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Not only is Great Island in Darien, CT, the largest private island to be offered for sale on the East Coast, but before it was listed in 2016 for $175 million, this iconic property hadn't been offered for sale or changed hands for more than a century. Purchased in the early 1900s by baking powder tycoon William Ziegler, the estate that lies just 50 miles north of New York City has remained in the family ever since. It's asking $120 million this time around.
Have a look at this unusual island property

See the colorful makeovers of five NYC public pools

All photos courtesy of NYC Parks

June 28, 2018

See the colorful makeovers of five NYC public pools

By Michelle Sinclair Colman

To coincide with the opening of all 53 public pools yesterday, the city's ever cool and joyful parks commissioner Mitchell Silver launched the Cool Pools NYC pilot program. The initiative gave a colorful makeover to five outdoor pools, one for each borough, in underserved neighborhoods. Prior to Cool Pools NYC, none of these sites had a major renovation since they were built in the 1970s. In addition to the cheery paint jobs, these pools have been outfitted with polar-themed art, lounge chairs, and landscaping and will offer drop-in fitness classes for adults and obstacle courses and scavenger hunts for kids.
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June 27, 2018

PHOTOS: Phase two of Hunter’s Point South Park officially opens on the LIC waterfront

Photo © 6sqft The Hunter's Point South Park extension officially opened Wednesday, over three years after construction began at the Long Island City site. The second phase adds 5.5 acres south to the existing park, which currently has a basketball court, playground, two dog-runs, and a volleyball sand pit. The city's Economic Development Corporation and Department of Parks and Recreation developed the project, which measures 11-acres from 50th Avenue to Newton Creek on the East River. At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, local officials and community members gathered to celebrate the project's opening. "This is a beautiful park," State Sen. Michael Gianaris said. "Enough to make our friends across in Manhattan look over and be jealous that they don't have anything as beautiful on their side of the River."
More here

Architecture And Design

Executive director of Transportation Alternatives Paul Steely White drives a vintage Mustang as the last car in Central Park. Via NYC Parks.

June 27, 2018

Central Park is officially car-free!

At 7pm last night, the last car to ever drive through Central Park marked all of the park’s loop drives being permanently closed to traffic. Mayor de Blasio first made the announcement in April that after banning cars north of 72nd Street three years ago, the city would now prohibit them south of 72nd. Although vehicles will still be able to travel along the transverses, the new policy frees up a significant amount of space for pedestrians, runners, and bikers. To that end, Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofit advocacy group that has been pushing for the car ban since the '70s, teamed up with city officials last night to host a celebratory bike ride that trailed the last car to drive through the park.
More info ahead

Transit

VIDEO: See ‘Mom-and-Pops of the Lower East Side’ sculpture being installed in Seward Park

Video © Michael Ursone Films

June 27, 2018

VIDEO: See ‘Mom-and-Pops of the Lower East Side’ sculpture being installed in Seward Park

6sqft has been excitedly following the progress of photographers James and Karla Murray's Seward Park art installation "Mom-and-Pops of the LES," from the announcement that they'd been chosen through the Art in the Parks UNIQLO Park Expressions Grant Program to their wildly successful Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the wood-frame structure's build out. And now the piece, featuring four nearly life-size images of Lower East Side business that have mostly disappeared, is finally complete. James and Karla shared with 6sqft an exclusive time-lapse video of the installation process and chatted with us about why they chose these particular storefronts, what the build-out was like, and how they hope New Yorkers will learn from their message.
Watch the video and hear from James and Karla

Events & Things To Do

June 27, 2018

Derek Jeter lists lakefront ‘castle’ with four kitchens and a Statue of Liberty replica for $15M

While owning a waterfront castle might seem presumptuous even for the former Yankee captain and current Miami Marlins owner, this 50,000-square-foot upstate compound on four acres at 14 Lake Shore Road in Greenwood Lake, NY, was more than just a random luxury buy. Tiedemann Castle, as it is known, has a family history for Jeter: According to the New York Post, his grandfather Sonny Connors, adopted son of John and Julia Tiedemann, who purchased it in 1952, was raised on the property. Jeter bought the estate 15 years ago for $425,000, so even after being "lovingly restored, with unparalleled attention to detail," the current $14.75 million price tag is a hefty hike.
More astounding vistas this way

Millennials flock to Washington Heights; Shark exhibit opens this weekend at Coney Island Aquarium

Coogan’s Restaurant in Washington Heights, via CityRealty (L); Via Wiki Commons (R)

June 26, 2018

Millennials flock to Washington Heights; Shark exhibit opens this weekend at Coney Island Aquarium

By 6sqft

Is Washington Heights the new Williamsburg? The upper-Manhattan ‘hood has 50,103 millennial residents, the most in the city. [NYP] See photos of Staten Island’s abandoned boat graveyard in the ’80s and 2000s. [Curbed] Mayor de Blasio announced a $400 million initiative to renovate 2,400 NYCHA apartments across 21 public housing developments in Brooklyn and Manhattan. [Office of […]

