Manhattan

February 6, 2016

Slate Property Group Files Permits to Demolish Tenement Building in Murray Hill

Slate Property Group filed permits fully demolish a five-story walk-up building at 203 East 33rd Street in Murray Hill. No details of their plans have been made public, but the team has the ability to transfer development rights from the string of adjacent properties they own to construct a mid-size building. Built in the early 1900's, the structure is one of seven adjacent tenement buildings between Second and Third Avenues that the development group purchased in 2013 that are altogether called The Collective. In all, the buildings comprise 146 rental apartments and eight retail spaces. A $10 million renovation and rebranding reconfigured the units into smaller apartments with high-end appliances aimed at young college students and post-graduates. All seven buildings are linked with an underground tunnel, which features a screening room and a game room. Other amenities include a part-time doorman, dishwashers, and a huge shared rooftop terrace with outdoor seating.
More details here

February 5, 2016

Spotlight: Erika Chou Brings the Flavors of China’s Yunnan Province to the Lower East Side

By Susan Cohen

If you're looking to celebrate the Lunar New Year with Chinese food, you'll likely end up with Cantonese or Szechuan cuisine, those most popular in the city. But if Erika Chou has anything to do with it, New Yorkers will soon be adding to their repertoire the flavors of China’s Yunnan province. Erika, who studied art and formerly worked in fashion photography, was introduced to the Yunnan culture and flavors several years ago on a trip to China. By 2012, she made the decision to start a restaurant celebrating this province and opened Yunnan Kitchen on the Lower East Side with esteemed chef Doron Wong in the kitchen. This past fall, Erika reopened the restaurant as Yunnan BBQ and revamped the menu with Doron to offer small plates like a Chrysanthemum Salad made with asian pear and large, barbecue-focused plates such as Pecan-Smoked Chicken Wings and Yunnan Curry Beef Brisket. Earlier this week, Erika and Doron’s efforts were celebrated when the New York Times included Yunnan BBQ in an article discussing Chinese-American chefs and restaurants. On the eve of Chinese New Year, 6sqft spoke with Erika to find out what drew her to the Yunnan province, how her background in art helps as a restaurateur, and to find out about a misconception surrounding Chinese food.
The delicious interview right this way

February 5, 2016

UES Townhouse With Hermès Leather Walls and Smoking Room Could Set Record at $84.5M

By Michelle Cohen

Somerset Partners’ Keith Rubenstein just put his 15,000-square-foot townhouse at 8 East 62nd Street on the market for $84.5 million, outdoing Carlos Slim's $80 million listing. The luxury-filled Upper East Side home is one of the city's priciest townhouse listings ever (h/t WSJ), and if it fetches the listing price it would set a Manhattan townhouse record, besting the Harkness Mansion’s 2006 $53 million sale. In addition to marquetry flooring inspired by those at Pavlovsk Palace in St. Petersburg, there are his and hers suites, a basement spa and gym, and a pretty unique modern art collection (see the massive KAWS bunny sculpture in the living room). Some off-the-wall features include red Hermès leather walls, a smoking room equipped with ventilation system, and a dressing room with a lighted handbag display and temperature-controlled fur vault.
Check out the rest of the zany house

February 5, 2016

432 Park Avenue’s First Recorded Sale Just Became Its First Listed Rental for $60K a Month

By Michelle Cohen

Less than a month after 432 Park Avenue recorded its first sale at $18,116,000, the first unit to close at the Billionaires' Row blockbuster has appeared on the rental market for $60,000 a month (h/t Curbed). As 6sqft previously reported, "The unit is #35B, a massive 4,003-square-foot, three-bedroom pad with four-and-a-half baths, a private elevator landing, and 10-foot by 10-foot windows providing southern and western exposures with park views." It was purchased via an LLC, 432 PARKVIEW, but now that it's been re-listed as a rental, it's also the first apartment whose interiors we get a peek at outside the generic, digitally-enhanced promotional images that accompany listings.
Take a look at the generic, non-digitally-enhanced interiors

