Search Results for: green

August 6, 2019

Williamsburg summer survival guide: Where to cool off, hang out, and enjoy an icy treat

Summer in the city can be a slog, but neighborhoods like Williamsburg turn the dog days into a wealth of seasonal perfection with peerless places, rare and unique tastes, and unbeatable views around every corner. From pools and parks and ice cream parlors for family fun to chic rooftop boîtes overlooking the Manhattan skyline, Brooklyn’s trendiest neighborhood offers endless urban opportunities to beat the heat. Below are just a few ways to keep cool and carry on.
The Williamsburg summer survival guide
August 6, 2019

Parts of the old Kosciuszko Bridge and Staten Island Expressway become an artificial reef

Pieces from the old Kosciuszko Bridge are now underwater off the coast of Fire Island, as part of New York State’s ongoing artificial reef expansion efforts. Governor Cuomo launched the second year of the largest artificial reef expansion in state history this past weekend. Recycled materials from the Staten Island Expressway, the Kew Gardens, and Kosciuszko bridges, as well as retired U.S. Army Corps of Engineers steel vessels, were cast into the water at Fire Island Reef, where they will create new marine habitats and boost Long Island's fishing and diving industries.
More information
August 2, 2019

Demolition of debated vacant oil tanks in Williamsburg begins

Ten decommissioned tanks located along the Williamsburg waterfront will get demolished by the city this week, quashing plans from organizers to transform the silos into public space. Over the last four years, a team of designers and park advocates, led by Karen Zabarsky and Stacey Anderson, has pushed for adaptive reuse of the vacant 50-foot tanks into possible performance space, greenhouses, and art galleries. But without enough support from public officials, the team's project, The Tanks at Bushwick Inlet Park, now comes to an end as the city begins razing the oil tanks.
More here
August 1, 2019

MTA plans more elevators for 14th Street subway complex, making it fully accessible

After committing to install four elevators at the 14th Street and Sixth Avenue F, M, and L stop as part of a lawsuit settlement, the MTA has now announced it will also be adding elevators to access the 1, 2, and 3 platforms at Seventh Avenue. As The City reported, the 14th Street subway complex between Sixth and Seventh Avenues is one of the busiest stops in the city, servicing more than 48,000 riders a day. The expanded project will make the entire complex fully accessible, though it won't happen overnight.
More details
August 1, 2019

After local condo board sues, judge rules that Central Park West bike lane can go forward

Earlier this week, a group of Upper West Side residents from the Century Condominium filed a suit against the city for its plans to install a protected bike lane on Central Park West, attempting to cease its construction immediately. As 6sqft previously reported, the bike lane plan consists of installing a northbound protected lane from 59th Street to 110th Street–eliminating 400 parking spots in the process (another point of contention for the plaintiffs). But yesterday, Supreme Court Justice Lynn Kotler ruled against their request for a “temporary restraining order” and expressed skepticism over their claims that the bike lane would bring “immediate and irreparable harm to the neighborhood,” as Streetsblog reported. Work crews will continue putting in the bike lane—which doesn’t actually involve any construction, just painting street markings—until city lawyers and plaintiffs reconvene in court on August 20.
More info
July 31, 2019

Brooklyn Botanic Garden ramps up fight against proposed Crown Heights towers with new exhibit

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden's fight against two high-rise towers in Crown Heights continues this week with the opening of a new educational exhibit. The display is part of the garden's larger "Fight for Sunlight" campaign opposing a proposal from developers to amend the area's current zoning and build two 39-story towers across the street. The garden argues the proposed towers on Franklin Avenue would obstruct necessary light from shining on the garden's 23 greenhouses, nurseries, and growing spaces, putting rare plants at risk.
Learn more
July 30, 2019

My 1,400sqft: A bright Chelsea duplex does live-work duty for a hair stylist and her family

