Search Results for: washington heights

Spotlight: Meet Chef Jon Lovitch, Builder of the World’s Largest Gingerbread Village

Portrait of Jon by Keith Hodan, adapted by 6sqft

December 11, 2015

Spotlight: Meet Chef Jon Lovitch, Builder of the World’s Largest Gingerbread Village

Chef Jon Lovitch is no amateur when it comes to building gingerbread houses. In fact, every year Jon constructs an entire village called GingerBread Lane that takes nearly 12 months to make. It's a holiday tradition he first started twenty years ago in Kansas City, Missouri, with just 12 houses, and he's since grown the project into an epic display of sweets shown everywhere from Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, and now New York. Two years ago, GingerBread Lane found a local home at the New York Hall of Science in Corona, Queens, where Jon’s villages set Guinness World Records in 2013 and 2014 for the world's largest gingerbread exhibit. This year's village just set another Guinness record on November 17th with its 1,102 houses. But beyond seeking a world title, Jon hopes his labor of gingerbread love inspires kids and adults of all ages to get creative and start building projects of their own. 6sqft recently spoke with Jon to find out the history behind this tasty tradition, and what it takes to build an enormous gingerbread village each year.
Read the interview with NYC's gingerbread man here

December 4, 2015

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

By Susan Cohen

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

November 11, 2015

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

By Ondel Hylton

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

October 26, 2015

Check Out the Views From 1,438 Feet in the Air at 111 West 57th Street

By Ondel Hylton

Last week, 6sqft brought you an up close and personal look at 111 West 57th Street's exterior facade mock-up, and now Property Markets Group (PMG), who is co-developing the super-tower with JDS Development Group, posted a nifty interactive panorama of the building's out-of-this-world views. Rising from the heart of Billionaires' Row (New York's very own Mount Olympus and preferred residence of our anonymous overlords), the building is 80 stories and 1,438 feet high and is nearly perfectly on axis to Central Park–an egotistical perk that Extell's Central Park Tower and Macklowe/CIM Group's 432 Park aren't granted despite having higher apartments.
This way for the views

August 26, 2015

Construction Update: Perch Harlem, Manhattan’s First Passive House Rental Building, Rises

By Ondel Hylton

A tipster has alerted us that Manhattan's first market-rate rental building built to passive house standards has reached street level. Dubbed Perch Harlem, the soon-to-be-seven-story structure is located in the uppermost reaches of Harlem's Hamilton Heights section at 542 West 153rd Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenues. "Perched"on a ridge 150 feet above sea level, the site overlooks the bucolic grounds of Trinity Cemetery, which is the only active burial ground on the island. The project's forward-thinking developers, the Synapse Development Group with its investment partner Taurus Investment Holdings, purchased the 10,000-square-foot former parking lot back in December of 2013 and have since been growing their Perch brand of passive house buildings that focus on low-impact living and community-oriented design. A second Perch building is slated for Williamsburg at 646 Lorimer Street.
Find out more about Perch Harlem

August 14, 2015

Construction Kicks Off at Morris Adjmi’s 540 West 26th Street, New Renderings Revealed

By Ondel Hylton

Construction has kicked off on a sleek, nine-story commercial and gallery building in the heart of West Chelsea's gallery district. It's being developed by Savanna Fund, the Manhattes Group, and the Silvermintz family. Located just half a block from the High Line, the 145,000- square-foot, 159-foot-tall project at 540 West 26th Street replaces a parking lot and a two-story commercial building once home to the Lehmann Maupin Gallery. The building's straitlaced design, penned by Morris Adjmi Architects, is massed in two tiers and adorned with a repeating grid of factory-sash, floor-to-ceiling windows. Adjmi's site notes that the facade's "bead-blasted aluminum frame" is a nod to the district's robust industrial character. Furthermore, the interiors will be detailed with blackened steel, finished concrete, and salvaged wood. The lower level will house gallery spaces, while the floors above will provide full-floor commercial offices with generous floor-to-ceiling heights. The setback of the upper two floors allow for a spacious landscaped terrace with views of the Hudson River.
More on the project right this way

August 4, 2015

Relax, There’s No Bubonic Plague on the Subway; A Brief History of Jaywalking in NYC

