6sqft | NYC local news, events, and apartments

This past May the MTA recorded 50,436 subway delays, 697 of which were caused by track fires that could have been ignited by the 40 tons of trash that are removed from the system every day. To curb this ongoing issue, the agency announced in August "Operation Trash Sweep," an initiative that upped the frequency by which the 622 miles of tracks get cleaned. At the time, the MTA said it would also employ individually-operated Mobile Vacs that workers can use to quickly suck up trash. Yesterday, the agency released a video of the Vacs being tested, which not only shows their incredible force, but gives an overview of how the Operation is shaping up.
Watch the full video here

Transit

January 20, 2017

The Urban Lens: Inside ‘Little Odessa,’ Brighton Beach’s quaint beachfront Russian community

6sqft’s ongoing series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Chaz Langley explores the people and establishments that breathe life into Brighton Beach. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. 6sqft recently featured Chaz Langley's photo series "A Stroll in Chinatown," where he captured the neighborhood's unique cultural establishments and the everyday comings and goings of its residents. He's now taken the same approach with Brighton Beach, Brooklyn's beach-front community that's often referred to as "Little Odessa" for its strong Russian community. Langley, a Nashville native who moved to New York almost a decade ago to pursue a career as a singer/songwriter/actor/model, has taken to sharing his location-specific collections on Instagram, integrating his graphic design background in their presentation. From a fruit stand to boardwalk, his Brighton Beach series certainly paints a picture of the neighborhood.
See all the photos here

Places

January 20, 2017

Whole Foods will open a lower-priced ‘365’ store in Downtown Brooklyn

By Diane Pham

Downtown Brooklyn is quickly becoming one of NYC's most desirable commercial hubs. On top of hosting a lengthy roster of big name retailers and entertainment centers—which include a new Target, Trader Joe's, Century 21, Apple store, Alamo Drafthouse cinema, and Barclays Center—the neighborhood will also welcome a brand new, lower-priced Whole Foods concept store called "365." According to a press release, the store will open in early 2018 at Two Trees' 300 Ashland Place, and be set up as a no-frills version of the grocery giant.
more details this way

Uncategorized

January 20, 2017

MTA backs plan to raise subway and bus fare to $3 come March

At a board meeting over the summer, the MTA began discussions about increasing subway and bus fare to $3 by 2017 "in an effort to raise more than $300 million annually," as 6sqft reported at the time. The Daily News has now learned that the agency will officially recommend the four-percent increase at their board meeting next week. Though they'll be passing on another option that would've kept fares at $2.75, the hike will increase the bonuses that come with re-loading one's MetroCard from 11 to 16 percent, "an extra 96 cents for every $6 purchase."
Find out more

January 20, 2017

‘Desperately Seeking Susan’ screenwriter lists Chelsea townhouse with a private yoga studio for $7.1M

Built in the 1830s when this quiet, tree-lined residential block was home to well-to-do families, the four-story, 3,600 square-foot Greek Revival townhouse at 240 West 21st Street has seen a lot of change through the years. From its beginnings as an impressive residence for a successful engraver (h/t Daytonian), the home has been a boarding house, apartments and, in more recent years, the well-designed and thoroughly updated home of screenwriter/directors Leora Barish and Henry Bean (Barish wrote the screenplay for the cult favorite Madonna film "Desperately Seeking Susan" and the more recent "Basic Instinct 2;" Bean wrote and directed the award-winning film "The Believer"). The Chelsea townhouse, on the market for $7.1 million, is once again a comfortable single-family home boasting several terraces and a big, bright garden-facing yoga studio.
Come on in, there's plenty of room

January 19, 2017

Pop singer Santigold lists her ornate Bed-Stuy brownstone for $1.95 million

Singer and songwriter Santi "Santigold" White—best known for her singles "Creator" and "LES Artistes," and more recently her video "Can't Get Enough of Myself" which featured cameos by Jay Z, Pharrell, Olivia Wilde, amongst other A-listers—has just listed her stunning Bed-Stuy brownstone for $1,950,000. White originally purchased the property back in 2010 for just $775,000, meaning if she can make a sale, she'll walk away with quite a tidy profit. With that said, the home at 786 Putnam Avenue should have no issues drawing in buyers. In addition to offering generous quarters as a "one-of-a-kind 2-family brownstone, currently used as an extra-large one-family residence," plenty of lavish details make this home a standout.
Get a closer look inside here

