6sqft | NYC local news, events, and apartments

NYC-based design firm Buro Koray Duman has come up with a series of plans to use the under-utilized space beneath the BQE in a site near Sunset Park's Industry City, the massive waterfront industrial complex which itself has recently experienced a renaissance as a hub for designers and local manufacturers. The elevated highway separates Industry City from the rest of the neighborhood, and the proposed uses would connect the space beneath with the creative and commercial energy of the complex. According to Dezeen, the firm saw an opportunity to put the empty sub-highway space to good use and add "more color and convenience to the city's daily life."
Find out more about the two ideas for the under-highway space

Architecture And Design

May 26, 2016

Beth Israel Confirms Closure; Bella and Max Are NYC’s Most Popular Dog Names

A stop-work order was issued for the Upper East Side tower where developers used a four-foot-wide lot as a loophole to build taller. [NYT] Mount Sinai Beth Israel, the 825-bed hospital that’s served downtown Manhattan for more than 125 years, confirms that it will sell off its building and move to a new, 70-bed facility. [NYT] Whole […]

Uncategorized

May 26, 2016

Colonial Meets Rock Star at Allman Brothers Guitarist’s Former Nyack Home, Asking $2M

By Annie Doge

Warren Haynes, guitarist for The Allman Brothers Band, may not live in this Upper Nyack home anymore, but it sure does look like it's inhabited by a musician. From the outside, the five-bedroom Colonial appears to be a standard suburban spread, but inside, the animal-print rugs (and actual animal sculptures), neon and furry accents, and massive shoe collection scream rock star. And it can all be yours for $2 million (h/t NYP).
Check it all out

Jamestown Will Spend up to $50M to Double Retail Space at Chelsea Market

Views of addition courtesy of Neoscape

May 26, 2016

Jamestown Will Spend up to $50M to Double Retail Space at Chelsea Market

Back in March, 6sqft got a first look at renderings for Jamestown Properties' 240,000-square-foot addition to Chelsea Market. Known as BLDG 18, the nine-story topper designed by Studios Architecture will sit atop the westernmost building of the complex. In addition, the developer plans to spend $35 to $50 million doubling the size of the retail space. Though there's no new images to accompany the news, Crain's explains that the additional 80,000 square feet of retail will go in the building's now mostly unused lower level. Here, among other renovations, Jamestown will convert a boiler room into a restaurant and add a central corridor similar to the existing one on the ground level.
More details ahead

New Developments

May 26, 2016

Apply for 55 Middle-Income Apartments in Prime Murray Hill

A common complaint about the city's affordable housing lotteries is that they don't often pertain to middle-income New Yorkers who are struggling to pay market-rate rents just the same. But here's the chance for this often-overlooked group to get in on the action -- a lottery launches tomorrow for 55 middle-income apartments at 325 East 25th Street. Not only do the rents range from $1,715/month studios to $2,216/month two-bedrooms, but the building is located in a prime Murray Hill location just north of Gramercy and right in the mix of restaurants and bars (okay, maybe just bars) for which the 'hood is known.
Get the full breakdown here

Affordable Housing

May 25, 2016

Tribeca’s Iconic Pearl Paint Buildings Are Going Residential

Back in 2014, New Yorkers lamented the shuttering of Pearl Paint, the legendary 80-year-old art retailer that had been located on the border of Tribeca and Chinatown since 1933. Any self-respecting artist, architect, or designer will surely remember trudging up the six flights of creaking floor boards and hunting down bargain-priced supplies, but this will soon become an even more distant memory as just yesterday, Trans World Equities filed permits to convert one of Pearl Paint's former buildings into eight residential units and build a two-story addition above the 150-year-old structure at 308 Canal Street.
All the details this way

New Developments

$40 Million Overhaul Will Make 8 Parks More Neighborhood-Friendly

Image: Fort Greene Park Conservancy

May 25, 2016

$40 Million Overhaul Will Make 8 Parks More Neighborhood-Friendly

The city has announced plans to make eight of the city's parks more welcoming and integrated into their surrounding neighborhoods, the New York Times reports. According to officials, the green-space face-lifts are part of a plan to improve city parks and part of the larger goal of having 85 percent of New Yorkers living within walking distance of a park. The parks, chosen by a nomination process that used feedback from residents, include Seward Park on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Faber Pool and Park on the North Shore of Staten Island, Jackie Robinson Park in northern Manhattan, Van Cortlandt Park and Hugh Grant Circle and Virginia Park in the Bronx, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, and Fort Greene and Prospect Parks in Brooklyn. According to parks commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, the many improvement suggestions the city received were "proof positive of how excited New Yorkers are to increase accessibility and openness in their favorite parks.”
Find out more about the park plans

