Manhattan

When you think about family-friendly neighborhoods, the last one to come to mind is probably the Lower East Side. But Inhabitat.com's Jill Fehrenbacher is here to tell you that this downtown stretch is more than just a breeding ground for bros and getting bombed. A LES resident for more than a decade, Jill moved into the area looking for cheap rents as a student but has stuck around to see it transform into both a cultural destination and a diverse community-driven neighborhood fueled by much more than just a bar scene. Ahead, Jill shares her thoughts on what makes this neighborhood such a special one for raising kids (she's got two boys of her own) and her NYC success story of hitting it big as the founder of one of the world's most visited design websites.
Our interview with Jill here

July 6, 2015

Call Chelsea’s Historic Samuel Turner House Your Home for $17.95M

Okay history buffs, here's your chance to own the elegant former home of Reverend Dr. Samuel Turner, who was one of the head professors at the nearby General Theological Seminary. He built the house at 440 West 22nd Street in 1836 to match the merchant-class residences popping up in Chelsea around this time, and he lived there until he passed away of typhoid fever in 1861. When owner Michael Minick purchased the home in 1993, it had been subjected to years of neglect, but Minick lovingly restored it back to its Greek Revival glory, while preserving its turn of the 20th century Queen Anne exterior facelift. It's now available for the first time in over 20 years for $17,950,000.
Take a look around

July 6, 2015

Former Tribeca Hotel Could Be Transformed into a Grand Single-Family Home

This five-story brick townhouse, located at 142 Watts Street in Tribeca, is rather unique. Constructed in 1886, the building has served as a tenement building, a hotel, and apartments. (There was also a diner on the ground floor in the 1940s.) It was last purchased 30 years ago by the Capsouto brothers, longtime investors and restaurateurs in the neighborhood. 35 years ago the brothers opened a restaurant at 451 Washington Street called Capsouto Freres, a mainstay eatery that shuttered after damage caused by Hurricane Sandy. Now it looks like the brothers have decided to get rid of some of their real estate in the neighborhood, listing 142 Watts Street for $12.25 million.
Hear more about the story of this property

July 6, 2015

Royal Letdown: Queen Elizabeth Actually Won’t Be Coming to NYC

A few weeks ago, various media outlets reported that Queen Elizabeth had bought a $7.9 million apartment at 50 United Nations Plaza. City records listed the buyer of the three-bedroom, 3,000-square-foot residence as “Her Majesty the Queen in Right of New Zealand.” But as the Post informs us today, the royal family will not be taking up residence in NYC after all, as the actual buyer is the New Zealand government’s UN ambassador.
More details on the transaction

July 2, 2015

Heidi Klum Settles on a $70K/Month West Village Rental for the Summer

It was recently reported that Heidi Klum was eyeing this 3.5-acre $11 million private island off Manhattan as her next retreat, but it looks like the supermodel has decided to slum it in the West Village instead. The Post reports that Klum will be renting out a 7,200-square-foot Bob and Cortney Novogratz creation located at 400 West Street through the summer. The home is not an unfamiliar spot for the model who has shot hoops, hot tubbed, and made pizza at the glamorous property when she rented it in previous years.
Have a look inside her glamorous summer home

Get to Know Chinatown Through These Iconic Cultural, Gastronomic and Architectural Spots

Image by Madhu Nair via Flickr

July 1, 2015

Get to Know Chinatown Through These Iconic Cultural, Gastronomic and Architectural Spots

By Shiloh Frederick

Back in March, we took a look at how Chinatown is predicted to undergo rapid changes within the next decade, transforming it into another haven for hipsters and real estate developers. As of right now, these changes are hard to see–luxury condos like Hester Gardens stand alone among the array of colorful shops and signs covered in Chinese characters. In fact, a past poll shows that readers are equally divided on Chinatown's future. As with all gentrifying neighborhoods, one of residents' biggest fears is that the neighborhood will lose the cultural characteristics that make it unique. With this in mind, we're taking stock of the iconic places that make Chinatown what it is. We've highlighted some of the neighborhood's best restaurants and shops (think Economy Candy and Joe's Shanghai), along with a few standout structures (the largest Buddhist temple in New York City, to name just one) that make this neighborhood unlike any other in the city.
See which places made the list here

