6sqft | NYC local news, events, and apartments

New York City's construction craze just got easier to track, thanks to a new tool that maps every major, active project across the five boroughs. The city's Department of Buildings released this week an interactive map and dashboard that provides real-time information on every active construction site in the city. According to the data, there are currently 7,437 active permits filed and nearly 198,000,00 total square feet of construction, as of Wednesday.
See just how construction crazy NYC is

Uncategorized

August 22, 2018

Massive $39M Trump World Tower ‘sky mansion’ has 16 rooms, 24 hidden TVs, and 20+ closets

The listing for this 7,500-square-foot, 16 room, six-bedroom property in the Trump World Tower at 845 United Nations Plaza calls the massive home a "mansion in the sky," and that gives you an idea of just what to expect, though you might already guess what to expect from the (almost) entire 82nd floor of the modern-luxe-encrusted tower. There are, of course, the 360-degree views, which reach to the moon. And a peek at the floor plan affirms a dizzying magnitude of square footage in one single Turtle Bay condominium.
Take the sky mansion tour

Distinctive Homes

August 21, 2018

For $2.5M, a West Soho condo with a peaceful garden sanctuary

With a private garden oasis accessed through floor-to-ceiling glass doors, this ground-floor apartment in West Soho offers a stunning indoor-outdoor balance. Asking $2.5 million, the two-bedroom home located at 22 Renwick Street, a full-service condo boutique building, has plenty of space to entertain. The listing describes the home as "country living in the city," and with its 15-foot tall river birch trees and beautiful flowers, it's not hard to see why.
See the enviable green space

Distinctive Homes

Organization honors 9/11 victims by giving away 500,000 daffodil bulbs

Image: Eden, Janine and Jim via Flickr.

August 21, 2018

Organization honors 9/11 victims by giving away 500,000 daffodil bulbs

New York City non-profit New Yorkers for Parks is getting ready for its annual daffodil bulb giveaway project in tribute to the memories of those who died in the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The annual Daffodil Project distributes 500,000 daffodil bulbs to residents and groups, to be planted in public places throughout the city (h/t AM New York).
Find out where to get yours

August 21, 2018

Compact Greenwich Village studio with sleeping loft asks $850,000

In Greenwich Village's 1 Sheridan Square, this fifth-floor studio offers a compact slice of pre-war Manhattan for under $1 million. The lofted condo unit is quite small but would be a quality crash pad for a buyer with a tight budget set on the prime location.
Take a look around

Distinctive Homes

August 21, 2018

Affordable housing lottery opens for new health-focused complex in the Bronx

A year and a half after breaking ground on the project, mental health nonprofit Community Access has opened the affordable housing for a new, $52.2 million supportive housing complex in the Mount Eden neighborhood of the Bronx. As 6sqft previously reported, "it incorporates sustainable elements such as solar panels and a co-generation plant, as well as health-focused amenities like a community garden and kitchen to encourage and teach about healthy eating, outdoor exercise equipment, and a bike sharing program." The building at 111 East 172nd Street has 126 units, 50 percent of which are set aside for formerly homeless New Yorkers or families with special needs. The remaining half is available as of today through the city's lottery and are reserved for those earning 60 percent of the area median income, including $864/month studios and $1,122/month two-bedrooms.
See the breakdown

Affordable Housing

Music fan behind ‘Aretha’ signs at Franklin Ave subway aims for permanent tribute mural

Images: Aretha Franklin, Franklin Avenue subway station via Wikimedia.

August 21, 2018

Music fan behind ‘Aretha’ signs at Franklin Ave subway aims for permanent tribute mural

Upon hearing of the death of Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin last week, music enthusiast and location manager LeRoy McCarthy corralled a street artist friend and got to work on a fitting sendoff–"Aretha," stenciled in magenta sprayable chalk lettering above each sign that identified the Franklin Avenue subway station in Brooklyn. Curbed reports that McCarthy, who was responsible for efforts to name streets for Notorious B.I.G. in Clinton Hill, Phife Dawg in Queens and the Beastie Boys in the Lower East Side, among others, hopes to create a more permanent tribute. The plan is to create the word R-E-S-P-E-C-T in large black letters on a blank wall just south of Fulton Street on the west side of Franklin Avenue.
more than a little respect, hopefully

My 5,400sqft: Inside father and finance pro Stephen Fox’s sprawling Long Island City condo

6sqft’s series “My sqft” checks out the homes of New Yorkers across all the boroughs. Our latest interior adventure brings us to the Long Island City condo of Stephen. Want to see your home featured here? Get in touch!