May 25, 2016

Spend Summer on the Sun Porch in This $2.25M Craftsman-Style Windsor Terrace Home

Not only does this super-cute brick townhouse promise plenty of space for the whole family without leaving the civilization of New York City, but it conjures up a totally different, laid-back and innocent time and place. This home at 207 Windsor Place mixes Arts and Crafts-style details with an old fashioned American house layout, with a big eat-in kitchen that opens into a formal dining room, a catnap-ready front sun porch, a basement ready for whatever you'd like to make it—and four bedrooms at the end of the day. All of this sits at the Park Slope/Windsor Terrace border two blocks from Prospect Park and a block from subways, shopping, dining, cafes and everything Brooklyn neighborhoods are loved for today.
Take a floor-by-floor tour

Distinctive Homes

For $1.6M, this Connecticut estate has an art studio, guest house, pool, and a vintage modern vibe

This $4M Brooklyn Heights duplex adds condo convenience to old-world elegance

Build your own $18.75M trophy penthouse under a copper rooftop overlooking Central Park

An architect's vision transformed this $2.15M Park Slope loft with leveled-up modernist design

A 70-foot brick smokestack anchors a private garden at this $2.1M Williamsburg loft

This $675K Flatbush co-op has a clean Scandinavian vibe and a flexible layout

Hudson Valley 1750s stone house with a waterfall on the grounds asks $1.5M

For $5.25M, this Gramercy townhouse has a live-work option for a very short commute

One of the oldest wood-frame houses in Brooklyn Heights asks $4.9M

A colorful converted convent in Hamilton Heights asks $2M

VIEW ALL

May 25, 2016

Colorful Flat-Pack Furniture Can Be Hung on the Wall Like Art

The selection of furniture for those living in cramped apartments continues to evolve beyond the plastic folding chair. And this flat-pack seating collection by Jongha Choi is the latest ingenious design to emerge from the small space realm. De-dimension _ From 2D to 3D rethinks seating by adding an artistic bent to a functional product. As seen in the animation above, each seat easily unfolds when needed, and can just as easily be collapsed back into a "2D" form and hung on the wall like art.
see more here

May 25, 2016

Historic Casement Windows Line This $1.3M Corner Loft in Greenwich Village

The International Tailoring Company Building, located at 111 Fourth Avenue in Greenwich Village, is historic and stately from the outside, light and lofty from the inside. It's been converted into co-op apartments, and this one-bedroom duplex is now on the market for $1.3 million. Its attributes include 13-foot ceilings, six original industrial casement windows--two of which are 10 feet tall, the other four are eight feet tall--and views of sky and the city skyline. A recent renovation brought in some modern-day luxuries as well.
See the interior

Distinctive Homes

May 25, 2016

Fleet Week Sails into NYC; Art Gallery Pops Up in An Abandoned Brooklyn Subway Station

3 World Trade Center is getting its concrete core before its steel columns and beams, a construction technique rarely used in New York. [NYT] A new analysis of ticket sales shows that New York is now a Mets town. [Gothamist] Here’s your full Fleet Week schedule! [DNAinfo] A secret art gallery popped up in the abandoned platform of Brooklyn’s Nevins Street […]

Uncategorized

May 25, 2016

POLL: Can New York’s Middle Class Stage a Comeback?

The lack of affordability in New York is typically, and justly, blamed on skyrocketing rents, but when it comes to the middle class it might be more closely tied to a lack of jobs. The Wall Street Journal shares a new report from the Center for an Urban Future, which finds that "while the city added a record number of jobs since 2011, middle-wage industries paying between $40,000 and $80,000 a year added the fewest positions, and a lot of those were temp jobs." Additionally, middle-wage jobs lost the most employees. Low-wage industries (paying under $40,000) such as restaurants and home health care services disproportionately added the most jobs. However, the report also points to a few factors that may indicate a comeback for the middle class. For one, middle-wage industries accounted for three of the eight sectors with a net gain of at least 10,000 jobs since 2011. These are employment services, building equipment contractors, and colleges/universities, respectively. In total, 23 middle-wage sectors added at least 1,000 jobs during this time, not far off from the low-wage sector's 24 and high-wage's 28. But are these figures enough to give the middle class staying power?
Cast your vote here!

