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Here’s a great little twist on the New York City real estate market, courtesy of the recent trend to convert rooms in some of Manhattan’s most exclusive hotels into condominium apartments: fractional ownership—the timeshare to end all timeshares. That’s right, now you can savor the pleasure of residing at one of the most glamorous addresses in the world with all the amenities the St. Regis has to offer, including the Remede Spa and Fitness center, salon, twice daily maid service, and 24-hour butler service—all without having to shell out the multimillion dollar sums typically associated with this kind of elegant living.
See what fractional ownership puts within reach

Distinctive Homes

July 21, 2014

Back to Blueprints: House Hunters Are Buying Sight Unseen, Much Like the Pre-Crash Days

By Lauren Price

In the mid-2000s, when the real estate market was red hot with new developments, home seekers gave nary a thought to making what can be described as the biggest decision of their lives: Buying something sight unseen. For them, traipsing through model apartments, checking out pretty renderings, gawking at miniature models, stroking teensy squares of countertop finishes, thumbing through shiny marketing materials filled with information on everything but the kitchen sink to make an actual purchase was par for the course. (Oh, wait! They did include the kitchen sink.) But then all that changed by late 2007 when the stock market took a nosedive. Not a single potential buyer would even consider a new place to hang their hats without actually standing inside a frameless glass shower stall, checking out the size of a Sub-Zero refrigerator or getting high from real-time views seen through floor-to-ceiling window—and developers took note. But that was then and this is now, and with an improving economy and increasing demand, the tides seem to have turned once again.
Is buying off blueprint back in full force?

July 20, 2014

The New York Architecture Day Trip: From Colonial to Deconstructivism in Manhattan

By Jason Carpenter

New York has a long history of great architecture. From the very beginnings in the colonial period to today, there are more great buildings to see in New York than anywhere else on the planet. Thankfully, with this guide, you can see them all in one simple south-north trip across Manhattan. Many great buildings are too tall or difficult to see up close, so we've chosen an example of each style of New York architecture that can also be appreciated from the ground level, rather than forcing you to gawk straight up at a skyscraper. Check out our New York architecture day trip.
Get your itinerary here

July 20, 2014

Bookworms Rejoice: Upper East Side Mansion Boasts Palatial, Double-Height Library

Most of us in Manhattan are lucky if we can find room to fit one, tiny bookshelf in our homes, so you can imagine our reactions when we saw the opulent, two-story library at 12 East 69th Street. Not only does it make us ashamed of our puny literature collections, but the room is at least three times the size of our apartments. The celestial ceiling mural, massive amount of black walnut built-in shelving, and custom spiral staircase are also making us green with envy. Non bookworms, have no fear--this house has an equally regal, double-height media room, which comes complete with sound-proof walls, rich wood paneling, a 12-foot screen, and plush velvet seats.
You don't want to miss the rest of the palatial digs

July 15, 2014

From Luggage to Luxury Hotel: Grzywinski + Pons-Designed Mixed-Use Building Rising at 119 Orchard Street

The times they are a-changin. At least on Orchard Street, which used to be littered with affordable clothing and luggage stores and home to the famous Saturday street vendors peddling their wares. Today, upscale boutiques and trendy restaurants have moved in, along with rising rents, and 119 Orchard Street is the latest convert. For over 40 years, Fine & Klein Handbags operated out of the storefront, but closed their doors in 2007. Shortly thereafter in 2008, SAS Property Management bought the property for $4.22 million, filed plans for a new 40-room hotel, and tore down the building in November 2010. Three years later, the plans were amended for a 10-story mixed use space, containing 16 hotel rooms and four residential units. Interestingly, the building height was the same in both renditions. Construction has already commenced, and we've just spotted a few new renderings on architect Grzywinski + Pons' website.
Take a look at the construction photos as well as building renderings

July 12, 2014

The Cartier Mansion Shines Again with the Help of Andre Tchelistcheff Architects

By Patty Lee

Restoring historic landmarks is never an easy task, but a careful, attention-driven job can help a former gem shine again. That's the case behind the renewal of this Upper East Side townhouse, also known as the Cartier Mansion. Together, Andre Tchelistcheff Architects and interior designer David Anthony Easton worked to restore the gorgeous Beaux-Arts building to its former glory.
More pictures of the grand townhouse straight ahead

July 11, 2014

New Yorker Spotlight: Lisle Richards and Eric Marx, The Duo Behind the Monarch Room Restaurant

By Susan Cohen

Opening one restaurant is hard, but two in a month is a serious feat. But this is New York City, and restaurateurs Lisle Richards and Eric Marx were ready for a challenge. Between January and February of this year the duo opened up two of Manhattan’s hippest and most most talked about new haunts: The Monarch Room and The Wayfarer.
Our interview with the restauranteurs here

