January 28, 2016

Comedian Louis C.K. Buys Third Unit in West Village Brownstone for $565K

Louis C.K. is a self-professed lover of the Village, and he's certainly putting his money where his mouth is, as he's just picked up a third unit at 345 West 4th Street, a ten-unit co-op. The comedian and his ex-wife, painter Alix Bailey, paid $564,900 for the country-charming studio, according to The Real Deal. The former couple (C.K. has spoken publicly about retaining a good relationship with his ex for the sake of his two daughters) bought their first unit in the building in 2006 for $250,000, and then another in 2013 for $475,000.
See the rest of the pad
January 28, 2016

NYC Creatives Pimp Out Their Pad on Airbnb With ‘Netflix and Chill’ Theme

With Valentine's Day approaching, the "Netflix and chill" pick-up line is going to be getting a lot of use, but this Airbnb listing takes the meme to a whole new level. New Yorkers Tom Galle, who works in advertising, artist Moises Sanabria, and Alyssa Davis, an engineer who works for Art404, have decked out Sanabria and Davis’s one-bedroom West Village apartment as a “Netflix and Chill” zone and put it on Airbnb for $400/night.
Any takers yet?
January 28, 2016

Art Nerd New York’s Top Event Picks for the Week – 1/28-2/3

In a city where hundreds of interesting happenings occur each week, it can be hard to pick and choose your way to a fulfilling life. Art Nerd‘s philosophy is a combination of observation, participation, education and of course a party to create the ultimate well-rounded week. Jump ahead for Art Nerd founder Lori Zimmer’s top picks for 6sqft readers! Last week's blizzard Jonas may have made a fun day for jumping in snow piles, but it put a total damper on a bevy of artists waiting to present themselves to the hungry art world. This week, make up for lost time at Last Rites' rescheduled Allison Sommers opening or the most popular winter pool party at the Grace Hotel, hosted by artist Annika Connor. Two LA artists with opposing views come together at Joseph Gross Gallery, while Katya Grokhovsky invites visitors to put their hands all over her exhibition. Peter Caine brings a pooping robotic Ronald Reagan to a gallery on the Lower East Side (enough said). Times Square Arts invites guests to meet their first artists in residence, and the Schomberg Center invites Basquiat fans to a talk relating his work to its effects on African Diasporic communities.
All the best events to check out here
January 28, 2016

Affordable Housing Lottery Launched for Lincoln Center Tower, Units Start at $566/Month

Glenwood Management has just launched their affordable housing lottery for 52 below-market rate apartments within their soon-to-debut rental tower at 175 West 60th Street. Situated within the Lincoln Center area of the Upper West Side, 20 percent of the building's 257 units will be set aside for low-income residents and will range from $566/month studios to $931/month two-bedroom units.
Find out if you qualify
January 28, 2016

Keep Track of Your World Travels With This Colorful Scratch-off Map

Whether you spend your days hopping from one city to the next or save up your vacation time for an epic yearly adventure, traveling is a great way to regroup and relax. Every new destination means new memories, and who doesn't want to keep track of the journey along the way? These two maps from will help you do just that while also adding some worldly decor into your living space. Both the Scratch Map and Scratch Map Deluxe feature a fun scratch-off surface that reveal vivid bursts of color with just a few coin swipes.
Find out more here
January 28, 2016

City Mistakenly Gave Away $10M in Tax Rebates to Condos and Co-ops

In a city where time is money, it's hard to believe that for four years the city’s Finance Department was mistakenly giving away tax rebates reserved for residential condo and co-op owners to those that are corporate-owned, totaling more than $10 million between 2013 and 2016. The Post reports that the program gave out money to "indoor parking garages, gardens, cabanas and even storage spaces," as well as "three office buildings and two retail shops," according to a recent audit. More than 1,000 building owners were improperly awarded the tax abatements, accounting for up to 28.1 percent of their total annual tax bills.
How did it happen?
January 28, 2016

A Former Engraver’s Studio in Sniffen Court, Now a Townhouse, Asks $6.45 Million

Who wouldn't want to live in a townhouse with lots of interesting history, located in one of just a few private mews in New York City? Enter this listing at 156 East 36th Street, a Murray Hill townhouse that originally served as stables during the Civil War era, then was converted to an engraver's studio in 1915. The Romanesque building is also a part of the Sniffen Court Mews, which is blocked from the public by a private gate off East 36th Street. Sniffen Court was constructed between 1863 and 1864 as a collection of carriage houses–the off-street placement helped solve noise and odor issues related to the horses. The stables were in use until the early 1920s, when automobiles replaced horses, and eventually they were converted to residential.
Read more about this house
January 28, 2016

