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December 29, 2015

‘Running With Scissors’ Author Augusten Burroughs Sells Battery Park City Condo

If you've read any of Augusten Burroughs' memoirs ("Running with Scissors," "Dry," or "Wolf at the Table," to name a few) you'll know that his life was quite tumultuous. His NYC home, however, is just the opposite. The Battery Park City studio condo at 225 Rector Place is completely plain and neutral and void of any bells and whistles. His past partner Dennis Pilsits purchased the residence in 2008 for $600,767, but then transferred it over to Burroughs in 2011, presumably as part of their split. Now, according to city records, the New York Times #1 bestselling author has unloaded the pad for a mere $637,000.
Check it out
December 17, 2015

Colorful and Quirky Four-Bedroom With Pre-War Charm Asks $775K in Hamilton Heights

Some are saying that the next Harlem Renaissance is poised to happen in Hamilton Heights. And everyone's got their eye on Columbia University's planned 6.8 million-square-foot expansion into neighboring Manhattanville—it's expected to bring an influx of new residents. If you're looking to get in a little early—or you're just looking for a decent amount of living space in Manhattan that doesn't cost millions, this quirky four-bedroom co-op at 616 West 137th Street could be your lucky break.
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December 15, 2015

State May Reboot Plan for Penn Station Expansion at the Farley Post Office

In 2005, the state selected the Related Cos. and Vornado Realty to oversee a $900 million redevelopment of the Penn Station-adjacent James A. Farley Post Office. The project, which came to be known as Moynihan Station, would have turned the full-block structure into an annex for Penn Station. The developers twice tried and failed to move Madison Square Garden into the space; they were also unsuccessful attracting a community college or CBS to the location. And after a promise to close this year on the deal was left empty, Governor Cuomo seems to have had enough. The New York Times reports that he and state officials met with Related and Vornado last week to voice frustrations about the long-stalled project and express the possibility that they'll be replaced.
Details on the possible shakeup
December 14, 2015

Living in a Micro Apartment Could Be Harmful to Your Health

An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but living in a micro apartment may drive you to seek professional psychological help. A recent article in The Atlantic takes a look at the tiny living trend that has taken the nation—and in particular New York, with developments like My Micro NY and teeny renovations like this one—by storm, and finds that squeezing into an extra-small space could lead to health risks. “Sure, these micro-apartments may be fantastic for young professionals in their 20's,” says Dak Kopec, director of design for human health at Boston Architectural College and author of Environmental Psychology for Design, to the magazine. “But they definitely can be unhealthy for older people, say in their 30’s and 40’s, who face different stress factors that can make tight living conditions a problem.”
find out more here
December 14, 2015

Famed Tiny Transforming ‘Life Edited’ Apartment Sells for $790K

Early last year eco-entrepreneur Graham Hill placed what might be the world's most famous tiny apartment at 150 Sullivan Street (it's been featured in the Times, it's won awards, and it even has its own TED Talk) on the market for just under $1 million. While some people balked at the asking price that gave way to a price per square foot of $2,369, Hill has managed to make a sale—albeit for a much discounted $790,000. The lucky new owner will have plenty to muse over in this micro-dwelling, which packs the functional equivalent of eight rooms into just 420 square feet.
more this way
December 11, 2015

This $23 Million Soho Loft Comes With Designer Furniture and a Motorized Headboard

This enormous and undeniably awe-inspiring condominium at 50 Wooster Street seems pretty straightforward: A huge Soho loft with a sleek and expensive-looking contemporary renovation. And you have a choice! You can rent this gleaming 4,800 square-foot downtown pleasure palace for $40k a month, or just buy it for a mere $23.3 million.
Find out more
December 7, 2015

Could This Otherworldly 102-Story Tower Covered in Ornaments Be Coming to 57th Street?

