Manhattan

One of the things we love most about New York's historic neighborhoods is that they each have their own distinct architectural style. So we were a little discombobulated (in a good way) when we saw Matthew Baird Architects's Greenwich Street Townhouse, which has infused the industrial, rough-edged style of the Meatpacking District into a traditional West Village-rowhouse streetscape. When they embarked on the project, both the architect and the client sought a contemporary, reductive exterior design to contrast with the warm ambiance and simple materials of the 5,000-square-foot interior. Baird's interest in prefabrication inspired the construction of the façade from a single piece of raw steel, which was lifted from a truck and bolted into place. When the 40' x 14' slab was transported, the inbound lanes on one level of the George Washington Bridge had to be closed!
Get a look inside this unique home

July 11, 2014

Real Esate Wire: Ace Hotel Definitely Coming to Brooklyn; Harlem Penthouse Renting for $10.5K a Month

By Jon Dioffa

Is Jared Kushner plotting to turn 20 apartments into one giant West Village mansion? [Curbed] ACE Hotel is indeed coming to Downtown Brooklyn. Permits were just filed for a site along Bond Street. [Brownstoner] Harlem rents are up and a landlord is looking to rent a penthouse at 1080 Amsterdam Ave. for $10,500 a month. [NYDN] […]

Real Estate Trends

July 11, 2014

Live in a $4 Million Diamond Two Blocks from Union Square

At its heart Union Square is a microcosm of the city it calls home. Simply stroll through its center on any given day and you’ll find a colorful, ever-changing street scene of entertainers, eccentrics, merchants and city folk passing through or stopping to meet. Similarly, this gorgeous unit at 10 East 14th Street in the Union Square Lofts and Flats is representative of the quintessential “old world-new world” luxury apartment. Steeped in historic pre-war details such as wide plank hardwood floors, cast iron columns and exposed brick walls throughout, the full floor 2BR/2.5BA home is also filled with the finest in modern touches and high-tech amenities, all combining to create a truly gracious residence.
See how shiny this diamond of a home is

Distinctive Homes

July 11, 2014

Beachy $1.85 Million Tribeca Loft Makes Suffering for Your Art a Pleasure

How fitting that this apartment at 135 Hudson Street overlooks Beach Street. The $1.85 million Tribeca loft definitely has a beachy vibe with its distinct white cast-iron-and-wood-beamed ceilings and patch-worked hardwoods throughout. The only difference is this artist’s lair is flooded with light. Get it? We’re here all week. Well, we can thank a wall of windows, five skylights and a cupola in the center of the main room for creating this light, airy space.
Take a look inside this beachy loft here

Distinctive Homes

July 11, 2014

NYC Events 7/11: Art Battle in Staten Island; Tour the Woolworth Building

By Lori Zimmer

This week, we've got a well-rounded roster of events for you, spanning from sticker art to rare architecture to dance and film. Pay a visit to one of our fair city's oft forgotten boroughs and sail the high seas on over to Staten Island for Saturday's take over, which will transform Artist Alley into a festival of live art making, drinks, and music. Next week, break out the picnic blanket and catch a free summer flick in Midtown's best park, or wake yourself up with not only a coffee and fresh juice, but a raging (pre-work) dance party. Treat your architectural side to a private tour of very private sites—the newly renovated United Nations chambers or the closed-to-the-public lobby of the Woolworth building—and then finish the week off by satiating your inner modern art nerd with the contemporary abstractions of Carly Ivan Garcia.
All the best events here

July 11, 2014

$10.6 Million Sale on Fifth Avenue Features City Views Like Artwork

The opulent former estate of New York socialite Monica E. Hollander has sold for over $100K over asking, according to city records. The 980 Fifth Avenue co-op was on the market for roughly 6 months before a couple scooped up the gem. Warburg Realty’s Wendy Greenbaum held the listing and we’re guessing she used the apartment’s two most famous neighbors--Central Park and the New York City skyline—as a huge selling point.
Take a look inside, here

July 11, 2014

Manhattanhenge: Tonight Is Your Last Chance to View This Spectacular Phenomenon in 2014