Rows of Bookshelves Under 11-Foot Ceilings Line This $2M Nomad Loft

There's no better apartment for a book lover than a loft. The open space and high ceilings are the perfect setting for rows of bookshelves, which also can serve as impromptu dividers throughout an apartment that lacks lots of walls. This lofty three bedroom at 50 West 29th Street in Nomad has a massive, open living and dining room that the owners are using almost like a library. There are tons of bookshelves under the 10-foot-9-inch ceilings, as well as a few used to break up the living and the dining areas.
Check out the rest of the space
January 27, 2016

Harsenville to Carmansville: The Lost Villages of the Upper West Side

In the 18th century, Bloomingdale Road (today's Broadway) connected the Upper West Side with the rest of the city. Unlike lower Manhattan, this area was still natural, with fertile soil and rolling landscapes, and before long, countryside villages began sprouting along the Hudson River. They were a combination of farms and grand estates and each functioned independently with their own schools and roads. 6sqft has uncovered the history of the five most prominent of these villages–Harsenville, Strycker's Bay, Bloomingdale Village, Manhattanville, and Carmansville. Though markers of their names remain here and there, the original functions and settings of these quaint settlements have been long lost.
Find out the history of these lost villages
January 27, 2016

This ‘Map of Every City’ in the World Is Hilariously Spot On

Click here for the full-size version >> This “Map of Every City,” penned by Chaz Hutton (via Big Think) supplies us with a bite-sized answer to the question we’ve probably all asked at one time or another -- why do all major cities seem to be carbon copies of one another? And chances are there's at least one burg in your borough that fits the description of "Cool Area That Your Parents Would Have Avoided in the '80s."
Look familiar? Check out the full-size map here
January 27, 2016

Facebook Co-Founder Revealed As Buyer of $23.5M West Village Townhouse With an Underground Tunnel

When it was revealed last week that Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes sold his massive Soho loft for $8.5 million, it was also speculated that he and husband Sean Eldridge were the buyers of a $23.5 million West Village townhouse. When that sale hit records in September, the name on the deed was revealed as Tom van Loben Sels, the same person behind the recent Soho transaction. The Post now confirms through their sources that the power couple are in fact the lucky new owners of the historic home at 157 West 12th Street. According to the paper, the landmarked home has an underground tunnel. The ten-foot-wide and "well-lit" passageway apparently has "no tunnel feel at all" and starts in the home's finished basement, ending at a staircase that leads to the carriage house that can be used as a guest house. Other perks of the three-bedroom, 4,164-square-foot spread include a wine cellar, home theater, wood-burning fireplace, exposed brick, 19th-century columns, and a "book-lined library" (likely a selling point considering the men had a similar room in their last place).
More here
January 27, 2016

The USB Typewriter Brings the Old-School Word Processor Into the Digital Age

While functionally the typewriter is no longer necessary to get words onto paper, the aesthetic appeal of the old-school word processor is timeless. In addition to their retro good looks, typewriters are also fun to use, providing us with an ongoing sense of accomplishment as the carriage slides back into place with each new line of copy. Since the same cannot be said for our fancy computers, smartphones, and tablets, Philadelphia-based designer and engineer Jack Zylkin created the USB Typewriter to bring back the days when creating words and sentences also meant creating sound and movement. 
Find out more ahead
January 27, 2016

Intergalactic Mill Basin Mansion Returns for $17M With a Two-for-One Deal

The StarMansion from “Star Trek: Mill Basin” has landed on the market once again after few interplanetary laps–one of which included a precipitous price-drop from $30 million to $17 million in 2014–this time even bigger and better with some stellar cargo added. The slightly notorious former mob manse currently belonging to the family of “the Russian-American Paris Hilton” (h/t Curbed) is also the one-time second-most expensive home in Brooklyn (after this massive pad at One Brooklyn Bridge Park). With some seriously tricked-out custom interiors and features like a "circular meditation room,” 257 feet of waterfront, indoor parking for six cars, a Lalique fireplace mantel, 1,000-square-foot pool, spa, outdoor pavilion with kitchen, three-boat marina and water views from every room, the waterfront mansion is still asking $17 million, but with a sweet two-for-one deal attached: The next-door “guest house” property–formerly listed at $8 million–is included in the price.
Take the journey
January 27, 2016

