Manhattan

By Ondel Hylton and Adam Rothstein

Manhattan Community Boards 5 and 6 want to redesign SL Green’s 67-story One Vanderbilt tower. [NYP] Fresh Direct breaks ground for its South Bronx headquarters, but locals protest that it will further damage the area’s air quality. [NYT] An opinion on why the proposed megatower on the pier would ruin the South Street Seaport. [NY Mag] Long Island […]

Real Estate Trends

December 23, 2014

170 Amsterdam Avenue: NYC’s First Concrete Diagrid Nears Completion

By Ondel Hylton

Final touches are being added to the Upper West Side's exoskeletal rental building at 170 Amsterdam Avenue. The 20-story mid-rise between 67th and 68th Streets will be the first residential building in the city to feature a concrete "diagrid" structural system. Developed by Chicago-based Equity Residential, the tower will house 239 luxury rental units and is slated to begin leasing early next year. Rental pricing may be similar to the Aire next door, where available units range from $3,375 for a 25th floor studio to $15,000 for a three-bedroom penthouse. According to the New York Post, Equity signed a 99-year lease for the site from the American Properties Group for $76.5 million back in 2011.
More details here

December 22, 2014

So You Think You Know Everything About One57?

Well, you might want to think twice. Even though the city's most expensive condo building is also perhaps the most written-about (even the Times has run out of ways to describe it), there are still plenty of little-known facts about the 1,005-foot-tall tower. One57 is considered the crown jewel of what's been dubbed "Billionaire's Row," and can also be credited with launching the ultra-luxury building boom. Developed by Extell's Gary Barnett and designed by Pritzker-winning architect Christian de Portzamparc, the sleek tower is currently the second tallest structure in the city. And that's just the beginning.
Bone up on your One57 factoids here

Architecture And Design

December 22, 2014

Quintessential Soho Loft in the West Broadway Arches Asks $2M

There’s a new loft available in one of Soho’s most prized co-ops. 140 Thompson Street, otherwise known as the West Broadway Arches, is a beautiful early 20th century brick building with large arched windows, right on the cusp of Soho and Greenwich Village. In addition to its great location, this flexible one-bedroom unit has every detail a prospective buyer could want in a quintessential loft, all for $1.95 million.
More photos after the jump

Distinctive Homes

December 19, 2014

REVEALED: 290-Foot Cantilevering Condo Coming to Hudson Square/West Soho

By Ondel Hylton

A development site at Greenwich and Charlton Streets promises to be among the first to bear fruit from Hudson Square's 2013 rezoning. Images uncovered on the website of Fernando Romero EnterprisE (FR-EE) detail a 26-floor, 116-unit condominium along the quiet commercial edge of the neighborhood. The L-shaped lot is owned by the developer Cape Advisors, whose forward-thinking projects include 100 Eleventh Avenue and One Kenmare Square.
More details ahead

December 19, 2014

MAD-Designed West Village Duplex Gets a Modern Update with a Cantilevered Staircase

Originally built in 1817, this West Village townhouse recently underwent a complete renovation by Matiz Architecture & Design (MAD). The transformation of this historic Bleecker Street duplex introduced custom millwork and a cantilevered wood stair as the focal point of the design. It also mixed the home's original features, like exposed brick, ceiling beams and wide-plank flooring with modern updates such as sleek countertops, whitewashed woodwork and contemporary art. By eliminating all full-height partitions and creating an open floor plan, the firm was able to make this space feel twice its size.
See what else this duplex has in store

December 19, 2014

REVEALED: NoMad Tower by FR-EE; Is It a Cowbell, Exclamation Point, or Cheese Grater?

By Ondel Hylton

Another exclamation point in a year of seemingly endless skyscraper unveilings has appeared on the city's "to-build list" with a possible rendering of a long-proposed mixed-use tower slated for the heart of NoMad. This exclamatory statement comes from the Mexico-based office of Fernando Romero EnterprisE (FR-EE). Never heard of them? Then check out their website and browse the bold work we New Yorkers too often miss out on. If the selection of FR-EE is official, Ziel Feldman’s HFZ Capital would join a growing list of New York developers bitten by the design bug. Developers like Hines, Rosen, Related, and Extell have led the way in commissioning big name, often foreign, architects to pen skyline-shifting projects aimed at the top of the market. HFZ also commissioned British-based David Chipperfield Architects to design a dignified 30-story tower along the southern edge of Bryant Park.
More details on the 50-story tower here

December 19, 2014

Announcing 6sqft’s 2014 Building of the Year!