February 5, 2016

Combine This Matched Pair of UES Townhouses for a $22M Mega-Mansion

By Michelle Cohen

Last year, three massive UES townhouses were marketed for megamansion potential and listed for $120 million, and Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich bought this sprawling townhouse combo for his own makeshift manse. Now, here's an opportunity to combine a pair of more modest–though by no means small–late-1800s townhouses for an Upper East Side mansion of your own, albeit on–let's call it a more human scale (forgetting for a moment that some lucky human gets to live in 6,700 square feet with 38 feet of frontage.). When you first see this matched pair of houses side-by-side at 159-161 East 82nd Street, you're struck by their charm and how much they epitomize the neighborhood's tree-shaded, brownstone-lined blocks. The fact that both four-story homes are for sale as a package deal for $22 million presents a mind-boggling list of options. There are even alternate plans that show you where to put a cellar pool (plus a sauna and a gym)!
Take a look inside

February 5, 2016

Hamilton Heights’ PS 186 Kicks Off Affordable Housing Lottery Today, Starting at $508/Month

By Emrys Fitzgerald

Earlier this week, Curbed reported that one of the first affordable housing developments financed under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s housing plan will kick off its lottery today. The former school building at 525 West 145th Street in Hamilton Heights has been rehabbed into apartments and a community space and now goes by the name The Residences at PS 186. The project will bring 78 sure-to-be-sought-after affordable apartments to low- and middle-income households earning between $18,729 and $142,400 per year. In all, there will be 19 studio units, 47 one-bedrooms, and 12 two-bedrooms available for various income ranges and household sizes. The cheapest units will be two studio apartments priced at $508 per month, available for single-person households earning between $18,789 -$24,200. Half of the units will be set aside for local residents and five percent for city employees.
Lots more details and find out if you qualify

They Paved Washington Square Park and Put Up a Parking Lot

Image via NYU Local

February 4, 2016

They Paved Washington Square Park and Put Up a Parking Lot

By Michelle Cohen

It's true: Washington Square Park was, in part, Washington Square parking lot. In the 1960s, at the peak of the nation's car culture fixation, the Greenwich Village park was put into use as a parking lot, until cars were finally banished altogether in the 1970s, when the large circular plaza around the fountain was added. Some say the parking lot was an effort to keep hippies from gathering in the beloved public space.
Find out more

February 4, 2016

Extell’s 831-Foot-Tall One Manhattan Square Begins Its Climb Above Chinatown

By Ondel Hylton

Still in disbelief that a 68-story building (though it's being marketed as 80 stories) could rise at the edge of Chinatown? Well behold One Manhattan Square's construction site, buzzing with activity and flagged by a stalwart kangaroo crane foreshadowing the 850-foot-tall tower to come. Unlike the Chinese investment market, Extell's skyscraper is heading in one direction -- up. And after more than a year of site preparation and foundation work, the first pieces of re-bar have emerged from their mucky surrounds and are peaking above the lot's blue construction fences.
Get a look

February 4, 2016

Sarah Jessica Parker Peeps Shephard Condo Conversion in West Village

By Michelle Cohen

She's no Little Bo Peep, but according to the Post, SJP and hubby Matthew Broderick may be flocking to the Shephard, a new condo conversion at 275 West 10th Street. The 19th century warehouse and former rental building is in the process of being converted to luxury condominiums by Naftali Group. On a pretty tree-lined West Village street, the 38-unit Shephard boasts interior design by Gachot and oversized arched windows; a definite possibility for Parker would be one of three penthouses currently listed at the building, starting at $18.5 million. The pair sold their Greenwich Village townhouse for $18.25 million last year (they'd bought it for $19 million in 2011–and apparently never moved in.)
See what's cool about the Shephard

Celebrities

February 4, 2016

Rangers Goalie Henrik Lundqvist Sells Midtown West Penthouse for $5M

By Annie Doge

King Henrik (as Rangers fans call him) is leaving his Midtown West palace, as the Post reports that the world-famous Swedish hockey goalie has sold the penthouse at 310 West 52nd Street for $4,995,000. Lundqvist originally listed the 2,035-square-foot duplex for $6.5 million back in 2014, reportedly because he and his wife Therese are looking for a larger place downtown for themselves and their two daughters. The uber-contemporary and strangely purple decor is a bit surprising, considering Lundqvist often makes it onto "best dressed" and "most beautiful people" lists.
More right here

