Search Results for: -fifth avenue

The 'American Dream' may have dominated the last few decades, causing a mass exodus to the suburbs, but today's families are reversing the trend and turning their attention back to the city. The reasons are many: An appreciation for cultural offerings, the camaraderie and creative cross-pollination of networks of colleagues, friends and family, the convenience of being able to walk or bike to school, work or child care without a long commute—just to name a few. New York City has always been a haven for the forward-thinking, albeit a challenging one. And its newly-”discovered” outer boroughs as well as an unprecedentedly low crime rate have made the city a prime choice for family living. But what is it about those city kids—the ones with parents who planned from the start to raise their kids in a non-stop urban environment? We interrupted the busy schedules of five families currently raising school-age (or soon-to-be) children in New York City's many diverse and multifaceted neighborhoods to get some insight about why they wouldn’t have it any other way.
Hear what five parents of city kids have to say

September 23, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Atlantic Yards Modular Tower Contract Terminated; New Colors for HAP 5?

Skanska has terminated its contract with Forest City Ratner to construct a prefab modular tower at the Atlantic Yards. The news brings a close to the seemingly never-ending dispute between builder and the developer. [NYDN] Red Apple Group is building a 32-story residential tower on Myrtle Avenue at Fleet Place. [MyrtleAvenue.Org] A new Pierhouse addition has preservationists up in […]

Real Estate Trends

September 22, 2014

Goldilocks Blocks: (Far) East 7th Street in Alphabet City

Between hyper-developed hotspots, main drags in up-and-comers, big-ticket townhouse enclaves, and those genuinely avoidable areas, there can often be found a city's "just-right" zones. Free from corner menace, sticker shock and boom-time developer schlock, these special spots often span only a few blocks in each direction and are close enough to the center of their 'cool destination' nabes to legitimately bear their names. They aren't commonly known, and are best found by pounding the pavement, but these micro-neighborhoods often hide within them real estate gems coupled with perfectly offbeat vibes—you just have to be willing to do a little legwork. But when you do find them, don’t sleep on them... Winners like the Columbia Street Waterfront District were once Goldilocks blocks. Today we'll look at a unique 7th Street stretch hidden in Alphabet City.
Find out what makes this Alphabet City block so special.

September 22, 2014

Real Estate Wire: 15 CPW Pad Sells for 3x’s Its Purchase Price; Atlantic Yards Modular Tower Could Leak

A tower unit at 15 Central Park West has sold for nearly $10M, about three times what the owner paid for it. [NYO] The Astoria Cove housing development is required to set aside 20% of its 1,700 units for lower-income residents, but the city may push for as many as 30%. [Crain’s] The Fiscal Policy Institute […]

Real Estate Trends

September 21, 2014

Section 3 of the High Line Park Opens Today – See New Photos!

The third and final section of the High Line will officially open to the public today at 11 A.M., marking the final chapter of a 15-year journey to transform a once abandoned rail road track into an elevated park for the city. The new section has been christened 'High Line at the Railyards' and follows the original train tracks from 30th to 34th Streets to the north and south, and from 10th to 12th Avenues east and west, exposing High Line-goers to expansive and unobstructed views of the Hudson River and New Jersey. Unlike the two sections that preceded it, the path that makes up The Railyards is far less manicured. With its organized but "wild" greenery, the design of this final leg instead asks visitors to contemplate the railway's past and the surrounding landscape as it stands and as it will change with the introduction of Hudson Yards.
More of the new section and the ribbon cutting here

Architecture And Design

September 18, 2014

Construction on Jean Nouvel’s MoMA Tower will Finally Move Forward!

Hot off the purchase of $85 million in air rights, and with a new construction loan of $860 million in tow, Hines is back on track to bring the Jean Nouvel-designed MoMA residential tower to fruition. According to TRD, Hines just closed on two deals to buy more than 240,000 square feet of development rights from MoMA and the St. Thomas Episcopal Church for $85.3 million.
more here

September 18, 2014

Will a New Waldorf School at Ben Shaoul’s Bloom 62 Attract Spendy Families?

Back in 2012, when Magnum Real Estate's Ben Shaoul announced plans to turn the Cabrini nursing home in the East Village into condos, more than a handful of "Sledgehammer Shaoul" flags went up in protest. Plans moved ahead despite public outcry, and now more than two years later, the former nursing home has transformed into a luxury residential building called Bloom 62. Although not much has been done to dress up the exterior, the 26-unit condo is no slouch and boasts a number of enviable luxuries, including a landscaped roof deck and gym. But Bloom 62's most valuable amenity may be what sits on its ground floor: a school.
More on the benefits to be reaped here

September 17, 2014

Sunset Park: How Creativity and Commerce are Transforming This Waterfront Neighborhood

With plans in place that call for a public waterfront bustling with creative industry and commerce rather than luxury residential developments, Sunset Park is not on its way to becoming the next hip NYC residential neighborhood–and that’s a good thing. Located on Brooklyn's western waterfront flank, there are really two sides to Sunset Park. The neighborhood, generally defined as the area between 65th Street, the Prospect Expressway, Eighth Avenue and the East River, has long been a thriving residential community. Sunset Park is also home to about 15 million square feet of warehouse and light industrial space. The key to the neighborhood’s future may be the point at which the two meet.
Find Out How Fashion May Give Sunset Park a Chance to Shine As the New Garment District