In 1933, a Ham Sandwich Cost 25 Cents at the Empire State Building Observatory

Today, the only thing you'll be spending money on when you travel to the 102nd floor of the Empire State Building is the $50+ Observation Deck ticket. But back in the '30s, it was a much more glamorous experience, complete with the Empire State Observatory Fountain and Tea Room. The New York Public Library recently digitized 18,000 of its 40,000 restaurant menus, which range from 1851 to 2008, including this one from the Empire State Building in 1933. As you'll see, sandwiches (ham, peanut butter, and tomato and lettuce, to name a few) were a mere 25 cents, the same price as their six types of ice cream sundaes and ten flavored sodas. In terms of actual food, your only choice other than a sandwich would've been a pretty blah-sounding salad, some pastries, or a selection of "candy and cigarettes."
More right this way
January 27, 2016

POLL: Will Open Gangway Subway Trains Be a Success in NYC?

New Yorkers are notoriously hard to impress, so it’s not surprising that some are finding fault with the MTA’s proposed open gangway subway trains, which are pretty much the norm everywhere else in the world. Despite the fact that they’ll reduce congestion and platform pileups, as well as reportedly increase safety, jaded city dwellers fear […]

January 27, 2016

$33K/Month Penthouse With a Custom Koi Pond Is a Bit of Bay Ridge in Trendy Tribeca

If you've always dreamed of interior features like a "dramatic floating staircase rising a full three stories from a custom koi pond," a dangerously high number of marble-covered surfaces, and lots of shiny lacquered wood, but didn’t want to give up the sophisticated surroundings of Manhattan’s downtown Gold Coast, this triplex penthouse atop the striking 19th century brick building at 11 Vestry Street could be your jacuzzi-positive dream apartment. For $33,000 a month, this super-luxe Tribeca rental has undeniable perks–like four different outdoor spaces with amazing views–and a few opulent additions that are usually reserved for more far-out 'hoods like Bay Ridge.
See more of this marble-clad pad
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January 26, 2016

There’s a James Turrell Light Installation Hidden in This Midtown Office

You may have thought your company's new espresso machine was fancy, but it's got nothing on this trippy new sculpture hidden in a Midtown office. Designed by famed light installation artist James Turrell (you may remember his wildly popular "Aten Reign" that filled the Guggenheim's rotunda with shifting artificial and natural light a couple years ago), "Three Saros" is a 24-foot, two-story volume that "transports spectators into an ethereal, prismatic sea of light"—likely also reducing smoking breaks and water cooler kvetching.
More on the work here
January 26, 2016

Mapping World Cities That Already Have Open Gangway Subway Trains

Click here to enlarge map >> Just yesterday, the MTA revealed renderings of what their open gangway subway prototypes will look like. As 6sqft previsouly reported, when it was announced that the new trains got a $52.4 million piece of the MTA's capital plan, "This type of train, basically one long subway car with no doors in between, is popular all over the world, in most cities in China and Japan, in Berlin, Paris, and London, to name a few." So just how far behind the times is New York City? An informative new map from The Transport Politic, which plots the cities in which riders can walk between cars, says pretty far.
Find out more
January 26, 2016

Beautiful Brick and Wood Make This West Village Rental Beyond Cozy

If any "Sex and the City" fans out there have lingering dreams of renting a lovely apartment in a West Village brownstone, this two-bedroom unit is looking promising. (Only steps from Magnolia Bakery, the listing says!) It's a fourth-floor walkup on the top-floor of the brownstone at 283 West 11th Street. Once inside, it isn't hard to warm up to this apartment, with its fireplace, exposed brick, and overall charm. Plus, there's a roof deck, which is shared by the building, right above you. It is now on the rental market for $5,600 a month—so sadly no, not a rent most freelance writers like Carrie could afford.
Take a look around
January 26, 2016

Sebastian Errazuriz’s Meticulously Crafted Chest Is an Interactive ‘Mahogani Explosion’