January 19, 2017

Perfectly preserved Victorian with a dreamy wraparound porch asks $785K in Hyde Park

It's hard not to crush on this Upstate Victorian, perfectly preserved since its construction in 1879 (h/t CIRCA). Located at 21 Curry Lane in New Hyde, both the architecture and location impress: the white house, with its original slate roof and wraparound porch, sits on a hill overlooking the Hudson River. It's a 15- minute drive to the Metro North station in Poughkeepsie for city dwellers, and it's $785,000 price tag is quite impressive.
See the grounds and interior

January 19, 2017

You can now apply for IDNYC online; Bjarke Ingels featured in new Netflix design series

Bjarke Ingels will be featured in Netflix’s new series, “Abstract: The Art of Design” as one of eight design professionals in different fields. [ArchDaily] You can now forego the long lines at enrollment centers and apply for IDNYC online. [Brokelyn] Restaurateur Keith McNally’s historic West Village townhouse has been on and off the market since 2012, but […]

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Distinctive Homes

For $949K, this Village co-op has a Gold Coast address, prewar charm and a splash of color

This $4.5M Lenox Hill duplex combines pre-war elegance with architectural drama

This $3M Williamsburg home is the rare condo with all of its loft charm intact

Amy Schumer paid $6.25M for Central Park West condo

$4M Prospect Heights penthouse has three bedrooms, a wraparound terrace, and views in every direction

'Secret' live-work compound on Tribeca's skybridge street lists for $30M

For $2.25M, a historic timber and stone cottage in Southampton

Once a parking garage, this $85M Village penthouse is now in line to break neighborhood sales records

World's highest duplex lists for $128M at Central Park Tower

Location, location, location–and a pretty renovation–make up for square footage in this $620K East Village co-op

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January 19, 2017

LinkNYC reaches milestone 1 million users

New Yorkers looking to stay connected at all times as they traverse the city are relying on its free public Wi-Fi network in droves, LinkNYC announced Wednesday on its one-year anniversary. As of January 4th, more than 1 million people have joined the service since it was installed in January 2016, and roughly 40,000 people […]

Uncategorized

January 19, 2017

New renderings and photos show Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 5 uplands are almost complete

You won't need to see more than a few renderings and photos of new park space slated for Brooklyn Bridge Park to feel ready for summertime. First posted by Curbed from the park's landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, renderings show the final design for one of the last undeveloped sections of the park between Montague and Joralemon streets. Known as the Pier 5 uplands, the hilly green space will be comprised of a stepped lawn, shaded grove, waterfront seating and new entrance off Joralemon Street. A sound-dampening berm will reduce noise from the nearby roadways. And it's all on track to wrap construction right before summer.
More images and details this way

January 19, 2017

Interview: Greystone Development’s CEO discusses development in emerging neighborhoods around New York City

Jeff Simpson, the CEO of Greystone Development, is due to celebrate his ten year anniversary with the company this February. In his decade with the real estate firm, founded in 1992, he has overseen Greystone’s reemergence into the New York market by tapping into emerging neighborhoods around the city. Before he joined Greystone, Simpson worked with […]

January 19, 2017

Gain free admission to these NYC cultural institutions on Inauguration Day

A couple weeks ago, a long list of artists, including Cindy Sherman and Richard Serra, started a petition calling for cultural institutions to close on Inauguration Day as "an act of noncompliance" against "Trumpism." That list has grown to 740 artists and critics, and many galleries, museums, and academic spaces will shut their doors tomorrow according to the J20 Art Strike. But there's also a long list of museums and cultural institutions across the city that have decided to take an alternate approach and remain open, offering free admission and/or special programming. From a marathon reading of Langston Hughes’s"Let America Be America Again" at the Brooklyn Museum to special gallery tours at the Rubin, these are all the (free!) ways to use the arts as an outlet on Inauguration Day.
See the full list here

