Manhattan

Images courtesy of the NYC Department of Transportation

November 18, 2024

More public space opens under the Brooklyn Bridge in Manhattan

New Yorkers can now enjoy more public space under the Brooklyn Bridge in Manhattan. The latest phase of "The Arches" opened on Monday, adding 15,000 square feet of park space to an area closed to the public for more than a decade, the city's Department of Transportation announced. The space, now with lush greenery and new seating, had been closed for nearly 15 years while serving as a staging site for several bridge restoration projects. The Arches sits next to the Brooklyn Banks, a haven for skateboarders that partially reopened last year.
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Upper West Side’s Metro Theater may finally reopen

Photo by london road on Flickr

November 15, 2024

Upper West Side’s Metro Theater may finally reopen

By Aaron Ginsburg

A landmarked Upper West Side movie theater that has been vacant for nearly two decades may soon be returned to its former glory—as long as its buyers can raise $7 million by the end of the year. As reported by the New York Times, the nonprofit Upper West Side Cinema Center on Friday announced it reached a deal with the current owners of the Metro Theater, located on Broadway near 99th Street, to purchase the theater, contingent on securing the required funds.
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City Living

This $8.75M Village townhouse is a downtown dream home with an elevator, three terraces, and a rooftop office suite

Photo credit: DD-reps

November 15, 2024

This $8.75M Village townhouse is a downtown dream home with an elevator, three terraces, and a rooftop office suite

By Michelle Cohen

If your idea of the perfect home is a historic townhouse in the West Village, you're definitely not alone. This two-family home at 12 Leroy Street embodies the dream with 4,300 square feet of tranquil interior space in the endlessly charming vicinity of Bleecker and Bedford Streets. Asking $8,750,000, the 20-foot-wide property consists of a garden apartment and four renovated upper floors accessible via private elevator, several terraces, and a suitably enchanting landscaped garden in the rear.
Village townhouse tour, this way

Distinctive Homes

Photo credit: Celeste Godoy Photography

November 14, 2024

For $5.8M, this Fifth Avenue co-op has ‘Mad Men’-era vibes and Central Park views

By Michelle Cohen

With its mid-20th-century sophistication and sleek design, this one-bedroom co-op at 825 Fifth Avenue, currently owned by an art collector, offers the classic Manhattan elegance of a bygone age, but the Central Park views from this covetable Upper East Side address are timeless. The apartment, asking $5,795,000, is set up as a showcase of art and design for a busy city lifestyle.
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Distinctive Homes

For $25M, a Flatiron penthouse in a golden cupola, with Manhattan at your feet

Photo credit: Eitan Gamliely for Sotheby’s International Realty

November 13, 2024

For $25M, a Flatiron penthouse in a golden cupola, with Manhattan at your feet

By Michelle Cohen

If you're asking $25 million for a Manhattan condo, even if it's a mansion-sized penthouse with Empire State Building views and a Fifth Avenue address, it had better occupy a gilded sky dome atop a neighborhood landmark. With that qualification met, this extravagant duplex atop the Sohmer Piano Building at 170 Fifth Avenue–the listing calls it a "Renaissance rocket ship"–has more grand gestures to offer: The seller, entrepreneur Greg Carr, has pledged the home's sale proceeds toward his highly-regarded philanthropic project, the rebuilding of a decimated national wildlife park in Mozambique.
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Distinctive Homes

Photo credit: Oleg Davidoff Photographer Co.

November 12, 2024

A Victoria’s Secret model’s angelic East Village flat with a solarium and terrace asks $2.9M

By Michelle Cohen

This three-bedroom "condop" in the East Village at 50 Avenue A would be a heavenly home even without the added cachet of being home to former Victoria's Secret model Shannan Click. Asking $2,900,000, the light-filled flat is an all-weather oasis, with an 880-square-foot terrace and a glass-clad solarium for basking in the sunlight.
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Distinctive Homes

Saks Fifth Avenue cancels holiday light show

Credit: Matt Kieffer on Flickr

November 12, 2024

Saks Fifth Avenue cancels holiday light show

By Aaron Ginsburg

For the first time in nearly two decades, Saks Fifth Avenue's holiday light show—a beloved New York City tradition—will go dark this year. As first reported by the New York Post, the festive experience, which attracts hordes of holiday shoppers and tourists to Midtown, has been canceled this year to save money during what has been a "challenging year" for luxury stores, according to the company.
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Events & Things To Do