Food & Dining

July 1, 2015

Newly Listed $3.6M Residence at the Dakota Appears Untouched by Time

If Lauren Bacall and Roberta Flack's Dakota homes are out of your budget, fix your eyes on this splendid apartment that has just been placed on the market for $3.6 million. This understated beauty is one that seems to have withstood the test of time, maintaining all the stunning details unique to its storied address. And with two bedrooms, incredible 14-foot ceilings (yes, they're taller than both Flack's and Bacall's) and south-facing windows flooding the home with light, even though it might not carry the same star cachet as the others, we're sure you wouldn't turn down a chance to sashay across its immaculate wood floors.
More photos inside the historic apartment here

June 30, 2015

Model Amy Hixson Asks $899,000 for Custom-Designed, Bespoke East Village Pad

A model home for a model citizen…literally. This East Village pad belongs to model Amy Hixson, who has graced the pages of GQ and Victoria's Secret, to name a few. Hixson purchased the home for $625,000 in 2010 and spent three months gut renovating the joint with the help of Own Entity designers. The interior is meant to channel the work of Roman and Williams, with handcrafted features like refinished original oak floors, reclaimed Barnwood doors, and a refurbished fireplace mantel. Now it's back on the market, asking $899,000.
Take a look around

June 30, 2015

NYU Expansion Plan Gets the Final Green Light from Court of Appeals

Last October, the appellate court overturned a previous decision by the New York Supreme Court that prohibited NYU’s $6 billion, 1.9 million-square-foot Greenwich Village expansion plan. But in Feburary, opponents of the plan (including community groups like GVSHP, Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, local residents, NYU Faculty against the Sexton Plan, and even actor Mark Ruffalo) announced that the New York State Court of Appeals would hear their case one final time. According to DNAinfo, though, today the state's highest court ruled in favor of NYU, giving the expansion plan the final go ahead.
Find out more about the ruling

June 30, 2015

Designer and Art Writer Sue Hostetler Finally Sells Four-Story Alphabet City Condo for $7M

Six years ago, designer and art writer Sue Hostetler (she's the Editor-in-Chief of Art Basel Magazine) built a modern six-story townhouse at 238 East 4th Street. She and her husband, media executive Jon Diamond, decided they'd occupy the first four floors, while selling off the two-story penthouse. The Alphabet City location raised some eyebrows at the time, but before long, celebrity husband-and-wife design team Bob and Cortney Novogratz were tapped to design the upper condo, which sold for $5 million to Oscar Proust and Colleen Goujjane, owners of the well-known West Village restaurant One If By Land, Two If By Sea. But despite creating her dream home from the ground up, and even installing a paparazzi shield on the one-car garage, Hostetler first put her massive home on the market in 2012 for $8.5 million. Rachel Weisz and Danielle Craig checked it out at the time, but it's been struggling on the market for three years, including an attempt at selling the entire building for $12.4 million. Now, according to city records released today, the 6,500-square-foot residence has sold for $6,995,000, and the buyer is, quite appropriately, light and interactive sculptor Jen Lewin.
Take a look around

Real Estate Trends

7 Harrison Street (L); 203 East 13th Street (R)

June 29, 2015

The High and Low: A House at the Top

By Michelle Cohen

Though townhouses, row houses, and wooden houses exist in NYC in lower density areas like Brooklyn and Queens, in Manhattan, there’s often nowhere to build but up. It follows that those who enjoy the conveniences of modern condos sacrifice the feel of a free-standing house, and vice-versa. Penthouse living provides a rare exception; if you’re the top dog, you can basically build what you want, and the highest surface becomes your backyard and front porch. Penthouse bulkheads take a variety of shapes, with the most elaborate ones resembling nothing so much as a modernist masterpiece hovering above it all. In a few notable cases, this allowance is taken more literally than usual. The handful of log cabins, wood houses and such are curiosities atop the city’s tall buildings. The pair of lofty dwellings below exemplifies this good fortune. The first, a glass-walled rectangle above one of Tribeca’s most coveted converted industrial buildings removes the need for a Palm Springs retreat, though the $22.5 million price tag is definitely New York City-sized. The second, at $4.45 million, is more average-penthouse-priced, but the East Village home is definitely unique–its top floor resembles a country cottage.
See more of these have-it-all rooftop pads this way…