By Dana Schulz

Turns out, there actually is no bubonic plague or anthrax on the subway. The scientists who made these claims back in February are now backing off their findings. [WSJ] Check out this photo essay of lower Manhattan in 1980. [Tribeca Citizen] The term jaywalking, which was coined in the Times in 1915, is celebrating its centennial year. It […]

Uncategorized

June 24, 2015

Looking at NYC’s 10 Scenic Landmarks and What Sets Them Apart from Other Public Parks

By Dana Schulz

Since 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the New York City landmarks law, we've been talking a lot about historic buildings–those that have been saved, those that were destroyed, secrets of some of the city's most famous spots. We even discovered that there are two landmarked individual trees. And starting tomorrow, the New York City Parks Department is hosting a new exhibit at the Arsenal in Central Park called Living Landmarks, which takes a look at nine of the city's ten scenic landmarks, showcasing "their contributions to landscape design and to the dynamism of the city through historical and contemporary photography, renderings, maps, artifacts, and memorabilia." Many of these, like Central Park, Prospect Park, and Bryant Park, are no brainers, while others like Verdi Square, Fort Tryon, and Ocean Parkway, are a little more under-the-radar.
See the rest and find out what makes these public spaces landmark-worthy

June 23, 2015

Lofty Co-Op With Flexible Space Asks $1.5 Million in Greenwich Village

By Emily Nonko

This one-bedroom at University Mews, a co-op building at 39 East 12th Street in Greenwich Village, is more than meets the eye. It's not a huge apartment, but smart design has allowed for some surprising extra space. That's no big shock, since the unit's previous owners were architects. So how much for a one bedroom that's located between the Village and Union Square, right in the heart of NYU? It has hit the market asking $1.595 million.
See inside

Distinctive Homes

June 17, 2015

Why Neighborhoods Change Names; How to Spot a City’s Next Up-and-Coming Area

By Diane Pham

East of Village, Hudson Heights, Greenwich Village North… What’s the reasoning behind changing and creating new neighborhood names? [Medium] Can new zoning keep chain stores at bay in the East Village? [Gothamist] How to spot neighborhoods that are next to hit it big. [Washington Post] What to look for in a contractor. [Brick Underground] Chelsea, formerly “Greenwich […]

Real Estate Trends

May 15, 2015

What’s Your Favorite Building in NYC? 6sqft’s Writers and Friends Square Off

By Stephanie Hoina

Once upon a time, when 6sqft was not yet launched, a group of writers were asked for their thoughts on their favorite building in New York City. Their choices, some easily recognizable and others a little further from the beaten path, were mixed together with those of a few folks a lot like our readers—interested in and passionate about all things New York. The result? A wonderful blend of what makes this city great: its diversity, not simply demographically but also in the opinions of those eight million souls who weave together the fabric of all five boroughs to create the most interesting city in the world. And it stands to reason the most interesting city in the world is home to quite a few interesting buildings. As one might expect, there was barely a duplicate in the bunch. Some weren't even on our radar! Is your favorite on the list? If not, we’d love to know what you think in the comments.
Read on to see if you agree with our selections

Architecture And Design

May 12, 2015

If Robert Moses Visited NYC Today, Here’s Where We’d Take Him

By Dana Schulz

If you have even the slightest interest in architecture, urban planning, and NYC history, you know Robert Moses. Unforgettably profiled as the "Power Broker" by Robert Caro, Moses was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York and its environs. He was a larger-than-life character who had very set ways of approaching urban design. He advocated for highways over public transportation (he built 13 expressways through NYC), dense housing towers over low-scale neighborhoods, and communities segregated by race and class over organic, mixed-demographic areas. Of course, there are plenty of much-loved aspects of the city that also came from Moses–Jones Beach, the United Nations, and ten public swimming pools like the one in McCarren Park. Regardless of your feelings on Robert Moses, though, we can all agree that the city would not be the same without him. But a lot has changed since he lost his post as director of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority in the mid 1960s and even more so since he passed away in 1981. So we can't help but wonder what he would think of our fair city in 2015. To have a little fun, we planned a present-day tour for the ghost of Robert Moses.
See where we'd take the Power Broker here

