Search Results for: gentrification

Billionaire Wins Deposit Back After Ditched Penthouse Purchase; LGA’s $4B Revamp Could Be Delayed Again
April 23, 2015

Billionaire Wins Deposit Back After Ditched Penthouse Purchase; LGA’s $4B Revamp Could Be Delayed Again

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A billionaire who canceled his purchase of a $27.5M penthouse at 1107 Fifth Avenue—which also happens to be NYC’s first-ever penthouse—will get his $2.75M deposit refunded to him. Carlos Rodriguez Pastor didn’t want to share his terrace with neighbors in the building. [NYDN] If the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey doesn’t pick a winning […]

See the Last Days of Streit’s Matzo Factory Through Somber Black-and-White Photos

© Joseph O. Holmes 

April 16, 2015

See the Last Days of Streit’s Matzo Factory Through Somber Black-and-White Photos

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Whether you celebrate Passover or not, you've undoubtedly seen the pink boxes of Streit's Matzo in the grocery store each spring. For 90 years, Streit's has been churning out this iconic product at the rate of almost 900 pounds of matzo an hour on Rivington Street on the Lower East Side. But at the beginning of the year, New Yorkers received the sad news that the last family-owned matzo factory in the U.S. was purchased by a developer and the company would be moving its operations to New Jersey (a move also echoed this week by Junior's Cheesecake). But before they head across the Hudson, photographer Joseph O. Holmes has captured the final days of this fifth-generation working-class landmark, which Fast Co. Design aptly describes as "New York's Jewish Willy Wonka Factory." His black-and-white photos are somber, telling of his personal feelings about the loss of Streit's and the gentrification of the Lower East Side.
See all the photos here
Weekly Highlights: Top Picks from the 6sqft Staff
April 11, 2015

Weekly Highlights: Top Picks from the 6sqft Staff

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Interior Renderings for SHoP’s 111 West 57th Street Tower Revealed Los Angeles Has Designed the Perfect Parking Sign–Can NYC Take Note? Bill Ackman Closes on One57 Penthouse for $91.5M, Second Most Expensive Condo Sale Ever VIDEO: Meet the ‘Pimps and Hos’ of Seedy ’70s Times Square You Can Now Tour the Gowanus Canal Without Catching […]

Preservation Award Winners Announced; NYC Libraries Open Less than Anywhere in the State
April 10, 2015

Preservation Award Winners Announced; NYC Libraries Open Less than Anywhere in the State

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See Staten Island like you’ve never seen it before during tomorrow’s Tour de Staten Island bike ride. [Transportation Alternatives] Then and now: The Brooklyn Eagle Building. [Brownstoner] Winners announced for the 25th Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards. El Barrio’s Artspace PS 109, Kings Theatre, and the Times’ Streetscapes columnist Christopher Gray are among the recipients. […]

My 500sqft: Artist Hector Castaneda Invites Us into His Spanish Harlem One-Bedroom ‘Museum’

Our new series “My sqft” checks out the homes of 6sqft’s friends, family and fellow New Yorkers across all the boroughs. Our latest interior adventure brings us to Spanish Harlem. Want your home to be featured here? Get in touch! 

April 8, 2015

My 500sqft: Artist Hector Castaneda Invites Us into His Spanish Harlem One-Bedroom ‘Museum’

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Located in an unassuming low-rise walk-up in Spanish Harlem is a tiny apartment with no views, a small living room, and thousands of pieces of one-of-a-kind art from around the world. Its owner, Hector Castaneda, is a world traveller who's visited more than 50 countries over the last 15 years. While most folks are happy simply snapping a few photos and heading home after a week or two, Hector is all about immersion and spends months at a time in some of the world's most exotic and extreme locales. As Hector travels the world he picks up art, tapestry, sculptures, furniture, and musical instruments from every country, which today magically fill every nook and cranny of his 500-square-foot apartment. "He is the only person I know who can turn a dingy walk-up building apartment into a work of art—it's really a private New York Museum and Hector is the curator," his friend Lisa Monroig told us. Once we heard that, we knew we had to pay him a visit.
Tour this miniature museum in the heart of Spanish Harlem here
Can a Thai Restaurant Convince New York Hipsters to Move to Detroit?