City Living

May 25, 2016

Governor Cuomo Finally Approves MTA’s $27B Capital Plan

Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio, notorious for their icy relationship, have been squabbling for well over a year about the MTA's $27 billion, five-year capital plan. Last October, they reached an agreement where the state would contribute $8.3 billion and the city $2.5 billion, neither of which would come from increasing taxes. Seven months later, the Daily News reports that Albany has finally approved the plan, which covers track and station repairs, new train cars, new high-tech buses, a MetroCard replacement, the Long Island Rail Road's East Side Access project, and, of course, the beginning of the Second Avenue Subway's phase two into East Harlem.
More details ahead

Great Game Changers: One Worldwide Plaza, A Classy Attraction for Sleazy 1980s Midtown

Image of WWP via Macklowe Properties

May 24, 2016

Great Game Changers: One Worldwide Plaza, A Classy Attraction for Sleazy 1980s Midtown

By Carter B. Horsley

What does it take to jump-start an unglamorous neighborhood? A huge development? A mixed-use project? New transit facilities? When this full-block, mixed-use development project was conceived in the mid-1980s the area in and around Times Square was one of the city’s worst. It was riddled with crime and pornography and was run-down, especially along Eighth Avenue. The proposition to add a building that was the scale of the full-block One Worldwide Plaza development, therefore, was not only surprising, but shocking and downright unthinkable. The legendary Madison Square Garden designed by Thomas W. Lamb had occupied its site from 1925 to 1966, but its second incarnation here was rather ramshackle especially in comparison to its previous glorious building on Madison Avenue at 26th Street. When it moved south next to the “new” Penn Station 16 blocks to the south, this site became the city’s largest parking lot and it took about a decade and a half for it to find a new life. The site was finally developed and completed in 1989 by a syndicate headed by William Zeckendorf Jr. that included Arthur Cohen and Worldwide Realty partners Frank Stanton and Victor Elmaleh.
more on the rise of worldwide plaza and how it revived midtown manhattan

May 24, 2016

Parker Posey Models in Listing Photos for Her $1.45M Greenwich Village Co-op

By Annie Doge

After the recent debacle when Ta-Nehisi Coates' purchase of a Prospect-Lefferts Garden townhouse went public, and he subsequently penned an essay on why he wouldn't be moving in after all, there's been a debate surrounding how much privacy celeb real estate buyers are entitled to. But quirky Indie actress Parker Posey is clearly not concerned, considering she's posing in the listing photos for her Greenwich Village co-op. The $1.45 million listing at 30 Fifth Avenue hasn't gone public yet, but Curbed has obtained the photos, which show the now-blonde Posey lounging in her bedroom, reading Mary Louise Parker's "Dear Mr. You" along with her Bichon Frise Gracie.
More glamour shots ahead

May 24, 2016

15 Central Park West Takes Back the Title of Most Expensive Manhattan Condo

Six months ago when CityRealty released its last CR100 report -- an index comprised of the top 100 condominium buildings in Manhattan -- One57 surpassed long-time frontrunner 15 Central Park West as the most expensive condo, coming in at $6,010 per square foot, compared to 15 CPW's $5,726. But this time around, 15 CPW has retaken the crown with an average sales price of $6,039 per square foot over the last 12 months. Coming in second is the Residences at the Mandarin Oriental at $5,956, and One57 falls to third at $5,175, a 13 percent drop over the last year. CityRealty notes, however, that the Robert A.M. Stern-designed condo may have difficulty maintaining its top spot, as big-time new developments 432 Park Avenue, The Greenwich Lane, and 10 Madison Square West have now made their debut on the CR100.
More trends and data

Real Estate Trends

May 24, 2016

Glass Walls and Skylights Let Light Flood Into This Vinegar Hill Rental Apartment

There's never been an apartment so ideal for summertime. This three-bedroom rental comes from 87 Hudson Avenue, a development in the quaint Brooklyn neighborhood of Vinegar Hill, situated just north of DUMBO. Over an upper and lower floor there are multiple skylights, two outdoors spaces, even interior glass walls to let the light flood through. You'll need sunglasses before renting this pad, which is now on the market asking $6,000 a month.
Go through the space

Distinctive Homes

Landmarks Rejects Skinny Fort Greene House Because It ‘Looks Like Sing Sing Prison’