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June 26, 2018

MAP: Where to watch the 2018 Macy’s July 4th fireworks

The patriotic party-planners behind the Macy's Fourth of July live fireworks extravaganza happening next Wednesday evening have made sure to provide their usual thorough and handy guide suggesting prime spots for experiencing the world-famous pyrotechnics show. Get the 411 on official viewing points and use the interactive neighborhood finder to make sure you're well-situated when things go boom.
Get all the info, this way

June 25, 2018

Roast, record, repeat: How Toby’s Estate brews the perfect cup of coffee at its Brooklyn cafe and roastery

6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and off-beat workspaces of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we’re touring the Williamsburg cafe and roastery of Toby's Estate Coffee. Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! When you walk into Toby’s Estate Coffee, the smell of freshly brewed coffee hits you immediately. And thanks to the towering roasting machine in the back of the Williamsburg coffee shop (which roasts about 50 lbs of coffee at a time), the sweet-bitter aroma really lingers. While the location on North 6th Street between Berry Street and Bedford Avenue was the first Toby’s in New York City, the coffee connoisseurs have since sprouted to other boroughs, with three cafes in Manhattan and most recently one in Long Island City. Toby’s, which originated in Australia, has served up specialty small-batch coffee in NYC since 2012, bringing in some eclectic flavors to their roster of roasts. Currently, the shop is offering a Citron Espresso Tonic, with tonic water, ice, handmade citron simple syrup and candied oranges. (We tried it. It was delicious.) On an unseasonably warm day this spring, Toby's gave 6sqft a tour of its Brooklyn shop, which boasts enough square footage to fit its roastery and cafe, as well as plenty of seating. Ahead, see inside the sunlight-filled flagship space and hear from Toby's staff on their "roast, record, taste, adjust, and repeat" process that brews the perfect cup of coffee.
See the cafe and learn more about the roasting process

New renderings and details for Perkins Eastman’s 730-foot tower at controversial Two Bridges site

259 Clinton Street via Perkins Eastman

June 25, 2018

New renderings and details for Perkins Eastman’s 730-foot tower at controversial Two Bridges site

Additional details and a new rendering have been unveiled this week for a 62-story Lower East Side skyscraper designed by Perkins Eastman Architects, nearly two years after 6sqft first wrote about the project. Located at 259 Clinton Street, the tower is a part of a controversial three-building project coming to the waterfront of the Two Bridges neighborhood. According to YIMBY, latest plans for 259 Clinton Street, developed by Starret Development, call for a 730-foot tower, slightly higher than an earlier 724-foot proposal.
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June 25, 2018

$750K brownstone aerie on the Upper West Side has classic Manhattan charm–and an elevator

This quintessential brownstone apartment on the top floor at 140 West 74th Street might not be what comes to mind when you think of penthouse living, but 10-foot ceilings, tons of exposed brick, and plenty of pre-war charm–coupled with a perfect spot on the Upper West Side–could make this co-op studio a top choice for a Manhattan pied-a-terre. A price of $749,000 and the fact that it's not a walk-up help make the case, as does the view of the tree-lined West 70s from a wall of windows.
Take a look around

Distinctive Homes

June 22, 2018

Two affordable one-bedrooms in Bed-Stuy up for grabs for $985/month

Photo via CityRealty Act quickly: Just two one-bedroom apartments are available at a new rental building in Brookyln's Bed-Stuy neighborhood. The rental at 88 Hart Street sits between Marcy and Tompkins Avenues and only a few blocks from the Kosciuszko Pool and the Herbert Von King Park, a historic green space designed by Frederick Law Olmsted that also has a cultural arts center. Plus, the building includes a laundry room. New Yorkers who earn 60 percent of the area median income, or between $33,772 and $50,100 annually, can apply for the affordable $985/month one-bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

June 22, 2018

This $950K two-bedroom co-op is the picture of East Village tranquility

Asking just a hair under $1 million, this bright, charming co-op at 224 East 7th Street--on one of the neighborhood's most charming corners--is a not-too-shabby 850 square feet, and pretty chic to boot.
More East Village charm, this way

Distinctive Homes

June 21, 2018

Help preserve the untold stories of the Stonewall Riots by donating personal photos, letters

Via Wikimedia Did you participate in the Stonewall Inn Riots of 1969 and the period of LGBTQ activism in New York City between 1968 and 1971? Do you know someone who did? If so, consider contributing pride memorabilia from that moment in history to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, which is compiling a collection to preserve the history of Stonewall. The project, Stonewall Forever, launched last year after Google granted the LGBT Center $1 million to preserve oral histories and experiences of those present during the riots.
Find out more

History

June 20, 2018

Where I Work: Tour FXCollaborative’s Flatiron architecture office with partner Dan Kaplan

6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and off-beat workspaces of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we’re touring the Flatiron office of architecture firm FXCollaborative. Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! To mark their 40th anniversary, architecture firm FXCollaborative recently debuted their new name (formerly FXFOWLE), along with a slew of big-name projects such as the Statue of Liberty Museum, a nearly 1,000-unit affordable housing development in the Bronx, and Downtown Brooklyn's One Willoughby Square, which will be the borough's tallest office building as well as the firm's new home. Ahead of their big move when the tower is completed in a few years, 6sqft paid a visit to FXCollaborative's current Flatiron office space to see how these prolific architects make their magic happen, thanks to a behind-the-scenes tour and talk with senior partner Dan Kaplan. From sustainable architecture and office design to equality in architecture and the importance of collaboration, learn how FXCollaborative remains one of NYC's top firms after four decades.
Take the tour and hear Dan’s thoughts