August 21, 2018

My 5,400sqft: Inside father and finance pro Stephen Fox’s sprawling Long Island City condo

No, that's not a typo. Stephen Fox’s home really measures 5,400 square feet. And slightly more than half of that space comes in the form of two terraces--a lower one equipped with a grill and dining area and a huge rooftop area with more room to play and entertain than some city parks. Both spaces boast views of the Manhattan skyline, as well as a front-row seat to the ever-evolving Queens neighborhood of Long Island City. After first purchasing a unit in the building, a former 19th-century factory, in 2006, Stephen and his wife Julie later snagged a larger apartment. The couple, who both work in finance, then bought the unit next door, combining them to make for an even more palatial home. They now share the light-filled space with their two children, three-year-old Mason and two-year-old Logan. Stephen recently gave 6sqft a tour of his home, shared what it was like to settle down in LIC, and told us how he's seen the neighborhood change over the last decade.
Take a look around

Distinctive Homes

This $3.25M Gramercy two-bedroom comes with expansion potential–and a key to the park

$1.8M restored Marcel Breuer house on the Hudson has kept its mid-century modern spirit intact

Theater director David Saint lists his East Village penthouse with huge terrace for $5M

$450K Hell's Kitchen studio is a cozy refuge in the middle of Manhattan

$3.4M Park Slope triplex condo has a roof terrace with heavenly views

Cozy Brooklyn Heights co-op has pre-war charm and a bright, sunny kitchen for $1.5M

This $1.4M Astoria home is all about flexible, fabulous, and fun townhouse living

This new $14.75M Cobble Hill townhouse looks like it's been standing for a century

Prospect Heights pre-war co-op seen in 'Black Swan' lists for $1.7M

This $6M Tribeca loft has bedrooms surrounded by terrace and sky

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A new deal and more construction at Waldorf Astoria, though opening date is delayed

Photo via Wikimedia

August 21, 2018

A new deal and more construction at Waldorf Astoria, though opening date is delayed

When the iconic Waldorf Astoria closed in 2017 for the massive renovation promised when Chinese company Anbang Insurance Group acquired it in 2014, the hotel's future held jumbo condos and massive guest rooms. The fate of the Park Avenue landmark has been a topic of drama and discussion ever since, especially given the takeover of Anbang by the Chinese government after the incarceration of the company's chairman, Wu Xiaohui, last year during a fraud investigation. The New York Post now reports that although contractor AECOM Tishman has signed a deal with Anbang and construction is underway for the promised 350 condos and 350 hotel rooms, the project's completion date has been moved from 2020 to 2021.
Find out more

Events & Things To Do

August 20, 2018

Meryl Streep lists serene Tribeca penthouse for $25M

If we had to guess what Meryl Streep's home looked like, our description would be pretty close to the serene interiors of her Tribeca penthouse, which she's just listed for $24.6 million. According to Curbed, the three-time Academy Award-winner and her husband, Donald Gummer, bought the four-bedroom apartment in 2006 for $10 million, and they've now decided to sell it after buying a mid-century-modern home in Pasadena last December. Though Streep has designed the interiors impeccably, with a laid-back coastal vibe and contemporary art collection, what really sets this residence apart is the 10-foot-wide landscaped terrace that wraps around three sides of the penthouse.
Take the tour

Huge American Dream mall near MetLife stadium will put NYC’s food halls to shame

Rendering via Vice/Munchies

August 20, 2018

Huge American Dream mall near MetLife stadium will put NYC’s food halls to shame

Is NYC's biggest food hall coming to New Jersey?! According to Eater, that may be the case. They report that the long-stalled (16 years, to be exact) American Dream mall planned for the site next to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford will have 50 grab-and-go options, 20 full-service restaurants, a Vice-branded food hall, and the world's first Kosher food hall. This is in addition to the $3 billion, 4.5 million-square-foot shopping mall's insane amenities like the largest indoor ski slope in the western hemisphere, an NHL-sized ice rink, a 4-D movie theater, a LEGOLAND, and an eight-acre Nickelodeon water park and theme park.
All the details this way