February 3, 2016

First Look at the Bowery’s ‘Faux-Hostel’ Ace Hotel

By Ondel Hylton

Construction and engineering mega-firm HAKS brings the first full look at the Lower East Side's Ace Hotel, slated to open next year at 225 Bowery. The ten-story building was formerly the 101-year home of the Salvation Army Chinatown Shelter, which provided rooms, meals, and services to the city's homeless population until it shuttered in 2014. The 62,000-square-foot building was purchased for $30 million through a joint venture between the Omnia Group and North Wind Development Group. Building alteration permits were filed by Nataliya Donskoy of ND Architecture and approved that same year, and the historic structure is undergoing a complete gut-renovation and will be topped by a four-story rooftop addition.
More info ahead

February 3, 2016

For $23 Million You Can Be Donald Trump’s Downstairs Neighbor

By Michelle Cohen

A sprawl-o-rama of a penthouse a few floors below the Donald’s Trump Tower apartment is on the market for $23 million, but you’re paying for dizzying views and a palatial floor plan, not proximity to the building’s progenitor–though he did once own the apartment back when it was home to his mom and pop. It’s also rumored (according to Page Six) that Trump rented the pad out to his pal Michael Jackson and his new bride Lisa Marie Presley for $110,000/month back in the day, so you’ve got all sorts of party tidbits to go with your ridiculously enormous apartment. And if your dream is to re-live the '80s like a boss (and by that we mean nonagenarian dowager), the 3,725-square-foot, four-bedroom pad is ready for your key in the door. Otherwise you might want to do a little renovation.
See the whole spread

Distinctive Homes

February 2, 2016

The Urban Lens: Documenting Gentrification’s Toll on the Mom-and-Pops of Greenwich Village

By James and Karla Murray

6sqft's new series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. To kick things off, award-winning authors and photographers James and Karla Murray bring us 15 years of images documenting the changing storefronts of Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. Are you a photographer who'd like to see your work featured on 6sqft? Get in touch with us at [email protected] Bleecker Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenue South was once a huge Italian enclave with many traditional "mom and pop" stores catering to the large Italian families who resided in the neighborhood. By the late 1930s, it also had a significant bohemian population with many artists, writers, poets and musicians living in the area who set up galleries, coffee houses and music shops. Due to widespread gentrification and escalating real-estate values, the neighborhood has changed drastically and its unique appearance and character is suffering. We are here to take you on visual tour to experience how many of the truly authentic shops remain on this venerable Greenwich Village street, and to show you what has replaced the ones that have vanished. Many of the shops you'll encounter ahead have been featured with full-color photographs and insightful interviews with the store owners in three of our widely acclaimed books on the subject, but we've also rounded up several more ahead.
Walk the Greenwich Village of yesteryear and present

February 2, 2016

S.S. United States Likely Coming to Manhattan, Where Will It Dock?

By Ondel Hylton

The S.S. United States, a rusting symbol of the country's maritime might, has evaded the scrapyard and is likely coming to a Manhattan location. The S.S. United States Conservancy will hold a press event on Thursday at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, revealing the 63-year-old ocean liner's future home. The conservancy sent out an S.O.S. to New Yorkers interested in rescuing the vessel and revamping its 600,000 square feet of space into a self-sustaining business. Prior visions have ranged from tech offices, hotel rooms, housing, entertainment spaces, museums, and a maritime school. The location of the press event, near the United States Lines’ former terminal at Pier 86, is a clear give-away that the ship will be relocated to the city. Previously the developers of the SuperPier project had expressed interest in docking the ship alongside Pier 57, and several years back an idea was floated to dock the ship further south alongside Pier 40. More recently, rumors have honed in on three locations: a Brooklyn pier within the Gowanus Bay Terminal in Red Hook; Pier 36 just north of the Manhattan Bridge; and an undisclosed Manhattan location that is likely on the west side.
The full story ahead

February 2, 2016

Construction Update: BKSK Architects’ ‘Hi-Side’ Tower Goes Vertical on the Far West Side

By Ondel Hylton

BKSK Architects have designed a robust steel- and brick-faced building at 509 West 38th Street, slated to open in 2017. After a failed condo proposal, a foreclosure, and a developer switch, the project is finally ascending and is already seven stories out of the ground since we last checked a week ago. Dubbed "The Hi-Side," the 158,000-square-foot, mixed-use tower is being developed by investment firm Imperial Companies, who picked up the site from Iliad Development in an undisclosed deal. Fast forward nearly eight years, and a 30-floor, 345-foot building is rising at the site. Situated at the eastern block front of the future Hudson Park Boulevard, bands of ribbon windows along its western face will provide residents with sweeping views of the Hudson River. The base of the tower, which will feature a restaurant, is clad in a muscular rhythm of exposed steel, brick spandrels, and large multi-pane windows.
Find out more