Events & Things To Do

January 19, 2017

Amid fears of Russian hackers, expert warns of threat from squirrel cyberattack

As the U.S. goes collectively nuts over the possibility of alleged Russian hacking and its effects on the election, the Washington Post tells of at least one cybersecurity expert devoted to exposing the very real threat of cyberattack by "an insidious bushy-tailed foe." We're reminded that in 1987, a squirrel nibbled Nasdaq’s computer center (literally) into the black for 90 minutes, upending 20 million trades.
More de-tails this way

Policy

January 19, 2017

$10.5M Federal-era house in Brooklyn Heights was Truman Capote’s muse

When he penned an essay about his neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights in 1959, it was this wood-frame house at 13 Pineapple Street that inspired Truman Capote. "Cheerfully austere, as elegant and other-era as formal calling cards, these houses bespeak an age of able servants and solid fireside ease; of horses in musical harness," he wrote, referencing the 1830 Federal-era home that was around the corner from his personal house. The Wall Street Journal reports that, for the past 26 years, the residence has been preserved by a couple who were drawn to its grey shingles as a reminder of the old houses in Nantucket they love. But now that their children are grown, they're looking to downsize and have listed the storied property for $10.5 million.
All the history right this way

January 19, 2017

Curl up by the fire in this cozy East Side one-bedroom for only $495K

On the ninth floor of Stewart Hall at 10 Mitchell Place, this sunny one-bedroom co-op definitely says "home" more than "investment property." Maybe it's pre-war details like an original mantlepiece, beamed ceilings and hardwood floors, or maybe it's the wood-burning fireplace, many closets and open sky views, or the almost-secret storybook Manhattan enclave near the East River and elegant Beekman Place. Given the apartment's size, layout and location, the ask is definitely welcoming at $495,000.
Get a closer look

Distinctive Homes

January 18, 2017

Mapping NYC subway stops according to their most popular Instagram hashtags

The Houston Street 1 station is #cronut; the PATH train’s World Trade Center station is #neverforget; and the Cathedral Parkway/110th Street station is #Seinfeld. This is the NYC subway map according to each stop's most popular Instagram hashtag. CityLab first shared the fun visualization, titled #tagsandthecity, and pointed out that, though the map has categories for sightseeing/monuments, shopping, leisure, culture/museums, and hotel/travel, it's the food and drink that really takes the cake. From #redrooster and #robertas to #shakeshack and #halalguys, it seems New Yorkers really like to post some food porn.
See the full map

City Living

January 18, 2017

There’s a room for every color of the rainbow in this $5M Upper East Side co-op

In New York City's interior landscape of neutral hues and fifty shades of white, it's rare to see bright colors, especially in a classic pre-war co-op on the Upper East Side. But the current residents of this apartment at 129 East 69th Street, who undertook a two-year renovation, clearly favored the brighter side of the crayon box. The best thing about it is that with eight spacious rooms, colors, patterns and fun decorating ideas never have to clash.
READ MORE

Distinctive Homes

Of NYC’s 150 historic statues, only five are female; inside Carnegie Hall’s secret archives

There are 145 statues around the city honoring historical male figures, but only five for women. The Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Statue Fund hopes to change this. [Gothamist] The Department of Finance estimates that NYC’s real estate is now worth $1.16 trillion. [TRD] Did you know there are more than 300,000 historical artifacts in […]

Uncategorized

January 18, 2017

Tennis great Novak Djokovic buys two units in Renzo Piano’s 565 Broome SoHo

When he's not busy winning titles as the second-best tennis player in the world, Novak Djokovic is apparently quite the architecture aficionado. The Serbian athlete told the Wall Street Journal that he's a big fan of Renzo Piano; earlier this year he bought a unit in Piano's Miami beach project Eighty Seven Park, and he's now gone into contract for two condos in the starchitect's under-construction NYC venture 565 Broome SoHo, where sales launched this past September.
The full scoop

January 18, 2017

POLL: Will construction begin on a new Port Authority bus terminal by 2021?

