Search Results for: Aby Rosen

The Four Seasons: An Iconic Interior Landmark Faces an Uncertain Future

Photo via Le Travelist

April 29, 2015

The Four Seasons: An Iconic Interior Landmark Faces an Uncertain Future

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As you probably already know, 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the NYC landmarks law. And one of the ways the city is marking the historic event is with an exhibit at the New York School of Interior Design called Rescued, Restored, Reimagined: New York’s Landmark Interiors, which focuses on some of the 117 public spaces throughout the five boroughs that have been designated interior landmarks. In conjunction with this exhibit, Open House New York recently hosted an interior landmark scavenger hunt (for which 6sqft took eighth place out of 40 teams!), which brought participants to designated interior spaces in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn over the course of seven hours. One of the spots we visited was the Four Seasons restaurant inside the famed Seagram Building. Through our scavenger hunt challenges here, we learned just how groundbreaking this restaurant was for its innovative design and role as the quintessential Midtown "power lunch" spot. But the Four Seasons, despite its landmark status, is facing an uncertain future.
Learn about the past, present, and future of the Four Seasons here
Go Inside the Historic Beekman; 520 Park’s $70 Million Penthouse
April 28, 2015

Go Inside the Historic Beekman; 520 Park’s $70 Million Penthouse

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Take a video tour inside the Beekman as it undergoes restoration and conversion into a boutique hotel. [Architect’s Newspaper] An anti-Extell rally took place this morning to contest the very tall tower going up right by the Manhattan Bridge. [Bowery Boogie] No surprises here: Aby Rosen and preservationists are at odds over the renovations proposed […]

190 Bowery’s New Tenant Plans to Keep Iconic Graffiti on the Facade
April 20, 2015

190 Bowery’s New Tenant Plans to Keep Iconic Graffiti on the Facade

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Those who have been mourning the loss of 190 Bowery to the clutches of the rich can breathe a slight sigh of relief. Just a month after having some of its graffiti removed, the WSJ reports that the former Germania Bank—and former home of photographer Jay Maisel—has just inked its first lease. The tenant, "a company made up of agencies representing creative professionals in the industry of luxury and fashion image-making" has signed on for nearly 30,000 square feet and says that it will maintain all of the building's historic touches, from "its marble wash basins to the graffiti covering the lower part of the facade."
Find out more
Photographer Jay Maisel Officially Sells 190 Bowery for $55M
February 6, 2015

Photographer Jay Maisel Officially Sells 190 Bowery for $55M

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It's being considered one of the greatest returns on investment in New York City real estate history, reports the Daily News. Photographer Jay Maisel bought the now-famous graffiti-covered home at 190 Bowery back in 1966 when it was abandoned for only $102,000, and he's now officially sold the Gilded Age bank building to developer Aby Rosen of RFR Realty for $55 million. Developers have been urging Maisel to sell ever since the Bowery changed from a seedy row of drugs and flop houses to a trendy destination for foodie-favorite restaurants and high-end boutiques. Rosen finally convinced the artist, who lived in the six-story, 72-room mansion with his wife and daughter, to sell on the basis that it had no heat and was in disrepair.
More on the epic sale
Real Estate Wire: 90-Year-Old LES Matzo Maker to Shutter; 45 Park Place Gets Its Demo Permits
January 6, 2015

Real Estate Wire: 90-Year-Old LES Matzo Maker to Shutter; 45 Park Place Gets Its Demo Permits

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Streit’s Matzo Factory, the last family-owned matzo factory in the U.S., is in contract for purchase by an unnamed developer. The properties, located in the Lower East Side, were listed for $25M. [Bowery Boogie] Soho Properties has received demolition permits for 45 Park Place, the site where a 665-foot tower luxury tower and an Islamic museum will rise. [CO] The […]

New Rendering of 190 Bowery Gives Us a Look at the Mysterious Building Graffiti-Free
December 6, 2014

New Rendering of 190 Bowery Gives Us a Look at the Mysterious Building Graffiti-Free

