Search Results for: 84 New York Ave

After a wide-ranging investigation by the New York Times into the failures of the New York City subway system, the MTA is trying to step up its game, announcing that Andy Byford will become the next president of New York City Transit, the MTA agency responsible for subways, buses, para-transit services, and the Staten Island Railway. (Talk about pressure.) Byford, however, has a good track record after five years of reducing delays, improving rider satisfaction, and modernizing the Toronto Transit Commission. The MTA's plan, according to the Times, is to change up leadership to "restore accountability and change a culture that for years has left the system lacking adequate funding or support." But they're already dealing with a high rate of turnover, as this will mark the agency’s fifth full-time leader in the past ten years.
He still faces massive challenges

Second phase of Hunters Point South development moves forward with 960 affordable unit proposal

Rendering of Hunters Point South courtesy of Handel Architects

November 17, 2017

Second phase of Hunters Point South development moves forward with 960 affordable unit proposal

Plans to redevelop Hunters Point South, a project first proposed by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is finally making some headway. The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Housing Development Corp. on Thursday selected a proposal that will bring a 1,120-unit apartment complex, with 80 percent of them permanently affordable, to the southern tip of the Long Island City neighborhood. According to the Wall Street Journal, the $500 million, two-tower project is being developed by Gotham and RiseBoro Community Partnership Inc.
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November 17, 2017

The penthouse at Shigeru Ban’s Metal Shutter Houses tries its hand as a $25K/month rental

The penthouse that tops the Metal Shutter Houses, a Chelsea condo designed by Pritzker Prize winner Shigeru Ban, boasts almost as much outdoor space as it does within. The four-bedroom, four-bathroom duplex penthouse spans 3,319 square feet, with almost 2,000 square feet of landscaped terraces surrounding it and offering incredible views. The pad originally sold for $11.4 million, according to Curbed, then hit the market in 2011 for $12.95 million. After no takers, it was listed this summer for $12.9 million. And now it's trying its hand as a rental, at a hefty monthly cost of $25,000.
You have to see the outdoor space

Distinctive Homes

The Urban Lens: Wayne Sorce’s vivid photos capture the spirit of 1970s and ’80s NYC

Dave’s Restaurant, New York, 1984. © Wayne Sorce courtesy of the Joseph Bellows Gallery

November 17, 2017

The Urban Lens: Wayne Sorce’s vivid photos capture the spirit of 1970s and ’80s NYC

6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, the Joseph Bellows Gallery shares the late Wayne Sorce's "Urban Color" series. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Chicago-born photographer Wayne Sorce began capturing the people and places of urban landscapes while at the Art Institute of Chicago in the 1960s. In the late '70s and early '80s he took large-scale color photos of his hometown and New York, capturing "a formal exactitude, the light, structures, and palette of these cities within a certain era," according to a press release from the Joseph Bellows Gallery in L.A. where this "Urban Color" series is currently on view. Not only do the vivid colors help express the spirit of the city at this time, but the way Sorce incorporates people exposes a unique energy in which they serve as "both inhabitants, as well as sculptural forms relating to a larger composed scene." From Manhattan barbershops and restaurants to the gritty, industrial streets of Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn, the photos transport the viewer to a bygone NYC.
See all of Sorce's photos here

Plan for LaGuardia AirTrain inches forward with $55M lift from Port Authority

Rendering of LaGuardia Airport via Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office

November 17, 2017

Plan for LaGuardia AirTrain inches forward with $55M lift from Port Authority

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

The Port Authority on Thursday approved $55 million in funding for the second phase of planning for an AirTrain to LaGuardia airport, a project first announced nearly three years ago. The authority previously allocated $20 million for the AirTrain which would run between Mets-Willets Point and the airport, one part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's plan to revamp LaGuardia. According to the Daily News, the total $75 million will go towards technical planning, design work and developing an environmental impact report. Despite this new investment, the AirTrain still has no final cost estimate or a completed study, but previous estimates price the project at $1 billion.
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Policy

5 Manhattan West. Photo: Laurian Ghinitoiu via REX Architecture

November 17, 2017

First look at REX’s pleated-glass transformation of Brutalist 5 Manhattan West office tower

By Michelle Cohen

Brookfield Office Properties offered a look at the second building in the nearly-six-million-square-foot, six-building Manhattan West project to be completed. The 16-story office building known as 5 Manhattan West, where Amazon signed a lease for a 360,000-square-foot space, is approaching completion on Tenth Avenue between West 31st and 33rd Streets across from Hudson Yards. Archpaper shares images of the building's sparkling new look and interiors, the result of some fancy architectural footwork by REX. The 1969 Brutalist office building was nearly everyone's example of ugly since a 1980s renovation left it clad in brown metal and beige paint. The rechristened building's new facade wraps it in sleek, form-fitting pleated glass that does more than just look pretty.
More images of the 21st century transformation, this way