After stalling repeatedly over design disagreements, budget woes, and funding squabbles, NJ.com reports that The Port Authority said it hopes to have a new midtown Manhattan bus terminal built in New York by 2030, shovels in the ground by 2021 and be "well underway" by 2026. Though some lawmakers expressed doubt about the ambitious schedule, Steven P. Plate, Port Authority chief of major projects, said at a Legislative Oversight Committee joint hearing about the agency's $32 billion revised capital plan, "We will have full environmental approval, permits in place and construction well underway" according to that timeline.
Think it will happen?

Transit

January 18, 2017

Construction fatalities increase as safety inspections decrease

Construction deaths have been on the rise ever since the city entered into its current building boom. But a new study from the New York Committee for Occupational Safety & Health titled “Deadly Skyline” shows just how dire the situation has become. Between 2011 and 2015, New York state construction worker fatalities jumped from 33 to 55, and of […]

Policy

January 18, 2017

Governors Island to open a month early on May 1st with new oyster garden

A springtime 2017 opening date will extend the park's season from 120 to 146 days, give the public a longer season to enjoy the island's bounty of arts programming and outdoor activities–and give us yet another reason to look forward to spring. Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a news release, “An extra month on Governors Island means more arts, culture and outdoor time for New York families...a May Day opening stands as a symbol of changes as we create a more livable and affordable city.”
More of what's new on Governors Island

City Living

January 18, 2017

Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow lists Tribeca condo for $2.9M

In March 2015, Kathryn Bigelow (who in 2010 became the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director for her work on "The Hurt Locker" and subsequently gained more acclaim for "Zero Dark Thirty") bought a $3.03 million condo in Tribeca, but she's now decided to part ways with it. The Observer reports that Bigelow just listed the full-floor spread at 449 Washington Street for $2,895,000, meaning she'll likely take a slight loss on the property.
Take a look around

January 18, 2017

Insane roof deck tops this $2.65M Tribeca penthouse

The next buyer of this Tribeca penthouse will not have a hard time impressing anyone with its sprawling private roof deck and three-story interior space. It's located at the condo loft 356 Broadway, a prewar building constructed in 1864 and converted to 18 apartments in 1984. This top-floor residence is the only unit in the building now on the market, asking $2.65 million.
Take a tour

Distinctive Homes

January 17, 2017

Department of Health says it’s okay to eat Gowanus Canal fish in moderation and kayak in the water

Snag the Greenest Seat in Town: Gufram's 1972 Pratone Chair is Shaped Like a Patch of Grass

The real estate community has been looking closely at Gowanus as of late thanks to rezoning plans that will likely spur high-end development and proposals for a public esplanade. To some, this waterfront vision seems a bit off due to the toxicity of the Canal and its history as a Superfund site, but naysayers may be changing their tune as a new report from the New York State Department of Health tells us that "limited direct contact with the canal's waters, through boating or fishing" doesn't increase the risk of cancer and other diseases, according to Gothamist. It's still not safe to swim in the water, but, believe it or not, men and women of certain ages can even eat some of the Canal's fish.
Find out more

Uncategorized

January 17, 2017

Ding uses your smartphone to revolutionize the doorbell

By Rebecca Paul

While smart home technology includes everything from turning on the heat to monitoring air quality, the simple job of a doorbell has been oddly overlooked until the arrival of Ding. A collaborative effort between the London-based startup and creative consultancy MAP (an arm of the industrial design studio Barber & Osgerby), the smart doorbell is a three-part system made up of an exterior button, indoor Wifi speaker (cleverly named Chime), and a corresponding iPhone app. When visitors come to the door, Chime functions as a normal doorbell, but the app allows residents to communicate with whomever is at the door remotely.
READ MORE

THE 6SQFT SHOP

The 6 best furniture rental companies in NYC

8 best places in NYC to thrift for home goods

The best websites for buying and selling used furniture in NYC

Everything you need to know about using a guarantor in NYC

15 quintessential NYC gifts for the New Yorker in your life

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

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

10 best plants for apartment dwellers

New York City's best holiday markets of 2023

VIEW ALL

January 17, 2017

City transit workers reach deal with MTA over wage increases

After the Transport Workers Union and the MTA failed to reach a deal on Sunday night, the contracts for 44,000 subway and bus workers expired. But a tentative agreement was reached yesterday for a 28-month contract that stipulates a 2.5 wage increase over the first 26 months with a $500 bonus in the last two, […]