If you read 6sqft regularly, you probably know by now that we can't get enough of New York designer Sebastian Errazuriz's industrial designs. We've previously featured his quirky, spiky-skinned chest, a giant golden cow piñata on show in Sunset Park, and more recently, his yawning video installation looping in Times Square. If you haven't tired of him yet, get ready for another of his fantastical creations: Mahogani Explosion, a seemingly boring wooden chest that "explodes" to the sides as it’s opened.
Learn more about this explosive cabinet
January 26, 2016

What to Do if Your Sidewalk Hasn’t Been Shoveled

If you're trying to get somewhere this week and there's a mountain of snow left by the weekend storm in your path, Mayor de Blasio wants to help. On Monday, in response to complaints about businesses with unplowed sidewalks, the mayor said that the city would "definitely be focusing today on businesses that aren't doing that–we will be applying fines to any business that does not shovel out” (h/t DNAinfo). City code states that "every owner, property manager, tenant or other individual in charge of a lot or building must clean snow and ice from the sidewalks in front, on the side of and in back of their properties within a certain time frame." The snow officially stopped falling at 3:30am on Sunday, meaning that anyone with shoveling to do had until 11 a.m. Monday to get the job done before the possibility of getting hit with fines.
So whose job is it, anyway?
January 26, 2016

$25K a Month Is the Price of Near-Perfection in This West Village Townhouse Triplex

Sometimes with listings, pictures just speak for themselves. This 2,250-square-foot West Village townhouse triplex at 407 Bleecker Street is a fine example. In addition to being in one of the city’s most covetable neighborhoods, this pretty, historic home checks all the boxes that might be on a tenant wish list. Modern but not aggressively so, grand without ostentation—the $25,000 a month rental price doesn’t surprise, though it might well put the three-plus-bedroom home out of reach for many. One might just bring up the fact that you’re not, in fact, getting the whole house; there’s a retail store at the street level, and the home is on the three floors above. There’s no yard (though there’s a sun deck, which really is just as good); the oodles of recessed lighting and ceiling speakers might not be to everyone’s taste–but then again you’re not buying the house. At 2,250 square feet it’s not exactly huge. But by Manhattan standards it's palatial.
See what else this townhouse has going for it
January 26, 2016

Could This Modern Residential Tower Replace the Historic Barney’s Building at 115 Seventh Avenue?

Bargain hunters were distraught when Loehmann's shuttered their NYC locations two years ago. It perhaps hit hardest at their Chelsea location, at the northeast corner of 16th Street and Seventh Avenue. Later that year it was announced that upscale retailer Barney's would be opening a five-level store in the space, which also happens to be the site where they were founded in 1923, and remained until 2007. Next door, at the southeast corner of Seventh Avenue and 16th Street, also once part of Barney's downtown flagship, 6sqft has uncovered a rendering showing a modern residential tower with a retail base that may replace the historic Romanesque-style building.
Get the full story right here
January 25, 2016

Maisonette Meets Loft in This Central Williamsburg Duplex Asking $5,500 a Month

This duplex apartment at the Sophia Lofts at 234 North Ninth Street, a former bakery converted to 11 loft residences in 2007, has a private entrance on Williamsburg's bustling crossroads of Roebling Street. You can come and go as you like from your own slice of prime 'burg, a 1,480 square-foot duplex that will put you right in the middle of where all the action is, for $5,500 a month. The interiors are loft all the way, though there are plenty of custom comforts and chic additions that give the classic converted space a distinct modern personality.
See what's inside
January 25, 2016

QUIZ: Answer 9 Questions to Find Out Which NYC Neighborhoods Best Match Your Lifestyle

Some of us are all too familiar with matching services where you provide info about yourself and you get back a list of, er, interesting possibilities. But sorting data to find your ideal neighborhood match could be especially helpful when home-hunting in New York City, given the mind-boggling set of choices–it makes sense to get potential picks from things that actually exist (like parks and grocery stores), rather than being hopefully embellished. From the neighborhood data entrepreneurs at PlaceILive comes match.placeilive.com, a newly-launched lifestyle-based home finder that matches you with your ideal New York City neighborhoods based on your answers to nine quick questions.
Find out which neighborhood's right for you
January 25, 2016

Download Ikea’s Adult Coloring Book for Free!