Everything you need to know about the 2024 Veterans Day Parade in NYC

Photo by Sgt. Randall A. Clinton for MarineCorps New York on Flickr

November 8, 2024

Everything you need to know about the 2024 Veterans Day Parade in NYC

By Aaron Ginsburg

This year's Veterans Day returns to New York City on Monday, November 11. As the country's largest Veterans Day commemoration, the event features 20,000 marchers and over 150 vehicles traveling down Fifth Avenue in tribute to our armed forces. The 105th annual parade starts at 12:30 p.m. at 26th Street and Fifth Avenue and heads north until ending at 47th Street. The United States Marine Corps is this year's featured service.
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Events & Things To Do

Color, texture, and pre-war details define this decorator’s dream of a $4.85M Village co-op

Photo credit: Yoo Jean Han for Sotheby’s International Realty

November 7, 2024

Color, texture, and pre-war details define this decorator’s dream of a $4.85M Village co-op

By Michelle Cohen

This freshly renovated Greenwich Village co-op has interior designer Katie Ridder to thank for the just-right mix of sophisticated patterns, textures, and powdery pastel hues that grace every room. Updates to the two-bedroom duplex at 45 East 9th Street, asking $4,850,000, go beyond aesthetics with central air conditioning, new windows, pantry, bathrooms, laundry facilities, and a newly-minted kitchen. The building is known for its design showcase homes and notable residents like Vogue editor Hamish Bowles and "Sex and the City" writer Candace Bushnell.
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Distinctive Homes

$50M penthouse is the last residence available at the Upper East Side’s famed Surrey Hotel

All renderings courtesy of Noë & Associates with V1

November 7, 2024

$50M penthouse is the last residence available at the Upper East Side’s famed Surrey Hotel

By Aaron Ginsburg

Manhattan's famed Surrey Hotel is making a comeback. Following bankruptcy proceedings, new owners, and a renovation, the 100-year-old Art Deco landmark at 20 East 76th Street on the Upper East Side reopened last month as a condo hotel, with 100 hotel rooms and 14 condos, part of the Surrey Residences. Now, after a whisper sales campaign, just one remaining apartment is about to hit the market: a three-bedroom duplex penthouse asking $50,000,000. The sprawling residence, the building's most expensive, offers 5,195 square feet plus 2,346 square feet across three terraces and a private rooftop.
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For $20.5M, West Village townhouse meets suburban mansion behind a historic facade

Photo credit: MW Studios for Sotheby’s International Realty

November 5, 2024

For $20.5M, West Village townhouse meets suburban mansion behind a historic facade

By Michelle Cohen

If you're looking for a massive mansion with a West Village address, this five-story townhouse at 763 Greenwich Street, asking $20,500,000, has you covered. Behind a charming brick facade on a historic block, the home's interiors reflect pitch-perfect contemporary style courtesy of AD100 designer Stephen Gambrel, framed by coveted period details. A backyard and a rooftop terrace bring outdoor living to the table, and it's all accessible by a convenient elevator.
step into the elevator for a five-floor tour

Distinctive Homes

The Frick to reopen in April after renovation of Upper East Side mansion

The Frick Collection from East 70th Street; rendering courtesy of Selldorf Architects

November 4, 2024

The Frick to reopen in April after renovation of Upper East Side mansion

By Aaron Ginsburg

The Frick Collection is set to reopen its newly renovated historic home at 1 East 70th Street on the Upper East Side in April 2025. The renovation, designed by Selldorf Architects, will provide a fresh and exciting way to experience the museum's legendary collections, featuring revitalized historic spaces, new amenities, and expanded galleries, including public access to the mansion's second floor for the first time. During the renovation, the museum temporarily resided in the iconic Breuer Building from 2021 until March 2024.
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Updated Midtown South rezoning plan could create nearly 10,000 new homes

8th Avenue below 40th Street. Photo © Ondel Hylton

November 1, 2024

Updated Midtown South rezoning plan could create nearly 10,000 new homes

By Aaron Ginsburg

New zoning tools will allow the city to build bigger apartment buildings in Midtown Manhattan, doubling the new housing units permitted under a proposed rezoning. The Department of City Planning on Thursday released an updated draft of the Midtown South rezoning plan to incorporate floor area ratio (FAR) caps of 15 to 18, enabled by the state's recent repeal of the 12 FAR cap. This change allows larger developments and roughly 9,700 new homes, up from a previous estimate of 4,000, in a 42-block area of Midtown where housing development has been largely prohibited.
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Kenny Scharf’s painted swings at Luna Luna in Los Angeles. Credit: Joshua White/Luna Luna, LLC