Jaded by glass boxes and architectural imitations of styles gone by? Well this fascinating design by Mark Foster Gage Architects is sure to turn your architectural world upside down. Here's our first look at their 102-story residential supertower seemingly flown in from some advanced airborne civilization in a galaxy far, far away. While details are scarce, this eagle lands in the heart of Midtown's Billionaires' Row along West 57th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. The whimsical design is a habitable sculpture of sorts, adorned from top to bottom in ornaments ranging from gears and propellers to an abstracted pair of birds diving in for a landing on two wing-supported balconies. The tower is topped by a temple-like observational platform which is then crowned by a golden wreath-like structure fit for any victorious Roman general.
more eye-popping visuals this way
December 4, 2015

Spotlight: Phil Kline Puts a Twist on Holiday Caroling With Unsilent Night

What started out as a simple idea for composer Phil Kline has became a beloved holiday tradition in New York. A fan of cassette tapes, Phil had been composing pieces for boomboxes when he wrote a holiday-themed piece set on four tracks to be played simultaneously on several boomboxes. In 1992, he gathered a group of New Yorkers for a modern take on caroling in which they walked down lower Fifth Avenue with boomboxes playing his piece. The performance was a resounding success and a yearly seasonal event known as Unsilent Night was set in motion. A little over two decades since that first performance, Unsilent Night has grown in magnitude and now draws a crowd of several hundred who still use a few boomboxes that are interspersed among a sea of smartphones. It has has been adopted by cities around the world, but even with this international recognition it finds its way back home each year. Phil is currently preparing for his 24th New York performance on Saturday, December 12th, so with the event a week away, 6sqft spoke to Phil to learn about his love of boomboxes, the idea behind Unsilent Night, and how one evening 23 years ago has become an annual holiday musical tradition.
6sqft's interview with Phil Kline right ahead
December 1, 2015

Museum Architect-Renovated Tribeca Townhouse With Subterranean Vault Sells for $13.8M

A red-brick townhouse with some legit architect cred behind it has just sold for a very discounted $13.8 million, much lower than its original $18 million ask. The property at at 148 Reade Street was constructed in the 1990s by Guenther Petrarca, and later renovated by famed museum architect Richard Gluckman (his clients include the Whitney and the Gagosian Gallery). The glass and stone mansion boasts 6,800 square feet of space to stretch out in, which includes a media room, a playroom, an elevator, a private garage on the ground floor, and a 500-plus-square-foot duplex terrace with 360-degree views and a waterfall wall. There's also a pretty cool 23- by 24-foot vault that sits below the sidewalk, a feature that harkens back to site's 19th century roots when subterranean vaults were the norm.
have a closer look inside
November 23, 2015

Listings Go Live Today for NYC’s First Micro Apartment Complex

Carmel Place (formerly known as My Micro NY), the city's much-talked-about first micro apartment complex, began accepting applications for its affordable studios back in September (since then, 60,000 people have applied). And now, a press release from developer Monadnock has announced that listings for 12 of the market-rate units will go live today in anticipation of the February opening date. Along with the launch comes news of Ollie, "an innovative housing model that delivers an all-inclusive living experience." The nine-story modular development will have 55 studios ranging from 260 to 360 square feet, 22 of which will be affordable (of these, 8 will be set aside for formerly homeless veterans) and go for between $950 and $1,500 a month depending on family size and income. The remaining 33 will see prices ranging from $2,540 for a 265-square-foot, furnished, third-floor unit to $2,910 for a 335-square-foot, furnished, second-floor unit.
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November 16, 2015

New Renderings of SuperPier: Google’s New NYC Digs + Bourdain Food Market To Arrive in 2018

Last month at the Municipal Arts Society's (MAS) 2015 Summit for NYC, Seth Pinsky, executive vice president at RXR Realty, shared a presentation regarding the development of the long-planned rehabilitation and conversion of Pier 57 aka "SuperPier." In addition to some new looks at the project, he revealed that the developers have largely secured financing and are finalizing talks with the Hudson River Park Trust. RXR are co-developing the project with Young Woo & Associates, and Handel Architects and !Melk Landscape Architecture and Urban Design are the commissioned designers. According to Pinsky, the 450,000-square-foot development will invest $350 million of private capital to redevelop the structure, and in return create hundreds of jobs, generate millions of dollars of revenue for the Hudson River Park Trust, and create a new destination for New Yorkers and visitors alike. The former NYCEDC head confirmed that the project will include 250,000 square feet of office space for a major technology company [Google], a 170,000-square-foot food and retail market [Anthony Bourdain], and an elevated park with an outdoor movie and performance amphitheater on the roof to be used for screenings for the Tribeca Film Festival. He also noted construction will begin during the first half of next year, with completion aimed for early 2018.
Lots more renderings and details ahead
November 13, 2015

Spotlight: Hands On’s Beth Prevor Connects the Deaf and Theater Communities in NYC