Adult coloring books are all the rage these days and we couldn't be happier. While there are many different types available for purchase (check out this coloring book-notebook combo or this architectural-inspired rendition), Ikea has just released their own version, which is free to download (h/t Curbed). From decorative houseplants to POÄNG chairs and KALLAX shelving units, each of the five pages includes a collection of Ikea products arranged in fun geometric patterns.
READ MORE
January 25, 2016

Tour the Guggenheim and Its New Exhibit Through Google Street View

The wonders of Google Maps have gotten us into some pretty amazing places, such as the uber-private Gramercy Park and a tourist-less version of the holiday window displays. Now, the Street View team has granted exclusive access to the Guggenheim (h/t ArchDaily). Not only does the technology let users tour the iconic Frank Lloyd Wright-designed spiraling rotunda, but it allows one to browse through the artworks currently on display.
Find out more
January 25, 2016

NYC’s 190 Miles of Scaffolding a Result of ’80s Law and Billion Dollar Industry

It definitely seems that every day, more of New York City is covered by the ubiquitous wood and steel building shed scaffolding, making daily life an urban obstacle course of weaving and tunnel trekking. It's not just your imagination: Currently there are almost 9,000 sheds camped out over city streets, reports Crains, based on numbers from the Department of Buildings, up from around 3,500 in 2003. That adds up to 190 miles–one million linear feet—worth of sheds, enough to encircle Manhattan six times. The city’s maze of construction sheds are the result of a 1980s law and a billion dollar industry that keeps growing. "New York is insatiable right now when it comes to sheds," says George Mihalko, a shed-equipment supplier. "I've never seen anything like it in 30 years." This demand is driven in part by the new wave of construction spurred by the city's building boom. But there is apparently another, more important reason.
Why don't the sheds ever go away?
January 25, 2016

First Look at JDS Development’s Boutique Condos Coming to Williamsburg

Near the Williamsburg waterfront and steps away from Bushwick Inlet Park (home to the famed Smorgasburg), Largo Investments and minority partner JDS Development have hatched plans to build a boutique condominium building at 71-73 North 7th Street. The four-story, 15,000-square-foot development will expand upon the structural bones of an existing single-story building, ultimately creating four capacious apartments.
More details on the project
January 25, 2016

Affordable Housing Lottery Starts Today for Nine New Units in Prime Harlem, From $802/Month

The affordable housing lottery for 2049 5th Avenue in central Harlem opens today, and the nine brand new units range from $802/month studios to $2,175/month two-bedrooms, according to the NYC HPD. The address, located just north of 126th Street, was mired in controversy a few years back when tenants sued owners West Harlem Group Assistance for injuries sustained in what they called a crumbling, unkempt building. At the time, the local nonprofit owned about 45 buildings, but 2049 5th Avenue was cited as the worst, with claims of leaky ceilings, no heat, collapsing walls, and broken pipes. In December, 2014, the building finally underwent a gut renovation, which includes these affordable apartments.
Find out if you qualify for the new units
January 25, 2016

Chelsea Loft Designed by Award-Winning SYSTEMarchitects Wants $2M

This two-bedroom live/work loft comes from 249 West 29th Street, a prewar Chelsea co-op built in 1929. The building may be older, but this particular loft, now on the market for $2.15 million, is quite modern. It was designed by SYSTEMarchitects, a prominent firm that's won awards everywhere from the American Institute of Architects to the Museum of Modern Art. They also designed this other Chelsea loft, distinguished by a wood boat hull that was built out in the mezzanine. There's nothing quite as striking in this loft, although it does have a very interesting design element in the master bedroom.
See what it is
January 24, 2016

A New York Minute With Veselka Restaurant Owner Tom Birchard

In 6sqft's fun new series A New York Minute we ask influential New Yorkers spitfire (and sometimes very random) questions about their life in the big city. Want to nominate yourself or someone you know? Get in touch! In 1965, Tom Birchard was busy studying business administration at Rutgers University when he met Marta, daughter of Wolodymyr Darmochwal, at a fraternity party. Her father owned the Ukrainian restaurant Veselka at Second Avenue and Ninth Street in what was then a largely Easter European community. Tom and Marta married the following year, and ever since then Tom started working at the restaurant part time, helping it grow into the iconic establishment it is today, famous for its 24-hour pierogis and borscht. Though he and Marta eventually separated (Tom is now married to Dr. Sally Haddock who owns St. Marks Veterinary Hospital), Tom took ownership of the business in 1975, and has since been at the helm, living in the East Village, which he describes as "young, funky, artsy." Not only does he keep the Ukrainian spirit alive, but he's active in the community, serving on the board of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and actively sponsoring local performance artists.
READ MORE
January 24, 2016