When Cassie Harwood-Jacquet moved to NYC from Adelaide, Australia eight years ago, she thought she'd only stay for a few months. But after scoring a job in a salon (she'd worked as a hairstylist for a decade back home), meeting her husband Matt, and having him move to New York from Paris to continue his career as a menswear designer, she decided to put down roots. Cassie and Matt now have an adorable three-year-old daughter named Fanella Rose and a lovely, family-friendly duplex in Chelsea. To balance her life as a working mom, Cassie set up her own salon, Maison Jacquet, in their apartment. 6sqft recently paid the Jacquets a visit and got a tour of their contemporary, colorful, and comfortable home and chatted with Cassie about raising children in Chelsea, working from home, and how she and Matt decorated their space.
Take the tour and meet Cassie
July 30, 2019

This $20M West Village townhouse has a rear wall of glass and a 40-foot-high steel facade

This ultra-contemporary single-family townhouse a 829 Greenwich Street is immediately recognizable from the outside: Its entire facade is comprised of a single piece of 40-foot-high steel. The four-story house lives up to its public face, courtesy of celebrated architect Matthew Baird, offering a private parking garage, a landscaped roof deck, a rear facade of floor-to-ceiling glass and a basement wine cellar. The highly sought-after Manhattan neighborhood on the border of the West Village and Meatpacking District doesn't hurt–and is likely a big part of the reason this unique home is asking $19.750 million.
See more, this way
July 30, 2019

Monument honoring 19th century investigative journalist Nellie Bly coming to Roosevelt Island

An investigative journalist who exposed the horrible conditions of a New York City insane asylum will be honored with a memorial. In 1887, reporter Nellie Bly went undercover at the Blackwell's Island Insane Asylum, located on what is now Roosevelt Island, and documented the cruel treatment of women being held there. Her six-part investigative piece, "Ten Days in a Mad-House," led to major changes, including increased funding for the asylum and removal of abusive staff members. To recognize her achievements, a monument will be erected next year on Roosevelt Island.
Find out more
July 29, 2019

Ranking the city’s most dangerous intersections for NYC cyclists

Just days after Mayor de Blasio unveiled a new plan to make the city’s streets safer for cyclists, another fatal accident occurred when a 30-year-old cyclist was struck near the intersection of Third Avenue and 36th Street in Sunset Park around 9 a.m. this morning. As Streetsblog reported, the incident brings the year’s death toll up to 18—nearly double what it was all of last year. Redesigning intersections is a component of De Blasio’s new $58 million initiative, which says it will ramp up NYPD enforcement at the 100 most crash-prone intersections and renovate 50 intersections. While the Department of Transportation hasn’t yet disclosed what those intersections will be, home-search platform Localize.city has created a list of the top ten most dangerous intersections for cyclists.
More details
July 29, 2019

$5.3M former Williamsburg firehouse is a live-work find with a garage, basement, and bamboo garden

Williamsburg isn't exactly the first place you'd think to find a historic townhouse, so the former firehouse at 411 Kent Avenue on the Williamsburg waterfront is unique from the start. Built around 1920, this cool commercial property was last listed in 2014 for $6.4 million. The 3,300-square-foot, two-story building features massive open spaces, high ceilings, huge windows, multiple skylights, original wood floors, exposed brick, and exposed wood ceiling joists–an ideal live/work loft in a neighborhood where they're in short supply. It's back on the market for $5.3 million.
Tour this classic loft
July 26, 2019

Soho House’s Dumbo location has a new retro rooftop lounge and taco stand

The ever-expanding Soho House brand added a Dumbo, Brooklyn "house" to its collection of exclusive, design-savvy members' club locations in 2018. As Dezeen reports, this summer the hospitality hotspot heats up even more with a new rooftop lounge that features a pop-up taco eatery, Siete. A laid-back retro feel to the decor complements the location's jaw-dropping river and bridge views with bright tropical hues like those used by celebrated Mexican architect Luis Barragán.
See more of this rooftop haven
July 26, 2019

For $2.5M, this Victorian Prospect Park South house has seven bedrooms and a wraparound porch