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One of the city's most mysterious buildings has become a whole lot less intriguing with this newly released rendering from Massey Knakal. The image, which was pulled from the marketing materials of the broker by Bowery Boogie, shows a very pristine 190 Bowery totally free of graffiti and all lit up. Formerly the Germania Bank Building—and formerly the home of photographer Jay Maisel—the massive 72-room building was reportedly recently purchased by Aby Rosen of RFR Realty for an undisclosed amount (the sale has yet to hit city records) and, to much surprise, was put back on the market just a couple of weeks ago as a flip.
Find out more here
Photographer Jay Maisel’s Mysterious 72-Room Bowery Home Up for Sale Again
November 20, 2014

Photographer Jay Maisel’s Mysterious 72-Room Bowery Home Up for Sale Again

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After all the hoopla around RFR Realty’s purchase of Jay Maisel’s graffiti-covered home along the Bowery, word has now surfaced that its new owners are already looking to turn a profit on the six-story building—even before they’ve officially closed on it. The Commercial Observer reports that the building at 190 Bowery, which went into contract in September, is being listed by Massey […]

Gramercy Park Hotel Hits the Market and Could Fetch $260M
October 27, 2014

Gramercy Park Hotel Hits the Market and Could Fetch $260M

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Get ready for another blockbuster sale. Following in the footsteps of Hilton who just sold off the Waldorf Astoria Hotel to Chinese Insurance Company Anbang for $1.95 billion, Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs have put their prized Gramercy Park Hotel on the market. Crain‘s reports that the 186-room, 18-story hotel located at 2 Lexington Avenue […]

<b>Extraordinary Dwellings: These Amazing Homes Are Hidden in Plain Sight</b>
October 20, 2014

Extraordinary Dwellings: These Amazing Homes Are Hidden in Plain Sight

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It isn’t unusual to see old warehouses, churches and banks converted into luxury multi-unit condos and apartments. But far more rare, and often shrouded in myth and mystery, are one-of-a-kind buildings that had former lives as banks, schools, a synagogue, a public bath house, a Con Ed substation, even a public restroom and a hillside cave–and have more recently served as home and workspace for a lucky handful of bohemian dreamers (and hard-working homeowners).
Find out who lives behind the gates of those those cavernous, mysterious buildings
October 2, 2014

Kleindeutschland: The History of the East Village’s Little Germany

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Before there were sports bars and college dorms, there were bratwurst and shooting clubs. In 1855, New York had the third largest German-speaking population in the world, outside of Vienna and Berlin, and the majority of these immigrants settled in what is today the heart of the East Village. Known as "Little Germany" or Kleindeutschland (or Dutchtown by the Irish), the area comprised roughly 400 blocks, with Tompkins Square Park at the center. Avenue B was called German Broadway and was the main commercial artery of the neighborhood. Every building along the avenue followed a similar pattern--workshop in the basement, retail store on the first floor, and markets along the partly roofed sidewalk. Thousands of beer halls, oyster saloons, and grocery stores lined Avenue A, and the Bowery, the western terminus of Little Germany, was filled with theaters. The bustling neighborhood began to lose its German residents in the late nineteenth century when Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe move in, and a horrific disaster in 1904 sealed the community's fate.
Read our full history of Kleindeutschland
<b>Makeshift Mansions: How Today’s Filthy Rich are Creating Homes of Epic Proportions</b>
September 30, 2014

Makeshift Mansions: How Today’s Filthy Rich are Creating Homes of Epic Proportions

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For Manhattan’s jet-set crowd, the 2010s are starting to look an awful lot like the 1900s. New York’s upper crust are embracing a return to the Gilded Age, moving out of their fancy penthouses, co-ops and lofts and into opulent single-family mansions. From Aby Rosen’s quest to build the largest private mansion on Park Avenue to Jared Kushner’s conversion of three former Brooklyn Law School buildings into single-family townhouses—the most affluent buyers are now on the hunt for New York’s ultimate trophy prize.
More on makeshift mansions
From Swamps to Swank: A Brief History of Gramercy Park Hotel and the Garden’s Highly Coveted Keys
August 19, 2014