April 30, 2015

Awesome Attics: Inside the ‘Other Penthouses’ of New York City

By Diane Pham

New York City is abuzz with penthouse talk, whether it's the $100M blockbuster sale at One57, the unbelievable $150M ask for the topper at the Sony Building, or if it's all the chatter around just how much more folks are willing to pay to have these two letters in their address: PH. While we love playing the game "If I had the money..." as much the next person, we thought before we start daydreaming too far out of our financial means—or cursing the system altogether—that we'd pay homage to the city's "other penthouses," the ones far closer in reach. Okay, so they're really just tiny attics or additions, but what each of these little spaces lacks in floor area, they certainly make up in character. Check out some of the coolest, cutest and just downright amazing attic spaces we've dug up ahead!
NYC's Amazing and Adorable Attics This Way

March 4, 2015

Rockaway May Get a New Pedestrian Greenway; The Most Popular Cuisines in Manhattan Neighborhoods

By Dana Schulz

Watch a video profile of starchitect Robert A.M. Stern, exploring his life, career, and noted accomplishments. [PBS] The Rockaway Waterfront Alliance is proposing an ambitious park under the elevated A tracks called Project Underway. [Brownstoner Queens] Video “Down Orchard Street” looks for the remaining bargain district vendors. [Bowery Boogie] Hell’s Kitchen residents dig hot dogs, and Upper […]

Uncategorized

The New Broadway Plan Could Bring 3,000 Housing Units to West Harlem, 50 Percent Will Be Affordable

Broadway and 146th Street, a typical stretch in West Harlem

February 11, 2015

The New Broadway Plan Could Bring 3,000 Housing Units to West Harlem, 50 Percent Will Be Affordable

By Dana Schulz

You may remember the Harlem Promenade project, which proposed transferring air rights over the Amtrak rail lines in West Harlem to create affordable housing and using the sale of the air rights to pay for $170 million in community improvements in Hamilton Heights, including a High Line-esque park. We've now learned that the project has taken on a new life as the New Broadway Plan, which may be smaller in scope than the original plan, but would be the largest creation of affordable housing in Manhattan since 1959 if fully realized. It would also make a huge dent in Mayor De Blasio's goal of creating or preserving 200,000 affordable units over ten years. The Plan proposes a rezoning of portions of Broadway from 125th to 155th Streets in order to build 3,000 new units of housing, 50 percent of which will be permanently affordable, and to equalize the amount of new affordable to market rate housing stock, which is currently at a disproportionate ratio of 20 percent to 80 percent, respectively.
Get the scoop here

November 26, 2014

NYC Dumpster Transforms into an Inflatable Urban Education Classroom

By Dana Schulz

Well, this gives a whole new meaning to the term "dumpster diving." In Morningside Heights, at 109th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, the New York-based architect John Locke, of the Department of Urban Betterment, has created "inflato dumpster," a blow-up urban education classroom inside of a typical city dumpster. The design team was inspired by the "contemporary fascination with transforming existing street structures into utilitarian spaces for habitation," which led to their combining the seemingly invisible lightness of the inflatable material with the hard, gritty, steel dumpster.
More details on the inflatable dumpster

November 13, 2014

Even More Skyscrapers Set for NYC: Living in the Sky Part III

By Ondel Hylton

We recently brought you parts one and two of our tallest residential skyscrapers series, which totaled 63 projects poised to scrape the sky. But this list doesn't even take into consideration the development boom occurring in Jersey City, unreleased plans on the drawing board, and the numerous office and hotel projects also rising throughout the city. So here you have it, part three of the series to complete our look at NYC skyscrapers.
Check out the list here

October 27, 2014

Lights, Camera, Annoyance: Why NYC Is the New Hollywood and Not Everyone’s Happy About It

By Michelle Cohen

Film crews on your block: Yet another thing New Yorkers love to hate, whether it’s a case of grumble-brag or a genuine inconvenience. Some people love the opportunity to watch their favorite shows being made (and maybe get a peek at their favorite stars) and argue that it boosts the local economy. Others give the whole gig a big two thumbs down.
Find out who’s filming, where and when–and how you can make the most of it.