When talking townhouses, width matters. Aside from location and condition, width is usually the salient factor determining a home's desirability and pricing. While a 20-foot wide house is the coveted standard, the adored building type comes in an assortment of sizes, ranging from this narrow 12-foot wide townhouse in Park Slope upwards to the enviable 30-foot wide homes dotting Brooklyn Heights. On the tighter end of the spectrum, along a tree- and brownstone-lined block in the Fort Greene Historic District, R.A.Max Studio is seeking to secure the Landmarks Preservation Commission's approval to build a 12-foot wide, environmentally-conscious, two-family house at 39 South Elliott Place. Hemmed in on a vacant lot measuring just 1,200 square feet in area, the developer, Fort Greene Properties LLC, envisions building a four-story, 3,200-square-foot structure similar in scale to a previous house that stood at the site some sixty years ago, but with a more modern exterior. But this scheme did not go over so well at today's LPC hearing.
The full story, right this way

May 24, 2016

Your Daily Commute Never Looked So Good As It Does in This Colorful Data Visualization

The daily commute to work and back might be the last thing you want to see more of, but sometimes it helps to see things in a new light: Here's your daily traffic torment, subway sardine-fest or bus-stop hustle, represented in candy-colored motion. Michigan-based data wrangler Mark Evans shows us the workday migrations of American commuters using census data so that they resemble a jubilant gathering of rainbow dots, expanding and contracting from each county with the day's open and close (h/t Citylab).
Check out your colorful commute

City Living

May 24, 2016

This Lamp Only Turns On If You Turn Your Phone Off

If you don't posses the willpower to put your smart phone down once and for all, this lamp will give you that extra nudge -- that is, if you don't want to walk around in the dark. Tranquillo, created by industrial designer Avid Kadam, is "an interactive piece of lighting where the user’s phone acts like a switch." Basically, if you want to see, you'll need to put your phone on the dock, where it'll go into do-not-disturb mode.
READ MORE

May 24, 2016

Triplex Penthouse at the Late Zaha Hadid’s High Line Condos Lists for $50M

The 6,853-square-foot triplex penthouse atop the 11-story 520 West 28th Street condominium on the High Line, designed by the late Pritzker Prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid, has arrived on the market for the first time for the as-promised ask of $50 million. The architecturally unique 39-unit building, Hadid’s first–and, sadly, only–ground-up structure in New York City, has interiors also overseen and designed by the architect. Related Companies, the building's developer, speaks of the honor of collaborating with "one of the world’s most visionary architects, Dame Zaha Hadid, on the design for 520 West 28th. The design is being realized as she envisioned–each residence is a work of art unto itself–and the penthouse in particular is a spectacular example of this, including various unique elements such as a sculptural three-story staircase, designed by Hadid, which unites all levels of the triplex residence.”
Find out about this one-of-a-kind penthouse

May 24, 2016

Cat Colonies Fall Victim to Gentrification; City May Get Park Benches That Charge Your Phone

New York is home to about 500 feral cat colonies, many of which are under threat from gentrification and development. [NYT] The former president and CEO of Nathan’s Famous talks about selling hot dogs on Coney Island for 100 years. [Crain’s] A new report shows that 77 percent of L train riders would prefer a full […]

Uncategorized

May 23, 2016

Empire State Gateway Plan Stretches Twin Suspension Bridges from NJ to Queens

Just two months ago, the state allocated $70 million for early engineering work on a new Hudson River tunnel, part of the larger $20 billion Gateway project to fix the crumbling, century-old tunnels that currently carry New Jersey Transit and Amtrak trains under the Hudson River. Despite the move forward, a traffic consultant from Delaware thinks he has a better idea. NJ.com shared Scott R. Spencer's proposal for twin suspension bridges that would stretch 3.5 miles from New Jersey, across Manhattan at 38th and 39th Streets, and in to Queens. He believes the plan, aptly titled the Empire State Gateway, would be a much quicker solution to the current transportation woes, with one bridge taking about five years to complete versus 20+ years for the tunnels. Spencer's idea, however, would also cost $20 billion, and as Untapped points out, would cast quite the shadow over Midtown (not to mention the countless approvals and variances it would require).
Get all the details this way