When New Yorkers plan a night at the theater, they likely focus on snagging the best seat in the house. For deaf theatergoers whose first language is sign language, attending a musical or play is a bit different, as they require an interpreter to sign the drama and humor. For a long time, accessibility to interpreted performances was limited, but thanks to the organization Hands On, the deaf community now has the opportunity to attend numerous off-Broadway and nonprofit theatrical happenings in the city. In addition to providing access to interpreted performances, Hands On also creates a master calendar of all local cultural events open to the deaf community. Beth Prevor is one of the nonprofit’s founders and serves as its Executive Director. She first became interested in bringing the theatrical and deaf communities together after serving as a stage manager for a production that included deaf performers. Over the last 30-plus years, her work has helped change the city’s arts landscape for deaf individuals. We recently spoke with Beth to learn more about Hands On's work, the challenges of interpreting theater, and the organization's goals for the future.
Our conversation with Beth right this way
November 13, 2015

This Sprawling Park Slope Classic Seven in ‘Brooklyn’s Flatiron Building’ Asks $2.59M

Believe it or not, there are still some cases where your money goes farther in Brooklyn. Take this four-bedroom classic seven at 47 Plaza Street West in north Park Slope, a sprawling elegant pre-war co-op in the 1928 Rosario Candela-designed building sometimes referred to as “Brooklyn’s Flatiron” due to it's pizza-slice form–which gives the home's interior a unique, er, angle. The 2,350-square-foot apartment has been recently renovated, making it comparable to the size of a modest suburban house. It’s one of those co-ops where just looking at the floor plan makes you long for a time when tiny apartments weren't a thing (Yes, there’s a separate servants’ entrance as is often the case in these co-ops). And while the ask of $2.59 million might seem like a lot, a comparable Manhattan residence might easily be twice that much, if not more.
Tour this glamorous parkside pad
November 12, 2015

VIDEO: What It’s Like to Pull Into a $1 Million Parking Spot at Annabelle Selldorf’s 42 Crosby

Soho's 42 Crosby Street left us all astounded last year when it was revealed that each of its ten on-site parking spaces would be priced at one-million dollars a pop. On a per square foot basis, the 200-square-foot rectangles will fetch more than the three-bedroom condominiums upstairs. The cool modernists at Selldorf Architects designed the 111-foot tall building, which is now finally getting its layered facade of metal and glass. We admit, the exterior is not nearly as exciting as what's depicted in the renderings, but remember, it's not yet finished! So while we await Selldorf's magic to fully brew, watch this terrific film created by VUW Studio, which shows what it feels like to be that lucky automobile coming home to its seven-figure parking spot.
Watch the envy-inducing video in its entirety here
November 11, 2015

432 Park in Numbers: New Renderings and Superlatives Will Blow You Away

Now that Macklowe Properties'/CIM Group's 432 Park Avenue is nearing completion, with occupancy slated to begin in mid-2016 and 70 percent of units reportedly in contract, the development's marketing and branding agency DBOX has released a bevy of never-before-seen images of our skyline's newest icon. Being the tower of superlatives it is, it comes as no surprise that it boasts a marketing campaign to match. Employing sky-cams, drone photography, a million-dollar film, and breath-taking renderings and photography, 432 Park has perhaps the most elaborate promotional campaign ever conceived for a Manhattan condominium. With dozens of spectacular images to choose from, we hand picked a few to recap the development of this monumental supertower. We've also put together a timeline in numbers–from its record breaking height to its 1,200-pound marble sinks–to illustrate the extraordinary undertaking  that has paved the way for the tower to become the most successful and desirable condominium ever erected in the city (sorry One57).
See it all right here
November 8, 2015

Morris Adjmi’s 465 Pacific Street Now 50 Percent in Contract

Just one month after kicking off sales, Boerum Hill's hottest new condominium development, 465 Pacific Street has already signed half of its 30 units into contract. Even more impressive is that the $55 million development is slated for completion some 18-months from now, with foundation pouring just commencing last month. The project is conceived by a partnership between Avery Hall Investments and ARIA Development Group who paid $18 million ($373 per buildable square foot) for the L-shaped lot in May 2013, a record for a large Brooklyn parcel according to Crain's New York.
more on the project
November 6, 2015

WSP Burial Vaults Belonged to a Church; Natural History Museum Expansion ‘Part Dr. Seuss, Part Jurassic Park’