January 17, 2017

Tour Trump’s childhood home before it goes to auction tonight; Ambassador Grill interiors landmarked

Seven places to go in NYC to hibernate from Inauguration Day. [Untapped] Donald Trump’s childhood home in Jamaica Estates, Queens is headed to auction tonight, but you can take a virtual tour beforehand. [NYT] A year after Fox and News Corp. ditched their plans to move into 2 World Trade Center, they’ve signed extension and expansion leases at […]

Uncategorized

January 17, 2017

UWS one bedroom asking $3,950/month is loaded with prewar charm

In this Upper West Side cooperative at 245 West 74th Street, you can rent an apartment that embodies all that prewar co-op charm. This one bedroom comes with a formal foyer and details like a fireplace, decorative mantle and high-beamed ceilings. A formal living room, dining room and kitchen also make for a classic floorplan that's hard to beat. It's just been listed for rent asking $3,950 a month.
Take a look

Distinctive Homes

January 17, 2017

CNN’s Don Lemon sells Harlem condo for small profit

Emmy Award-winning CNN news anchor Don Lemon picked up a somewhat modest condo a little over two years ago in Harlem‘s 2280FDB (2280 Frederick Douglas Blvd.). He paid $867,780 for unit 11A, right next door to 11B that he already owned. 6sqft speculated that he was planning to combine the condos, but according to city records released today, Lemon's sold off 11A for $969,000.
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A look back at the lost Grand Centrals of the late 19th century

Grand Central Station in the early 1900s

January 17, 2017

A look back at the lost Grand Centrals of the late 19th century

Click here to enlarge infographic

Historic photos of the original Penn Station are almost as common as images of the current site, since its demolition in 1963 is often credited with spearheading the modern preservation movement (and because its grandeur is a startling reminder of how loathed the current station is). Conversely, Grand Central is typically celebrated as a preservation victory. In 1978, the courts ruled in favor of the Landmarks Preservation Commission when Penn Central Railroad sued them to build a huge tower atop the terminal and demolish one of its facades. But believe it or not, the 1913 Beaux-Arts building was not the first Grand Central, and photos of these grand earlier structures are rarely shared.
See them here and get the full history

History

January 17, 2017

128 tall buildings were constructed in 2016, a world record

We've just been looking at the amazing growth of the skyscraper in its early years, and now ArchDaily informs us that 2016 was a record year for tall buildings throughout the world. The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) announced in its 2016 Tall Building Year in Review that 128 buildings 200 meters/656 feet or higher were completed in 2016, beating the previous year's record of 114 completions. Of those buildings, 18 nabbed the spot of tallest building in their respective city, country or region; 10 were classified as supertalls (300 meters/984 feet or higher). And it looks like we're on a roll...
Find out where the supertalls are rising and what the future might hold

Architecture And Design

January 17, 2017

Trump to name New York developers Richard LeFrak and Steven Roth to oversee new infrastructure council

President-elect Donald Trump has previously outlined his $1 trillion infrastructure plan not just as a means to repair and build bridges and roads, but as a real estate platform for private entities to build and subsequently own public works such as schools, hospitals, or energy pipeline expansions through $137 billion in tax credits. So it comes as no surprise that he's tapped two of his longtime buddies and big-time New York real estate developers to head up the new council that will monitor this spending. The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump asked Richard LeFrak and Vornado's Steven Roth to manage this council of 15 to 20 builders and engineers, referring to the men as "pros" because "...all their lives, they build. They build under-budget, ahead of schedule."
Find out more

Policy

January 17, 2017

$8.8M 20-room limestone Park Slope mansion was built in 1905 for a furniture tycoon

Even in the land of many mansions otherwise known as north Park Slope, 106 Eighth Avenue is, as the listing says, a rare Brooklyn treasure. Built in 1905 for furniture tycoon Henry Wallace Partridge, this Beaux Arts mansion built to accommodate "family, full time employees and guests" spans 8,000 square feet and 20 rooms, including seven bathrooms and nine fireplaces. Maintained with care, this extraordinary home has retained original details throughout, including hand-painted frescoes and a Tiffany stained glass atrium. It's currently on the market for $8.789 million (still far below the 17,500-square-foot Low mansion at 3 Pierrepont Place for $40 million), and awaits more family, full-time employees and guests to reimagine it for the 21st century.
Take the grand tour