DRUMROLL PLEASE… You came, you voted, and now we’re pleased to announce the winner of our first-ever Building of the Year competition! Congratulations to the Kohn Pedersen Fox-designed, Continuum Company-developed 45 East 22nd Street tower which won the hearts of 29 percent of over 3,500 readers who came to cast a vote. We’re not sure if it was the champagne flute-like design that sold […]

December 19, 2014

Beautiful $2.9M Carnegie Hill Duplex Sports a Sweeping Staircase

A charming duplex at 64 East 86th Street is available for a recently discounted $2.85 million. This 2,100-square-foot pad boasts all the offerings of a chic suburban home all within arms' reach of Central Park, the Met and the Guggenheim. And to top it all off, that gorgeous staircase…
More on that, here

Distinctive Homes

December 18, 2014

Unique “Stone” House Struggles on the Market, Asking $7.5 Million

Apparently, living in a landmarked townhouse designed by the same architect responsible for the MoMA is not as appealing to buyers as you would think. The Edward Durell Stone-designed home at 130 East 64th Street has been on the market for over a year now, with its asking price steadily declining from a $9.995 million price tag to $7.5 million, and it’s still sitting. But this four-story house is no stranger to mixed reviews.
Find out more here

Distinctive Homes

December 18, 2014

Couple Fills a 242-Square-Foot Village Apartment with Brilliant Interior Design Ideas

This home may be smaller than the average of those we showcase on 6sqft, but when it comes to incredible design details, it definitely doesn't come up any shorter than the rest. Jourdan Lawlor and her fiancé Tobin Ludwig purchased this sweet West Village pied-à-terre a few years ago for just $270,000, and after a $33,000 renovation, they turned their cramped 242-square-foot studio into a comfy home with brilliant, smart space-saving techniques like built-ins and space-maximizing illusions like white walls and good lighting. But a subdued color palette doesn't hurt this home. What it lacks in wacky wall coverings it makes up in the delightful interior touches all throughout. Curbed's Hana Alberts recently visited the apartment with photographer Max Touhey in tow—see some of their images ahead.
Tour the home here

Distinctive Homes

December 18, 2014

Rustic, Elegant Loft in Soho’s Tiffany Foundry Building Lists for $3M

Soho is one of NYC's most bustling neighborhoods, and if you're hoping to live in this action-packed hood look no further than this very cool loft that just popped up on the market. The spacious, three-bedroom apartment is located at 55 Prince Street in the Tiffany Foundry building built in 1861 and is currently listed for $3 million. The elegant, rustic unit has an open floor plan featuring original wooden beams, exposed brick, and oak flooring.
See the rest of the home here

Distinctive Homes

Davis Brody Bond, Architects of 9/11 Museum, Will Design New NYU Building in the Village

A rendering of the NYU expansion plan

December 18, 2014

Davis Brody Bond, Architects of 9/11 Museum, Will Design New NYU Building in the Village

Architecture firm Davis Brody Bond is continuing their tradition of designing projects met with much controversy. First came the 9/11 Museum, then the Frick Museum expansion, and now the new NYU building in the Village. Davis Brody Bond will join KieranTimberlake in designing the university's new building on the Coles Sports Center site on Mercer Street between Houston and Bleecker Streets. The building is part of the highly contentious $6 billion, 1.9 million-square-foot NYU 2031 expansion plan. The development agreement allows NYU to develop only one parcel of land at a time, with Coles being the first.
READ MORE

December 18, 2014

Meredith Vieira Buys an $8.55M Penthouse at the El Dorado

By Annie Doge

All of Meredith Vieira's hard work has certainly paid off. According to the Post, the journalist-slash-talk-show-host-slash-game-show-host has just scooped up a penthouse at the El Dorado. The home is a three-bedroom stunner with two large terraces and Central Park reservoir views. The final closing price has yet to be revealed, but it was last asking $8.55 million in May when it went into contract. The previous owners paid $5.95 million for it back in 2011—surely a recent, beautiful, never-lived-in renovation helped give this CPW pad a price boost.
Have a peek inside

Celebrities

December 17, 2014

Can PS109 Affordable Artists’ Housing Slow the Gentrification of East Harlem?

We all know the typical gentrification pattern–artists move in to a neighborhood and make it hip; they're followed by trendy coffee shops and cool vintage stores; rents rise; the artists move on to the next frontier. But what if the influx of artists to a neighborhood slowed gentrification? It sounds like an impossible premise, but it just might be taking shape in East Harlem. Fast Co. EXIST takes a look at El Barrio’s Artspace PS109, the project which has transformed an abandoned public school building in East Harlem into 89 units of affordable live/work housing for artists and their families and 10,000 square feet of complementary space for arts organizations. A whopping 53,000 creatives applied to live in the building, where studios will rent for as low as $494/month and two-bedroom units will go for $1,022/month. But isn't Artspace’s goal to break the gentrification cycle—"to preserve the cultural fabric of a small corner of Manhattan that’s starting to change quickly" by preserving its affordable housing?
Read more ahead

December 17, 2014

1100 Architect Transforms a Boring Midtown Loft into Their Client’s Pop Art Dream Home

This home, which was previously your average-fair Midtown penthouse, was transformed by 1100 Architect to represent the playful and vibrant Pop art sensibility of the artists their clients admire most. With an art collection boasting names like Warhol, Riley, Lichtenstein and others, this penthouse renovation could be a mini-MoMA. The interior furnishings reflect the Pop style's infamous geometric forms and hard-polished surfaces like marble agglomerate floors, lacquer, stainless steel, glass, and plastic.
Tour this bright pad here