Jewish gangsters, jazz legends, and Joy Division: The evolution of the Ukrainian National Home

The Stuyvesant Casino in 1945, via the Swedish Buck Johnson Society (L); The Ukrainian National Home Today, via Wally Gobetz/Flickr (R)

November 16, 2017

Jewish gangsters, jazz legends, and Joy Division: The evolution of the Ukrainian National Home

On 2nd Avenue, just south of 9th Street at No. 140-142, sits one of the East Village's oddest structures. Clad in metal and adorned with Cyrillic lettering, the building sports a slightly downtrodden and forbidding look, seeming dropped into the neighborhood from some dystopian sci-fi thriller. In reality, for the last half century the building has housed the Ukrainian National Home, best known as a great place to get some good food or drink. But scratch the surface of this architectural oddity and you'll find a winding history replete with Jewish gangsters, German teetotalers, jazz-playing hipsters, and the American debut of one of Britain's premier post-punk bands, all in a building which, under its metallic veneer, dates back nearly two centuries.
Learn this fascinating history

History

November 14, 2017

Cracking open the stories of NYC’s most historic bars

With rising rents and ever-changing commercial drags, New Yorkers can take comfort that the city still holds classic bar haunts, some of which have been serving booze for over 100 years. Some watering holes, like the Financial District's Fraunces Tavern, played a crucial role in major historic events. Others, like Midtown's 21 Club and the West Village's White Horse Tavern, hosted the most notable New Yorkers of the time. These institutions all survived Prohibition--managing to serve alcohol in both unique and secretive ways--and figured out ways to serve a diverse, ever-changing clientele of New Yorkers up to this day. 6sqft rounded up the seven most impressive bars when it comes to New York City history--and they've got the legends, stories, and ghosts to prove it. From longshoreman bars to underground speakeasies to Upper East Side institutions, these are the watering holes that have truly withstood New York's test of time.
This way for the roundup

Waldorf Astoria will lose 1,000 hotel rooms in renovation

Photo via Wiki Commons

November 13, 2017

Waldorf Astoria will lose 1,000 hotel rooms in renovation

In the coming weeks, the renovation of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel will finally begin--a three-year process to convert much of the building to luxury condos. Hilton Worldwide Holdings, who had owned the landmark since 1972, agreed in 2014 to sell the 1,413-room hotel to Beijing-based financial and insurance company Anbang Insurance Group for $1.95 billion. Since then, the interior was landmarked, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill was tapped to design the project, and the building closed to begin work. Now the New York Post reports that post reno, the Waldorf will only hold 350 hotel rooms--a number that's "at the low end of recent estimates and much smaller than the number former Waldorf owner Hilton had expected," according to the paper.
It's caused some tension

November 12, 2017

Courtney Love’s one-time West Village townhouse rental lists for $11.25M after a stylish makeover

By Annie Doge

After struggling on and off the market for six years, the historic Greenwich Village townhouse made infamous when Courtney Love rented it for $27,000/month is trying again after a super-stylish makeover. Back in 2011, the owner of 250 West 10th Street, Donna Lyon, took Love to court on the grounds that she had done more than $100,000 worth of interior damages, including decorating it in a style not to the owner's liking and setting a minor fire, as well as owed $54,000 in back rent. Love ended up winning the eviction battle, but soon thereafter moved out, from which time the place has been trying to find a buyer, first listing for $8.4 million, then jumping up to $11.5 and back down to $9. But it's now received a super-stylish makeover more akin to its pre-Love look, which he been done by previous owner and architect/designer Steven Gambrel. With lacquered walls, six original marble fireplaces, and a newly renovated French-bistro outdoor patio, the home is now asking $11.25 million.
Get a look around

Photo via Public Domain

November 10, 2017

Sign up to testify at city hearings about controversial monuments

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

The commission created by Mayor Bill de Blasio to review possible "symbols of hate" on city property will hold a series of public hearings this month to get feedback from New Yorkers about controversial monuments. In August, the mayor created the Mayoral Advisory Commission on City Art, Monuments and Markers, a group tasked with a 90-day review of all potentially offensive symbols, following the white supremacist-led violence in Charlottesville, V.A. Two months later, the city launched an online survey as a way for the public to weigh in on the issue. To get further input on this controversial issue, the commission will hold public hearings in every borough throughout this month, allowing residents to testify at them (h/t NY Daily News).
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Policy