The recently uncovered Washington Square Park burial vaults belonged to the Pearl Street Church or the Cedar Street Church, say archaeologists. [DNAinfo] Watch the 78-foot Rockefeller Center Christmas tree make its way into 30 Rock. [Reddit] Michael Kimmelman calls the Jeanne Gang-designed American Museum of Natural History expansion “part Dr. Seuss, part Jurassic Park, part parametric extravaganza,” […]

November 5, 2015

Renderings Revealed for Jeanne Gang’s $325M Museum of Natural History Expansion

One of the many things that makes the American Museum of Natural History so fascinating is its combination of architecture–very different styles from varying time periods that together make up 25 separate structures. The original Victorian Gothic building was erected in 1877, followed and eclipsed quickly by the southern neo-Romanesque stretch. Then, in 1936, the grand Beaux-Arts entrance was added, and in 2000 the famous glass box known as the Rose Center for Earth and Space was built. Now, the museum is growing yet again, reports the Times, this time with a $325 million expansion courtesy of Studio Gang. In addition to its hefty price tag and undulating form, the addition is significant for the fact that it will be the first female-led project associated with the museum structure, as the firm is headed up by starchitect Jeanne Gang. The Times calls the concept for the new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation "both cautious and audacious," noting that it "consumes less coveted park space than expected, while introducing a contemporary aesthetic that evokes Frank Gehry’s museum in Bilbao, Spain, in its undulating exterior and Turkey’s underground city of Cappadocia in its cavelike interior." The new 218,00-square-foot Center will help solve circulation issues (it will create more than 30 access points across ten buildings) and will be an integrated space for museum activities and research.
More renderings and details ahead
November 4, 2015

Where I Work: Tour KUSHNER Studios’ smart and quirky Chinatown office

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 take a tour of architect Adam Kushner's quirky and intelligent Chinatown office space. Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! You might remember hearing from Adam Kushner a little over a year ago when 6sqft interviewed him about building the world's first 3D-printed estate. And while this is certainly a huge project for the architect, it's only one of many that he and his three firms are working on. In addition to architecture/design practice KUSHNER Studios, which he founded in 1994, Adam heads up construction practice In House Group Inc. and 3D-printing company D-Shape Enterprises New York. What these practices have in common, other than their intellectual creativity, is that they're housed in a quirky-yet-functional Chinatown office. Adam recently took us on a tour of his office, giving us the story behind the studio's unconventional models, his vintage scooter collection, and the giant plane jutting out of the wall.
Look around the creative space
November 2, 2015

More Sky Window Extensions Create Mini Glass Alcoves in Your Apartment

As the world population continues to grow, cities are more densely populated and we're on the constant lookout for new ways to optimize the small spaces many of us occupy. In response to this growing need, Argentinean architect Aldana Ferrer Garcia created "More Sky," an extending window unit that provides apartment-dwellers with immediate access to the sky from their often cramped and sometimes dreary living space.
more on the design here
October 26, 2015

INTERVIEW: Lowline Creator James Ramsey Discusses the Challenges of Building an Underground Park

The hottest destination in the Lower East Side is not a bar, but rather a cutting edge installation hidden inside a vacant warehouse at 140 Essex Street. Just over a week ago, partners James Ramsey and Dan Barasch launched the Lowline Lab, a high-tech, miniaturized precursor to the city’s first underground park. James is the co-founder (alongside Dan) of the park, which will occupy a 40,000-square-foot abandoned trolley terminal below Delancey Street; and creator of the technology that will fill it—a remote skylight system that redirects light underground thorough a maze of optic tubes and diffuses it over a canopy to produce a subterranean environment where plants can grow and flourish (phew!). 6sqft recently took a private tour of the Lowline Lab alongside James, and he gave us some insight into the science, as well how he and Dan are approaching the challenges that come with bringing a park below ground to life. We of course asked all those questions you've been wondering about, like: Who's paying for this whole thing? And what about the rats?
Read our interview with James here
October 26, 2015

The Man Behind the Great Jack-o’-Lantern Blaze; Tour Gracie Mansion’s New Art Collection

In anticipation of its move from its 57-year, landmarked home at the Seagram Building, the Four Seasons restaurant is putting together a book of patrons’ memories. [NYP] Meet the creative director behind the Great Jack-o’-Lantern Blaze, which will feature 7,000 real and foam pumpkins this year. [NYT] Gracie Mansion reopend for public tours this Sunday. […]