This stately, detached house sits at the corner of Stratford Road and Hinckley Place, right in the heart of the Prospect Park South Historic District, an area known for its concentration of Victorian-era homes. Built in 1905 by prolific Brooklyn architect Benjamin Driesler, 170 Stratford Road is a seven-bedroom, three-and-a-half bathroom residence that sprawls over nearly 4,000 square feet. Filled with classic architectural details inside and out, the property is now on the market seeking $2.495 million.
Get the full tour
July 26, 2019

Asking $6.9M, Renee Fleming’s terrace-wrapped UWS penthouse is fit for a diva

Grammy-winning opera star Renee Fleming has put her sprawling four-bedroom Upper West Side penthouse on the market; the 3,000-square-foot co-op at 200 West 86th Street, asking $6.895 million, is a diva-worthy pad, the result of combining two large units. In addition to the penthouse perk of river and city views, the apartment is a veritable sky garden, wrapped on three sides by landscaped terraces.
Take a peek
July 25, 2019

Renderings revealed for Manhattan’s first public ‘beach’

The Hudson River Park Trust unveiled on Wednesday a preliminary concept for its plan to bring a public beach to Manhattan. The Meatpacking District site, known as the Gansevoort Peninsula, measures about 5.5 acres on the waterfront and formerly served as a parking lot for the city's sanitation department. The new park will feature a beach area with kayak access, a sports field, a salt marsh, and areas to picnic and lounge.
See the park
July 25, 2019

The social and cultural Puerto Rican history of the East Village

The tumult and unrest in the streets of Puerto Rico right now harken back to a time when many Puerto Rican New Yorkers were also agitating in the streets for long-overdue reform and change. One milestone in that history took place 50 years ago when several Puerto Rican activists gathered in the East Village to found the New York Chapter of the Young Lords. This began a flowering of Puerto Rican cultural and social ferment in the East Village, the legacy of which can still be seen and experienced in the neighborhood today. From Tompkins Square Park to the Nuyorican Poets Café, here are six of the most significant spots.
READ MORE
July 25, 2019

Maya Angelou’s former Harlem brownstone sells after spending a year and a half on the market

In 2001, one year before Maya Angelou purchased her personal residence—an elegant brownstone in the Mount Morris Park Historic District—the late author and activist bought an investment property about 10 blocks away at 29 East 129th Street for only $275,000. During the years in which she resided in New York, she served as landlord of the three-family East Harlem property, comprised of a garden level duplex and two full-floor one-bedroom apartments. Angelou’s estate maintained the property following her death in 2014 and sold the residence to the current owner in 2016 for $1.98 million. The townhouse was most recently listed for $2.65 million in February 2018. A few price chops later, it finally found a new owner and closed for $2.3 million, as the New York Post reported.
READ MORE
July 25, 2019

De Blasio to announce $58.4M bike safety plan after uptick in cyclist deaths

Update 7/25/19: De Blasio unveiled on Thursday his "Green Wave" plan, which includes spending $58.4 million over the next five years on making city streets safer for bikers. In addition to adding more protected bike lanes and redesigning intersections, the plan calls for a media campaign on cyclist safety, as well as community engagement programs.  Following a recent spike in cyclist deaths, Mayor Bill de Blasio will unveil on Thursday a $58.4 million plan to make streets safer. As first reported by the New York Times, the plan includes constructing more protected bike lanes, redesigning intersections, and hiring 80 new transportation workers over the next five years. The proposal comes after 17 cyclists were killed in New York City so far this year, seven more fatalities than all of 2018.
Learn more
July 24, 2019

My 800sqft: See inside the memory-filled, minimalist Village pad of Museum Hack founder Nick Gray

A few years ago, a date brought Nick Gray to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and showed him all of the pieces she really loved. Something clicked. “The passion was contagious,” Nick said. “I went back to the museum dozens of times, iPad in hand, doing a deep dive into the pieces I found most interesting.” As this became a serious hobby, Nick, who has no background in art or history, began inviting friends to join him at the Met to teach them fun facts about lesser-known works of art and artifacts. What started as a new obsession with museums, grew into Museum Hack, a million-dollar company that leads “renegade” small-group tours of museums in New York City and four other cities. Nick’s enthusiasm follows him into his Greenwich Village apartment, where its minimalist design comes packed with memories. On a recent tour of his apartment--which boasts super tall ceilings, a skylight, and a wood-burning fireplace--he eagerly showed us a wall covered with polaroids of friends, his blue velvet couch inspired by a piece of furniture at the Met, and a large photo of "the craziest party" he's ever thrown. Ahead, tour Nick's bright pad, take his advice for museum newbies and learn about what he has planned next (it involves guacamole).
Meet Nick and see inside his apartment
July 24, 2019