Food & Dining

August 20, 2018

$3.4M West Village triplex has three outdoor spaces and a glass atrium

In the converted brick West Village loft building formerly home to the Pickwick Paper Company, and now to 22 condos, this apartment at 35 Bethune Street offers an amenity-rich triplex with original details. The modern three-bedroom apartment is defined by a 24-foot, tiered glass atrium in its center and has more than 2,100 square feet of space. It's currently asking $3.4 million.
Check it out

Distinctive Homes

New plans unveiled for creative and industrial office space in Greenpoint

Image: FXCollaborative/Bezier

August 20, 2018

New plans unveiled for creative and industrial office space in Greenpoint

Simon Baron Development has announced plans for a seven-story office building at 12 Franklin Street on the Greenpoint/North Williamsburg border. The project, designed by FXCollaborative, will rise in an area bristling with residential development, dining and entertainment choices but with a shortage, according to the developer, of Class A office space geared toward small businesses. The building's 134,000 square feet of office, retail and rooftop amenity space will include 23,000 square feet of manufacturing space–the building's design was intended to reinforce the industrial character of the neighborhood. The project is scheduled for public review today.
Find out more

New Developments

MTA to host town hall meetings on ambitious Fast Forward plan

Image © 6sqft

August 20, 2018

MTA to host town hall meetings on ambitious Fast Forward plan

Instead of airing grievances about the subway on Twitter, you will soon be able to complain to the boss of the system face-to-face. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced on Sunday that Andy Byford, president of NYC Transit, will host a series of town hall public meetings about the Fast Forward plan, the ambitious proposal to modernize the subway over the next decade. The first meeting will take place at York College in Queens on Tuesday, Aug. 21 from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm.
Get the details

Transit

Riverton Square, via A&E Real Estate

August 20, 2018

New waitlist opens for mixed-income units at East Harlem’s Riverton complex, from $1,174/month

Last November, East Harlem’s Riverton Square opened up its 7,500-name waitlist for middle-income families. They've now reopened it, this time to a wider range of income brackets. Households earning 60, 80, or 125 percent of the area median income can put their name on the list for units ranging from $1,174/month one-bedrooms to $2,983/month three-bedrooms. The affordable seven-building development was built by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in 1947 to serve as housing for WWII veterans. Unlike their similar complexes, Stuyvesant Town and the Bronx's Parkchester, Riverton did not bar black and Hispanic tenants from renting. Today, the 12-acre complex offers a gated community with 12 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds and a public fountain, a new basketball court and playground, and a newly built senior center and after-school center.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

August 20, 2018

Interactive map displays changes in New York City’s street grid over the last 90 years

The Department of City Planning (DCP) launched on Monday a digital tool that compiles more than 8,000 historic maps of New York City, dating back to 1924. The tool, called NYC Street Map, allows users to find the official mapped width and status of specific streets and how that relates to specific properties. According to DCP, NYC Street Map lets New Yorkers explore historic street and building images, find protected bike lanes and locate streets and public areas named in honor of 9/11 victims.
Explore the map

Uncategorized

Image: Wikimedia Commons

August 20, 2018

NYC pet laws and the legal loophole that may let your furry friend stay despite a ‘no pets’ rule

As long as Fido’s not a ferret, of course. You may not know this, but you could be able to keep a pet in a “no pets” apartment–legally. New York City's Pet Law, established in 1983, may actually override your landlord’s kibosh on your kitty or pup, as long as certain criteria are met. Your pet can't be one of the many, many critters on the city's "banned" list, which includes the aforementioned ferrets, pot-bellied pigs, most snakes, hedgehogs, and squirrels.
So how can I keep Fluffy in my no-pets condo?