While there is no shortage of stunning views in New York City, some are more expensive to own than others. But here’s one that won’t cost you a cent and belongs to everyone – well, at least for the two times a year the Neil deGrasse Tyson coined “Manhattanhenge” makes its spectacular appearance.
more on the history here

Events & Things To Do

July 10, 2014

New York vs. London: A Real Estate Challenge on Both Sides of the Pond

While we're all still in the patriotic mood after the July 4th festivities, we thought it appropriate to put together a friendly little challenge between New York City and her cross-pond ally and sometimes rival, (what are the kids calling it these days, a frenemy?). In the left corner is NYC, global hub of finance and media, weighing in with a population of 8,405,837. And in the right corner we have London, the world's most-visited city, population 8,416,535. According to British real estate website Zoopla, the average price of a Central London home over the past year is £1.1 million or $2 million in U.S. dollars, topping the $1.6 million average selling price of residences in the core of Manhattan.
See how the cities battle it out in our three-round real-estate showdown

Distinctive Homes

July 10, 2014

One of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Finance Sells Greenwich Village Pad for $2.6 Million

HSBC investment banker and one of the 25 most powerful women in finance, Katia Bouazza, has just sold her Greenwich Village pad for $2.6 million, according to city records. Who would have thought the Co-head of Global Capital Markets for the Americas could have such great taste?
Take a look inside this gorgeous loft here

July 10, 2014

Funky Apartment in Flipper-Favorite 166 Perry Street Sells for $2.5 Million

166 Perry Street, the futuristic, Asymptote-designed condo with a vertical undulating façade, has become notorious for its failed flipping attempts. But the curse might be lifted at the eight-story West Village residence thanks to the recent $2.5 million sale of apartment 1B, a 2BR/2.5BA duplex that has been outfitted with modern touches and funky details. The 2,526-square-foot unit initially sold in 2010, a year after the building's completion, for $1.756 million. When the pad went on the market this time around in January 2013, it was listed for $3.995 million. Though today's owner had to lower the asking price, she still made a profit of nearly $1 million.
Check out the colorful digs here

July 10, 2014

Brooklyn Rents on the Rise With Crown Heights and Bed-Stuy Leading the Charge; Manhattan Rents Relatively Stable

By Diane Pham

This past week there has been a lot of talk about Crown Heights and Bed-Stuy finally having their "moment", and it looks like there are numbers in to back that up. MNS's June rental market report for Brooklyn and Manhattan reveal that both developers and renters are looking to move away from saturated areas like Williamsburg and DUMBO. By MNS's measure, average rents in Brooklyn increased from $2,556 to $2,741, or 6.2%, as compared with June of last year — very much driven by rent hikes in gentrifying areas. Manhattan rents on the other hand fell just slightly.
More on the Brooklyn and Manhattan rental markets here

Real Estate Trends

July 10, 2014

Kimora Lee Simmons Buys a Phat Apartment at the Marquand

Well, it only makes sense for the creator of Baby Phat to live in a phat crib. Investment banker Tim Leissner, otherwise known as Mr. Kimora Lee Simmons, just dropped $19 million on an 8th floor apartment at The Marquand, according to the NY Post. The 5BR/5.5BA unit has its own private elevator landing and wood burning fireplaces, and while we’re not sure what other features the actual apartment boasts, other apartments in the building have bay windows, a chef’s kitchen, and a media niche with a concealed A/V closet.
Take a look inside the Baby Phat crib here

July 10, 2014

Extell’s Nordstrom Tower Will Be Just a Foot Shorter Than One World Trade at 1,775 Feet

The endless race to the top in the NYC skyscraper world continues with Extell's Nordstrom Tower, which will rise 1,479 feet, with a spire that reaches a height of 1,775 feet--just one foot shorter than One World Trade. Assuming it's financed, the sky-high tower at 225 West 57th Street will be the tallest residential building in the world, surpassing Mumbai's World One Tower by 29 feet, and will reclaim the "tallest roof" category for Manhattan from Chicago's Willis Tower, which has a roof height of 1,451 feet.
More on the newest soaring addition to the NYC skyline