Photo via Katoi

April 6, 2015

Can a Thai Restaurant Convince New York Hipsters to Move to Detroit?

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Can a Detroit Thai restaurant's New York City marketing campaign convince East Coast hipsters to move to the Motor City? That's what Philip Kafka of Prince Media Co., the boutique billboard company behind the campaign, is hoping. Business Insider reports that New York-based Kafka is a partner in a forthcoming Thai restaurant in Detroit's Corktown neighborhood called KATOI, and he's looking to hire between 15 and 20 people. Of course, the publicity for his new venture can't hurt, but he said it's really a separate campaign "to encourage people–particularly artists and young creatives–to move to the financially troubled city," where he owns property and feels a renaissance is occurring among millennials.
Check out the billboards here
Revealed: East Harlem Rental Building by Gerald J. Caliendo Architects Rising at 2183 Third Avenue

Rendering of 2183 Third Avenue via Gerald J. Caliendo Architects (L); The project site prior to construction(R)

April 2, 2015

Revealed: East Harlem Rental Building by Gerald J. Caliendo Architects Rising at 2183 Third Avenue

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Here's our first look at 2183 Third Avenue, an under-construction mixed-use project in East Harlem being developed by Sharon Kahen and Haim Levi's East 119th Street Development LLC. The parcel at the northeast corner of East 119th Street and Third Avenue is giving rise to a 12-story, 64,000-square-foot building designed by the prolific Gerald J. Caliendo Architects. The building will contain 59 rental units, retail space, and a medical facility at ground level. In 2003, East Harlem underwent a 57-block rezoning spearheaded by the Bloomberg administration's City Planning chair Amanda Burden. The revision, the neighborhood's first in 40 years, increased density allowances along First, Second, and Third Avenues, while preserving the human-scaled midblocks in between. Over the past decade, more than a dozen residential mid-rises, roughly 8-12 stories, have blossomed along the area's wide, well-trafficked corridors. Recent developments spurred by the rezoning include Barry Rice's 119th & Third, Hunter College's Silberman School of Social Work, and Kahen and Levi's own CL Tower at Third Avenue and East 121st Street, two blocks north of their current project site.
More details on the new project here
April 1, 2015

POLL: Is Chinatown the Next Hip ‘Hood?

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Yesterday, we took a look at a Wall Street Journal article that reported on a new crop of shops, galleries, and condos popping up in Chinatown, attracting both a hipster crowd and real estate developers. While developments like Essex Crossing are definitely setting parts of the neighborhood on the gentrification track, other areas are still full of open-air […]

Chinatown, Once Unchanged, Now Attracting Hipsters–and Real Estate Developers

Image via CityRealty

March 31, 2015

Chinatown, Once Unchanged, Now Attracting Hipsters–and Real Estate Developers

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"Canal Street is a gantlet of billboards and signs; Courvoisier, Pearl Paint, Bally's Grand Hotel, Salem Cigarettes, Lincoln Savings Bank, Mc Donald's, and signs in Chinese impend on traffic, which is the covered with signs and graffiti itself." A New Yorker article published in 1990 paints a picture of Chinatown that isn’t all that different from the one we know today. Despite its prime location, few developers have eyed Chinatown as a destination for luxury living. As a largely self-sustaining community—many stores don’t even bother with English—it has preserved its cultural fabric even as the city has gone through transformation after transformation just streets away. But all of this is changing. A new crop of shops, galleries and condos is starting to find its way into the neighborhood's depths, the Wall Street Journal reports, and brokers are predicting rapid change for Chinatown over the next decade.
more on changes in chinatown
NYC Rents Are So High Even Starbucks Can’t Afford Them

