Manhattan

February 19, 2015

Get Moves Like Jagger in This West Village Rental Formerly Owned by the Rolling Stones

People always complain that when you travel for work you never really get to see the city. Well, that’s about to change, starting with this $7,500 a month fully furnished rental at 43 Perry Street. If it’s not enough to tell your friends you stayed in a West Village stunner, just try telling them your pad was once owned by The Rolling Stones… and then watch their jaws drop to the floor. Mission accomplished.
More pics inside
February 18, 2015

GIVEAWAY: Win a Spot in 6sqft’s Private Cooking Class at the Whole Foods Market Culinary Center!

Whether you're the worst cook in the world or a seasoned top chef, it's always fun to cook with others and learn more about the craft. We've partnered up with our friends at Whole Foods Market to host a private cooking class for eight lucky 6sqft readers in their Bowery Culinary Center! In this two-hour class you'll learn how to whip four delicious dishes—made with fresh and yummy products right from Whole Foods—in their state-of-the-art kitchen alongside pro chef and Culinary Center educator Chef Wai Chu. Wai will be teaching his hit class "Dumplings of the World", a fun, very hands-on course that will afford you plenty of Instagram-worthy moments alongside your delicious creations. To enter, all you need to do is: 1. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter Fill out the form below and click Subscribe. You'll get a confirmation e-mail a couple minutes later. Be sure to click Confirm in the e-mail to be added to our list! P.S. If you're already signed up for our newsletter, just leave a comment below telling us what you love to cook. Email Address First Name Last Name 2. Like our Facebook page Just click the Like button below. And that's it—you're entered to win a spot in our cooking class! The deadline to enter is Wednesday, February 25th. We'll be announcing the winners on the 26th in our newsletter so make sure you're signed up. Please note that the class is will be on Wednesday, March 4th.
Check out the menu for our private course here
February 18, 2015

Extell’s UWS ‘Poor Door’ Building Now Taking Affordable Housing Applications

Easily 2014's most controversial building, Extell's 40 Riverside Boulevard—a.k.a. the "Poor Door" building, and recently rechristened 50 Riverside Boulevard in light of the scandal—is back in the news, this time for reasons far less unsavory. Starting today, qualified New Yorkers can apply for one of the building's 55 subsidized rentals.
Find out how much units are going for
February 18, 2015

Sony Building Penthouse Will Ask a Record-Breaking $150M

There's a new priciest listing record in town, and it goes to the $150 million triplex penthouse at the Chetrit Group's Sony Building condo conversion, according to The Real Deal. The 21,504-square-foot unit will occupy floors 33 through 35 of the 37-story tower at 550 Madison Avenue and have a private elevator, eight bedrooms, eight bathrooms, and ten powder rooms. If it gets what it's asking for, it will break the record for the current highest condo sale, the $100 million penthouse that sold at One57 last month.
Check out the impressive Sony Tower floorplans here
February 17, 2015

Orlando Bloom Looks to Flip His Tribeca Loft for $5.5M

Maybe Orlando Bloom didn't like having New York's very own welcome ambassador Taylor Swift as a neighbor... because after only eight short months*, he's put his Tribeca loft back on the market. Back in June, Bloom purchased the three-bedroom apartment at the Sugarloaf Warehouse building for $4.88 million, and he's now looking to rake in just under $1 million in profit, re-listing the home for $5.5 million. It was reported over the summer that the actor was drawn to the loft's “cast-iron columns, exposed brick walls, open chef’s kitchen and wood-beamed ceilings,” but clearly that wasn't enough to keep his attention.
See what else Orlando Bloom is giving up
February 17, 2015

Chinatown Loft by Buro Koray Duman Architects Mixes Tenement Details with Bright, Modern Geometry

If you take a look at the exterior of this Chinatown tenement building located across the street from Sarah Roosevelt Park, you might imagine that the apartments inside are typical cramped railroad-style units with the token exposed brick wall as a selling point. But this unit, renovated by Buro Koray Duman Architects, looks like it could be in a swanky Miami hotel or sunny LA condo. When Turkish-born architect Koray Duman bought the residence in 2011, the 750-square-foot corner apartment was a dark, three-bedroom renovation from the 1980s. He and his firm transformed it into a bright, open one-bedroom loft with bold, sculptural architecture and décor.
Tour the home here
February 17, 2015