FREE RENT: This week’s roundup of NYC rental news

By Ondel Hylton

Images (L to R): The Addition, Yorkshire Towers, The Crescendo and 555Ten Rockrose’s Eagle Lofts Launches with 1 Month Free; Long Island City Rentals from $2,557/Month [link] Take a Tour of The Crescendo, The Bronx’s Revolutionary New Rental Building [link] Greenpoint Landing’s One Blue Slip Launches Leasing; 90% of Apartments Have Water Views [link] Elegant […]

Real Estate Trends

August 17, 2018

Lottery launches for affordable units across from Lincoln Terrace in Crown Heights, from $938/month

Located across from the Lincoln Terrace/ Arthur S. Somers Park in Crown Heights, a newly constructed building has 10 affordable apartments up for grabs. New Yorkers earning 60 percent of the area median income can apply for the apartments, which include $938/month studios, $1,080/month one-bedrooms and $1,223/month two-bedrooms. In addition to being across from 21 acres of public park, the rental at 24 Ford Street also features a fitness center, lounge, a bike room, and parking.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

TBD Design Studio gave this West Village penthouse a complete overhaul–and a private rooftop pool

Image courtesy of TBD Architecture + Design Studio; photo by Christopher Olstein.

August 17, 2018

TBD Design Studio gave this West Village penthouse a complete overhaul–and a private rooftop pool

It's hard to find a penthouse in downtown Manhattan that isn't impressive in one way or another, but this 1,600-square-foot space high above Christopher Street in the West Village has bragging rights to that rare and elusive refuge that few can claim: There's a private pool on its rooftop terrace. TBD Architecture + Design Studio was responsible for a total renovation of the stunning duplex (h/t Dezeen), resulting in a new multi-level rooftop deck with a hot tub, outdoor shower, bar area, and the aforementioned pool.
Check it out

The real value of $100 in New York is just $86.51

Via Tax Foundation

August 17, 2018

The real value of $100 in New York is just $86.51

A $100 in New York State has a real value of just $86.51, according to a report released this week by the Tax Foundation, an independent tax policy research group. And while New Yorkers know the cost of housing here ranks among the highest in the country and drives up the cost of living, everyday goods, including groceries, are also more expensive than most other states.
Not all that surprising

City Living

Where I Work: The team behind Black Seed Bagels shows off their new Nomad shop

Head baker Dianna Daoheung and Black Seeds’ new Nomad location

August 17, 2018

Where I Work: The team behind Black Seed Bagels shows off their new Nomad shop

6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and businesses of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we’re going inside Black Seed Bagels' new Nomad location. Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! "We founded Black Seed with the goal of bringing extremely well-made bagels, bagel sandwiches, and coffee to everyone," said co-owner Noah Bernamoff. After he and Matt Kliegman met through a mutual friend while running separate restaurants (Matt, The Smile and the Jane Hotel ballroom and Noah, Mile End Delicatessen), they decided to open their first location of Black Seed Bagels in Nolita in 2014. The Montreal-meets-New York-style bagels became an instant foodie hit, and the partners now have locations in the East Village, Battery Park City, and, as of this week, Nomad. 6sqft paid Noah a visit at their latest location in the trendy Ace Hotel and chatted with him about Black Seed's journey. We also met with head baker Dianna Daoheung, who developed the shop's unique hand-rolled, wood-fired bagels (which garnered her a James Beard nomination) and expanded the menu to include sandwich collaborations with fellow NYC restaurants and chefs.
See the space and meet Noah and Dianna

Battery Maritime Building’s hotel-restaurant conversion is back on track

Via Ismael Leyva Architects

August 17, 2018

Battery Maritime Building’s hotel-restaurant conversion is back on track

The plan to convert the landmarked Battery Maritime Building into a hotel and Cipriani rooftop restaurant is back on schedule after an injection of capital into the project, Crain's reported on Thursday. Developer Midtown Equities will take a 30 percent stake, allowing construction to resume this fall or winter. In 2009, the city first approved a plan to redevelop the building, which sits at 10 South Street in the Financial District, but was delayed after a series of legal and financial setbacks.
More details here

August 17, 2018

For just $128K, a Bronx co-op with Deco details and more space than you’d expect

In a Bronx neighborhood known for comfortable living at reasonable prices and for its six-story pre-war elevator co-ops, this large alcove studio at 601 Pelham Parkway North is a fine example of both. The unit's $128,000 ask alone is worth noting; a glance at the floor plan shows that while the space isn't palatial, it goes beyond the usual one-room studio, and its kitchen and bath have more going for them than many we've seen in more expensive properties. The Art Deco building is, according to the listing, the neighborhood's "most sought after."
Have a look