February 2, 2016

$985K Renovated UWS Co-op Checks a Lot of Boxes; Just Hope You Don’t Have to Carry Them

By Michelle Cohen

When you’ve got a recently- and well-renovated three-bedroom co-op on the Upper West Side, a block from Central Park with low monthly fees, and it’s under $1 million, it’s pretty safe to say "this won’t last!" This fresh-faced, turn-key, pre-war home at 113 West 96th Street was just listed at $985,000, and while there are pros and cons, it looks like a super-comfortable place to live in a classic Manhattan neighborhood that gets an A-plus for convenience.
Take a look around

Distinctive Homes

February 1, 2016

Maya Angelou’s Historic Harlem Brownstone Lists for $5M

By Dana Schulz

During the last decade of her life, author, poet, and civil rights activist Maya Angelou split her time between Winston-Salem, NC (she taught American studies at Wake Forest University) and New York. While in the Northeast, she resided in an historic Harlem brownstone, located at 58 West 120th Street in the Mount Morris Park Historic District, according to the Times, which is now on the market for $5.1 million. The four-story home was built in the early 1900s, but when Dr. Angelou purchased it sight unseen in 2002, "it was a dilapidated shell...the victim of vandals, with missing stairs and rotting floor beams." She hired architect Marc Anderson of East Harlem-based firm M. Anderson Design to oversee a gut renovation that preserved the brownstone's historic details while adding contemporary amenities.
See the whole house

February 1, 2016

How Do Rents at NYC’s First Micro Apartment Complex Compare to Regular Studios?

By Dana Schulz

Just before the new year, listings went live for NYC's first micro apartment complex Carmel Place (aka My Micro NY aka 335 East 27th Street) in anticipation of its opening in March. The nine-story modular development in Kips Bay has 55 studios that are 260 to 360 square feet. Of these, 22 are affordable (more than 60,000 people applied for them), and they'll go from $950 to $1,500 a month depending on size and income. The remaining market-rate units will range from $2,500 to $2,900 per month, which has left many skeptics questioning why anyone would fork over nearly three grand for a space that is far smaller than conventional studios. To put this argument into an actual visualization, the data gurus over at NeighborhoodX created a simple, yet informative graph that compares the rental price per square foot at Carmel Place with that of regular studios across the city (h/t Curbed).
More here

Real Estate Trends

Pace Gallery Files for New West Chelsea Building Designed by Bonetti/Kozerski Studio

Rendering of new building (L) and view of current site (R) via Weinberg Properties and Pace Gallery

February 1, 2016

Pace Gallery Files for New West Chelsea Building Designed by Bonetti/Kozerski Studio

By Ondel Hylton

Last week, Weinberg Properties filed building permits to construct an eight-story gallery and office building for Pace Gallery at 534-540 West 25th Street. Sited squarely in the Chelsea arts district between the High Line and Eleventh Avenue, the 50,000-square-foot structure will replace an existing one-story building that has served as Pace's flagship location. The renowned international contemporary art gallery has three other locations in the city, as well as outposts in Menlo Park, London, Beijing, and Hong Kong. According to a press release (PDF) from last spring, "Bonetti/Kozerski Studio, in coordination with Pace’s President Marc Glimcher, have conceived an exciting design concept that re-imagines the conventional functionality of a contemporary art gallery."
Get the scoop on the new design

February 1, 2016

$5M Penthouse Loft in Tribeca Flaunts Steel, Copper, and Lots of Brick

By Emily Nonko

Now this is the type of apartment we would love to be trapped in during a snowstorm. There's a wood-burning fireplace underneath lofty 16-foot ceilings in this Tribeca penthouse, located at 58 Walker Street, not to mention a big pile of wood to keep the fire roaring. Plenty of leather furniture and exposed brick also help keep this sprawling space, 2,115 square feet over two different floors, feeling cozy. This apartment wouldn't be so bad in the summer, either, with 1,318 square feet of private roof space.
Take a look around

Distinctive Homes

February 1, 2016

Why Is There a Sixth-and-a-Half Avenue in Midtown?

By Michelle Cohen

If you've never heard of it, that may be because this quarter-mile, pedestrian-only street is nearly hidden among the office towers of Midtown. Sixth-and-a-Half Avenue was the first fractional street in the city’s grid system, created in 2012 by the Department of Transportation to encourage people to use the public plazas and covered areas that form a path between 51st Street to 57th Street.
So where is it?