June 29, 2015

Joan Rivers’s Opulent UES Penthouse May Have a New Owner

It's been almost five months since the late, great Joan Rivers's opulent Upper East Side penthouse hit the market for $28 million, and now the Post is reporting that the lavish triplex at 1 East 62nd Street may have a new owner. "Last Thursday, its final day, art and antiques storage specialists packed and hauled the remainder of what was heading to Christie’s and elsewhere... The sale’s not gone to contract, but there is a buyer," notes the paper.
Find out more here

June 26, 2015

Live in the Funky Former UES Factory of 1930s Gnome Bakers for $14K

There are few things in life more charming than a gnome. We're willing to bet Americans would take more vacations if they could just pack that little guy from Travelocity along with them. Well, we'll do you one better. We are talking an actual gnome house. That's right, this $14,000 rental at 316 East 59th Street was once home to Gnome Bakers, a little bakery that sold oddly shaped breads and rolls.
More pics inside

June 26, 2015

Chris Meloni of ‘Law & Order: SVU’ Fame Tries Again to Unload Park Imperial Condo

Everyone's favorite "Law & Order" hunk is looking to ditch NYC for good. Christopher Meloni left the incredibly popular television show in 2011 after a 12-year run, relocating with his family to a home in the Hollywood Hills. The following year, he put his 3,000-square-foot, three-bedroom Park Imperial condo on the market for $12 million, but after failing to get the asking price, he settled on renting it out for the past several years. Now it's back, asking a significantly reduced $8.95 million (he bought the Midtown West pad for $5.45 million back in 2005), reports the Wall Street Journal.
See what Meloni has to say about his condo

June 25, 2015

VIDEO: Here’s What It Was Like to Live in 1960s Greenwich Village, a ‘Countrified Cosmopolitan’

Yes, the 1960s were a rocky period; a turning point for a nation at war and an era that birthed a counterculture movement that would transform the world as everyone knew it. But amongst all the chaos, life went on in NYC. And in Greenwich Village things were especially great. We recently uncovered this fun little film that takes viewers through the trends and lifestyles that permeated throughout the beloved neighborhood. Although the times were far different—apartments were filled with struggling creatives like Dylan Thomas, Norman Mailer and Bob Dylan versus wealthy celebs like Leonardo DiCaprio and Sarah Jessica Parker—the life that's depicted isn't all that different from what the neighborhood's uber-rich residents enjoy today. Daily habits, or "chores" as the video calls them, ranged from "minding the laundry, browsing through antique shops for possible bargains, or discovering a rare volume in a quaint bookstore." Folks would then of course follow up all that work up with a "relaxing moment" at one of the many sidewalk cafes where they'd find an artist ready to draw them.
Watch the video here

History

June 24, 2015

POLL: How Do You Like the Nordstrom Tower’s New Name, Central Park Tower?

We knew the name Nordstrom Tower wasn’t going to stick; the unofficial moniker came only from the fact that the building will have a Nordstrom department store at its base. And just a week after news hit that the supertall from Extell will be the country’s highest by roof height, we’ve learned the official name: Central Park […]

3 World Trade Center Gets Update to Better Complement Its Bjarke Ingels-Designed Neighbor

Original design of 3 WTC (L); Revised design without the roof masts (R)

June 23, 2015

3 World Trade Center Gets Update to Better Complement Its Bjarke Ingels-Designed Neighbor

Ever since starchitect Bjarke Ingels revealed renderings for 2 World Trade Center (after taking over the design from Norman Foster), the building has been the talk of the architecture world, especially since Ingels has been so generous about giving interviews to the press. The tower has now even influenced the architects of 3 World Trade Center (a.k.a. 175 Greenwich Street) to rethink their design. As Yimby reports, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners have amended their plan for the third-tallest building on the site to have a more streamlined roof, now void of its spires, to better complement 2 World Trade.
READ MORE

Architecture And Design

June 23, 2015

$2.3M Tribeca Penthouse Boasts Angled Skylights and Huge Terrace

A unique two-bedroom penthouse lined with massive angled skylights is available at City Hall Tower in Tribeca, asking $2.3 million. But this premier pad is touting more then just greenhouse windows and multiple exposures. It also features a planted wraparound terrace surrounding it on three sides. So we're not just talking about a prime location, but a prime location with a lot of outdoor space. Winning!
More pics inside

