All articles by Dana Schulz

Dana is a writer and preservationist with a passion for all things New York.  After graduating from New York University with a BA in Urban Design & Architecture Studies, she worked at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, where she planned the organization's public programs and wrote for their blog Off the Grid. In her free time, she leads walking tours about the social and cultural history of city neighborhoods. Follow her on Twitter @danaschulzNYC.
February 11, 2017

The Urban Lens: Sam Golanski gives Park Avenue doormen their moment in the spotlight

6sqft’s ongoing series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Sam Golanski gives Park Avenue doormen their moment in the spotlight. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Sam Golanski grew up in a small town in Poland, but has been residing in Manchester, U.K. since 2005. Though he thinks New York is "a tough place to live," he fell in love with its energy as a child watching films set in Manhattan from the '60s and '70s. Now all grown up, he comes to New York frequently to visit friends and work on his urban and social photography projects ("I have to admit I shredded a few pairs of shoes by just walking up and down for days everywhere with my camera bags," he says). In his series "Park Avenue Doormen," Sam gives the men who safeguard the Upper East Side's ritziest buildings an opportunity to step from behind the velvet ropes and in front of the camera.
See all the photos
February 10, 2017

It may cost NYC taxpayers up to $28M to clean up yesterday’s snow storm

For fiscal year 2017, the city budgeted $88 million for snow removal and has already spent $26 million. But yesterday's dump of the white stuff could bring that number up to $54 million. DNAinfo reports that Comptroller Scott Stringer estimates it could cost NYC taxpayers between $19.9 and $27.9 million to dig out from Winter Storm Niko, which is based on the average of $1.99 million per inch of snow that the city has paid over the past 14 years.
Find out more
February 9, 2017

Mapping where undocumented immigrants live in America

Of the estimated 11.1 million undocumented immigrants living across the U.S., 6.8 million or 61 percent live in just 20 metro areas, according to an analysis of the Census Bureau’s 2014 American Community Survey by the Pew Research Center. And as CityLab points out, this is an extremely high concentration considering just 36 percent of the country's total population lives in these areas. The highest population is, not surprisingly, right here in the New York-Newark-Jersey City area, with 1.15 unauthorized immigrants calling these cities home. We're followed by the Los Angeles area with 1 million residents, but after that it drops drastically to 575,000 immigrants in Houston.
Learn more here
February 9, 2017

Buy a tiny ‘Seinfeld’ apartment for $400; Greta Van Susteren ditched Midtown penthouse along with Fox News

An artist worked with the original production designer of “Seinfeld” to create a miniature version of Jerry’s apartment. The $400 model features more than 100 tiny elements. [Gothamist] For one week, Times Square is getting a Pop-Tarts cafe, complete with personal Pop-Tarts pizzas and burritos. [TONY] After a year and a half on the rental market, the […]

February 9, 2017

Proposed East Harlem mixed-use development may contain city’s tallest building with affordable housing

Looking to take advantage of the newly opened Second Avenue Subway stop at 96th Street, the New York City Educational Construction Fund and AvalonBay Communities are working their way through the city approval process to build a 1.14 million-square foot, full-block, mixed-use development in East Harlem. CityRealty tells us that the project located at 321 East 96th Street would hold two new school buildings for three different local schools, 20,000 square feet of retail space, a rebuilt playground, and a 68-story, 760-foot residential tower that would offer between 1,100 and 1,200 units and possibly become the city's tallest building to contain affordable housing (roughly 330 below-market rate units).
More details and renderings
February 9, 2017

VIDEO: How a man lives and works in a 78-square-foot Hell’s Kitchen ‘studio’

The going rate for a Hell's Kitchen studio is upwards of $2,000/month, but when now 32-year-old Luke Clark Tyler moved into his pad in 2011, he signed a lease for only $750. This might sound like a bargain, but the freelance designer/architect is living (and working!) in an astonishingly small 78 square feet, which by Sharably's account is the smallest apartment in America. And when you break that down by price per square foot, he's actually paying almost twice as much as the neighborhood average. But nevertheless, Tyler is happy to have the extra cash to enjoy the many dance performances in his 'hood and says that after living tiny for more than five years, "we adapt very easily as people."
Let Luke give you a tour of his VERY humble abode
February 8, 2017

Greenpoint laundromat charges double to wash Trump clothes; inside NYC’s new luxury meditation studio

A Greenpoint laundromat adds a 100 percent surcharge for orders that “include garments bearing the Trump brand name.” [Brokelyn] At $18 a pop, the cups of coffee at Alpha Dominche’s Extraction Lab in Sunset Park are the country’s most expensive. [Gothamist] Inscape, a new luxury meditation studio in Flatiron, was designed as a cross between “4th […]