Artist aeries: Touring downtown’s ‘studio windows’

Artist’s studios on Bleecker Street, via GVSHP

November 9, 2017

Artist aeries: Touring downtown’s ‘studio windows’

With fall’s arrival and the turning back of the clocks, sunlight becomes an ever more precious commodity. Perhaps no New York living space is more centered around capturing and maximizing that prized amenity than the artist’s studio, with its large casement windows and tall ceilings. So with sunlight at a premium, let’s conduct a brief survey of some of the most iconic artist’s studio windows in the Village and East Village.
But first, a little history

November 8, 2017

MAP: Explore the women’s suffrage movement through the lens of NYC landmarks

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote in New York State, the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission released an interactive story map that highlights places where suffragists lived and worked in New York City. The map, called NYC Landmarks and the Vote at 100, designates 43 sites associated with impactful activists, organizations, and institutions. Explore significant sites like the Cooper Union, the Panhellenic Tower, the New School for Social Research and much more, while learning about their role in the suffrage movement.
Explore the map here

November 8, 2017

Cozy Chelsea co-op has all-season appeal for $1.2M

By Michelle Cohen

This charm-filled two-bedroom co-op at 333 West 22nd Street has the good fortune of being located on one of Chelsea's most picturesque historic townhouse blocks. Inside the apartment, recently listed for $1.195 million, you'll find just as much charm in the form of a wood-burning fireplace, exposed brick walls and a renovated bath, plus plenty of closet space. In case you're not convinced: In the den/second bedroom is a glass door that leads to a tranquil and gorgeous planted garden, perfect for restful pondering or outdoor dining.
Have a look around

Distinctive Homes

Robert A.M. Stern joins fight against Snøhetta’s plan to renovate Philip Johnson’s AT&T Building

Photo of the protest courtesy of Nathan Eddy

November 6, 2017

Robert A.M. Stern joins fight against Snøhetta’s plan to renovate Philip Johnson’s AT&T Building

After Olayan America and Chelsfield revealed plans last week for a $300 million renovation of the building at 550 Madison Avenue, known as the AT&T Building, criticism quickly followed. Members of the architecture community, including New York architect Robert A.M. Stern, rallied together last Friday at the base of the Philip Johnson-designed skyscraper, to protest Snøhetta's proposal to replace the building's base with a scalloped glass front (h/t Dezeen). Protestors held signs that read "Hands off my Johnson," "Save the Stone," and "Save AT&T." Plus, a petition is currently being circulated on Change.org in an attempt to preserve Johnson's iconic AT&T Building by having the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission officially designate it as a city landmark.
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My 824sqft: Extell Development’s VP of Architecture moves into Hudson Square’s 70 Charlton

6sqft’s series “My sqft” checks out the homes of New Yorkers across all the boroughs. Our latest interior adventure brings us to the Hudson Square apartment of architect Brooks McDaniel. Want to see your home featured here? Get in touch!

November 6, 2017

My 824sqft: Extell Development’s VP of Architecture moves into Hudson Square’s 70 Charlton

In 2013, the Hudson Square area was rezoned to allow residential development for the first time, and the first building to welcome tenants into the neighborhood was Extell Development's 70 Charlton Street. Though Beyer Blinder Belle are responsible for the industrial-style facade, it's actually Extell's team of in-house architects who got the ball rolling, as they do with all projects, from Billionaires' Row blockbusters like One57 and the Central Park Tower to downtown game changers like 555Ten and One Manhattan Square. For the past three years, Brooks McDaniel has worked as Extell's Vice President of Architecture. After experiencing first-hand their "level of design, quality of construction, and attention to detail," he decided to live in an Extell building. Wanting to move back to Manhattan from Brooklyn, he chose 70 Charlton for its clean, modern aesthetic and easy access to so many great areas. He recently gave us a tour of his custom-designed pad and filled us in on what it's like working for one of NYC's biggest developers.
Take the tour

MAP: The best loops and trails for running in Central Park

Joggers in Central Park, via Wikimedia

November 2, 2017

MAP: The best loops and trails for running in Central Park

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

If you're suddenly feeling inspired to start running with all the talk of the New York City Marathon, a map created by the Central Park Conservancy will help you get moving. While Central Park no longer serves as the only spot marathon contestants race through as it did during the city’s first marathon in 1970, it remains an oasis for runners of all experience levels. The conservancy's guide maps out the many loops and trails of the park to help you hit the ground running in preparation for next year's marathon, or even just starting a new hobby.
Find out more

City Living

‘The Alamo’ turns 50: A history of the Astor Place cube

1980s photo of the Alamo surrounded by mural, vendors, & musicians. © Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation Image Archive.