Proposed Condo Tower Could Stall Entire South Street Seaport Redevelopment Plan

Less than a week after it was revealed that the Howard Hughes Corporation paid $31 million for more than 300,000 square feet of air rights at the South Street Seaport, it looks like the entire $1.5 billion redevelopment project could be stalled. The overall plan would breathe new life into the downtown historic district by rehabilitating crumbling piers, preserving and finding new use for landmark buildings and constructing a 42-story waterfront condo tower at the foot of Beekman Street. And it's this last point that has local officials, civic groups, preservationists and some community residents worried or downright angry. The 494-foot-tall, SHoP Architects-designed tower has already been scaled back from its original 650 feet, but concerned parties still feel that the building would "obscure views of the Brooklyn Bridge and clash with the low-scaled, early-19th-century brick buildings that make up the 11-block seaport district, once the center of the city’s maritime industry," according to the New York Times.
More on the debate
February 16, 2015

VIDEO: Katz’s Deli Owner Shares Stories of the Shady LES of 20 Years Ago

By now many of you have probably seen this amazing video showing a changing Lower East Side circa 1995. While plenty of colorful characters and weirdness abound, let's not forget that the area at the time was also one of the city's most unsafe. As part of the new video series called "True Yorkers," Katz's Deli owner Alan Dell reflects on the Lower East Side that once was—well before it transformed into the bar crawl we know today. Sharing his own memories of the neighborhood as a kid, and more poignantly his opinion of what it has become, Dell's recount really makes you think about just how severely pacified and homogenous today's version of New York is. "A lot of people from the neighborhood moved away...I just can't get used to it," Dell says in the episode. "I have customers talking about their million dollar penthouse on Rivington Street—it blows my mind. The Bowery was unsavory, there used to be bums, I don't even know if kids know what a bum is...You know, they call it progress, I'm not really sure about that. It's a mixed bag...15-20 years ago we were closing early. Unless you were coming to buy crack late at night over here, it was not safe...it's just changed. It's just different."
watch the video here
February 13, 2015

New Yorker Spotlight: Curator Sarah Forbes on the Museum of Sex (It’s Not Exactly What You Think It Is)

If you've walked along lower Fifth Avenue, then the Museum of Sex most certainly has caught your eye; maybe you've even visited it and seen a few of the exhibits curated by Sarah Forbes. Sarah is the museum's sole curator, which means it's her job to conceive and oversee exhibitions on a myriad of topics related to sex. Her goal is the same as the museum's goal: to expand visitors' horizons and to dispel myths and misconceptions that are out there. Beyond educating the public through its oftentimes provocative exhibits, the Museum of Sex is dedicated to sharing information and artwork through its permanent collection of over 15,000 artifacts as well as its research library and media archive. With Valentine's Day approaching, we couldn't think of a better time to chat with Sarah to find out more about New York's relationship with sex, how the museum helps the city understand it differently, and why it's the perfect spot to celebrate the holiday.
Read on for our interview with Sarah
February 13, 2015

Single for Valentine’s Day? The Towers of Hudson Yards Are Looking for a Date

Single building lovers, have no fear. Hudson Yards is happy to be your Valentine. As a marketing tactic, the entire project, along with all five of its towers, got profiles on the fake dating site Building Mingle. 15 Hudson Yards, the residential tower designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, has a celeb crush on the Guggenheim and its great curves and describes his type as "Anyone who works with concrete and steel. I'm looking for stability."; 10 Hudson Yards enjoys "When Harry Met Sally" (It's a classic romantic comedy!); and 30 Hudson Yards is a little shallow and is looking for someone tall and slender who isn't afraid of heights.
See all the profiles here
February 12, 2015

The Meatpacking District: From the Original Farmers’ Market to High-End Fashion Scene

Why is it called the Meatpacking District when there are only six meat packers there, down from about 250?  Inertia, most likely. The area has seen so many different uses over time, and they're so often mercantile ones that Gansevoort Market would probably be a better name for it. Located on the shore of the Hudson River, it's a relatively small district in Manhattan stretching from Gansevoort Street at the foot of the High Line north to and including West 14th Street and from the river three blocks east to Hudson Street. Until its recent life as a go-to high fashion mecca, it was for almost 150 years a working market: dirty, gritty, and blood-stained.
Read the full history here
February 12, 2015

Carmelo and LaLa Anthony Score an $11 Million Pad Overlooking the High Line

New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony and wife LaLa have been on the hunt for a Chelsea home since last fall, and after touring countless multi-million dollar homes (like this one and this one) it looks like the pair have settled on a High Line-adjacent condo at Cary Tamarkin’s new 10-story, 15-unit complex at 508 West 24th Street. The Post reports that the hoopster is putting down $11 million for a massive full-floor home.
Check it out here
February 12, 2015