Friedland Properties Finally Settles on Design of 2230 Broadway

Foundation work continues apace on Friedland Properties' and Rose Associates' upcoming 72-unit apartment tower at the southeast corner of Broadway and West 80th Street. Tentatively addressed as 2230 Broadway, the building will rise 18 stories and 227 feet to its rooftop stair bulkhead. This stretch of Broadway on the Upper West Side enforces a 210-foot height cap (to its highest occupiable floor) to keep new developments in scale with their surrounding historic context. According to building permits, Stephen B. Jacobs Group are the architects. Evidently, the project has gone through several iterations of design, but it seems the team has settled on this recently posted conservative red brick building with a light stone base and cornice lines. The new rendering is also in line with DOB filings and an elevation posted at the construction site.
More on the building
January 23, 2016

$2M Historic Bed-Stuy Brownstone Comes With an Ethereal Interior

There really is something dreamy about the interior of this Bed-Stuy home at 231 Decatur Street. From the outside, it looks like a well-kept, historic townhouse -- prominent Brooklyn architects Axel Hedman and Eli Bishop designed this barrel-front, Renaissance Revival-style brownstone in 1897. The interior is chock full of historic detailing, too, like intricate mantels and woodwork, decorative fireplaces and stained-glass windows. The design, very bright and white, compliments those old details well, and gives the spaces an ethereal feel. If we could pick any Brooklyn brownstone to show up in our dreams, this would be the one.
See the interior
January 23, 2016

Weekly Highlights: Top Picks From the 6sqft Staff

Judy Garland’s Former Dakota Apartment, Now a Designer Pad, Asks $16.7M Lower Income Residents of Extell’s ‘Poor Door’ Building Find Glaring Disparities The Best Address for Less: Live in the Dakota for $1.85M Loophole Allows Developers to Build ‘Skyscrapers on Stilts’ to Give Residents Ocean Views Confirmed: Calatrava’s WTC Transportation Hub Will Open First Week […]

January 22, 2016

Spotlight: Author Gay Talese Reflects on More Than Sixty Years in the NYC Journalism World

"I was very curious as a grade school kid and that curiosity never abated," explains renowned writer Gay Talese. This curiosity has been both a driving force and a constant throughout Gay’s more than 60-year writing career; a career in which his observations and discoveries have been widely read and published. Gay’s first forays into writing were for his hometown of Ocean City, New Jersey’s local paper in high school. After graduating from the University of Alabama, where he had written for the school’s paper, he was hired as a copyboy at the New York Times in 1953. For Gay, this job laid the groundwork for a career in which he was a reporter for the Times, wrote for magazines such as Esquire (where his most famous pieces on Frank Sinatra and Joe DiMaggio were published) and The New Yorker, and published books on a wide variety of topics including the construction of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. 6sqft recently spoke with Gay about his career and the changing landscape of journalism.
Read the interview here
January 22, 2016

Watch the Seasons Change in Three Directions From This Unusual Prospect Heights Co-op

When we're looking for a new home we're often hoping for something different and, well, special, especially after seeing space after generic space. This Prospect Heights pad at 296 Sterling Place is definitely unique. It's spacious at 1,400 square feet, with 13-foot beamed ceilings and windows everywhere with open views on all three sides–because the building has three sides. You get the elegant original details of a classic pre-war co-op (original parquet wood floors, for example), plus the exposed brick and beams you'd love in a loft. And with two bedrooms plus an office/third bedroom, there's room for everyone. Overall, charming modern updates and the above cool-old-building-of-the-day infrastructure–plus the fact that the perfect Prospect Heights location tops pretty much everyone's list–are the stuff bidding wars are made of. The ask–$1.799 million–could get you an entire townhouse worth of quirky charm a few years back, but not in Brooklyn of 2016.
Take a look around this unique space
January 22, 2016

Modern, Massive Loft in Prewar Flatiron Building Asks $7.895 Million

Space, volume and abundant light—those are the three virtues of this Flatiron loft apartment at 260 Park Avenue, according to its listing. When it comes down to it, we'd have to agree; it's hard to argue with 3,287 square feet of open loft space that includes a "great room" that spans more than 46 feet, 12 enormous windows covering multiple exposures, and a master bedroom that comes with a double walk-in closet that's probably the size of some studio apartments. This condo sits within an eight-story prewar building that long served as the headquarters of the United Federation of Teachers. Well-known economist Richard Thaler purchased it in 2012 for $5.94 million and he's now trying to unload it for $7.895 million.
Take the tour
January 22, 2016