January 30, 2016

A Well-Considered Layout Makes This $3.8M Tribeca Loft Feel Like Home

By Michelle Cohen

Though $3.8 million is no bargain for a two-bedroom apartment–even a 1,900 square-foot loft in pricey Tribeca–the layout of this sixth-floor penthouse at 38-40 North Moore Street gives it some unusual advantages. On the one hand there really isn’t a whole lot of "extra" space to play with; on the other, as it’s currently configured, the bedroom, bath and laundry portion of the home seems pleasantly sheltered and removed from the vast rectangular living/dining/entertaining area, conferring the feeling that it's a private wing for private life.
Take the tour

Distinctive Homes

January 29, 2016

Donald Trump’s United Nations Tower Is the City’s Most Valuable Condo

By Dana Schulz

He may have taken a hit last night with his anti-debate veterans rally, but Donald Trump has come out on top here in the city. The Real Deal analyzed the Department of Finance’s preliminary tax rolls and found that his Trump World Tower at 845 United Nations Plaza is the most valuable condo building in New York City based on tax collection purposes. "The 362 condo units in the Midtown East building, which Trump completed in 2001, have a total market value of $238.27 million in fiscal year 2016," they say. To boot, Trump Place at 220 Riverside Boulevard comes in eighth on the list.
See the other frontrunners

Real Estate Trends

January 29, 2016

Famous Magician Tries to Escape His Greenwich Village Apartment for $2.3M

By Annie Doge

Remember David Blaine –the magician who's pulled stunts like encasing himself in a block of ice for over 63 hours and sealing himself inside a plexiglass case for 44 days with no food? Well, apparently after all these wild endeavors he needed a nice, tranquil place to come home to. The Observer reports that Brooklyn-born Blaine has put his modern/cool Greenwich Village apartment on the market for $2.27 million. He bought the top-floor, corner two-bedroom unit at 41 Fifth Avenue back in 1998, just as he was gaining worldwide fame. And though he moved to Tribeca several years later, he's held onto the unit until now.
See the magician's hideaway

January 29, 2016

New Renderings of FXFOWLE’s Curving Harlem Condo, Circa Central Park

By Ondel Hylton

Since 6sqft checked in last November, Harlem's most anticipated condominium building, Circa Central Park, has wrapped up its structural frame and is preparing to be covered in its glass, metal, and brick skin. Now, as we await sales to officially launch, the building's designers, FXFOWLE Architects, give us our first full look at the building inside and out.
Lots more info and renderings

January 29, 2016

This Classic Co-op Next to Carl Schurz Park Asks $2.795 Million

By Emily Nonko

This stretch of East 86th Street, in the Yorkville area of the Upper East Side, is an attractive, quiet block that ends at Carl Schurz Park—home to Gracie Mansion and Mayor de Blasio. Along the way is this six-story, red brick co-op building with an elegant entrance at 519 East 86th Street. And the four-bedroom unit currently for sale there, asking $2.795 million, is just as lovely as the block outside. It's a classic prewar co-op with one of those drool-worthy, complex floor plans: a large foyer, four bedrooms, dedicated living and dining rooms, a mud room, an office, the works.
See it for yourself

Distinctive Homes

Savanna Fund Files Permits to Demolish Billionaires’ Row Building

500-foot tall massing model depicted at the site. Image courtesy of CityRealty

January 29, 2016

Savanna Fund Files Permits to Demolish Billionaires’ Row Building

By Ondel Hylton

New York City-based real estate private equity firm Savanna Fund has filed permits with the Department of Buildings to demolish a 12-story, 36,000-square-foot office building at 106 West 56th Street. No plans for the 5,000-square-foot lot have been announced, but its location along Billionaires' Row and three blocks south of Central Park makes it well suited for another slender residential or hotel tower. The 50-foot by 100-foot lot is zoned at one of the city's highest as-of-right densities and could therefore yield a building of roughly 80,000 square feet of zoning area without any development rights transfers. Above 350 feet in height, north facing spaces would have partial views of Central Park.
More details ahead

New Developments

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255 East 77th Street

Lenox Hill

Upper East Side condos with Central Park views

3 beds starting at $5,300,000
4 beds starting at $7,400,000
5 beds starting at $8,750,000

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