Pier 55 Floating Park Moves Forward with a Lease Deal

Last we heard about Pier55–the 2.4-acre futuristic floating park and performance space proposed by billionaire media mogul Barry Diller that would jut 186 feet into the Hudson at 13th Street–Community Board 2 had mixed feelings about the project. They liked Thomas Heatherwick's design, but cited concern over the lack of transparency from Diller and the Hudson River Park Trust. Despite these feelings, though, we've learned today from the Times that the Trust approved a lease agreement with Pier 55 Inc., a nonprofit group controlled by Diller, to help develop the $130 million public space. Diller has already pledged $113 million toward the project through the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation (his wife is fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg). So, what's next?
What's to come for Pier 55
February 11, 2015

The New Broadway Plan Could Bring 3,000 Housing Units to West Harlem, 50 Percent Will Be Affordable

You may remember the Harlem Promenade project, which proposed transferring air rights over the Amtrak rail lines in West Harlem to create affordable housing and using the sale of the air rights to pay for $170 million in community improvements in Hamilton Heights, including a High Line-esque park. We've now learned that the project has taken on a new life as the New Broadway Plan, which may be smaller in scope than the original plan, but would be the largest creation of affordable housing in Manhattan since 1959 if fully realized. It would also make a huge dent in Mayor De Blasio's goal of creating or preserving 200,000 affordable units over ten years. The Plan proposes a rezoning of portions of Broadway from 125th to 155th Streets in order to build 3,000 new units of housing, 50 percent of which will be permanently affordable, and to equalize the amount of new affordable to market rate housing stock, which is currently at a disproportionate ratio of 20 percent to 80 percent, respectively.
Get the scoop here
February 11, 2015

A New Bjarke Ingels or Rem Koolhaas-Designed Development Could Be Coming to the High Line

The High Line is continuing its trajectory as the destination for the city's most exciting new architecture, and it looks like another starchitect could soon join the already impressive roster of designers making their mark on the area. The New York Post reports that HFZ Capital Group is currently in the works to bring a "monumental" new structure to a lot located next to the elevated park at 76 11th Avenue—a site that spans from 17th to 18th and across 10th to 11th Avenues. Although the parcel is still in contract (expected to close in April), HFZ has reportedly already tapped Bjarke Ingels (BIG) and Rem Koolhaas for initial drawings, which were revealed by the company's head, Ziel Feldman, yesterday at the Young Men’s/Women’s Real Estate Association luncheon. The renderings are said to show "triangular structures that won't block views".
Find out more here
February 11, 2015

A Rich (and Potentially Famous) Buyer Snags the Penthouse at 250 West for $29.5 Million

After yoyo-ing on and off the market over the last two years, the penthouse at 250 West has finally found a buyer. City records filed this afternoon reveal that the unit traded hands for $29.5 million, way down from its original $42 million asking price back in 2013. The buyer was shielded under an LLC, but it was previously reported that the penthouse was being marketed to high-profile individuals, celebs amongst them, given its private entrance separate from the door used by the rest of the residents. Leonardo DiCaprio was rumored to be one of the names to have checked out the space—though he eventually purchased a pad at the Delos. With that in mind, we wonder who nabbed this Tribeca deal.
Check out the interiors here
February 10, 2015

RAAD Studio’s Centre Street Loft Redesign with Stunning Wooden Dome Is…Arresting

Perhaps one of the most beautiful buildings in New York City, the Beaux-Arts style former police headquarters located at 240 Centre Street sometimes seems to have flown under the “great buildings in Manhattan” radar for much of its 100-plus years. But we’re pretty sure those lucky enough to reside in one of the 55 luxury apartments created when the building was converted to condominiums in the late 1980s have a true appreciation for the grandeur of this hidden gem. RAAD Studio recently redesigned one of those apartments, and there’s no way this transformation could go unnoticed.
More pics of this 'arresting' home
February 10, 2015

Tucked Away Behind a Landmarked Courtyard Is This Enchanting 1850s West Village Townhouse

Forget about curb appeal, this warm and cozy three-bedroom townhouse built in the 1850s has courtyard appeal. That’s because you can only discover this hidden West Village gem at 5C Carmine Street by walking through its gated entry and into the tranquil–and landmarked–courtyard. The unique and historic house listed at $4.5M is located directly across the street from the beautifully restored Father Demo Square. Modeled after a traditional piazza in Italy, this lively community gathering place is only steps away should you ever tire of the exquisite seclusion this home’s outdoor spaces afford.
See more of this hidden gem
February 9, 2015