February 8, 2017

10 alternative Valentine’s Day events for urbanists, historians, and art lovers

Roses and chocolate are nice, but why go the traditional route when the city has so much more to offer for Valentine's Day. Show your significant other, spouse, or best friend how much they mean to you with one of these ten alternative events that 6sqft rounded up throughout the city. From a wastewater treatment plant tour, to after-hours museum visits, to a romantic evening at the planetarium, these are the perfect ideas for urbanists, historians, and art lovers.
All the events this way
February 8, 2017

The city’s struggling garment industry finds a new home in Sunset Park

At its peak in 1950, the city's garment industry employed 323,669 New Yorkers. By 2000, this number had dropped to 59,049, and in 2015, it was less than half that with just 22,626 residents "making apparel, accessories, and finished textile products," reports the Times. The struggling trade, long centered in the area bound by 5th/9th Avenues and 35th/41st Streets, has fallen victim not only to national trends of work being shipped overseas, but local issues like rising rents, outdated facilities, and competition from tech and media companies. But thanks to a collaboration between the city and the Council of Fashion Designers of America, a "new, modern garment district" is taking hold in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, where several industrial conversions offer cheaper rents, better equipped real estate, and a creative, collaborative community
Much more on the shift
February 7, 2017

Governor Cuomo reveals new details about LED light shows coming to NYC bridges and tunnels

"This is very exciting. This project is going to blow people away," Governor Cuomo told the Post about his plan to outfit the city's bridges and tunnels with multi-colored, energy-efficient LED lighting systems. In fact, he went so far as to say that these toll crossings would become the city's newest tourist attraction. Part of his larger $500 million New York Harbor Crossings Project, the lighting program called "The City That Never Sleeps" will take on different colors and patterns, be choreographed with music for holidays and events, and be visible from miles away.
More new details ahead
February 7, 2017

High Line hopes to correct its mistakes in inequality; Work starts at Extell’s CityPoint tower

High Line co-founder Robert Hammond says they “failed” at creating a place for the neighborhood. Here’s how he’s course-correcting in NYC and around the world. [CityLab] The Port Authority has issued an RFP for an engineering firm to lead work on the new LaGuardia AirTrain. [Commercial Observer] Keith Haring’s sister created a picture book so children […]

February 7, 2017

Massive Sendero Verde project will bring 655 affordable ‘passive house’ rentals to East Harlem

A massive, mixed-use development is moving ahead in East Harlem, reports Politico, as the city has selected Jonathan Rose Companies to work with L+M Development Partners on the 751,000-square-foot project. Dubbed Sendero Verde ("green pathway"), the site is located on the block bound by East 111th and 112th Streets and Park and Madison Avenues, and it will create 655 affordable passive house apartments, as well as a YMCA, job training center, 85,000-square-foot DREAM charter school, space for the local non-profit Union Settlement, a grocery store, restaurant, and preventative health care facility run by Mount Sinai.
All the details ahead
February 7, 2017

City continues push to raise fee for Theater District air rights transfers

In November, the City Planning Commission voted to raise the cost of air rights transfers in the Theater District, allowing the city to take a 20 percent cut of any sales and establishing a minimum floor price of $346, a roughly 400 percent increase over the current $17.60 flat fee that they feel will be more in line with current property values. Despite vocal opposition from the Real Estate Board of New York, who back Theater District landlords and believe the increase is "is onerous, excessive and unfair," this month the Commission is hoping to have the proposal approved by the City Council, reports Crain's.
Find out more
February 7, 2017

Five chances to live in burgeoning East Harlem for $985/month

With the Second Avenue Subway sending Upper East Side real estate prices climbing as far north as 96th Street, East Harlem's upward trajectory is sure to only heat up. The former El Barrio has been on the cusp of gentrification since a 2003, 57-block rezoning that increased density allowances along First, Second, and Third Avenues, spurring a bevy of new residential projects. One such development is 2139 Third Avenue, a modern, 21-unit rental at the corner of 117th Street, which just launched its affordable housing lottery for five $985/month one-bedroom units, available to one- or two-person households earning no more than 60 percent of the area median income.
Have a look at the interiors
February 6, 2017

New Stuyvesant Town lottery opens for middle-income units from $2,805/month

It's been almost a year since Stuyvesant Town opened a 15,000-name wait list for its affordable apartments, and they've now launched another lottery, this time for households earning between $84,150 and $149,490 annually. The availabilities are spread throughout Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village and include $2,805/month one-bedrooms and $3,366/month two-bedrooms.
Find out more
February 6, 2017

The real Bowling Green Massacre of 1643; Anthony Bourdain wants food hall to evoke ‘Blade Runner’