May 23, 2016

Developers Used a Four-Foot-Wide Lot to Build a Taller Upper East Side Tower

The go-to move for building taller than zoning allows is snatching up some air rights, but at 180 East 88th Street in Yorkville, developer DDG Partners found an obscure loophole to increase their building's height. Back in 2014, as the Times explains, DDG received approvals to slice off a four-foot-wide lot from the 30-foot-deep site. This became an official taxable lot, but because it provided a buffer between the building and the street, it allowed the building to avoid typical zoning for structures touching the street, rising to its 521-foot height (60 feet taller than would have been permitted otherwise) and having its entrance on Third Avenue. Now that the motive has become clear, local residents and elected officials are not happy, and adding fuel to the fire is the fact that DDG contributed at least $19,900 to Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The full story ahead

May 23, 2016

Alexander Wang Lists Luxuriously Moody Tribeca Loft for $3.75M

After six years in residence, the in-demand downtown designer is selling the loft he purchased from fellow fashionista, former New York Times Style writer Holly Brubach (h/t Curbed). With the help of maverick decorator Ryan Korban, Wang renovated the classic warehouse-turned-co-op at 39 Worth Street with opulent-chic accents like black fur, zebra rugs and mirrored wall panels, and opened up walled spaces to return the loft its open-space roots. The result, as far as lofts go, is a pretty well laid-out example, with creature comforts a busy design professional needs–plus luxurious finishes. Yet it doesn’t lose any of the open and adventurous character that defines a historic Tribeca loft space. The Parsons-grad-made-good purchased the unit for $2 million in 2010 and hopes to sell it for a $3.75 million.
See more of the loft

May 23, 2016

Bjarke Ingels Designed the VIA57 Chair As an Homage to His West Side Tetrahedron

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

For those of us who love the unusual shape and dramatic angles of Bjarke Ingels' famed VIA 57 WEST tetrahedron, but aren't in the market to pay $3,800 a month for a one-bedroom (or didn't qualify for the building's affordable housing lottery), there's now a way to bring a piece of the starchitecture into our own homes. Dezeen reveals the VIA57 chair, designed by Ingels for furniture brand Fritz Hansen along with KiBiSi to mark the completion of the pyramid-shaped building. "The rotated corners allow a variety of social configurations while also evoking the tetrahedronical geometry of its parent architecture," he explains.
More this way

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VIEW ALL

May 23, 2016

‘All My Plants Are Dead’ Tote Bag Lets Black Thumbs Laugh Off Their Misfortunes

With spring in full swing, farmers markets and corner bodegas are teeming with plants, begging bright-eyed New Yorkers to take a pot or two home with them. While some of these verdant gems will enjoy a long-lasting life within their new indoor confines, a larger percentage will end up a droopy mess or a dried up skeleton of their former self. If you're one of those whose plants have been (or you know will be) doomed to such unsightly fate, don't let your black thumb ruin your day; instead take it all in stride and wear your private shame like a badge of honor for all to see.
more this way

May 23, 2016

This $25K/Month Tribeca Rental Claims to Be Better than the Hamptons

Memorial Day weekend is approaching, signaling that time in New York when people start decamping for the Hamptons as much as possible. But this summer rental, at 17 Jay Street in Tribeca, is asking that you stay. "Forget the Hamptons," the listing says, "Spend June through Labor Day in this serene and utterly charming duplex penthouse loft featuring a spacious 3BR layout, with two fireplaces and three lovely decked terraces!" Three terraces may not be as good as the beach, but it's definitely not shabby for a New York City apartment.
See all the outdoor space

Distinctive Homes

May 23, 2016

Own a Piece of the ‘Mad Men’ Set; Pommes Frites Opens New Location

At least 1,500 props from the set of “Mad Men” are up for auction starting today. [NYT] Following a deal between the MTA and the publishers of amNY and Metro, free newspaper hawkers will no longer be in subway stations. [WNYC] 14 months after the East Village’s deadly gas explosion that destroyed Pommes Frites, the beloved Belgian-style fry cafe […]

Uncategorized

May 23, 2016

Browse the Catalog of Joan Rivers’ Prized Possessions Headed for Auction Next Month

As 6sqft previously detailed, when the beloved comedian Joan Rivers passed away in 2014, she left behind a lavish Upper East Side penthouse packed with a collection of glittering designer gowns, gilded furnishings, jewelry and collected items that reflected a lifetime love of pretty things. Rivers herself once described the decor of the 5,100-square-foot triplex as “Louis XIV meets Fred and Ginger.” Christie's has issued a catalog listing the opulent collections of Rivers' home that will be included in the live auction, scheduled for June 22 with viewing times beginning June 17. Items from Harry Winston, Tiffany's and Fabergé will join art and small personal items–like Bob Mackie gowns, a silver Tiffany & Co. water bowl engraved "Spike” and a silk pagoda dog bed (h/t Curbed).
Find out more about the auction