© park row via photopin cc

March 19, 2015

NYC Rents Are So High Even Starbucks Can’t Afford Them

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You know rent is too damn high when mega chains like Starbucks start looking for cheaper spaces. The Commercial Observer reports that the city's rising rents are actually driving the coffee giant to less popular side streets as many of the leases inked for stores opened up some 15–20 years ago are coming up for renewal. Starbucks is currently paying just a fraction of what the market is demanding on a chunk of their more than 200 Manhattan locales, and they could soon see an end to several of their most popular shops.
FInd out more
Move Over Brooklyn, Hoboken Is the Hipster Capital of America
March 18, 2015

Move Over Brooklyn, Hoboken Is the Hipster Capital of America

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Is Hoboken really America's most hipster city? According to a study conducted by "data-driven" blog FindtheBest, Hoboken out-hipsters us all with its souped up offer of 13 cafes and one yoga studio per 10,000 residents—the vast majority of whom are aged between 20 and 34 years old. FindTheBest looked at the top 19 municipalities with 50,000 or more inhabitants, evaluating both the locale and people against certain attributes they deemed characteristically hipster. Hilariously, the site defines a hipster as one who associates with a "subculture all about nonconformity and effortless nonchalance" and embodies an appearance that conjures up one “reading Proust over an overpriced cup of coffee.”
More on the study here
A Tale of Two Cities: Disco-Era Bushwick Burns While Manhattan Boogies (PHOTOS)

The Village People Stepping Out, The Grand Ballroom, NY, NY, June 1978 (l); Three Amigos, Bushwick (r). By Meryl Meisler.

March 3, 2015

A Tale of Two Cities: Disco-Era Bushwick Burns While Manhattan Boogies (PHOTOS)

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It’s 2015 and Bushwick is on fire. But instead of being lost to the flames of neglect and destruction, buildings are being sold and rented like hotcakes. Photographer Meryl Meisler’s first monograph, “Disco Era Bushwick: A Tale of Two Cities,” published by Bizarre Bushwick gives us an insider’s view of the streets and scenes of New York City during the glam/gritty 1970s and ‘80s when Manhattan’s iconic dance clubs like Studio 54 and Paradise Garage were in their heyday–and there was no brunch to be had in Bushwick.
See more of a bad and bygone Bushwick this way
My 3,900sqft: Four Ladies Turn a Clinton Hill Townhouse into a ‘Pop-Up Mansion’

Our new series “My sqft” checks out the homes of 6sqft’s friends, family and fellow New Yorkers across all the boroughs. On our first interior adventure, we check out a home in Clinton Hill.

February 10, 2015

My 3,900sqft: Four Ladies Turn a Clinton Hill Townhouse into a ‘Pop-Up Mansion’

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What happens when you let four ladies run loose in a four-story Clinton Hill townhouse? Closets, corners and a pantry spilling over with shoes and coats, apparently. "There are shoes lining the kitchen pantry shelves; the tiny third bedroom upstairs that resembles a Swiss chalet in the twilight zone is filled with racks of vintage frocks, coats and designer handbags. You can really tell almost everyone in this house either works in fashion or hoards it," says owner and 6sqft writer extraordinaire Michelle Cohen.  We recently visited Michelle in her Brooklyn home to see the pretty amazing setup she has created for herself. Michelle, whose house you've certainly seen on our site before, is currently undertaking a major renovation that will turn her and her fiance Stanley's brick-clad buy into a modern-meets-historic home with a rental garden apartment. But while Michelle's poring over drawings with her architect, she's found a few friends to share the journey, and the house; namely three fabulous women with wonderfully different personalities. "Stanley likes to call it a sorority for outstanding ascendant young creative professional women," she muses. Jump ahead to meet Michelle and the girls—who range from a Vogue fashion stylist to a creative producer to a journalist who covers evolution, disease and health policy—in their home to get a closer look.
See more here
MADE IN BROOKLYN: A Rep for Authenticity and Excellence That’s Well-Earned–and Far from New
February 8, 2015

MADE IN BROOKLYN: A Rep for Authenticity and Excellence That’s Well-Earned–and Far from New