July 11, 2014

Manhattanhenge: Tonight Is Your Last Chance to View This Spectacular Phenomenon in 2014

While there is no shortage of stunning views in New York City, some are more expensive to own than others. But here’s one that won’t cost you a cent and belongs to everyone – well, at least for the two times a year the Neil deGrasse Tyson coined “Manhattanhenge” makes its spectacular appearance.
more on the history here

Events & Things To Do

July 10, 2014

New York vs. London: A Real Estate Challenge on Both Sides of the Pond

While we're all still in the patriotic mood after the July 4th festivities, we thought it appropriate to put together a friendly little challenge between New York City and her cross-pond ally and sometimes rival, (what are the kids calling it these days, a frenemy?). In the left corner is NYC, global hub of finance and media, weighing in with a population of 8,405,837. And in the right corner we have London, the world's most-visited city, population 8,416,535. According to British real estate website Zoopla, the average price of a Central London home over the past year is £1.1 million or $2 million in U.S. dollars, topping the $1.6 million average selling price of residences in the core of Manhattan.
See how the cities battle it out in our three-round real-estate showdown

Distinctive Homes

July 8, 2014

You Will Go ‘Gaga’ When You Learn Who Once Lived in the Building of This $4.5M Upper West Side Residence

The historic building standing at 135 West 70th Street was built in 1927 to serve as a singular meeting place for all the Knights of Pythias lodges of NYC. Designed by architect Thomas W. Lamb, best known for his ornate movie palaces, it’s no wonder that the Pythian is richly decorated in brightly colored and glazed terra cotta embellishments. Though converted to a condominium in 1983, architect David Gura was careful to retain most of the building's ornamental features. Taking great pains to ensure that elements removed from their original positions were salvaged for use elsewhere within the building, his renovation earned a residential design award from the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
See why this apartment has earned our applause

Distinctive Homes

July 3, 2014

New Yorker Spotlight: Alina Cheung of Terracotta NY on How Her Investment Banking Past Inspired a Bowtie Business

By Susan Cohen

As investment banking analysts at Credit Suisse, Alina Cheung and Yidi Xu spent their days surrounded by men in ties. Little did they know that these men, and their ties, would later inspire them to leave investment banking behind. While crunching numbers and working on Excel spreadsheets, they found themselves thinking a lot about the prints on those ties. It was not long before Alina and Yidi realized they wanted the prints for themselves. And if they wanted them, they thought other women would too. With that thought, Terracotta New York, an accessories company, was born.
Read our interview with Alina here

July 1, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Inside the Building Where Leo DiCaprio Will Live; And the Newest ‘Tallest Tower in NYC’ Is…

By Jon Dioffa

Today’s real estate news highlights all in one place: Here we go again… In the race to build the biggest of them all, a new Silverstein property slated for the far West Side could become the largest residential tower in New York. [The Real Deal] Brooklyn prices continue to climb. Reports show that co-op prices […]

Real Estate Trends

June 27, 2014

Daily Link Fix: A 3D Desk Made of 2D Graph Paper; Google Wants Apps for Cardboard

One57 Gets its First Residents: If you haven’t heard of One57 you’ve probably been living under a rock. Well, the NY Times is here to lift that rock with an update of the “Billionaire’s Row” building, along with some residents who have already moved in. Extell’s $65 Million Townhouse: The NY Daily News spotlights Extell’s […]

Uncategorized

June 26, 2014

Law & Order Star Sells Noho Loft for $3.25 Million

According to city records, Law & Order; SVU star B.D Wong has officially sold his East 4th Street apartment for asking, after being in contract since March. The ground floor loft has a below-ground bedroom and a colorful palette that reminds us of something a stylish interior designer would create for the Joker’s bachelor pad, assuming the Joker wants to pick up chicks. But we digress…
Take a look inside this spectacular loft here

June 26, 2014

Iconic Dean & Deluca Loft Purchased by Vidal Sassoon’s Widow

Ready for a sale where the space is just as famous as the people involved? We’ve got one for you. This iconic loft at 133 Wooster Street has been featured in the New York Times and was the very spot where the Dean & DeLuca cookbook was created. Well, how did this apartment get to be so special? Because it’s owned by Dean & Deluca co-founder Jack Ceglic.
But it gets even more interesting after the jump

June 24, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Bed Stuy Getting 50 New Condos; Brooklyn’s Tallest Building Killing It in Sales

By Jon Dioffa

We roundup today’s residential real estate news highlights for one digestible bite: Bed Stuy is getting a brand new 10-story mixed-use building complete with 50 apartments [Brownstoner] NYC gets a rent hike! Of 1%… The lowest ever recorded [New York Post] South Slope’s newest condo development just placed its units on the market. The cheapest […]

