lists elegant Sutton Place triplex for $9.75M

By Diane Pham

As you would expect from a former editor of one of the world's most recognized lifestyle magazines, Tina Brown has for the last 20 years found refuge in a spectacular home in an equally spectacular building at 447 East 57th Street. But now the media mogul, who also served as an editor at The New Yorker and founded The Daily Beast, and her journalist husband Harold Evans, who himself boasts quite a resume having held top positions at the likes of U.S. News & World Report and The Atlantic, have listed their elegant Sutton Place abode for $9.75M. According to the listing, the triplex comes with five bedrooms, 5.5 baths and an incredible 19'x64' private walled-in garden. But what might be the most alluring feature of this maisonette is that it's more than once served as the backdrop for riveting conversations (and surely some heated arguments) with names like Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Henry Kissinger and Angelina Jolie. As Brown so breezily told the Journal, “Yes, we love to entertain our friends, but there is always content to the evening, where we try to bring exposure for someone that has something incredible.”
Have a closer look inside this special home

September 1, 2016

Art Nerd New York’s Top Event Picks for the Week- 9/1-9/7

By Lori Zimmer

In a city where hundreds of interesting happenings occur each week, it can be hard to pick and choose your way to a fulfilling life. Art Nerd‘s philosophy is a combination of observation, participation, education and of course a party to create the ultimate well-rounded week. Jump ahead for Art Nerd founder Lori Zimmer’s top picks for 6sqft readers! Summer's over, but you can alleviate some of the pain with a slew of arts events this weekend. Times Square Arts brings it with their September #Midnightmoment partnership with the Met Opera, and the Met Museum's gorgeous Manus X Machina comes to a close. Head over to Governors Island before it closes for the season to check out the Center for Holographic Arts, and head out to the Hamptons to enjoy Dita Von Teese while supporting Housing Works. Revisit the '70s with a Paradise Garage Reunion, or honor Captain James T Kirk with a group show inspired by Star Trek. Experience the hype that is the Japanese pop band Perfume, then educate yourself on the sprawl and settlement of the Bronx.
More on all the best events this way

Events & Things To Do

September 1, 2016

Knicks’ new star player Joakim Noah buys a $6M Chelsea penthouse with huge terrace

Joakim Noah--NBA All Star, philanthropist, social activist, and noted free-spirit--signed with the Knicks in June for $18 million a year after spending nine years with the Chicago Bulls. Ahead of his debut season in New York, Noah has scooped up a $5.8 million Chelsea penthouse with an appropriately tricked-out entertaining terrace, reports the Post. The three-bedroom spread at 555 West 23rd Street not only has 2,300 square feet of impeccable indoor space, but the 2,000 square feet of outdoor space boasts a built-in hot tub, gas grill and wet bar, pergola, self-watering planters, and surround sound.
Check out the full bachelor pad

September 1, 2016

City studying the cost of allowing landmarked Midtown East properties to sell their air rights

Last week, the city released their long-awaited Midtown East Rezoning plan, a controversial upzoning of the area bound by Madison and Third Avenues and 39th and 50th Streets that would encourage taller, more modern office towers to attract commercial tenants. One of the debated points is the proposal to permit owners of landmarked properties to sell their air rights across the district, whereas now they can only be transferred to sites directly adjacent or above the existing structure. The city has now embarked on an appraisal of these unused development rights, which amount to 3.6 million square feet and will likely be distributed to the 16 new towers that the rezoning would yield over the next 20 years. As Crain's explains, hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake, which is part of the reason Mayor Bloomberg's 2013 attempt at the rezoning failed--opponents were concerned about "the difference between what could be built on a given parcel (such as a soaring office tower) and what actually sits on the site (a church or synagogue a few stories tall)."
More details ahead

Policy

August 31, 2016

FXFowle’s NOMA condo rises in ‘neo-Bauhaus’ style at the crossroads of Manhattan

By Ondel Hylton

Earlier this year, sales launched at The NOMA, a 55-unit ground-up condominium developed by Alchemy Properties and designed by Daniel Kaplan of FXFowle Architects. The 24-story building is distinguished by a gray-brick skin and ribbons of gridded windows that pay homage the area's industrious roots. The "neo-Bauhaus" exterior references the older loft buildings from the early 19th century, the clean lines of the Bauhaus movement, and the massing of the parade of newer residential towers that have cropped up along Sixth Avenue in Nomad.
Get the full scoop on the building

This never-built Washington monument would have been the city’s tallest structure

View of the proposed monument from the New York Herald in 1847 (L); Cornerstone ceremony procession by James S. Baillie, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

August 31, 2016

This never-built Washington monument would have been the city’s tallest structure

When most people think of George Washington and New York City they envision the Washington Square Arch, not only one of the city's most notable landmarks, but one that clearly pays homage to our nation's first president. Real history buffs may also recall the Equestrian Statue of Washington in Union Square. But before both of these sites were erected (in 1895 and 1865, respectively), there was a plan in 1847 to honor him on the Upper East Side by building a 425-foot monument that would've dwarfed Trinity Church, the tallest building in the city at the time.
So what happened?

History

August 31, 2016

Kim and Kanye now enjoying a $30M Tribeca pad for $0, courtesy of Airbnb

If you needed any more proof that Kim Kardashian is the Queen of Social Media, look no further than her latest Instagram post where she can be seen lounging on the cream couch of a $30 million Tribeca penthouse—the spread she and hubby Kanye will be living in for free through October. As 6sqft previously reported, the couple was in talks with Airbnb the last few months for a lavish pad that would be provided to them at no monetary cost, so long as Kim posted something on one of her many social media accounts about it. And lo and behold, as The Post first reports, Kim sealed the deal yesterday on Instagram with a sultry shot captioned with “Just checked into our NYC penthouse. Thanks @airbnb for the gift of our home away from home.”
find out more here

August 31, 2016

Kate Spade founder’s boho East Village townhouse returns as a $40,000/month rental