November 1, 2024

Resurrected avant-garde art carnival Luna Luna opens this month at The Shed at Hudson Yards

By Michelle Cohen

Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy, the world’s first art amusement park, is coming to The Shed at Hudson Yards this month. Lost to time since its debut in Hamburg, Germany in 1987, the avant-garde art carnival is being recreated to dazzle, delight, and perplex 21st-century visitors in New York City after a spectacular resurrection in Los Angeles earlier this year. You'll be able to experience the original colorful, surreal riot of carnival rides and immersive attractions created by iconic 20th-century art stars like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, David Hockney, Salvador Dalí, Roy Lichtenstein, and more.
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Events & Things To Do

‘Canstruction’ returns: NYC’s large-scale can sculpture contest kicks off in FiDi

All photos courtesy of Heidi Lee

October 30, 2024

‘Canstruction’ returns: NYC’s large-scale can sculpture contest kicks off in FiDi

By Aaron Ginsburg

"Canstruction," the beloved annual competition challenging teams of architects, engineers, and contractors to create intricate sculptures from cans, is returning for another year. As part of the contest, participants create large-scale structures using unopened food cans, all of which are donated to City Harvest, New York City's largest food rescue organization, and distributed to food pantries afterward. Hosted at Brookfield Place, the event is free and open to the public, running from October 31 through November 11.
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Events & Things To Do

‘Smart Curbs’ program to optimize curb space on the Upper West Side

Images courtesy of NYC DOT

October 29, 2024

‘Smart Curbs’ program to optimize curb space on the Upper West Side

By Aaron Ginsburg

The streets of the Upper West Side will soon better suit community needs as part of a new initiative by the Department of Transportation. DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez on Monday announced the launch of the agency's "Smart Curbs" pilot program on the Upper West Side, which will modernize the streets by adding neighborhood loading zones, bike corrals, and other amenities and policies to create cleaner, more vibrant, and less congested public spaces from West 86th to West 72nd Streets, between Broadway and Central Park West.
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Adams proposes Meatpacking District development with 600 apartments, open space, and Whitney Museum expansion

Photo by Elvert Barnes on Flickr

October 28, 2024

Adams proposes Meatpacking District development with 600 apartments, open space, and Whitney Museum expansion

By Devin Gannon

Mayor Eric Adams on Monday unveiled a proposal to replace a Manhattan meat market with a mixed-use development with 600 apartments. The vision, dubbed Gansevoort Square, involves partially building on the lot of the Gansevoort Market Co-Op at the corner of Little West 12th Street and 10th Avenue in the Meatpacking District. The project calls for 600 mixed-income housing units, 300 of which could be affordable, a new open pavilion, and a possible expansion of the Whitney Museum of American Art.
details here

New Developments

MTA releases Olivia Rodrigo MetroCards as second-to-last custom card

Credit: Rahul Bhatt

October 28, 2024

MTA releases Olivia Rodrigo MetroCards as second-to-last custom card

By Aaron Ginsburg

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has released its second-to-last limited-edition MetroCard before fully transitioning to the tap-and-go OMNY system. In collaboration with Sony, the special cards will feature pop star Olivia Rodrigo wearing the new Sony Linkbuds in her signature purple aesthetic. The MTA on Monday loaded machines at seven subway stations across the city with 50,000 limited-edition cards.
find out where to get them

This year’s Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree comes from Massachusetts

Photo courtesy of Tishman Speyer

October 28, 2024

This year’s Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree comes from Massachusetts

By Aaron Ginsburg

This year's Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree has been unveiled. The 74-foot-tall Norway Spruce hails from West Stockbridge in Massachusetts—the first tree sourced from the state since 1959—and will be cut down on Thursday, November 7, and make its journey to Manhattan. The spruce arrives at Rockefeller Center on Saturday, November 9. Following the tree's decoration with thousands of twinkling lights and its iconic Swarovski star, the annual tree lighting ceremony takes place on Wednesday, December 4.
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Events & Things To Do

Fifth Avenue’s tallest condo tower, 520 Fifth Avenue, tops out at 1,002 feet

Renderings courtesy of Binyan Studios unless otherwise noted.