May 23, 2016

For a Limited Time, Related Offering One Month Free in New Upper East Side Rental The Easton

Not quite ready to buy a condo, but still want to feel like you're living in one? For a limited time, the Related Companies is offering one month free at their newest upscale rental The Easton, located at 205 East 92nd Street. The 36-story development is located at the boundary of the Carnegie Hill and Yorkville neighborhoods on the Upper East Side and is loaded with all the amenities, thoughtful layouts, and meticulous craftsmanship typical of many new high-end condominiums.
Find out more

May 22, 2016

CWB Architects Build a Modern Asian-Inspired Beach House in Southampton

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Back in 2004, a client with a taste for traveling approached CWB Architects to design a beach house with a distinctly Asian flavor, styled after houses he’d seen in Thailand and Japan. The result is this stunning, appropriately-dubbed 'Thai Style Southampton' home, which stands on stilts above a wetland. In addition to verandas, pointed gable roofs and Mahogany interiors, the charming home features a splendid view out to the Atlantic Ocean.
Learn more about this stunning Thai-home

May 21, 2016

Weekly Highlights: Top Picks From the 6sqft Staff

By Alyssa Alimurung

Jennifer Lawrence Scopes Out a $17.5M Duplex Penthouse in Tribeca Madison Equities Files Permit for 1,115-Foot Supertall Condo in the Financial District Glenwood’s Newest Lincoln Center-Adjacent Tower Starts Leasing With Discounted Rents Controversial Lower East Side Waterfront May Get Even More Tall Towers New Studies Show Historic Preservation Doesn’t Cause Gentrification Woes Richard Meier Flips […]

Uncategorized

Infographic: How NYC’s Supertalls Compare in Height and Girth to Global Towers

Gray silhouettes from left to right: Shanghai World Financial Center, CTF Finance Centre, One WTC, Lotte World Tower, Mecca Royal Clock Tower, Shanghai Tower, Burj Khalifa. Click link here to enlarge >>

May 20, 2016

Infographic: How NYC’s Supertalls Compare in Height and Girth to Global Towers

As the Skyscraper Museum so aptly writes, "Tall and BIG are not the same thing." Echoing 6sqft's recent post on global supertalls, the infographic above illustrates how when the height of New York's tallest towers are stacked up against the sky-high constructions abroad (and 1 WTC), our city's skyscrapers truly are "runts on the world's stage." The image also reveals that not only do these towers lack significantly in height, but also in girth. This means what really makes the design of all of New York's new skyscrapers so unique is not how tall they are, but rather, how slender they are.
more on all that here

May 20, 2016

Strand Bookstore Owner Lists Elegant 1848 Gramercy Townhouse for $7.5M

If you're a lover of timelessly elegant Manhattan living and you're lucky enough to live in Gramercy, you probably love your home just that much more. And if your Gramercy spot is anything like this classically lovely townhouse at 236 East 19th Street, on the market for $7.5 million, we'd say that's a bit like hitting the jackpot. Built in 1848, the four-story Anglo-Italianate home was owned by the Baer family from the 1860s until the current owner, Nancy Bass Wyden, co-owner of the famous Strand bookstore, purchased it for $4,700,000 in 2011. We're guessing Mrs. Wyden—she co-owns the store with her father, Fred Bass, whose father, Ben, founded the Strand in 1927—may be selling the house to spend more time in Oregon with her husband, Senator Ron Wyden, who is that state's senior U.S. senator. The couple have several small children, and if the house looks this good we'd say it must be child-proof. There's a luxurious wood-paneled library–fitting for the first family of one of the city's most iconic bookstores–and though there's plenty of play space and five bedrooms, the home's intricate historic details have been restored beautifully with added finishes (like walls of glass and several private outdoor spaces) for modern-day livability.
Take the tour

May 20, 2016

REVEALED: First Look at Downtown Brooklyn’s New Office Tower at 540 Fulton Street

