eVolo Magazine just announced the winners of its 2018 Skyscraper Competition. One of this year’s honorable mentions is “Manhattan Ridge: Affordable Housing for Commuters” by Zhenjia Wang and Xiayi Li, a proposal based on the premise that “people who work in Manhattan deserve a home in Manhattan.” Therefore, they’ve created a new, tripartite vertical system in which residents would consume and recreate “downstairs” and work right next to where they live. The existing buildings would remain and this new vertical space would rise up their facades.

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Image via David Mitchell

Guests staying at the TWA Flight Center Hotel will be transported back to 1962 through rooms decorated with Eero Saarinen-designed Knoll furnishings, martini bars and terrazzo-tiled bathrooms with Hollywood-style vanities. MCR and MORSE Development unveiled on Tuesday a model of the guest rooms at the hotel, located at the John F. Kennedy Airport, part of the landmark flight center’s restoration and repurposing. Scheduled to open in 2019, the 512-room hotel is found in two low-rise, wing-shaped buildings behind the flight center, an homage to Saarinen’s iconic design. The center will serve as the hotel’s lobby, measuring 200,000 square feet, the largest hotel lobby in the world. The buildings, which officially topped out last month, will have a seven-layer, soundproofed-glass facade to provide the ultimate quiet retreat.

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Rendering by Pier55 Inc/Heatherwick Studio

After years of drama, during which the project was declared dead, then given new life, construction on the public park anchored in the Hudson River (also known as Pier 55 and Diller Island), is now moving forward as evidenced by a site photo taken by CityRealty this week showing two walkways leading to the pier from Hudson River Park now in place. As 6sqft reported last October, the Pier 55 project spearheaded by media mogul Barry Diller was rebooted with Diller’s renewed commitment, complete with the backing of his recent legal foes, former ointment-fly Douglas Durst and Governor Andrew Cuomo.

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Rendering via Rafael Viñoly Architects

New York City could be getting its first soccer stadium if a proposal for the project led by Related Companies gets chosen by officials. A partnership made up of developers Related and Somerset Partners, along with the Major League Soccer team, New York City Football Club, has submitted a plan to bring a 26,000-seat soccer stadium designed by Rafael Viñoly, over 550 units of affordable housing and a waterfront park to the South Bronx. According to YIMBY, the project, estimated to cost $700 million, would rise on the site of the Harlem River Yards, a 13-acre parcel in Mott Haven operated by the Empire State Development Corporation.

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Eli Manning’s patience trying to offload his Hoboken condo certainly paid off, as the Post reports that it’s sold for $3.55 million–the biggest condo sale in the city’s history. The Giants quarterback first listed the waterfront spread at the Hudson Tea Building three years ago for $5.2 million, but after failing to find any takers, he put it up as an $18,000/month rental the following spring. Manning currently lives with his wife, Abby McGrew, and their three daughters in the more suburban Summit, NJ. He also dropped $8.5 million on a beachfront Hamptons mansion last year.

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Statue of Dr. J. Marion Sims in Central Park. Image: Wikimedia Commons.

New York City’s Public Design Commission voted unanimously Monday in favor of removing a statue of 19th century surgeon J. Marion Sims from its Central Park pedestal, the New York Times reports. It was recommended that the statue of the controversial doctor, who conducted experimental surgeries on female slaves without their consent (and without anesthesia), be removed from its spot at 103rd Street in East Harlem after Mayor Bill de Blasio asked for a review of “symbols of hate” on city property eight months ago. 6sqft previously reported on the request by Manhattan Community Board 11 to remove the East Harlem statue of Sims, who is regarded as the father of modern gynecology. The statue, which will be moved to Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery where the doctor is buried, represents the city’s first decision to make changes to a prominent monument since the review.

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Photo via CityRealty

Despite suffering from a 30 percent drop year-over-year in median sale prices, Tribeca still managed to rank first as New York City’s most expensive neighborhood, followed closely by Soho. Property Shark released this week its list of the 50 priciest areas in the city in Q1 2018 and unsurprisingly, nine out of the top ten are located in Manhattan. Notably, the West Village witnessed an 88 percent year-over-year increase with a median sale price hovering $2.1 million. And the Flatiron District, which ranked as the most expensive neighborhood in the third quarter of 2017, fell to sixth place, with a median sale price of $1.85 million.

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Image: Jazz Guy via flickr

Next time you hit your local bagel shop, know that if you get your breakfast sliced–or heaven forbid, with schmear–you’ll get smacked with an 8.875 percent sales tax. If you eat it in the store, (even if it’s still whole), boom, more tax. The folks at Turbotax explain that “the state adds an eight-cent tax to any altered bagels,” which includes, “bagel sandwiches (served buttered or with spreads, or otherwise as a sandwich)” or even just sliced for you.

In honor of Tax Day, we ask: What’s with this bagel tax?

A greenhouse is an amenity so rare in Brooklyn, home shoppers ought not ever to include it on a wishlist, but this incredibly charming renovated Greenpoint two-family happens to boast a backyard greenhouse – in addition to a covered patio, a woodworking shed, and a bench swing. The five-bedroom house at 661 Humboldt Street is currently divided into an owners duplex and third-floor rental, with a few lovely exposed brick touches and a gas fireplace.

Walk through the indoor and outdoor portions