From Swamps to Swank: A Brief History of Gramercy Park Hotel and the Garden’s Highly Coveted Keys

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With a prime location overlooking Gramercy Park, accessible solely to those with keys, the 183-year-old Renaissance revival Gramercy Park Hotel was built on the site of infamous architect Stanford White’s home (which had replaced the house where novelist Edith Wharton was born) nearly 90 years ago. The neighborhood, the park, and the hotel date as far back as the 1830s, when more than 60 swampy lots were allocated to developers looking to lure downtown city folks to a new “uptown” community. In time, those lots were transformed into what is now 39 dwellings surrounding a leafy park reserved for a select few lucky enough to live in luxurious homes framing the two-acre park between 20th and 21st Streets at Irving Place. But it wasn't until 1925 that the stately hotel opened its doors at 2 Lexington Avenue. By 1930, it was extended westward along the park frontage on 21st street, and today it is one of the city's most coveted quarters.
More on the history of Gramercy Park Hotel here
Real Estate Wire: Three Towers to Top the East River Plaza; New Yorkers Vying for Homes on Busy Streets
August 1, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Three Towers to Top the East River Plaza; New Yorkers Vying for Homes on Busy Streets

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Meadow Partners has released a rendering of its Long Island City conversion project at 42-15 Crescent Street. The project will see an 11-story condominium with ground floor retail. [CO] The three towers planned to top the East River Plaza mall have been uncovered. The project is being developed by Blumenfeld Development Group and Forest City […]

Designers pick the best gifts: NYC creatives share their favorite finds
December 17, 2025

Designers pick the best gifts: NYC creatives share their favorite finds

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6sqft asked New York City designers, architects, and artists for their gift inspirations this holiday season–a selection of the stuff they’d love to give (or get). Below, you'll find a collection of out-of-the-ordinary items chosen by a few of the city’s most talented creatives. We hope you'll be inspired in your search for the perfect gifts.
NYC creatives' gift picks, this way
Plan approved to convert Jehovah’s Witnesses hotel in Dumbo into 500-unit affordable complex

 90 Sands Street from Brooklyn Bridge; Courtesy of Breaking Ground

April 27, 2020

Plan approved to convert Jehovah’s Witnesses hotel in Dumbo into 500-unit affordable complex

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The New York City Council last week voted to approve plans to convert a Brooklyn hotel formerly owned by the Jehovah's Witnesses into an affordable housing complex with 508 units. Developed by nonprofit Breaking Ground, the project at 90 Sands Street in Dumbo sets aside 305 apartments for formerly homeless New Yorkers, with the remaining 203 rentals priced below market-rate. Breaking Ground plans to renovate the existing 29-story building and add a public plaza along Jay Street.
Find out more
The Success Story of Industry City as Told by Its Innovative Manufacturing Tenants
August 11, 2016

The Success Story of Industry City as Told by Its Innovative Manufacturing Tenants

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Industry City is a six million-square-foot, 30-acre industrial complex on the Sunset Park waterfront. Its 16 buildings made up the former Bush Terminal, a manufacturing, warehousing and distribution center that opened in 1895. After falling into disrepair over the past few decades, in 2013, a new ownership team led by Belvedere Capital and Jamestown began their $1 billion undertaking to update the complex while cultivating a diverse tenant mix that fuses today’s burgeoning innovation economy with traditional manufacturing and artisanal craft. Today, there are more than 4,500 people and 400 companies working in Industry City, and 6sqft recently paid a visit to four of them (a handbag designer, lighting designer, candle company, and chocolatier) to learn why the complex makes sense for their business and what unique opportunities it's afforded them. We also spoke with Industry City CEO Andrew Kimball about the unprecedented success of the complex and his visions for the future, as well as took a tour of the buildings and their wildly popular public amenity spaces such as the food hall, outdoor courtyards, and tenant lounge.
All this and more ahead
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