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The story behind cheese-aging facility Crown Finish Caves in Crown Heights tells of an enormous amount of risk and dedication to making something on a small scale; to doing one thing well. It also once again stirs the hive of buzz around today’s Brooklyn. Article after article raises the idea that Brooklyn’s moment as the new hot spot for excellence in food, culture and authentic, hand-crafted goods, is in some quarters regarded as trite and trendy hype with little substance to it. For some, the underground cheese caves are just one more example: Cheese caves. How Brooklyn. Thirty feet below street level, in the lagering tunnels of a former brewery beneath the Monti Building in Crown Heights, Benton Brown and Susan Boyle spent several years renovating and creating “Brooklyn’s premier cheese-aging facility” complete with state-of-the-art humidity control and cooling systems. The couple created the 70-foot space with advice from the world’s top cheese experts; Crown Finish Caves opened in 2014. On an article in Cheese Notes, a commenter raves: “If I were a mouse, I would move to Crown Heights.”
More excellence and authenticity this way
HIGHLIGHTS: De Blasio Announces Plans for More Affordable Housing and a New City-Wide Ferry Service
February 3, 2015

HIGHLIGHTS: De Blasio Announces Plans for More Affordable Housing and a New City-Wide Ferry Service

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Mayor Bill de Blasio just wrapped up his State of the City address, and in addition to focusing in like a laser beam on affordable housing, the mayor also unveiled a number of additional improvements that certainly had us sitting up straight in our seats. In his address, De Blasio emphasized that his plan would look to creating denser, economically diverse affordable residential communities for not only low-income New Yorkers, but also for chronically homeless vets, seniors and artists. “While the state of our city is strong, we face a profound challenge,” de Blasio said during his speech. "If we fail to be a city for everyone, we risk losing what makes New York, New York…Nothing more clearly expresses the inequality gap—the opportunity gap—than the soaring cost of housing." The mayor also spoke about the administration's plan to raise minimum wage and expand public transit, which would include adding more Bus Rapid Transit lines to the outer boroughs, and, most notably, a brand new city-wide ferry system that would serve areas such as the Lower East Side, the Rockaways and Red Hook for the same cost as a subway ride. Keep reading for more highlights.
Highlights from de Blasio's speech here
Developers Rush to Break Ground and Add Affordable Housing Before Tax Incentives End

Image via Pexels 

February 2, 2015

Developers Rush to Break Ground and Add Affordable Housing Before Tax Incentives End

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It would be nice to think that developers added affordable housing to their projects out of the goodness of their hearts, but it probably has more to do with the construction bonuses and tax incentives afforded for up to 25 years to developers when they reserve at least 20 percent of a building's units for poor and moderate-income tenants. But this real estate tax break, known as the 421a abatement, is set to expire on June 15, lighting a fire under developers to break ground on new projects. The concern, though, is that some development sites receive 421a benefits as of right (meaning solely for putting up a new building), while others are required to include affordable housing. The difference is based on geographic location. For example, Manhattan between 14th and 96th Streets and the waterfronts of Brooklyn and Queens must include affordable housing. According to Crain's, some housing advocates "want projects to get abatements only if they create affordable units—which are priced for renters who earn 60 percent or less of the area's median income."
What does this mean for the future of affordable housing?
Bushwick Buzz: A Look at the Neighborhood That’s Dethroned Williamsburg as Brooklyn’s Most Hipster
January 29, 2015

Bushwick Buzz: A Look at the Neighborhood That’s Dethroned Williamsburg as Brooklyn’s Most Hipster

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Of Brooklyn's gentrifying neighborhoods, few have seen such rapid change as Bushwick. The neighborhood, which sits in the northern portion of the borough, running from Flushing Avenue to Broadway to Conway Street and the Cemetery of the Evergreens, has grown as a natural extension of Williamsburg—a haven for creatives and young folks looking for lower rents. But well before its trendy vibe put it on the map, Bushwick was a forested enclave originally settled by the Dutch—its name is derived from a Dutch word "Boswijck,"defined as “little town in the woods”—and later, German immigrants who began building breweries and factories. Unfortunately, as the breweries along Brewer’s Row and factories closed and farms disappeared, derelict buildings and crime took hold—with the looting, arson and rioting after the city’s blackout during the summer of 1977 playing a starring role. According to the New York Times, "In a five-year period in the late 1960s and early 70s, the Bushwick neighborhood was transformed from a neatly maintained community of wood houses into what often approached a no man's land of abandoned buildings, empty lots, drugs and arson.”
More on Bushwick's past... and present
Get ‘Em While They’re Cheap: A Look at Crown Heights Real Estate Past and Present