Distinctive Homes

Trump Tower apartment right below the president hits the market for $25M

Photo of Trump via Michael Vadon on Flickr

August 17, 2018

Trump Tower apartment right below the president hits the market for $25M

You don't need a security clearance to live below the President, but it might still be a challenge for whomever wants to buy the condo right below Donald Trump's Midtown residence. The Post reports that the duplex unit on the 64th and 65th floors of Trump Tower has just hit the market for $24.5 million and sources are saying it "directly adjoins" his bedroom. So how can the administration legally control the buyer? By convincing the condo Board to exercise a board waiver and buy the apartment themselves, according to the Post. And this may just work; a recent Business Insider investigation into a mysterious $1.5 million apartment Melania bought in the building shows that this was the only unit the Board had ever bought.
See inside

No G trains this weekend and other bad subway news

Photo via Wikipedia

August 17, 2018

No G trains this weekend and other bad subway news

Everything you need to know about affordable housing: applying, getting in, and staying put

This weekend, the L continues its mini shutdown and is not running between Brooklyn and Manhattan, A and S service remains confusing and limited in the Rockaways, and the G train is taking a summer vacation and going on hiatus, leaving a free shuttle bus and the F to pick up the slack. And beginning this weekend, 5 trains will stop running in a hunk of the Bronx through September.
Read it and weep

Transit

THE 6SQFT SHOP

The best websites for buying and selling used furniture in NYC

The 6 best furniture rental companies in NYC

8 best places in NYC to thrift for home goods

Everything you need to know about using a guarantor in NYC

New York City's best holiday markets of 2023

15 quintessential NYC gifts for the New Yorker in your life

10 Ways to Decorate an Exposed Brick Wall Without Drilling

Raising chickens in NYC: Laws, tips, and everything else you need to know

10 Great Places to Buy Affordable Art in New York City

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City will preserve 670 affordable apartments in ‘high-cost’ neighborhoods; Why is the Flower District dying?

Via Pexels (L) ; Flower District via Flickr/cc (R)

August 16, 2018

City will preserve 670 affordable apartments in ‘high-cost’ neighborhoods; Why is the Flower District dying?

By 6sqft

The city will preserve 669 Section 8 apartments for 40 years. They’re located in “high-cost neighborhoods”–Williamsburg, Harlem, the East Village–“where the majority of similar buildings have converted to market-rate.” [NYC HPD] Twenty percent of dwelling units currently under construction in New York City are in a hotel. [TRD] Once a $120 million engine, NYC’s Flower District is being […]

Uncategorized

August 16, 2018

Apply for 35 affordable apartments in Bed-Stuy, from $745/month

A six-story building in Bed-Stuy launched a lottery this week for 35 affordable apartments. Developed in collaboration between Comunilife and NYC Health + Hospitals, the Woodhull Residence at 179 Throop Avenue contains 89 studio apartments, designed as supportive and affordable housing. The apartments up for grabs through the lottery are set aside for individual New Yorkers earning 50 and 60 percent of the area median income, or between $27,463 and $43,860 annually, and include $746/month and $903/month studios.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

Developer’s pitch would turn Liberty State Park into a Formula One racetrack

Image courtesy of Shinya Suzuki via Flickr.

August 16, 2018

Developer’s pitch would turn Liberty State Park into a Formula One racetrack

Five million people a year visit New Jersey's 1,212 acre Liberty State Park on the west shore of New York Harbor for views of Lady Liberty and the the New York City skyline and a visit to its historic rail terminal. But even as the public land is enjoyed by the public for which it is set aside, private interests see the taxpayer-owned waterfront parkland as a jackpot waiting to happen in the form of luxury resort concepts like a golf course and, the most recent pitch, a Formula One racetrack with a 100,000-seat grandstand and fields for international cricket matches, Bloomberg reports. Though they would be on mostly private land, the developer wants 20 acres of the park in order to offer rich revelers its breathtaking views in return for cleaning up 200 contaminated, fenced-off park acres.
Find out more