City Living

September 16, 2014

REVEALED: East River Skyway Will Bring Brooklyn Commuters to Manhattan in Under Four Minutes

There's no stopping the Brooklyn development boom, but getting to and from the borough from Manhattan will increasingly become a nightmare with thousands of new residential units hitting the market in the coming years. If you've commuted from Brooklyn to Manhattan (and vice versa) you know that the subway system is already taxed. But as more and more homes are added throughout the borough, it's surprising that no plans have been made to alleviate the transportation stress that will soon come with it. Until now. Today, Dan Levy, the president and CEO of CityRealty*, will present his proposal for the 'East River Skyway', an aerial gondola system that would run along the Brooklyn waterfront and into Manhattan, bringing commuters over the river in just 3.5 minutes.
Find out more about the proposed project

September 16, 2014

Pee-Eww! Artist Kate McLean is Creating a ‘Smellmap’ of NYC

New York City stinks, yes, but this city of ours is rich in smells like no other. To document the odors that linger, excite and nauseate inhabitants, British multi-sensory artist Kate McLean and her army of sniffers are running around town with their noses to the wind—and deep in trashcans. McLean has so far mapped a block of Greenwich Village and her latest jaunt took her and her team out to Bedford Avenue, where she found the most offensive odor to be "the aroma of a marijuana joint". Not convinced?
Her findings here

Events & Things To Do

September 15, 2014

INTERVIEW: Karim Rashid on His Move into Architecture and Designing Colorful NYC Condos

You may not recognize Karim Rashid immediately, but odds are you have at least one of his designs in your home. A staunch believer that everyone deserves access to great design no matter what their budget (it's what he calls "designocrasy"), Karim has become one of the world's most celebrated designers having brought thousands of new ideas and innovations to the widest-possible audience. As such, Karim has won hundreds of international awards, including the prestigious Red Dot, and his work can be found in more than 20 permanent collections including those of the MoMA, Centre Pompidou, and SFMOMA. Karim also calls everyone from Umbra to Giorgio Armani, Kenzo, Alessi, Artemide and Veuve Clicquot as his clients, and Time magazine once described him as the "most famous industrial designer in all the Americas". Clearly having conquered the industrial design realm, Karim recently turned his creative eye to architecture. We recently caught up with the designer cum architect to talk about the evolution of his career and the three eye-popping HAP condos he's now got under construction for New York City. Hear what he has to say about his grand new endeavors—color, controversy and all.
Read our interview with Karim Rashid here

September 12, 2014

Landmarked Fort Greene Stable Perfectly Suited for Two-Legged Residents with $1.2M to Spare

By Stephanie Hoina

It’s hard to imagine a place as crowded and cosmopolitan as New York City once being filled with the clip-clop of equine hooves, but at the turn of the century it is estimated there were 130,000 horses working in Manhattan—more than 10 times the number of taxicabs on the streets here today! In most cases, the stables that housed our four-legged friends have long since been razed to make way for buildings more suitable to modern commercial enterprise or human occupancy. Fortunately, the Feuchtwanger Stable located at 159 Carlton Avenue in Fort Greene didn’t meet a similar fate. Nearly a century after its construction in 1888, this gorgeous Romanesque Revival building was designated by the National Register of Historic Places and subsequently underwent a stunning condo conversion now home to a lovely one-bedroom apartment.
Read on to see one stable that survived

Distinctive Homes

<b>South Williamsburg’s New Cool: Everything Below Grand Catches Up with the North</b>

A view towards the Williamsburg Bridge. Image © Ray’s Tours

September 12, 2014

South Williamsburg’s New Cool: Everything Below Grand Catches Up with the North

By Lauren Price

There has always been a somewhat “invisible” line dividing ritzier North Williamsburg and the once-grittier-but-now-gentrifying South Williamsburg neighborhood—and that southern portion’s border is generally considered to be from Grand Street to Division Avenue between Union Avenue and the East River. And though this south side of the neighborhood continues to be populated by a diverse group of residents, new amenity-filled developments are quickly attracting a younger population and pushing prices to match those in the northern part of the nabe. Here, we take a look at some of the most notable developments and a few cool listings bridging the gap ahead.
Find out more here

Real Estate Trends

September 11, 2014

Daily Link Fix: See the Original Plan for Manhattan; Another Tragedy Happened on September 11

By Alyssa Alimurung

See how Manhattan was mapped out back in 1811 on Untapped Cities. Marlow Goods is taking the saying “using all parts of the animal” to heart. In their pop-up shop in Wythe Hotel, they’re selling bags made from hides of the animals served at the restaurant. Learn more on PSFK. Drivers, think twice before cursing […]