October 28, 2024

Fifth Avenue’s tallest condo tower, 520 Fifth Avenue, tops out at 1,002 feet

By Aaron Ginsburg

The tallest residential tower on Fifth Avenue has officially topped out. Developed by Rabina and designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF), the 88-story mixed-use tower at 520 Fifth Avenue has topped out at 1,002 feet, making it the second tallest structure on the iconic corridor after the Empire State Building. Slated for completion in 2025, the elegant skyscraper will feature boutique office floors on the lower levels, with luxury condos beginning on the 42nd floor.
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New Developments

World Trade Center to host free viewing parties for Yankees Dodgers World Series

Babe Ruth batting in an exhibition game between the Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers, April 1934. Image via WikiCommons

October 25, 2024

World Trade Center to host free viewing parties for Yankees Dodgers World Series

By Aaron Ginsburg

In partnership with Major League Baseball, the World Trade Center will host free viewing parties of the 2024 World Series as the New York Yankees face the Los Angeles Dodgers. Kicking off Friday for game one, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will show the games on a massive screen at the North Oculus Plaza on the World Trade Center campus. Attendees can enjoy food and beverages from the nearby Oculus Beer Garden, as well as offerings from Westfield World Trade Center shops and restaurants.
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Events & Things To Do

Landmarked East Harlem public library reopens after $34M renovation

All photos courtesy of New York Public Library/Jonathan Blanc unless otherwise noted

October 25, 2024

Landmarked East Harlem public library reopens after $34M renovation

By Aaron Ginsburg

After a three-year $34.4 million renovation, a landmarked New York Public Library branch in East Harlem is reopening this month. Designed by McKim, Mead & White in 1904, the building at 224 East 125th Street had fallen into disrepair and had been closed since 2021. The revamped building will celebrate its reopening on October 30 at 10 a.m.
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$4.5M Central Park West duplex in Hotel des Artistes gets color just right

Photo credit: Real Estate Production Network for Sotheby’s International Realty

October 24, 2024

$4.5M Central Park West duplex in Hotel des Artistes gets color just right

By Michelle Cohen

With its Gothic-style facade and rich history of being home to notable New Yorkers, the Hotel des Artistes co-op at 1 West 67th Street is a Manhattan icon. This freshly renovated 1,800-square-foot duplex was converted to a one-bedroom home with gracious proportions and luxurious details, highlighted by a perfectly curated color palette. Asking $4,495,000, the decidedly not-beige pre-war home comes with a separate guest/staff room on the same floor.
a stylish rainbow, this way

Distinctive Homes

Judge orders Rudy Giuliani to give up Upper East Side penthouse

45 East 66th Street. Photo by Epicgenius via Wikimedia Commons

October 23, 2024

Judge orders Rudy Giuliani to give up Upper East Side penthouse

By Devin Gannon

Rudy Giuliani must turn over his valuable possessions, including his Upper East Side penthouse, as part of a $148 million defamation lawsuit the former mayor lost in 2023, a judge ruled this week. In Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, Judge Lewis Liman said the former New York City mayor and lawyer for Donald Trump has seven days to transfer the possessions, which include, in addition to the apartment at 45 East 66th Street, a Mercedes-Benz, several watches, a signed Joe DiMaggio jersey, and more, to the two Georgia election officials he defamed, CNN reported.
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This $3.15M co-op embodies East Village cool, all grown up

Photo courtesy of Brown Harris Stevens

October 23, 2024

This $3.15M co-op embodies East Village cool, all grown up

By Michelle Cohen

In a pre-war co-op building on classically chic East 6th Street, this three-bedroom residence captures the enduring charm of the neighborhood with sophisticated style. Asking $3,150,000, the creatively designed home at 232 East 6th Street is filled with striking features like bespoke floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, decorative wallpaper, and a full spectrum of paint hues, adding up to a rock-star look that's more polished than punk. As an additional perk, a full-sized laundry room ups the storage game beyond what you'd expect to find in the neighborhood.
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Whitney Museum to give free admission to all visitors 25 and under

Credit: Filip Wolak

October 22, 2024

Whitney Museum to give free admission to all visitors 25 and under

By Aaron Ginsburg

The Whitney Museum of American Art will begin offering free admission for all visitors 25 and under starting in mid-December. The new program builds upon the museum's free admission on Fridays and the second Sunday of every month, which launched in January.
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Events & Things To Do

Spring + Thompson

83 Thompson Street

Soho

Loft-like residences in Soho designed by Selldorf Architects

2 beds starting at $4,975,000
4 beds starting at $14,850,000

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Manhattan

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