Policy

Tenement Museum will open an info kiosk at the Market Line inside Essex Crossing

Image via Tenement Museum

August 16, 2018

Tenement Museum will open an info kiosk at the Market Line inside Essex Crossing

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

The Tenement Museum will open a new kiosk at the Market Line inside the Essex Crossing development on the Lower East Side, developer Delancy Street Associates announced on Thursday. The kiosk will feature a screen with tour times and other information about the museum. When it opens later this year, the Market Line will run three city blocks and include 100 locally-sourced food, art, fashion and music vendors. The market, projected to be the largest of its kind in New York City, sits inside Essex Crossing, a 1.9-million-square foot mixed-use development.
Get the details

Events & Things To Do

Google Street View of Federal-style rowhouses on VanDam Street

August 16, 2018

From George Washington to Hudson Square: The history of the Charlton-King-VanDam neighborhood

It’s an often-overlooked enclave with the largest concentration of Federal and Greek Revival style houses in New York City. Its origins can be traced back to historical figures as esteemed as George Washington, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jacob Astor, but it’s just as deeply connected to Italian immigrants and radical 20th-century innovators. The most dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker will have trouble telling you if it’s in Greenwich Village, SoHo, or Hudson Square. The tiny Charlton-King-VanDam neighborhood is, as its name would imply, located along charming Charlton, King, and VanDam Streets between Sixth Avenue and Varick Streets, with a little arm extending up the southernmost block of MacDougal Street just below Houston Street. It was only the fourth designated historic district in New York City when it was landmarked on August 16th, 1966, and for good reason.
Find out the full history

History

August 16, 2018

From Rheingold Brewery to the Denizen: Inside Bushwick’s most unique rental

A new rental development designed by ODA Architecture has been dubbed by its developers as a building "made for Bushwick." And once you tour the sprawling, two-block site, that bold declaration makes more sense. Located on part of the former site of Brooklyn's Rheingold Brewery at 54 Noll Street (with its still-under-construction sister site at 123 Melrose Street), the Denizen Bushwick features a fragmented facade with rust-colored, deeply-recessed windows. But what stands out the most at the building, in addition to its bisecting green promenade and interconnected courtyards, remain the corridors of large-scale art that stand seven stories tall.
Take the tour

Architecture And Design

Image courtesy of Cooper Hewitt

August 16, 2018

Get free tickets to 1,300 museums and more on Smithsonian Magazine’s Museum Day

Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day–formerly Museum Day Live–is happening this year on September 22; it's a chance to get free admission to museums across the country, including many great NYC options. Tickets became available on August 15 on the Smithsonian site, where you can download two free tickets to museums, galleries and cultural institutions like the Cooper Hewitt design museum, the Museum of Arts and Design, the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum and many, many more.
Choose from over 1,300 museums

Events & Things To Do

August 16, 2018

This $1.6M ‘European country house’ in the Bronx is stone cold foxy

With a beautifully-designed, renovated boho-chic interiors and a stone exterior that seems to grow right from the verdant landscape, this "European country" Tudor-style house at 2741 Edgehill Avenue in the northwest Bronx neighborhood of Spuyten Duyvil looks pretty good at $1.6 million even without three patios and parking for five cars. It's also minutes from Metro North and not far from the 1 subway line.
Take the tour

Distinctive Homes

Image of Rikers Island via Wikimedia

August 15, 2018

City proposes four jail sites with community amenities as Rikers replacement

Four new borough-based jails have been proposed for New York City as part of a plan to close Rikers Island, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Wednesday. The proposed facilities, which include building sites in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, will contain about 1,500 beds each and offer on-site support services. The new jails would include space for educational programming, recreation, therapeutic services and staff parking. There will also be community facilities and street-level retail space, providing amenities to the surrounding neighborhood.
Find out more

Policy

Manhattan’s public squares may not actually be square, but they matter

“Public squares, parks, and places in the City of New York.” Via NYPL Digital Collections.