June 20, 2018

Preservationists, architects urge LPC to landmark Philip Johnson’s AT&T Building

During a nearly two-hour public hearing on Tuesday, passionate preservationists, architects, and community groups testified in front of the Landmarks Preservation Commission in support of designating the postmodern skyscraper at 550 Madison Avenue as an individual landmark. Best known as the AT&T Building, the 37-story tower was designed by Philip Johnson, along with his partner John Burgee, and completed in 1984. As postmodernism's first skyscraper, 550 Madison has stood out for its pink-gray granite facade, arched entryway and Chippendale-inspired crown. A wide range of people on Tuesday voiced support for giving 550 Madison landmark designation, including architectural critic Paul Goldberger. In his testimony, Goldberger cited his own 1978 New York Times review of the building, before it was built, when he called the AT&T Building "a major monument" of postmodernism and "the most provocative and daring skyscraper to be proposed for New York since the Chrysler Building."
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Policy

June 20, 2018

$4M Park Slope brownstone with interiors by Elizabeth Roberts embodies considered design

6sqft covered the stunning traditional-yet-modern design found in this Park Slope Italianate beauty at 359 Bergen Street nearly three years ago; a gut renovation by townhouse titan Elizabeth Roberts Architecture & Design brought custom architectural detailing with the designer's signature cool, clean backdrop and sophisticated, functional accents–and now it's for sale, asking $4 million. The 13-room house is set up as a two-family home, with a two-bedroom income-producing garden apartment and three floors above for the owners.
Brownstone envy, this way

Distinctive Homes

NYC is the focus of Bjarke Ingels’ ‘Humanhattan 2050’ vision for protecting cities from future storms

Image via BIG

June 19, 2018

NYC is the focus of Bjarke Ingels’ ‘Humanhattan 2050’ vision for protecting cities from future storms

In 2014 6sqft reported on the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Rebuild By Design contest to develop ways to shore up the city from future flooding. Among the short list of winners whose projects will receive funding was "The Big U" from Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), a flooding solution for Manhattan that doubles as a social environment, with over a third of the $920 million in prize money to go toward its development. Now BIG is making a bigger splash with a similar vision now on display at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, the Observer reports. Called "Humanhattan 2050," the project, created for the Biennale, which the firm calls "an academic exploration in urban environments and resiliency" could someday represent the first effort to keep cities safe while creating a new, improved social space along the waterfront.
Take a look

100+ affordable apartments up for grabs at a South Bronx passive house, from $702/month

Rendering via Curtis + Ginsberg Architects

June 18, 2018

100+ affordable apartments up for grabs at a South Bronx passive house, from $702/month

Located between East 151st and 153rd Streets, a 15-story affordable rental is now accepting applications for a whopping 107 units. Dubbed Park Avenue Green, the South Bronx building at 2980 Park Avenue is the second phase of a multi-phase housing project. Designed by Curtis + Ginsberg Architects, the building includes 154 apartments and a 4,300-square-foot community facility. Qualifying New Yorkers earning 50, 60 and 80 percent of the area median income can apply for the units ranging from a $702/month studio to a $1,823/month three-bedroom.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

June 18, 2018

The 1936 ‘Summer of Pools’: When Robert Moses and the WPA cooled off NYC

By Lucie Levine

On June 24, 1936, thousands of Lower East Siders turned out for a spectacle the likes of which New York had never seen. They jammed Hamilton Fish Park, filled Pitt Street, and perched on surrounding fire-escapes and rooftops to get a glimpse. With great fanfare (and the swim stylings of the Jones Beach Water Troupe) Mayor La Guardia and Parks Commissioner Robert Moses officially opened Hamilton Fish Pool. The dedication kicked off New York’s “Summer of Pools.” One by one, for each week of the summer, 11 gleaming outdoor pools, financed and built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), opened in underserved neighborhoods across the city, providing recreation and relief to millions of heat-addled, Depression-strapped New Yorkers.
Learn more about the summer of 1936

History

June 18, 2018

Historic Upper West Side mansion built for a Dow Jones founder asks $12M

Designed by prolific Upper West Side architect Charles T. Mott in 1891 for Dow Jones founder Edward Jones, the facade of this five-story townhouse at 325 West 76th Street hints at the rich history and the grand details within. The current owners renovated this 20-foot-wide, 7,515-square-foot home in the 21st century, slowly and meticulously preserving historic details in the transformation back to single-family mansion. This turn-key historic house is on the market for $11.9 million, including six bedrooms, an elevator, a screening room, a top-of-the-line kitchen and several entertaining spaces.
Take a five-story tour

The history of Brooklyn blackout cake: German bakeries and WWII drills

Photo via Kirti Poddar/Flickr

June 15, 2018

The history of Brooklyn blackout cake: German bakeries and WWII drills