Manhattan

That's what developers of a new condominium at 212 Fifth Avenue are hoping. The prestige of Fifth Avenue is world-famous (it also adds a 5- to 10-percent premium to the price of an apartment), and as anyone who was around back in the days of analog phone exchanges knows, 212 is synonymous with Manhattan. Reporting on the "New York-iest address," the Daily News mentions how even "Seinfeld"'s Elaine steals her dead neighbor's 212 phone number after she gets changed to a 646 area code. "The bearer of a 212 phone number looks like a longtime New Yorker. It's the ultimate luxury accessory," the paper says.
Is all the fuss justified?

Real Estate Trends

February 25, 2015

Spectacular ‘Working Girl’ Townhouse on Star-Studded West Village Street Sells for $17 Million

By Annie Doge

The West Village home that's captured the hearts of film buffs, film makers, preservationists, pinners, real estate oglers—need we go on?—across the globe has just sold for a sweet $17 million, according to city records filed today. Although it was previously reported that the home needed work, buyers were certainly not deterred. A bow-fronted facade, dramatic staircase, 40-foot garden, and spectacular storied details surely kept the bidding war going strong for this 66 Morton Street beauty which was originally listed for just $13 million last October.
have a look inside this way

February 25, 2015

POLL: Will the NYU Expansion Plan Move Ahead?

After years of contention, we learned yesterday that opponents of the controversial NYU expansion plan would receive their final day in court to try to block the massive redevelopment. While Villagers have long been known as preservation pioneers (Jane Jacobs’ successful fight against Robert Moses’ destructive plans for the area is probably the best-known example), […]

Policy

Renderings Revealed for West Village’s New Triangular Park That Will Feature AIDS Memorial

Park renderings via Hayes Davidson

February 25, 2015

Renderings Revealed for West Village’s New Triangular Park That Will Feature AIDS Memorial

In 2011, Rudin Management inked a controversial deal to convert part of St. Vincent's Hospital into luxury condos, now known as The Greenwich Lane. Part of the deal was that the developer would build a public park on an adjacent piece of triangular land that would include the city's first major AIDS memorial, a feature that garnered tons of press thanks to a much-talked-about design competition. Now, the Wall Street Journal reports that Rudin has broken ground on the new 16,000-square-foot West Village green space, located on Seventh Avenue between Greenwich Avenue and West 12th Street. And along with this news comes renderings from M. Paul Friedberg & Partners, the architecture firm that designed the Greenwich Lane and is also designing the park, which show winding walkways, curving benches, plenty of trees, play areas, a lawn, and water jets.
More details ahead

Architecture And Design

NYU Expansion Plan Opponents Will Get Final Day in Court

A rendering of the expansion plan

February 24, 2015

NYU Expansion Plan Opponents Will Get Final Day in Court

In 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 community groups vowed to appeal the decision. And they most certainly kept their word. In a press release sent today by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), we've learned that the New York State Court of Appeals agreed to hear an appeal by GVSHP, Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, NYU Faculty Against the Sexton Plan, Community Board 2, actor Mark Ruffalo, and other local concerned parties.
More info here

February 24, 2015

Sweeping Soho Loft Featured in Magazines Asks $23K/Month

Ever flip through the pages of an architecture magazine and wish that home could be yours? Well, there’s a two-bedroom stunner at 143 Prince Street that has graced the pages of many an architecture magazine, and it can be yours for $23,000 per month. This corner unit is flooded with light thanks to 12-foot ceilings and two walls of 17 oversized southern and western windows spanning 45 feet in the living room. Add to that ebonized wood floors and cast-iron columns, and you have the perfect architectural pin-up.
More pics inside

Distinctive Homes

February 23, 2015

Modern East Village Condo at The Petersfield Features Magnificent Chandeliered Bathroom

By Stephanie Hoina

This meticulously renovated $1.75 million double-height corner condo loft in The Petersfield holds more than a few surprises, the first of which greets you as you enter the gallery foyer. Cleverly doubling as a built-in bookshelf display you will find a set of wooden stairs leading up to a sizable queen-sized sleep loft, always a nice addition to a one-bedroom apartment. And then, of course, there's the crystal chandelier over the bathtub...
More inside is right this way

Distinctive Homes

Interior Renderings Revealed for Jean Nouvel’s MoMA Tower

Interior rendering via Hayes Davidson

February 23, 2015

Interior Renderings Revealed for Jean Nouvel’s MoMA Tower

The last time we got any insider knowledge about Jean Nouvel's MoMA Tower, known officially as 53W53, was back in September when the penthouse floor plans of the 82-story, 1,050-foot building were revealed. Now it's gotten even better with actual interior renderings surfacing courtesy of the New York Times. The rendering is accompanied by a full-scale unit model of a $10 million, two-bedroom, 32nd-floor apartment planned for the tower. Set in a Sunset Park warehouse, the mock up shows how the building's well-known zig-zag façade pattern (the "diagrid") will translate inside, which leads to tilting windows and slanted columns. These unusual architectural features will inform the interior designs of Thierry W. Despont, who has been tapped to craft the 140 condo interiors.
More details ahead

February 23, 2015

Unique Indiana Jones-Style Condo in the Cheyney Asks $1.5M

If you’re a movie buff who likes quirky living spaces, you’ll love this renovated one bedroom condo at The Cheyney in Chelsea. This eclectic pad is like The Great Outdoors meets Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom with a shockingly sleek and modern marble bathroom and kitchen thrown in for good measure, and it’s asking $1.499 million.
READ MORE