October 3, 2014

Fort Greene Apartment in Former Seminary Has Us Praising Its Incredible Windows

By Stephanie Hoina

Formerly a seminary, the gothic-style structure sitting in Fort Greene at the crossroads of Prospect Heights and Clinton Hill was reborn as Cathedral Condominiums, and this 1,100-square-foot home within is certainly one to be worshipped. No matter what your religious persuasion there’s no denying the windows in this stunning condo at 555 Washington Avenue are a blessing.
See why this condo has us singing its praises

September 18, 2014

Will a New Waldorf School at Ben Shaoul’s Bloom 62 Attract Spendy Families?

By Diane Pham

Back in 2012, when Magnum Real Estate's Ben Shaoul announced plans to turn the Cabrini nursing home in the East Village into condos, more than a handful of "Sledgehammer Shaoul" flags went up in protest. Plans moved ahead despite public outcry, and now more than two years later, the former nursing home has transformed into a luxury residential building called Bloom 62. Although not much has been done to dress up the exterior, the 26-unit condo is no slouch and boasts a number of enviable luxuries, including a landscaped roof deck and gym. But Bloom 62's most valuable amenity may be what sits on its ground floor: a school.
More on the benefits to be reaped here

September 17, 2014

Highlights: What Real Estate Big Wigs Have to Say About Brooklyn and Its Future

By Carter B. Horsley

Brooklyn real estate is hot, very hot, and there’s no cooling off in sight, according to most speakers at yesterday's sold-out Brooklyn Real Estate Summit, sponsored by Massey Knakal and held at the Brooklyn Museum. From Billy Macklowe to David Shorenstein and Jonathan Rose, get the run-down of what the industry's leading pundits have to say about BK real estate.
What they're saying about Brooklyn here

Coffee Culture: Are Neighborhood Cafes the First Sign of Gentrification?

Photo: Cafe Grumpy in Greenpoint by Premshree Pillai cc

September 3, 2014

Coffee Culture: Are Neighborhood Cafes the First Sign of Gentrification?

By Michelle Cohen

From “coffices” to lab-like minimalist gourmet coffee meccas to cozy neighborhood hangouts, neighborhood cafes are a fine example of the essential “third place” mentioned in discussions of community dynamics: that place, neither work nor home, where regulars gather and everyone’s welcome. Along with yoga studios, art galleries, community gardens, vintage clothing shops, restaurants with pedigreed owners and adventurous menus and, some say, a change in the offerings on local grocery shelves, cafes are often the earliest sign of neighborhood change. The neighborhood cafe serves as a testing ground for community cohesiveness while adventurous entrepreneurs test the still-unfamiliar waters around them. Beyond the literal gesture of offering sustenance, cafes provide a place where you can actually see who your neighbors are and appreciate the fact that at least some of them are willing to make an investment locally.
Get a fleeting glimpse of old New York City cafe culture in the West Village, meet the future of coffee distribution in Red Hook.

August 13, 2014

Spanx Founder Sara Blakely Makes $18 Million Profit on 15 Central Park West Apartment Sale

By Annie Doge

That's right, $18 million. According to city records, Spanx founder and self-made billionaire Sara Blakely sold her apartment at 15 Central Park West for $30 million, almost triple the $12.11 million she paid for it in 2008. The sale comes on the heels of CityRealty releasing its CityRealty 100 list of most expensive homes in the city, on which 15 Central Park West is listed first. The prestigious, Robert A.M. Stern-designed building has an average price per square foot of $6,288 (the Time Warner Center, which came in second has an average of $4,689) and it also holds the priciest condo sale through the second quarter of 2014 at $48 million.
More about Blakely's highly profitable sale

Search Results for: washington heights

Pitch a Story

Interested in seeing the property in person?

Interested in seeing the property in person?

Distinctive Post Form

Get in Touch

Send us a Tip

Interesting in learning more about purchasing a new home?

Thinking about selling your home?

Sell a Home (Footer)

Before You Move On from this Page.

Your Passport to NYC:Subscribe for Local Insights and Stories!

Before You Move On
from this Page.

Your Passport to NYC:
Subscribe for Local Insights and Stories!