January 16, 2017

Helen Hayes’ former Nyack home asks $719K

Helen Hayes' acting career spanned nearly 80 years, earning her the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and garnering her distinctions such as being one of only 12 people to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and a Tony and earning her the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Arts. When her storied life came to an end in 1993, she was living in Nyack, New York, where she first took up residency when she married playwright and screenwriter Charles MacArthur in 1928. At that time, the couple moved into a home at 29 Shadyside Avenue that Charles' father had built in 1908. Now dubbed the "Helen Hayes Honeymoon Cottage," the lovely Arts and Crafts-style home is on the market for $719,000 (h/t CIRCA).
See it all

January 16, 2017

TBD Architecture designs Tetris-like artist studios for an Upstate couple

By Rebecca Paul

TBD Architecture + Design Studio took on the challenge of designing two conjoined artist studios for a couple on the same property as their home in Watermill, New York. The creative housing is nestled amongst a cluster of trees at the edge of the site, and the double-studio structure is made up of two intersecting volumes each designed to accommodate the specifics needs of their respective artists-- a collage designer and a ceramist.
Learn more about this property

Architecture And Design

January 16, 2017

Contract expires for 44,000 NYC subway and bus workers

After the Transport Workers Union and the MTA failed to reach a deal last night, the contracts expired for 44,000 subway and bus workers who are demanding a higher pay raise than the two percent rate of inflation that the MTA is offering. In a statement, TWU Local 100 president John Samuelson said, “Our position will not […]

Transit

January 16, 2017

The pros and cons of living above a bar; own the Big Apple Circus for $500K

You may get special privileges when you live above a bar, but you’ll likely have to deal with noise and crowds. [NYT] Divorces in NYC were down eight percent in 2016, tied to an improving economy. [NYP] The Big Apple Circus announced it was shutting down last year, but it’s now putting all of its assets up […]

Uncategorized

January 16, 2017

In the historic West Village Bank Building, a $3.45M condo boasts a 17-foot window

This unique condo was designed by and for the renowned international designer Tui Pranich. As the listing says, his principle was that "good design takes into account not only the aesthetics, but how life within that space will actually be lived." Pranich had a lot to work with: the two-bedroom apartment occupies the historic Bank Building at 300 West 14th Street in the West Village and is decorated by one of the building's original arched windows that soars nearly 17 feet tall. It's now hit the market for $3.45 million.
See the rest of the impressive interior

Distinctive Homes

January 16, 2017

‘Ten & Taller’ exhibition maps the rise of Manhattan’s first skyscrapers from 1874 to 1900

Though it might seem that each recent generation attempts to take credit for the rise of the futuristic "skyscraper," buildings that rise ten floors or higher were born with the Gilded Age. "Ten & Taller: 1874-1900," on view through April 2017 at the Skyscraper Museum in Battery Park City examines every single building 10 stories and taller that was erected in Manhattan between 1874 through 1900 (h/t Curbed). Beginning in the mid-1870s, the city's first ten-story office buildings rose on masonry to 200 feet high with spires that stretched 60 more feet. By 1900 New York City could boast of 250 buildings at least as tall; the world’s tallest office building was the thirty-story 15 Park Row; framed with steel, it soared to 391 feet. As technology brought elevators and new methods of construction, the vertical expansion was becoming a forest of tall towers.
Follow the city's march skyward

January 16, 2017

With the rise of ride-hailing apps, daily yellow cab trips fell 27 percent since 2010

6sqft recently shared analysis that 3,000 ridesharing vehicles could replace the city's fleet of 13,587 taxis. And while this was more a comment on how carpooling can decrease congestion and emissions, it also points to a changing landscape for yellow cabs. In a piece this weekend, the Times looks at how taxis have fallen out of favor with New Yorkers since apps like Uber and Lyft came onto the scene; these vehicles now number more than 60,000. In 2010, for example, yellow cabs made an average of 463,701 trips, 27 percent more than the 336,737 trips this past November, which also resulted in a drop in fares from $5.17 million to $4.98 million. And just since 2014, the cost of a cab medallion was cut in less than half of its former $1.3 million price tag.
Read more on this trend