December 16, 2014

Lubrano Ciavarra Architects’ West Village Townhouse Boasts a Plush Green Roof

This elegant West Village townhouse was recently renovated by Lubrano Ciavarra Architects, a Brooklyn-based firm founded by Anne Marie Lubrano and Lea Ciavarra in 1999. Nestled on a beautiful tree-lined street, it boasts a rich brick exterior and plenty of original details. The 2,900-square-foot home's design is a cool combination of modern, clean textiles and a very unique approach to incorporating nature in and outside of the house.
Take a look around here

December 16, 2014

$2.85M Soho Loft Mixes Historic Cast Iron Charm with Modern Industrial Design

This full-floor two-bedroom loft is located in the heart of SoHo's landmarked Cast Iron Historic District at 543 Broadway and is currently priced at $2.85 million. The expansive unit is situated on a high floor of a Neo-Classical loft building and is accessed through a private, key-locked elevator. From stainless steel appliances and glass-framed rooms to vaulted ceilings and original exposed brick, this home has the perfect combination of architectural details and luxury amenities.
Check out the rest of the loft here

Distinctive Homes

December 16, 2014

Times Square Is Getting a Heart-Beating Urban Drum for Valentine’s Day

As New Yorkers, we don't really think of Times Square as a romantic location, but for Valentine's Day 2015 we might just stand corrected. Brooklyn-based architecture firm Stereotank was announced as the winner of the annual Times Square Valentine Heart Design contest, a public art competition held for the past seven years by the Times Square Alliance and the Architectural League of New York. Stereotank's HEARTBEAT installation is an interactive, heart-beating, glowing urban drum.
More on HEARTBEAT ahead

December 16, 2014

Rent a Piece of History for $40K/Month with This Greenwich Village Townhouse

A fully furnished townhouse in Greenwich Village's landmarked MacDougal-Sullivan Gardens Historic District is available for a short-term lease for $40,000 per month. The 5,000-square-foot home has four levels along with a windowed cellar and a spectacular rooftop penthouse.
Take a look inside here

Distinctive Homes

Is 125th Street the Next 14th Street? Big-Name Developers Think So.

125th Street via jmd41280 via photopin cc

December 15, 2014

Is 125th Street the Next 14th Street? Big-Name Developers Think So.

14th Street, 23rd Street, 86th Street–there's no question that these east-west thoroughfares are some of the city's most bustling corridors of commercial, cultural, and residential activity. And 125th Street in Harlem could now be joining their ranks, a real estate trend dissected in a WSJ article today. Big-name NYC developers are cashing in on the street's transformation. Greystone & Co. bought a $11.5 million site through a bankruptcy auction earlier this month, where they'll put 75 market-rate and affordable apartments, along with ground-floor retail space. Across the street, Continuum Co. will add 700 residential units and 85,000 square feet of retail. Nearby, Wharton Properties has obtained funding for their 33,000-square-foot retail complex that will be anchored by Whole Foods.
READ MORE

Real Estate Trends

December 15, 2014

Arne Glimcher, One of World’s Most Powerful Art Dealers, Buys $5.6M Madison Square Loft

By Annie Doge

If you're familiar with the NYC gallery scene you definitely know the Pace Gallery and its founder Arnold "Arne" Glimcher, one of the world's most powerful art dealers, as well as a film producer and director. According to city records, Arne and his son Marc have bought a $5.6 million Madison Square loft at 117 East 24th Street. The contemporary space boasts four bedrooms and 4,000 square feet as well as 11.5-foot ceilings and plenty of wall space to display one's art collection, though we're not sure which of the father-son art dealing pair will be residing in the loft.
Take a look around

December 15, 2014

EVENT: Here’s Your Chance to Check Out Billionaire Peter Brant’s Converted Con Ed Station

Now's your chance to get a look into one of the city's coolest spaces. EV Grieve tells us that from now through Sunday, the curious yellow brick building located at 421 East 6th Street will open its doors to the public for its first art show featuring Dan Colen. The former Con Ed substation was recently purchased for $27 million by billionaire Peter Brant from the estate of the late Walter de Maria, the famed sculptor who converted the 16,402-square-foot structure into an incredible home and studio back in the '80s. The event is sure to delight, if not for the artist's work (which ARTnews dubs "deeply mediocre"), then at least for the chance to get a first glimpse into the extraordinary space. Nondescript and gritty on the outside, the building’s cavernous interior spaces boast ceilings as high as 32 feet, and plenty of the near-century-old substation's original details remain intact.
Find out more here

December 12, 2014

Mayor De Blasio Builds a “Privacy Fence” Around Gracie Mansion to Keep Curious Eyes Out

“Man of the People” Mayor De Blasio seems to be getting a little annoyed with his constituents’ nosy nature. The Post reports that De Blasio has just erected a “privacy fence” adding another four feet to the home’s existing barrier. The new fence was constructed inside an existing red brick wall and a wrought-iron fence that […]

Celebrities

December 12, 2014

Luxurious Upper East Side Townhouse Fetches Impressive $9M