Real Estate Trends

June 24, 2014

Your Daily Link Fix: Great White Shark Sighting; Cooper Hewitt Museum Lets Visitors to Draw on Walls

Great White Sightings Off Rockaway Beach: Shark Week is a couple of months early this year, as a baby great white was caught (and released), and a a 10-footer was spotted… on the same day… by the same group of people. DNAinfo gives you the shocking details. Girl Scouts President Gives Advice: No, it’s not […]

Uncategorized

June 18, 2014

Jared Kushner and LIVWRK Make Plans to Buy a Gowanus Property, Possibly for Luxury Condos

By Diane Pham

Jared Kushner and LIVWRK could soon be making their way to Gowanus. According to The Real Deal, the pair are in contract to buy a 133,000-square-foot development site at 175-225 3rd Street, located right across the new 3rd and 3rd Whole Foods market and just around the corner from Lightstone Group’s 700-unit rental project at 363 Bond Street. Currently, the land has 600 feet of frontage and allows for commercial development of up to 300,000-square-feet, but sources say that one-million square feet of residential could be constructed if rezoned.
More details here

New Developments

June 17, 2014

Your Daily Link Fix: Million Dollar Condos Come to Bed Stuy; Working Out in the Streets

Everybody Loves Brooklyn… Except Brooklyn: The Observer talks about the fact that the name Brooklyn may be a top name everywhere else, but Brooklynites are so over it. Million Dollar Condos Come to Bed Stuy: Before you know it, we common folk won’t be able to afford Brooklyn. The Brownstoner has some details and beautiful […]

Uncategorized

June 17, 2014

A Garden So Private No One Has The Key? Now We’ve Heard It All

Forget the legendary and uber-privileged access to the oasis known as Gramercy Park. The newest wave of private gardens are apparently so exclusive even residents can’t enjoy a stroll through the lush greenery. Take the 2,400-square-foot courtyard currently being designed at The Sterling Mason, a new Tribeca loft building where an apartment can set you back up to $24 million. In a city where even the tiniest bit of green space is viewed as the ultimate amenity, turning what would have been a barren airshaft into a verdant outdoor sanctuary seems like a terrific idea. Tapping Deborah Nevins, one of the world’s most sought-after landscape designers to do it, an even better one. Keeping residents from enjoying more than a visual inspection of the rich white blossoms, lush green leaves, ivy walls and sculptural stream? Eh, we’re not so sure about that.
What's up with this off limits trend?

Architecture And Design

June 13, 2014

Downtown Flips: Four of the Biggest Moneymakers of All Time

At any given hour when you turn on a home design television channel you have about a 50% chance of landing on a realty show about flipping houses. In real life, though, it's not all hunky property brothers and fairy tale endings; trying to flip a house is a gamble, which is why oftentimes the most successful flippers are those on the inside, like real estate developers and seasoned brokers. For anyone looking to make a flip, New York is ripe with opportunity thanks to low inventory and a constant race to be bigger and better. Within the city, Downtown Manhattan is the ripest fruit on the vine. Full of highly desirable, trendy neighborhoods, it's a hot bed for investors. There's no textbook definition of a flip, but it's generally thought of as a three-year turnover. Downtown there have been 58 apartment swaps within the past three years. We take a look at some of the greatest hits.
This way for all the triumphant flips

Real Estate Trends

June 5, 2014

Jamestown Properties Wants to Turn Sunset Park’s Industry City Into the Next Chelsea Market

If you renovate, will they come? It’s been less than a year since Jamestown Properties, the developer behind the successful Chelsea Market, acquired a 50% stake in the mostly abandoned industrial warehouse complex in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park known as Industry City. Along with investment partners Belvedere Capital and Angelo, Gordon & Company, Jamestown plans to translate the success of Chelsea Market on a scale six times the size – 16 buildings encompassing over 6 million square feet formerly known as Bush Terminal. But while Brooklyn is currently the darling of the five boroughs, Sunset Park doesn’t quite have the cache of Chelsea – yet, and the viability of such an enormous undertaking is ten years in the making.
Watch a video interview with the developers this way

Real Estate Trends

June 2, 2014

Massive Soho Loft With Wraparound Terrace Sells for $14.5 Million

When you look at these New York buildings, it’s hard to imagine there’s space for a 7,000-square-foot loft inside. Well, the former home of Justin and Nicole Ehrlich is one of those spaces. 20 Greene Street #6A is definitely deserving of an Academy award with its dramatic tall ceilings and oversized windows. And it just sold to the tune of $14.5 million. This Soho loft, listed by Douglas Elliman, doesn’t do anything halfway. Its giant living room is large enough to be its own apartment, for starters.
Take a closer look at this glamorous loft here

June 2, 2014

Set Designer for Saturday Night Live Buys Artsy SoHo Loft