Downtown Brooklyn and its Fulton Street Mall lost a bit of its soul late last year with the demolition of an ornate 1891 Romanesque-Reviaval gem at 540 Fulton Street. Prior to being cleared, the two-story structure held a jumble of small retailers that included a jewelry exchange, Metro King Sushi & Teriyaki and a Lucille Roberts. When the building was finished 125 years ago, it rose three floors with its first tenant being F.W Woolworth's "five-and-dime store," their first Downtown Brooklyn location. Now with the slate wiped clean, what's envisioned to rise from the 18,531-square-foot lot near the corner of Flatbush Avenue Extension is a 19-story, 200,000-square-foot office block developed by the real estate investment and management firm Jenel Management. A new building application was filed with the Department of Building's last April, listing Marvel Architects as the applicant of record. The proposed building's podium will contain three levels of retail space from the cellar to the second level, and 17 floors of office space above.
find out more here

New Developments

May 20, 2016

Spotlight: Frank Cullen Wants to Teach You the Joys of Surfing at Rockaway Beach

By Susan Cohen

While temperatures outside are still a bit chilly, New York’s devoted wetsuit-clad surfers at Rockaway Beach are not deterred. Right now they have plenty of room in the water, but in the next few weeks there will be a bit more traffic when the busy summer crowds arrive at this popular surf spot. Amongst the experienced longboarders and shortboarders, there will be a fair number of newbies who'll be starting their surfing journey under the guidance of Frank Cullen and the New York Surf School. Frank has deep roots at Rockaway Beach. He first began surfing with the local guys during summers and later founded the New York Surf School there. When not out teaching kids and adults how to catch a wave, Frank is also a real estate broker working in Rockaway and parts of Brooklyn. Given his connection to the beach as a surfer and local resident, while also dabbling in local real estate, it goes without saying that he possesses a unique perspective on the changes taking place at Rockaway Beach. 6sqft recently spoke with Frank to find out more about surfing at Rockaway Beach, the New York Surf School, and to find out how he thinks the neighborhood will continue to change in the coming years.
read the interview here

May 20, 2016

Apply for Four Affordable Apartments in East Williamsburg, From $947/Month

Starting Tuesday, four brand new affordable apartments will up for grabs through the city's Housing Connect program. Located in quickly hipsterfying East Williamburg, the building at 30-42 Orient Avenue is sited kitty corner to Cooper Park and is made up of two constructions housing a total of 18 units. For those who qualify, there are two one-bedrooms available with a rent of $947/month, and two two-bedrooms going for $1,072/month. The building is also conveniently located just few blocks from the Graham stop on the L Train, and the B24 and B43 buses also serve the area.
more details here

Affordable Housing

May 20, 2016

Live on Half a Floor of a Stately Limestone Mansion in Fort Greene for $1.1M

This Victorian mansion, a limestone beauty at 26 South Oxford Street in Fort Greene, is so spacious that you can fit an entire two-bedroom, two-bathroom co-op on just half of one floor. (There are eight units in the mansion total.) Now on the market for $1.1 million, the apartment boasts quirky, modern upgrades to the historic interior with details like carved woodwork and a beautiful bay window in tact.
See more

40 Percent of Manhattan’s Buildings Would Be Unbuildable Today

720 Park Avenue could not be built today. Image via Google Maps

May 20, 2016

40 Percent of Manhattan’s Buildings Would Be Unbuildable Today

Many feel that the city's current construction boom is unprecedented, but while towers may be reaching new heights, according to a new report by architecture firm KPF, nearly three-quarters of the city's existing square footage was actually built between the 1900s and 1930s. More interestingly, The Times points out that forty percent of the buildings that currently make up Manhattan could not be built today because they break at least one zoning code violation—among which include being too tall, having too many residential units, or having too much commercial space.
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May 20, 2016

Chelsea Clinton’s Former Fifth Avenue Home Hits the Market; Why New Yorkers Always Wear Black

By Alyssa Alimurung

Chelsea Clinton and her husband Marc Mezvinsky’s former home at the Grand Madison at 225 Fifth Avenue is now for sale asking $6M. [6sqft inbox] Why the New Yorker uniform has always been black-on-black-on-black. [New York Magazine] End Bike to Work Week with a summer Friday and head out to these best bike routes in each […]

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May 20, 2016

Bed-Stuy’s The MYNT Offering One Month Free on New Leases

In the thriving Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, the recently finished rental building named The MYNT is offering one month free on 12-month leases for select apartments. Currently, two no-fee units are complying with the offer: Unit 4J is a three-bed, two-bath spanning 1,200 square feet is available for a net effective rent of $3,484/month, and two floors above, unit 6J is a two-bed/two-bath available for a net effective rent of $3,117/month.
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Richard Meier Flips Favored Palette from Ivory to Ebony for Developer Pal’s Turtle Bay Tower