July 9, 2014

Bizarre $1.8 Million Soho Loft Has Giant Wood Shed

Looking at so many beautiful homes can get to be exhausting (not really) so we decided to change things up and show you a new kind of luxury. We’re not quite sure what we want to call it yet, but we’re thinking something like woodsman chic or garage chic. Either way, we’re thinking if the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were real, they would gladly shell out the $1.8 million asking price for this unit at 49 Howard Street.
Oh there's more... here

Distinctive Homes

July 9, 2014

Was Louis Kahn’s Four Freedoms Park inspired by the Masonic Pyramid on the $1 bill?

By Diane Pham

The Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedom's Park may have opened relatively recently in 2012, but architect Louis Kahn was brewing up the design for the memorial park nearly 40 years earlier. Kahn's death in 1974 (a somewhat tragic one which left him dead and alone in a Penn Station bathroom after a heart attack) was unfortunately accented by a dwindling reputation — Kahn's sordid multi-family affairs had come to light upon his passing and his fading architecture practice was loaded with debt. But beyond all the scandal, Kahn also left behind a number of sketchbooks packed with complete sets of unrealized projects. One of these projects was the Four Freedom's Park. While plenty of accolades have been given to successful realization of the project so far after Kahn's death, few have tracked where the architect may have pulled his inspiration for the design. That is until now. As a number of Kahn's sketches emerge for public viewing, some are asking: Was the the design of Louis Kahn's Four Freedom's Park inspired by the Eye of Providence found on the U.S. dollar bill?
What people are saying

July 9, 2014

Steel City: Architecture in Formation Structurally Redresses a Chelsea Duplex Using Digital Fabrication

Words that come to mind when we think of steel are heavy, imposing, and grey. In this Chelsea duplex penthouse, however, the material is widely used, but the space feels light, airy, and crisp. The "structural redressing" of the 1,500-square-foot apartment was completed by Architecture in Formation with the goal of creating "a stunning, sexy, one-of-a-kind home; and consummately New York.” To design the space, the firm used off-site, state-of-the-art digital design and fabrication methods to create its three main components: the back-lit, CNC-cut Corian screen; an origami folded-plate steel and Corian staircase; and the bedroom mirror/TV/light-wall.
Get up close and personal with these three architectural marvels, as well as the rest of the stunning home

July 9, 2014

Sprawling Outdoor Space Beautifully Complements This Wooster Street Penthouse’s Equally Roomy Interior

Let’s see…. charming cobblestone streets, Soho’s artistic vibe, Nolita’s incomparable bakeries and restaurants, or the nearly 2,400 square feet of outdoor space? Yep, it’s hard to pick what would be our favorite part of living at 7 Wooster Street — and we haven’t even made it inside this magnificent penthouse. Once the key-locked elevator opens into this full floor 4-bed, 3-bath, 2,600-square-foot trophy residence we have even more to add to our list of “favorites”.
See more of this spacious residence

Distinctive Homes

July 9, 2014

Charming UWS French-Country Apartment Will Sell You with Its Urban Roof Deck

We'll admit it--even though New York City is our home, we sometimes long for the comforts of the suburbs. That's why we were so excited to find this floor-through apartment in a turn-of-the-century Upper West Side townhouse. Apartment 4 at 129 West 80th Street, which is listed at $1.695 million, is a 1BR/1.5BA co-op. Not only has it been renovated to exude a nostalgic, French country feel, but its spectacular roof deck gives you all the charms of backyard living without having to battle summer traffic to the Jersey Shore or Hamptons. And you can't get those skyline views in suburbia!
See what else this little slice of heaven has to offer

Distinctive Homes

July 9, 2014

Parkview Developers Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass Sell Southmoor House Penthouse for $11.9 Million