New Renderings for Chinese Lantern-Inspired Skyscraper at 470 Eleventh Avenue

Reaping the seeds of the Bloomberg administration's sweeping 2005 rezoning of the far west side, a consortium of developers led by Siras Development hopes to begin construction this year on a dramatic 720-foot skyscraper at 470 Eleventh Avenue. Anchoring the southeast corner of Eleventh Avenue and 38th Street, the 47-story tower will soar from a quarter-acre site across from the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center that the developers purchased in 2014 for $110 million. The mixed-use project dubbed Hudson Rise will boast a total of 380,000 square feet split between a commercial podium, 328 hotel rooms/hotel condos, and topped by 40 condominiums that that will be marketed to Chinese buyers. Archilier Architects are the tower's designers, and though the firm has designed numerous large-scale developments in China, this will be their first in New York. Said to be inspired by traditional Chinese lanterns, the tower will be one of the most spatially complex skyscrapers in the city, distinguished by a vertical stack of alternating, cantilevering, and interlocking volumes that are clad in an array of facade treatments.
More details and renderings ahead
January 22, 2016

My 1,400sqft: Painter Stephen Hall Brings Us Into His Greenwich Village Loft and Studio

Since being transformed into homes for artists in the 1970s, Westbeth Artists' Housing has hosted some of New York City's most brilliant creatives. And long-time resident and painter Stephen Hall most certainly falls into that set, helping to fill the residence's walls with thought-provoking ideas for the last 17 years. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, Stephen came to New York back in 1978 and began exhibiting his work in the East Village in the early '80s. Today, his colorful pop-surrealist masterpieces can be found in collections all across the globe, with his paintings now commanding between $5,000-$20,000 a piece. He's also dreamt up art for major motion pictures, music videos and magazines. Curious to see the madness and magic behind his Stephen's off-kilter works—which he describes as "paintings [that] confront us with complex conundrums for which each of many possible solutions may very well tell us as much about ourselves as about the subject at hand"—6sqft recently paid a visit to his duplex loft, a family home that mixes mid-century modern design with pops of color and familiar but fantastical forms.
Keep reading to meet the artist, and to get a peek inside his live/work space
January 22, 2016

SOM Architects Reveal New Renderings of Hudson Yards-Adjacent Manhattan West Towers

Architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has released new drawings of the Brookfield Properties-developed Manhattan West project located between 32nd and 33rd Streets and Ninth and Tenth Avenues, Dezeen reported today. The glass-clad Manhattan West towers–punctuated by green public space–will be rising next to the Hudson Yards development. The five-million-square-foot project will include two office towers, a rental tower with 844 apartments at 435 West 31st Street, retail space and a new landscaped public plaza designed by James Corner Field Operations, the firm responsible for the design of the High Line.
Take a look at the latest images
January 21, 2016

Facebook Co-Founder Gets $8.5M for Massive and Masculine Soho Loft

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes and husband Sean Eldridge, financier and former Democratic congressional candidate, make quite the power couple. So it comes as no surprise that the dapper duo got $8.5 million, just below the $8.75 million asking price, for their bespoke Soho loft at 30 Crosby Street. They bought the home for $4.5 million in 2010, and then undertook a serious renovation that resulted in a masculine but elegant interior. It hit the market back in August, and now the Observer reports that the massive 4,100-square-foot pad has been picked up by Helliot Property Holdings Inc.
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January 21, 2016

Amtrak Estimates Penn Station and Hudson River Tunnel Projects Will Cost $24B

When Governor Cuomo announced his $3 billion revamp of Penn Station earlier this month, skeptics were quick to point out that all the glassy new structures and reconfiguration of waiting rooms won't do anything to help the fact that the Hudson River rail tunnels are crumbling. Clearly on the same page, Amtrak announced yesterday a detailed overview of the entire infrastructure project, and it comes in at a whopping $23.9 billion. According to the Times, "the largest share of about $7.7 billion [will go towards] building the new Hudson tunnel and repairing the existing tunnel. The project includes a host of other elements, including expanding Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan at an estimated cost of $5.9 billion, and replacing rail bridges in New Jersey."
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