February 20, 2015

New Yorker Spotlight: Min Liao of Whole Foods on Ditching Take-Out and Cooking Fresh at Home

For many, Whole Foods still automatically means "Whole Paycheck," but Min Liao is set on changing our thinking that fresh, organic food and fine dining are reserved for just a few. Min is the Culinary Center director at the Whole Foods Market (WFM) on Bowery and the brains behind the school's incredible course offering where menus range from handmade pasta dishes to "Les Essentiels-Chocolate" and whipping up eggs the way the Israelis do. The center is a delight designed specifically for the average New Yorker, focusing on growing culinary confidence, even in a small kitchen that might not have all the right tools. And best of all? The classes are inexpensive and often cost no more than $50. (There are even free ones!) We recently caught up with Min to find out how she got into the business of food and to find out what makes the WFM Culinary Center different from other cooking schools in the city. Keep reading for our interview ahead, and if you want to give a class a try, enter our latest giveaway. Min and her team are hosting a "Dumplings of the World" private cooking class for eight 6sqft readers at the center (enter here).
Let's get cookin' with Min here

February 20, 2015

Troubled Plaza Penthouse Returns with the Same $59M Asking Price

This troubled triplex penthouse at The Plaza just can’t seem to catch a break. It’s been a steady fall from grace ever since 2008, when an unhappy buyer who bought the $53.5 million place sight unseen sued for his $10.7 million deposit plus damages, claiming the home was misrepresented. Well, London-based developer Christian Candy purchased the pad for a comparatively dirt cheap $25.4 million in 2012 and tried to sell it for $59 million a couple of times in 2013. Now the plagued penthouse is back at the same $59 million asking. There’s something to be said for consistency. Let’s just hope the stars align this time and this “townhouse in the sky” finds an owner.
More pics inside

Distinctive Homes

Rent-Stabilized Tenant Gets Evicted for Listing His Apartment on Airbnb in a Landmark Decision

Inside the apartment. Image via Airbnb

February 20, 2015

Rent-Stabilized Tenant Gets Evicted for Listing His Apartment on Airbnb in a Landmark Decision

If you were questioning how truly serious the city is about its beef against Airbnb, look no further than this landmark ruling to evict a rent-stabilized tenant from his ultra-luxe 450 West 42nd Street building. The Post reports that Henry Ikezi was just given the boot by a Manhattan Housing Court judge for posting his 46th-floor Hell's Kitchen apartment on the site for $649 per night, about triple what he was paying at $6,670 per month. The home's market value is upwards of $9,000.
More on the landmark case here

February 20, 2015

One Vanderbilt May Offer Sky-High Observation Deck

When we talk about One Vanderbilt we typically focus on the base of the building–how it relates to its neighbor Grand Central and how it interacts with the planned public plaza in Vanderbilt Corridor. But at a presentation last night about the project, hosted by Open House New York and put on by Jamie van Klemperer, […]

February 20, 2015

Chelsea Townhouse Channels Its Inner Diva with Bold Patterns and Textures

Where’s Beyoncé when you need her? If she is indeed looking for another place, she might want to look at this Chelsea pad for design ideas. DHD Interiors gave this Robert Young Architecture-designed townhouse its own alter ego with bold textures and colors in the family and kids’ spaces and soft, polished style in other areas like the master bedroom and dining room.
More pics inside

New Waldorf Astoria Owners Will Add Luxury Condos to the Iconic Hotel

image via KerSaber

February 20, 2015

New Waldorf Astoria Owners Will Add Luxury Condos to the Iconic Hotel

Back in October, it was revealed that Hilton Worldwide Holdings, who owned the landmark Waldorf Astoria since 1972, had agreed to sell the 1,232-room hotel to the Anbang Insurance Group Co., a financial and insurance company based in Beijing, for $1.95 billion. The deal closed just last week, and now the new owners are planning to convert part of the Art Deco building into luxury condominiums. According to The Real Deal, Anbang’s chairman Wu Xiaohui recently said: "We plan to renovate the two towers into luxury residential apartments with world-class amenities and finishes to reflect its culture and social status."
More details

February 19, 2015

Modern Family’s Jesse Tyler Ferguson Buys $1.2M Gramercy Co-op

By Annie Doge

Jesse Tyler Ferguson, famous for his portrayal of neurotic lawyer Mitchell Pritchett on the sitcom Modern Family, has scooped up a $1,232,500 Gramercy Park co-op with his husband Justin Mikita, according to city records released today. The one-bedroom apartment at 200 East 16th Street is pretty standard, but will still make a lovely home for the couple when Ferguson isn't in LA filming.
Check out the unit here

February 19, 2015

$300K Rental at the Surrey Hotel Is the City’s Most Expensive One-Bedroom

Why buy a $3.6 million dollar home when you can pay the same amount of money to live in a modest one-bedroom for a year? The latest unit to join the city's ever-growing collection of priciest listings is a 1200-square-foot apartment in the Surrey Hotel at 20 East 76th Street. The Post reports that the pad—which is actually the 17th-floor penthouse if that sweetens the deal any—is currently renting for $300,000 a month and comes with one "oversized" bedroom, one-and-a-half bathrooms, and access to the hotel’s English rooftop garden and five-star amenities, which include a day spa and a place to pamper your pooch, amongst other perks.
Have a look around here

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!

By Alyssa Alimurung

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

City Living

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