Asking $525K, this historic Connecticut church conversion is the perfect creative sanctuary

Located a tiny village in Canaan, CT–it’s the second smallest in the state–this former church in a historic district is currently home to a prominent artist and architectural designer. And we can see why it might be the perfect creative recharging space. There’s even a reading nook in the bell tower. Built in roughly 1900, the two-bedroom single-family home at 24 Beebe Hill Road is on the market for $525,000.
Take a look inside
July 23, 2019

$6.8M Soho penthouse is a modern glass oasis with a roof deck and a fire pit

Listing images by DDreps, Courtesy of Compass This 1,953-square-foot contemporary aerie at 109 Greene Street has all the elements of an ideal Soho penthouse loft. The three (or four) bedroom duplex condo, asking $6.795 million, is framed by dramatic glass walls that look out over the neighborhood–and three levels of landscaped outdoor space complete with an outdoor kitchen and a fire pit.
Check out the views from here
July 22, 2019

$2.3M Village co-op offers moody, understated glamour and a huge terrace

It's tough to find family-sized apartments in downtown Manhattan neighborhoods, but this split two-bedroom co-op in the classic Bakery Building at 42 West 13th Street in Greenwich Village, asking $2.25 million, has room to create a third bedroom. Other people-friendly pluses include a recent renovation, a sunny terrace that spans the length of the apartment, plenty of room for living and dining, zoned central air conditioning, and 10.5-foot ceilings.
Take a look inside
July 19, 2019

As this weekend’s heat wave sweeps over the city, here are some ways to beat the heat

After a toasty week, the city's first heatwave of the year is about to get even hotter, with Friday’s expected heat index reaching 98 degrees and as high as 109 degrees over the weekend. The city is taking precautions to keep residents safe as the temperatures continue to heat up. Mayor Bill de Blasio declared an official heat emergency and directed office buildings and residents to set their AC to 78 degrees in order to prevent another power outage. The city's annual Triathlon, originally scheduled to take place on Sunday, was just canceled for the first time in its history. While the best advice is still to stay indoors as much as possible, out of the sun, and well hydrated, there are some ways to beat the heat in the city, all for free.
More info
July 17, 2019

Billionaire developer Stephen Ross lists Time Warner Center penthouse for $75M

As Related CEO and Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross prepares to move into the penthouse at one of his most recent developments, 35 Hudson Yards, he’s first unloading one of his older properties at another one of the company’s Skidmore Owings & Merrill-designed building, the Time Warner Center. (The Real Deal's roundup of his properties shows Ross's penchant for “getting high off his own supply.”) First reported by the Wall Street Journal, Ross has listed the 80th-floor condo he shares with his wife, jewelry designer Kara Ross, for a staggering $75 million—one of the most expensive properties on the market in New York City.
READ MORE
July 12, 2019

Boerum Hill residents sue to undo 80 Flatbush rezoning as tower plans advance

Nearly a year after the New York City Council voted to approve 80 Flatbush, a five-building mixed-use development in Downtown Brooklyn, a group of Boerum Hill residents has mounted a court battle to halt the rise of tall buildings on the site and roll back the rezoning that allows them. As the Brooklyn Eagle reports, the 400 & 500 State Street Block Association, comprised mainly of residents who live in the neighborhood's sprinkling of low-rise brownstones, have filed a lawsuit seeking the annulment of the 2018 zoning changes that gave the green light to an 840-foot skyscraper, a 510-foot tower, 670 market-rate apartments and 200 affordable units, two public schools and office and retail space on the property, which is bounded by State Street, Third Avenue, Schermerhorn Street and Flatbush Avenue.
More details, this way