Joan Rivers’ Legendary Upper East Side Penthouse Is on the Market for $28M

Joan Rivers' Upper East Side triplex penthouse, where she lived for 25 years, is opulent to say the least, with a huge Louis XIV-inspired ballroom, a bordello-esque master bedroom and gilded details galore. And we wouldn't expect any less from the late, great comedienne, who once said of her lavish Spencer Condominium apartment at 1 East 62nd Street, "It's what Marie Antoinette would have done, if she had money," and described the décor as "Louis XIV meets Fred and Ginger." After Rivers' daughter Melissa inherited her mother's apartment in October, it's now officially hit the market for $28 million, reports the Daily News.
Tour the legendary home
February 9, 2015

Colorful Chic Furnished Loft in the Ice House Asks $7,500/Month

There’s a really chic loft available for rent in the Ice House in Nolita, right on the edge of Soho and the Lower East Side, and it’s asking $7,500 a month. This 1,033-square-foot space has the potential for two bedrooms, along with all the classic loft must-haves like reclaimed oak floors throughout, 10-foot beamed ceilings, and exposed brick walls. And the best part? It's available fully furnished.
More pics inside
February 6, 2015

Photographer Jay Maisel Officially Sells 190 Bowery for $55M

It's being considered one of the greatest returns on investment in New York City real estate history, reports the Daily News. Photographer Jay Maisel bought the now-famous graffiti-covered home at 190 Bowery back in 1966 when it was abandoned for only $102,000, and he's now officially sold the Gilded Age bank building to developer Aby Rosen of RFR Realty for $55 million. Developers have been urging Maisel to sell ever since the Bowery changed from a seedy row of drugs and flop houses to a trendy destination for foodie-favorite restaurants and high-end boutiques. Rosen finally convinced the artist, who lived in the six-story, 72-room mansion with his wife and daughter, to sell on the basis that it had no heat and was in disrepair.
More on the epic sale
February 6, 2015

Bask in Exquisite Finishes and Views for Days in This $20M East Asian-Inspired Penthouse

Brace yourself, because we’re about to take you on a tour of an MTV Cribs-worthy pad. This 3,600-square-foot duplex penthouse was purchased by a philanthropic millionaire named Drew Katz back in 2007. He and his wife paid $6.125 million for the fairly raw space, then brought in Cooper, Robertson & Partners architect Edward Siegel and designer Ernest de la Torre to create an East Asian-inspired abode so brilliant you almost can’t stare directly at it without burning your corneas. But what good is a life without risks? So let’s stare away at all of its glory.
Let's take a look
February 5, 2015

Grand Central Owner Enlists Harvard Professor to Stop 1 Vanderbilt and ‘Unconstitutional’ Seizing of His Rights

Discord around the construction of One Vanderbilt continues to grow, and the latest contender to enter the ring is Harvard Law professor, "liberal constitutional scholar" and President Barack Obama's former educator, Laurence H. Tribe. Grand Central owner Andrew Penson has tapped the big-time lawyer to battle the city in his fight against the 1,514-foot supertall, according to The New York Times. Yesterday, with Tribe in tow, Penson went head-to-head—yet again—with the tower's developer SL Green at the City Planning Commission hearing. The meeting got as heated as one would expect, and "unconstitutional" and "ridiculous" were just a couple of the words thrown around.
Find out more here
February 5, 2015

Rents in Harlem Shoot Up, Brooklyn Studios Expensive as Ever

MNS has just released their 2014 report pointing to rental performance in the Manhattan and Brooklyn markets over past year. And as you've probably already guessed there are no surprises here—rents were up. Leading the charge in growth were Harlem where new luxury listings gave the area a major boost, and of course Brooklyn which continued see growth at remarkable rates, particularly with studio units which were up more than 20 percent in some nabes.
Find out more here
February 5, 2015

Renderings Revealed for Sustainable Hudson Square Park by Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects

Back in June, the Hudson Square Connection (a neighborhood BID) announced their plans to turn Soho Square, the half-acre open space at the intersection of Spring Street and Sixth Avenue in Hudson Square, into a public park. Since then, the Business Improvement District, in partnership with the city and neighborhood stakeholders, has been seeking input from the community to inform the $6 million renovation. Just last night, the design by Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects was presented to the Community Board 2 Parks Committee, and it features sustainable, green infrastructure, storm water management, and more.
Check out the renderings here