Distinctive Homes

June 23, 2015

Lofty Co-Op With Flexible Space Asks $1.5 Million in Greenwich Village

This one-bedroom at University Mews, a co-op building at 39 East 12th Street in Greenwich Village, is more than meets the eye. It's not a huge apartment, but smart design has allowed for some surprising extra space. That's no big shock, since the unit's previous owners were architects. So how much for a one bedroom that's located between the Village and Union Square, right in the heart of NYU? It has hit the market asking $1.595 million.
See inside

Distinctive Homes

June 22, 2015

Wood and Brick Dominate at This $20,000 a Month Little Italy Rental

This Little Italy loft apartment at 161 Mulberry Street is all wood and brick. You've got striking exposed ceiling beams in the open living and dining area and brick walls in pretty much every room of the apartment. The result is a boho-chic pad with a big price tag: $20,000 a month, to be exact. Think it's worth a stay in this sprawling apartment? We should mention that the price includes all the fancy furniture as well.
Tour the interior

Distinctive Homes

June 22, 2015

Preservation Groups Push for a Lower East Side Historic District

Of the city's many rapidly changing neighborhoods, the Lower East Side has for the most part maintained its historic architectural integrity. However, with looming projects like Essex Crossing and a slew of new condos set to rise along the area's most storied drags, the character of the neighborhood is starting to come under threat. As such, the Lo-Down reports that locals are now banding together in full force to curb development, with two neighborhood preservation groups asking the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to designate a Lower East Side Historic District.
READ MORE

June 22, 2015

John Legend and Chrissy Teigen List Their Stylish Nolita Pad for $4.5M

Celebrity power couple John Legend and Chrissy Teigen are selling their Glory-ous Nolita pad, which appeared on the cover of Architectural Digest last year, reports The Real Deal. They bought the super-stylish apartment at 374 Broome Street (known as the Brewster Carriage House) in 2012 for $2.5 million, after selling their East Village condo at 52 East 4th Street for $2.7 million. They're now looking to make a nice profit, listing the property for $4.5 millon. The news comes from broker Jason Walker, who recently left Douglas Elliman after ten years and more than $1 billion in sales to head over to Compass. He's represented Legend in both of the aforementioned real estate transactions, as well as a previous $1 million buy for the Grammy-winner at 72 East 3rd Street. The latest sale comes on the heels of recent remarks from Teigen that she wants to start a family and have lots of kids, notes the Daily News.
See more of the stunning apartment

June 19, 2015

Queen Elizabeth Comes to NYC: Royal Family Picks up $8M Apartment at 50 UN Plaza

As The Real Deal reports, "Even the British royal family is getting into the business of pieds-a-terres in New York." Queen Elizabeth herself has picked up a $7.9 million apartment at 50 United Nations Plaza. City records released today list the buyer of the three-bedroom, 3,000-square-foot residence as "Her Majesty the Queen in Right of New Zealand."
More on the new royal pad

What’s the Meaning Behind Those Peculiar Red Frames Found in Union Square Station?

Images by This Hidden City

June 19, 2015

What’s the Meaning Behind Those Peculiar Red Frames Found in Union Square Station?

You've surely walked past these bright red frames beneath 14th Street-Union Square numerous times, but probably haven't given much thought to why they are there—or if you have, you've likely just assumed they were another one of the city's unfinished construction projects. But as it turns out, these seemingly simplistic outlines hold great significance, each piece pointing to a very special time in New York's transportation history.
Find out more here

June 19, 2015

Windows Galore at This Gramercy Loft, on the Market for $3.5 Million

There's nothing but light coming into this three-bedroom loft co-op at Ruggles House, a Gramercy Park building located at 112 East 19th Street. Ruggles House was built in 1913 as an industrial loft building with high ceilings and huge windows. When it was converted into a residential building, only two apartments were put on each of the 12 floors. The result at this particular unit is a sprawling floor plan with those old industrial interior details. It is currently on the market for $3.5 million.
See the interior

Distinctive Homes

June 19, 2015

Live in Singer Roberta Flack’s Dakota Apartment for $9.5M