August 15, 2018

Manhattan’s public squares may not actually be square, but they matter

Built to emulate Great Britain's enviable squares, which were actually square, Manhattan's public squares were created in the celebrated New York City tradition of being whatever they pleased–and definitely not square. According to the New York Daily News, Manhattan doesn't have any actual squares at all: Lisa Keller, executive editor of the Encyclopedia of New York City, said "Americans just call it a square if it's bigger than a breadbox." But those 40 squares from Madison to Foley, Herald and Greeley have been vital in defining the city's public spaces; they were its first parks, and a predecessor to the granddaddy of all squares, Central Park.
Squares that shaped the city

To make political statement in Albany, Airbnb donates $10M to local nonprofits

Via CC

August 15, 2018

To make political statement in Albany, Airbnb donates $10M to local nonprofits

Airbnb announced on Wednesday it will donate $10 million to a select group of nonprofit organizations as a way to highlight a bill pending in New York State Legislature that would allow the company to collect taxes from its guests. According to Airbnb, the $10 million represents one-tenth of the projected tax revenue it could generate if the legislation is approved by state lawmakers. The initiative, called "A Fair Share," comes a week after Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into law a bill that requires Airbnb to disclose the names and addresses of its hosts, as a way to crack down on illegal listings.
Find out more

Policy

August 15, 2018

George and Amal Clooney’s supposed illegal Soho rental hits the market for $16M

In April, sources said that George and Amal Clooney were renting a duplex apartment at 116 Sullivan Street. They also said that the owner of the 19th-century Soho townhouse, Richard Fertig, converted this apartment into an "illegal hotel" for "transient use." Likely in light of the city's new Airbnb law that requires the company to disclose the names and addresses of hosts, Fertig has listed the entire six-story home for $16 million.
Get a look inside

Via NYC Ferry

August 15, 2018

NYC Ferry now connects the South Bronx and Wall Street, cutting travel time in half

A new ferry route connecting the South Bronx and Wall Street launched on Wednesday, the first-ever ferry service between the two boroughs in the 21st century. The new route starts at Clason Point Park in Soundview and makes stops at East 90th Street, East 34th Street and ends at Wall Street's Pier 11. The entire trip takes about 45 minutes. "The new Soundview ferry will cut commute times in half for thousands of Bronxites," Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. "Our all-of-the-above approach to transit gives New Yorkers reliable options to get where they need to go."
Learn more

Transit

August 15, 2018

Where I Work: Go inside SHoP Architects’ aviation-inspired offices in the Woolworth Building

6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and businesses of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we’re touring the Financial District offices of SHoP Architects. Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! The largest collection of WWII-era spotter planes in the world, a massive copper section of the Barclays Center facade, a materials library with hundreds of samples of everything from fabric to flooring--these are just some of the surprises you'll come across in SHoP Architects' offices in the iconic Woolworth Building. The firm's projects include buildings at mega-developments like the Domino Sugar Factory and Essex Crossing, the twisting American Copper Buildings, and the world's future tallest residential skyscraper 111 West 57th Street, and their office certainly embodies this creativity and range of work. After taking a tour of the space, 6sqft chatted with Associate Principal Angelica T. Baccon about this very special office design, what a typical day is like at the firm, and, of course, the backstory behind those planes. We also met with Materials Librarian Kate Smith to learn a bit more about this rare resource that helps inform the ideas at SHoP.
Take the tour!

MTA postpones select bus service expansion amid funding crisis

Via jason smith on Flickr

August 15, 2018

MTA postpones select bus service expansion amid funding crisis

Bad news for bus riders. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will not expand select bus service over the next few years as originally planned in order to cut costs amid a looming financial crisis for the agency, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. Mayor Bill de Blasio first announced last year a plan to expand the select, or express, bus routes by upgrading 21 new routes over the next decade. But the MTA said it can save $28 million through 2022 by postponing the program temporarily.
More here

Transit

August 15, 2018

$10K per month rent seems fitting for this photo-ready Tribeca loft

From the wide-plank oak floors to the sleek contemporary kitchen and exposed brick walls, this two-bedroom loft in a former textile merchant's building at 40 Walker Street looks like it could be the perfect bachelor pad, as long as the smooth operator in residence is willing to fork over $9,995 a month for the Tribeca condo.
Check it out

August 14, 2018

Private seven-acre Connecticut island with a garden wonderland sells for $21.5M

A private island in Long Island Sound known as Rogers Island just got a new owner, who paid $21.5 million for the seven-acre property off the Connecticut coast. The sellers, a couple of "island collectors" by the name of Christine and Edmund Stoecklein, are bound for the West Coast, according to Mansion Global, unloading their gorgeously landscaped land mass and even lovelier Tudor mansion for less than the $22.3 million they paid for it in 2003, to an anonymous buyer.
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Real Estate Trends