Uncategorized

September 11, 2014

Let Architect Kevin Bergin Create Your Dream Home in this Minimalist Chelsea Pad

By Aisha Carter

It looks like someone is trying to accomplish a pretty impressive flip. Since September 2012 an investor has gradually acquired the three units that occupy the sixth floor of the Porter House, paying almost $13 million. Now the entire floor is back on the market as one potential dream home package for a whopping $22 million. (Now that’s appreciation if we’ve ever heard of it.) While the nearly double asking price may raise a few eyebrows, there are a few incentives for prospective buyers in the form of a fresh paint job and a masterfully crafted floor plan by up-and-coming NYC architect Kevin Bergin. Admittedly, it’s not a complete remodel, but it’s a start. Let’s take a look inside so you can judge for yourself.
Take a look inside, here

Distinctive Homes

September 10, 2014

Real Estate Wire: $13M for Bed-Stuy’s Tallest Apartment Building; Aby Rosen is Creating His Own Mansion

A ‘seven-star hotel’ will rise on the former site of the Rizzoli Bookstore near Central Park. [WSJ] Aby Rosen wants to turn an 11-unit co-op at 1025 Park Avenue into his personal 19,000-square-foot mansion. [NYDN] Owners of a 13-story, 23-apartment rental at 11 Spencer Court in Bed-Stuy are looking to make $13 million sale—50% more than […]

Real Estate Trends

September 10, 2014

Anatomy of a Killer Flip: The Townhouse Everybody Wanted Heads Back to the Market

In January of 2013, in the dead of winter, an 1899 detail-laden Italianate townhouse fixer-upper at 102 Gates Avenue hit an inventory-starved rising market. The listing price of $1.295 million, was a double-take for many, even though it was less than what properties like it were selling for in the area. Fast forward to September 2014, where renovations, which commenced almost immediately after the sale, are nearing completion (and according to reports, they’ve been done right). Word is that the house is about to head back to the market—at more than twice its winter selling price.
Find out why 375 people waited in the cold for the first open house

September 9, 2014

Junior’s Isn’t Going Anywhere, Owner Turns Down a $45M Offer to the Dismay of a Hungry Developer

Lovers of cheescake, rejoice! Downtown Brooklyn's Junior's diner will stay put. According to the New York Times, the restaurant's owner, Alan Rosen, has turned away all offers for the space located at the corner of Flatbush Avenue Extension and Dekalb Avenue. Rosen put the property on the market back in February and, unsurprisingly, was met with plenty of interest from hungry developers looking to build luxury condos atop site. After a summer of sleepless nights and much agonizing over his decision, Rosen has shot down the offers, including a whopping $45 million bid. Why? Sentimental value.
More on Rosen's heartfelt decision

New Developments

September 9, 2014

REVEALED: $210 Million Upgrade for Grand Central’s Subway Station As Part of One Vanderbilt Tower

As part of a five-year, $210 million plan to significantly upgrade Grand Central's subway station, developer SL Green hopes to install new staircases to the train platforms, two new street-level entrances and a refurbished mezzanine level, and a 4,000-square-foot ground-level commuter waiting area. The improvements were conceived in conjunction with the MTA and the de Blasio administration earlier this year as the first component of the Midtown East Rezoning project. The transit upgrades must all be completed before tenants can occupy One Vanderbilt (planned for completion in January 2020), SL Green's new 65-story office tower planned for the entire block west of Grand Central and north of East 42nd Street. Designed by Kohn Pederson Fox, the tower will be the second-tallest building in the city when completed.
More on the upgrades ahead

September 8, 2014

REVEALED: New Skyline Renderings for Nordstrom Tower at 217 West 57th Street

Back in July, we learned that Extell's Nordstrom Tower will rise 1,775 feet–just one foot shorter than One World Trade Center, making it the tallest residential building in the world. Now, New York YIMBY has released renderings of how the 92-story supertall will look against the rest of the skyline. Though official images from Extell haven't been released, these preliminary sneak peeks are pretty impressive.
More on the new development here

September 4, 2014

Katz’s Deli Co-Owner Jake Dell Nabs $1.9 Million Greenwich Village Pad

The Lower East Side's iconic Katz's Deli was the talk of the town recently when it came to light that the neighborhood institution had sold its air rights. It's speculated that a parcel of adjacent buildings will be demolished to make way for a new cantilevered building. Jake Dell, the third-generation co-owner of the 126-year-old pastrami mainstay, has been quoted as saying that the sale will not affect the deli in any way, though he didn't cite specifics of the deal. But regardless of the details, it looks like Dell made out pretty well for himself, as he's just scooped up a $1,899,000 apartment at 808 Broadway in the heart of Greenwich Village. Just a short walk from Katz's, his new pad is described as a "Park Avenue-inspired home."
Take a look inside the pastrami king's new digs

September 4, 2014

Unique South Slope Loft Breaks the Mold with a Steel Mezzanine

By Aisha Carter

On a quiet tree-lined block, among the rowhouses of South Slope, you’ll find 459 12th Street. Being a mid-century loft surrounded by turn-of-the-century conversions might already set this building apart from the rest. Yet, unit #3D takes it to the next level, as a previous owner decided to make the most of the high ceilings… and added an entire second floor.
Take a look inside this quirky loft, here

September 3, 2014

REVEALED: SHoP-Designed Condos by Anbau on the Upper East Side