It appears that Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass of Parkview Developers have sold one of their Southmoor House penthouses. The 17-floor building serves as more than just home to the Out Hotel developers. It’s also headquarters for their company. And like true developers, they own a big chunk of the building, making them one of the co-op’s biggest shareholders. While the newly troubled pair seems quite committed to their own symmetrical pad—turning down a $15.5 million cash offer a few years back without batting an eyelash—that doesn’t stop them from making serious bank on some other units. And you won't hear us complaining, because that means we get to check out this 3BR/3BA penthouse.
Take a look inside this premier pad here

July 9, 2014

Rubbermaid VP Snatches Up Patrick Naggar-Designed Chelsea Penthouse for $7 Million

We're guessing this penthouse loft at 138 West 17th Street is going to get very organized when new owner Mark Tarchetti, Chief Development Officer and Executive Vice President of Newell Rubbermaid Inc., moves in. He may not need to bring in too many plastic bins, though, as internationally acclaimed architect/designer Patrick Naggar executed a stunning combination of high function and low maintenance in this 3BR/3BA, 3,200-square-foot Chelsea apartment. Naggar incorporated exotic materials and top-notch artisanry to create a sleek, modern home that feels luxurious and comfortable. Natural light and 360-degree unobstructed views abound thanks to 20 huge windows and five skylights.
Think the penthouse was worth the $7 million price tag? Check out more details right this way

July 8, 2014

You Will Go ‘Gaga’ When You Learn Who Once Lived in the Building of This $4.5M Upper West Side Residence

The historic building standing at 135 West 70th Street was built in 1927 to serve as a singular meeting place for all the Knights of Pythias lodges of NYC. Designed by architect Thomas W. Lamb, best known for his ornate movie palaces, it’s no wonder that the Pythian is richly decorated in brightly colored and glazed terra cotta embellishments. Though converted to a condominium in 1983, architect David Gura was careful to retain most of the building's ornamental features. Taking great pains to ensure that elements removed from their original positions were salvaged for use elsewhere within the building, his renovation earned a residential design award from the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
See why this apartment has earned our applause

Distinctive Homes

July 8, 2014

$35 Million Richard Meier Penthouse up for Resale for First Time Ever

The penthouse of Pritzker Prize-winning starchitect Richard Meier’s last residential masterpiece is on the market for the first time since it was built in 2005. You know what that means. It means we get to glimpse inside the stunning West Village pad so we can begin brainstorming fundraising ideas to get this hot $35 million trophy. As if it’s not impressive enough that this 165 Charles Street penthouse sits atop an iconic building that won the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects 2005 Housing Design Award, this condo was designed by the starchitect himself. Now, if that’s not something to brag about, we don’t know what is.
Take a look inside the masterfully designed penthouse here

July 8, 2014

West Village Federal Rowhouse with Surprise Attic Space Sells for $6 Million

Attics get a bad name as the cobweb-laden crawl space to store holiday decorations, the makeshift bedroom for the angry teenager in the house, or the unknown room that no one even dares enter. But behind the dormer windows of 651 Washington Street is a modern, spacious attic space that has been transformed to fit two sunny bedrooms, one of the many factors that likely led to its recent $6 million sale. Other selling points of the five-story, 2,800-square-foot home include four bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, a full-floor finished basement outfitted with a home gym, a private outdoor garden, and two separate dining rooms. The lucky buyer is Charles Modica, Co-Founder and Chancellor of St. George's University located in Grenada, West Indies.
See what else Mr. Modica will get to enjoy in his new residence

July 7, 2014

Jaw-Dropping $3.4 Million Central Park West Pad Has Taxidermied Animals Everywhere

If Norman Bates were a real person we imagine he’d be rather fixated on this terrifying homage to our furry and feathery friends at The Beresford. If you ask Halstead realtor Robert Dowling about 211 Central Park West #3J, he would tell you that it’s a rare gem with soaring 10-foot ceilings, and plenty of windows. The woman in the shower… would tell you to run. Either way, we just couldn’t pass up the chance to explore this unique pad and its current owner's interesting style. But you might want to make sure Fido leaves the room before you continue.
Check out this taxidermists' dream here

July 7, 2014

Ready for Its Close-up: $19.5M Park Avenue Apartment With Interior Staging by Jed Johnson Associates Does Not Disappoint