Construction underway for Roman Abramovich’s Upper East Side mega-mansion

Via LPC

August 14, 2018

Construction underway for Roman Abramovich’s Upper East Side mega-mansion

Russia-born billionaire Roman Abramovich is moving ahead with his plan to construct a mega-mansion on the Upper East Side, the New York Post reported on Monday. Abramovich's original proposal in 2016 called for an "18,255-square-foot mansion with a six-foot front yard, 30-foot backyard and pool in the cellar" across a combination of three townhouses on East 75th Street. Although the Landmarks Preservation Commission rejected that first plan, a proposal that kept similarly-styled facades and added a fourth property was approved soon after.
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One Manhattan Square

252 South Street

Lower East Side

Sweeping views and endless amenities

1 beds starting at $1,230,000
2 beds starting at $1,990,000
3 beds starting at $2,790,000

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New Yorkers are bypassing food trucks for McDonalds as fast food finds new footing

Image: Wikimedia commons

August 14, 2018

New Yorkers are bypassing food trucks for McDonalds as fast food finds new footing

Even as New York City continues to experience record financial growth, a small explosion of fast food chains within city limits still comes as somewhat of a surprise. A recent Crain's article confirms that, even more surprisingly, McDonalds, perhaps the fast-foodiest of all, is not only expanding but polishing up its image to appeal to a more upscale market–and it's working. You might just chalk it up to a sweeping takeover by big chain stores, but isn't that about gentrification? Fast food has traditionally had a big presence in the city's lower-income neighborhoods–known as "food swamps"–and in tourist areas. But the nation's largest Chick-fil-A just opened in...the Financial District. Reasons for the latest fast food boom are many, it turns out, and extend beyond mere mallification.
Would you like fries with that?

3 chances to live just steps from the G train in Bed-Stuy, from $1,912/month

Photo via Julien Magne/Flickr

August 14, 2018

3 chances to live just steps from the G train in Bed-Stuy, from $1,912/month

A six-story building in Bed-Stuy launched a lottery this week for three middle-income units. The newly constructed building, located at 523 Willoughby Avenue, sits between Marcy and Tompkins Avenues and just a two-minute walk from the G train. Qualifying New Yorkers earning 130 percent of the area median income can apply for one $1,912/month one-bedroom and two $2,303 two-bedroom apartments.
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Affordable Housing

Photo by 6sqft

August 14, 2018

Where to experience Bangladeshi culture in NYC, from the East Village to Ozone Park

It's hard to miss the two floors of flashing, chili pepper light-adorned Indian restaurants on First Avenue and Sixth Street in the East Village. The origin of these two stacked eateries, though, is much more frequently overlooked, as is the fact that the neighborhood's adjacent "Little India" is really more "Little Bengal." New York's main Bangladeshi community is often cited as being in Jackson Heights, which boasts a large South Asian population and a great representation of its diverse culture, including the beloved Patel Brothers grocery store. Less well known is that East New York also has a large Bangladeshi community, and in the 1990s, the East Village's "Curry Row" worked to identify itself as Indian, a culture more Americans at the time were familiar with. Ahead, we look at the whole history and break down the best places to experience Bangladeshi culture in NYC.
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August 14, 2018

Michael Cohen lists Tribeca condo as a $25,000 rental just four months after buying it

Photo of Michael Cohen via Wikimedia As they say, never underestimate desperate people. In May, Michael Cohen, the disgraced former personal lawyer of Donald Trump who is now under federal investigation, put his $9 million Trump Park Avenue apartment on the market as collateral against a bank loan. So it was a bit surprising when he turned around dropped nearly $7 million on a condo in Tribeca's flashy new condo tower 111 Murray Street. But it makes a bit more sense now, as The Real Deal learned that Cohen has listed the 19th-floor apartment as a $25,000/month rental. He made the purchase as an "investment" after allegedly facing pressure to defer the taxes on the $3.3 million sale last year of his Trump World Tower apartment; by closing on a new unit, he was able to take part in the 1031 exchange that allows investors to roll proceeds from one transaction over to another.
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Bodegas in gentrifying NYC neighborhoods get exterior upgrades under new program

Via bitchcakes on Flickr

August 13, 2018

Bodegas in gentrifying NYC neighborhoods get exterior upgrades under new program