There was a Bowling Green Massacre, but in 1643 when European soldiers and settlers killed dozen of Lenape people in southern Manhattan. [Indian Country Media Network] Is Snapchat the new way to rent apartments? [NYP] Icelandic pop star Björk got $2.2 million for her historic home in the upstate celebrity enclave Snedens Landing. [Variety] The Department […]

February 6, 2017

BKSK Architects share new renderings of artsy, boutique Noho condo 22 Bond

It's been a long time since Noho went from a creative warehouse district, home to the likes of Basquiat and Warhol, to a trendy enclave full of multi million-dollar lofts and Michelin-starred restaurants, but the 'hood has seen a recent influx of new boutique residential buildings, specifically 22 Bond, which may be the overall embodiment of the area. The 11-story condo offers only six units that begin at $9.8 million, but BKSK Architects' purposeful inclusion of large-scale art, both in the lobby and on the building itself, keep the neighborhood's creative history in play. The project has now launched its official page, which bring us new looks at its facades, art work, and interiors.
All the renderings and details ahead
February 6, 2017

Construction update: Domino Sugar Factory tower tops off and gets its skybridge

Things are moving ahead swiftly at the Domino Sugar Factory since Two Trees broke ground at the three million-square-foot Williamsburg mega-development last spring. In November, the lottery opened for 104 affordable units at 325 Kent Avenue, the first building at the site. Designed by SHoP Architects, who are also responsible for the project's entire master plan, the $200 million tower has now topped off at 16 stories, and the skybridge connecting its two wings has also gone up. CityRealty paid a visit to the construction site and got a look at these new views, as well as the copper cladding that's taken shape on the lower face of the building.
See it all here
February 3, 2017

Support the ACLU with your weekend coffee; Frederick Douglass and NYC’s Underground Railroad

Today through Sunday, coffee shops throughout NYC and the country are partnering with the ACLU to donate proceeds and match contributions. [Sprudge] The history of how David Ruggles’ Tribeca home was a stop on the Underground Railroad that first welcomed Frederick Douglass to New York. [Bowery Boys] This breakfast station is a coffee maker, toaster, and […]

February 3, 2017

11 chances to live in the heart of Murray Hill for as low as $833/month

A little over two years ago, Charles Blaichman’s CB Developers began construction on a 19-story, mixed-use building at 210 East 39th Street. Designed by Rawlings Architects, the Murray Hill building has a ground-floor retail podium, glassy second-story amenity space, and terra cotta rainscreen-clad frame. In all, there will be 57 rental units, 11 of which are set aside for those earning no more than 60 percent of the area media income. These affordable apartments include one $833/month studio, seven $895/month one-bedrooms, and three $1,082/month two-bedrooms.
Find out more about the building and the lottery
February 3, 2017

Jared-less Kushner Companies readies for construction at DUMBO’s Jehovah’s Witness parking lot

Despite the fact that Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner stepped down as CEO of Kushner Companies in order to transition from developer to full-time presidential advisor, his family's firm is moving ahead with their big plans at a three-acre parking lot in DUMBO. Just over a month ago, the joint partnership among Kushner, LIVWRK, and CIM Group paid $345 million to the Jehovah’s Witnesses for the site at 85 Jay Street, which brought Kushner's total investment in the area to more than $1 billion. CityRealty recently visited the site and found that they've ceased parking operations and moved construction equipment onsite.
All the details ahead
February 2, 2017

Construction update: Tishman Speyer’s trio of Long Island City rental towers

Of the 30+ under-construction and proposed projects in Long Island City, many of the tallest and bulkiest are located near Queens Plaza, including this trio of slab-glass rental towers from Tishman Speyer and H&R Real Estate Investment Trust that will bring nearly 1,800 new apartments to the area. The residential buildings--located at 28-34 Jackson Avenue, 28-10 Jackson Avenue and 30-02 Queens Boulevard--are directly adjacent to Tishman's two-towered commercial venture that will be home to WeWork, Macy's, and a food hall. CityRealty recently stopped by the construction to see how things are shaping up at the rentals, which from the looks of it are well on their way to welcoming in LIC's newest batch of residents.
Find out more this way
February 2, 2017

Mixed-use affordable housing complex in the Bronx will feature Hunts Point Brewery and LightBox film studio

A few months ago, 6sqft shared the first rendering of the Peninsula, a $300 million mixed-use complex slated to replace the Spofford Juvenile Detention Center in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx. We learned that the five-acre site will hold 740 affordable apartments, open and recreational areas, light industrial space, community facilities like health care providers and artist workspace, and retail/commercial space. In addition to new conceptual renderings from WXY Architecture + Urban Design, the development team has now revealed details on who the borough-based commercial tenants will be, and they include Hunts Point Brewing Company, Il Forno Bakery, and LightBox-NY film studio.
More details and renderings