November 2, 2017

‘The Alamo’ turns 50: A history of the Astor Place cube

On November 1, 1967, an enigmatic 20-foot-tall cube first appeared on a lonely traffic island where Astor Place and 8th Street meet. Though several months before the release of "2001: A Space Odyssey," the one-ton Cor-Ten steel sculpture shared many qualities with the sci-fi classic’s inscrutable "black monolith," at once both opaque and impenetrable and yet strangely compelling, drawing passersby to touch or interact with it to unlock its mysteries. Fifty years later, Tony Rosenthal’s "Alamo" sculpture remains a beloved fixture in downtown New York. Like 2001’s monolith, it has witnessed a great deal of change, and yet continues to draw together the myriad people and communities which intersect at this location.
Learn about the cube's entire 50-year legacy

Live in the heart of Downtown Jamaica from $707/month

Rendering of 147-36 94th Avenue courtesy of GF55 Partners

November 2, 2017

Live in the heart of Downtown Jamaica from $707/month

Applications are currently being accepted for 379 recently constructed, affordable units in a 26-story rental tower, called Alvista Towers, in Jamaica--a Queens neighborhood on the brink of transformation as new residential and commercial developments continue to take root. Amenities at this spacious housing complex located at 147-36 94th Avenue include on-site laundry, playroom, an outdoor courtyard, fitness center, yoga room and a rooftop terrace. Qualifying New Yorkers earning 50, 60, 120, 130 and 165 percent of the area median income can apply to units ranging from a $707 per month studio to a $2,611 per month two-bedroom.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

November 1, 2017

One Vanderbilt’s outdoor observation deck may tie for highest in NYC

Nearly a year ago, developer SL Green confirmed that their 1,401-foot supertall One Vanderbilt, set to be the city's second tallest building behind One World Trade Center, would boast a 1,020-foot observation deck, which would have made it the third-highest indoor-outdoor observatory in the city after the forthcoming 1,100-foot deck at 30 Hudson Yards and the 1,050-foot deck at the Empire State Building (One World Observatory is at 1,250 feet, but it’s not outdoors). However, new details and diagrams uncovered by NY Yimby show that it may actually stand at 1,100 feet, tying for the city's highest.
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First 5Pointz-replacing tower tops out in Long Island City

Construction progress as of late-October, via CityRealty

October 31, 2017

First 5Pointz-replacing tower tops out in Long Island City

The first tower of the controversial rental complex in Long Island City, 5Pointz, has officially topped out, although not without some roadblocks. Once an art studio and exhibition space, known for its vibrant graffiti-covered warehouse, the complex was whitewashed of its iconic murals in 2013, making way for the new development. Now, four years and several lawsuits later, construction of the development at 22-44 Jackson Avenue continues to chug along, with its first and tallest tower topping out this week. As CityRealty discovered, David Wolkoff's 1.4 million-square-foot plan calls for a 47-story tower and a 41-story tower, with 1,115 apartments total.
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My 1,760sqft: Real estate mogul and jetsetter Emir Bahadir shows off his custom West Village loft

6sqft’s series “My sqft” checks out the homes of New Yorkers across all the boroughs. Our latest interior adventure brings us to the West Village apartment of real estate mogul, entrepreneur, and professional jetsetter Emir Bahadir. Want to see your home featured here? Get in touch!

October 31, 2017

My 1,760sqft: Real estate mogul and jetsetter Emir Bahadir shows off his custom West Village loft

Growing up as an heir to a generations-old Turkish real estate empire, Emir Bahadir divided his time among London, Switzerland, Istanbul, and New York, and while being "exposed to all different types of fashion and arts from a very young age" got him hooked on design and art, it was the "energy" of NYC that ultimately got him. After moving here eight years ago to study at NYU, 25-year-old Emir has now founded his own brokerage and development firm, BHDR, and amassed an Instagram following of more than 600,000. Part of this media success stems from his personal brand Bahadiring, where he's able to "share his top-of-the-line lifestyle with the world... featuring everything from a clothing line to cosmetics." One representation of his luxurious taste is his West Village loft, which he describes as masculine, sleek, and bold. Emir embarked on a 14-month renovation with architect Mark Stumer after purchasing the home three years ago, and he's now opened the doors to give 6sqft a special look at his contemporary art collection, custom-made furniture including a library with leather shelves and drop-down movie theater, and family heirlooms.
Take the full tour

MTA to install flood-proof doors at subway stations

Photo courtesy of the MTA on Flickr

October 30, 2017

MTA to install flood-proof doors at subway stations