January 16, 2017

Cuomo dubs revised 421-a plan ‘Affordable New York,’ advances new legislation

A year after the city’s 421-a tax exemption program expired, a new version of the affordable housing incentive is officially moving forward. In August, Governor Cuomo released a new version of the plan that which include wage subsidies for construction workers and extended terms for the tax breaks, and after the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York and the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) reached an agreement in November to move ahead with this version, the Governor's office now reports that they'll be advancing new legislation to move ahead the program that's now been re-named "Affordable New York." Cuomo says this will create 2,500 new affordable housing units per year.
All the details this way

January 16, 2017

This renovated historic townhouse in Mott Haven is only $800,000

File this one under things you won't find in Brooklyn: This pretty, totally modernized 2,828 square-foot Queen Anne row house at 418 East 136th Street in the Bertine Block Historic District offers four bedrooms with room for more, and four stories of townhouse loveliness, all for the well-under-a-million price of $800,000. Caveats apply, of course: It’s a narrow house at only 14 feet wide, and single-family so no rental income if you live there. But The Bronx is the place to be if you’re looking for townhouse living for under a mil.
Take a look

January 15, 2017

Massive Greenpoint loft with beamed ceilings wants $4,750/month

There are over 1,700 glorious square feet in this Greenpoint loft, now up for rent at the Pencil Factory building at 59 Kent Street. It's boasting plenty of character, too, with 12-foot ceilings topped with the original wood beams, polished concrete floors, exposed brick and massive factory windows. To live in this sprawling, dreamy loft will cost $4,750 a month.
Take a look

Distinctive Homes

720 West End Avenue

Upper West Side

Serene Upper West Side homes near Riverside Park

1 beds starting at $1,005,000
2 beds starting at $2,495,000
3 beds starting at $3,495,000
4 beds starting at $5,850,000

Learn More

January 14, 2017

Weekly highlights: Top picks from the 6sqft staff

By 6sqft-dev-admin

Cuomo announces 750-mile Empire State Trail, a continuous trail connecting NYC to Canada Live in ODA’s new Crown Heights rental from $845/month, lottery opening for 24 units Built in Poland and shipped in pieces, NYC’s biggest modular hotel project is 55 percent complete Eli Manning buys $8M beachfront mansion in the Hamptons Mike Myers relists […]

Uncategorized

January 13, 2017

Natalia Geci’s clever furniture system was inspired by Marie Kondo’s de-cluttering principles

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Like many organizationally challenged folks, Argentinean designer Natalia Geci was inspired by Marie Kondo’s bestselling book "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up." Following the author's principal of only holding onto items that bring us joy, Geci created a freestanding, multifunctional furniture system to not only encourage de-cluttering, but to display these prized possessions.
Learn more about LYNKO

January 13, 2017

FREE RENT: A roundup of NYC’s latest rental concessions

By Ondel Hylton

Renovated Apartments on West 30th Street Near Hudson Yards Offering One Month Free [link] Free Rent & Special Offers at Spencer Street Apartments in Bed-Stuy [link] Name Revealed for New Clinton Hill Rental, Leasing Site Launched for 5-Story ‘Myrtle & Steuben‘ [link] Stonehenge 57, Midtown East High-Rise in Sutton Place, Offering One Month Free [link] […]

Real Estate Trends

How to style your houseplants, 5 tips from a pro

One woman’s plant filled bedroom. Image by 6sqft

January 13, 2017

How to style your houseplants, 5 tips from a pro

Forget Scandinavian design—when it comes to décor, these days plants are all the rage. But you can’t just go buy any ol’ plant and plop it down in its flimsy plastic container and expect it to transform your place. There’s way more thought put into those gorgeous bohemian dens or chic minimalist lofts you stalk […]

Uncategorized

January 13, 2017

Bright Park Slope condo with unique built-ins, details asks just $675K