Image via the Historic Districts Council

January 21, 2015

Get ‘Em While They’re Cheap: A Look at Crown Heights Real Estate Past and Present

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What once seemed unheard-of in terms of where to rent or buy in tertiary neighborhoods is now a thing of the past—be it Harlem, Williamsburg, Hell’s Kitchen, Long Island City, or the Lower East Side. But one of the best examples of rapid transformation is Brooklyn. Certainly there are many coveted communities such as Brooklyn Heights, Prospect Heights, and Park Slope, but there is another neighborhood making what looks like a very successful run at gentrification: Crown Heights.
More on the Crown Heights renaissance here
Why Not Take a Helicopter to the Airport? An Ode to the Smells of NYC
January 21, 2015

Why Not Take a Helicopter to the Airport? An Ode to the Smells of NYC

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Empire Mayo in Prospect Heights looks to create the “must try” garlic truffle mayonnaise from Kevin Hart’s SNL parody of Bushwick gentrification. [DNAinfo] Two for the price of one: This tiny side table transforms into a full-on rowing machine. [Gizmodo] Forget hailing a taxi to get to the airport; a helicopter ride will cost you just $99. [NYP] […]

Goldilocks Blocks: Lowry Triangle in Prospect Heights, Where the Gritty Meets the Gentrified

Between hyper-developed hotspots, main drags in up-and-comers, and those genuinely avoidable areas, there can often be found a city’s “just-right” zones. They aren’t commonly known, but these micro-neighborhoods often hide within them real estate gems coupled with perfectly offbeat vibes. Continuing our Goldilocks Blocks series, this week we look at Lowry Triangle in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.

January 20, 2015

Goldilocks Blocks: Lowry Triangle in Prospect Heights, Where the Gritty Meets the Gentrified

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It’s...gritty. But it’s Prospect Heights. Anchoring an oddly magical Brooklyn crossroads where Prospect Heights, Crown Heights and Clinton Hill meet, bisected by noisy, gritty Atlantic Avenue, Lowry Triangle and its surrounding blocks form a literal mashup of three neighborhoods, all of which began hitting their gentrification strides at slightly different times. On a map it’s legitimately Prospect Heights, whose border is a block to the east at Grand Avenue. It’s a small but decidedly cool zone, open and semi-industrial, where old brick buildings share space with a growing number of sleek, modern boutique condos, compact cubes fronted by vast expanses of glass; a fascinating juxtaposition of old and new.
What you might not notice if you're just passing through
6SQFT’S TOP STORIES OF 2014!
December 31, 2014

6SQFT’S TOP STORIES OF 2014!

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5, 4, 3, 2..... It's hard to believe but 2014 has almost come to a close, so we thought what better time than now to reflect on the past year's stories. We launched 6sqft back in May and since then, New York's lively, dynamic, and ever-evolving urbanscape and inhabitants have kept us on our toes. From architecture and new developments to celebs and your fellow New Yorkers, here are the 6sqft stories that really caught our and—more importantly—your eyes this year.
See all the top 6sqft stories here!
6sqft Gift Guide: Wacaco’s On-the-Go Espresso Maker Can Fit Inside a Purse
December 9, 2014

6sqft Gift Guide: Wacaco’s On-the-Go Espresso Maker Can Fit Inside a Purse

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If you've got someone on your gift list that's overworked, under-caffeinated and looking for a better way to get their fix (this is New York, after all), look no further than Wacaco's Minipresso as the perfect present. This portable hand-held device is a godsend for those who frequently need a boost but don't have the time to wait in long coffee shop lines—or simply for those with a more discerning taste for the finer grounds in life.
More on this cool high-caf design here
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