Photo: Rendering of 685 First Avenue designed by architect Richard Meier for developer Sheldon Solow VIZE/RICHARD MEIER & PARTNERS ARCHITECTS

May 19, 2016

Richard Meier Flips Favored Palette from Ivory to Ebony for Developer Pal’s Turtle Bay Tower

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Meier has long been known for his modestly-scaled building designs with exteriors on the whiter side of pale. But for developer Sheldon Solow's new 42-story 556-unit residential building, currently under construction at East 39th Street and First Avenue on Manhattan's East Side, the New York Five starchitect will be designing a tower of black glass. The developer will be unveiling a residential tower, Meier's tallest and largest in New York City, according to the Wall Street Journal, that will consist of a rectangular slab with a recessed niche above the midsection, "a polished specimen of neo-Modernist simplicty" in typical Meier fashion–except it will be clad in glassy black. The mix seems to perfectly represent a collaboration between old friends and East Hampton near-neighbors Meier and Solow, who has pointed out that "All my buildings are black."
Find out more about the new rental, condo and commercial project

May 19, 2016

Jennifer Lawrence Scopes Out a $17.5M Duplex Penthouse in Tribeca

By Annie Doge

It's been about a year since Jennifer Lawrence first started her house hunt, and according to The Post, the starlet is showing no signs of giving up on finding the home of her dreams. Gimme Shelter writes that J.Law was just spotted checking out a $17.49 million penthouse in Tribeca's 140 Franklin Street. According to the listing, the sprawling pad is "intelligently designed and exceptionally renovated" spanning two stories of the building with more than 4,000 feet of interior space and 1,640 square feet of private outdoor terrace. The pre-war 1887 building itself is described as "ultra-discreet" with full-time doorman, on-site staff and just 12 loft residences; A perfect arrangement for an A-lister with a taste for eight-figure apartments.
Have a closer look inside this stunning home

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

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May 19, 2016

Madison Equities Files Permit for 1,115-Foot Supertall Condo in the Financial District

Madison Equities and Pizzarotti Group filed a new building application yesterday to construct a 1,115-foot supertall skyscraper at 45 Broad Street in the heart of the Financial District. When finished, reportedly in 2018 (good luck with that), the tower will be the second tallest building in lower Manhattan after 1 WTC, and the sixth tallest in the city. As detailed by the application, the tower will comprise 371,634 gross square-feet of floor area spread across 66 floors. Listed are 150 units, a bit less than the 245 condo-residences Pizzarotti CEO, Rance MacFarland said there would be earlier this year. Supposedly, the building will cater to "entry- and mid-level buyers" with relatively conservative prices of below $2,000 per square foot on average. To afford the maximum amount of residences with coveted views of the harbor and the skyline, apartments will begin on the 15th floor where they are configured at four-units per floor up to the 33rd level. Floors 35-51, 53,55 and 57 will have three units per floor and floors 52, 54, and 58 just two units. Floors 61 and 62 will host two duplex aeries and the uppermost residential floor, 62, will house a single full floor penthouse that will be the highest residence in hemisphere outside of Billionaires' Row. Amenities on the lower, view-deprived floors will include a 60-foot indoor lap pool, a gym, a garden, a pet spa, a game room, bike room and other entertainment areas.
find out more here

May 19, 2016

Art Nerd New York’s Top Event Picks for the Week – 5/19-5/25

By Lori Zimmer

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! There's a new Martin Puryear sculpture to enjoy during your lunch hour outside at Madison Square Park, debuting this week through January. Also this week, check out the Surrealist paintings of Eric Helvie at the High Line Loft, Ian Strange's takeover of suburban Ohio homes on the Bowery, or the late Kirk Magnus' epic sculpture at James Cohan. Head to the Bronx on Saturday for the graffiti-meets-Scandinavian sensibility of Rubin415, or join the art crowd in Soho for a photoshoot that will become a massive mural by stencil artist Logan Hicks. Cap it all off by treating yourself to the Spring Fling at the beautiful Bowery Hotel, which will benefit the Lower East Side Girls Club.
More on all the best events this way

Events & Things To Do

May 19, 2016

Alcove Studio Asking $465K in Gramercy Packs in the Prewar Charm