All articles by Devin Gannon

June 16, 2017

Trump hires family party planner Lynne Patton to run NY housing programs

President Trump appointed family friend Lynne Patton on Wednesday to oversee New York’s federal housing programs, despite her clear lack of housing experience. Patton, who formerly arranged tournaments at Trump’s golf courses and planned Eric Trump’s wedding, will head up the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Region II, which includes New York and New Jersey, and will oversee the distribution of billions of taxpayer dollars. As reported by the Daily News, Patton’s relationship with the Trump family dates back to 2009 when she first began as their event planner.
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June 15, 2017

Overcrowded NYC Ferry needs more boats to keep up with demand

By Devin Gannon

As 6sqft covered last month, the city’s ferry service, which launched May 1, has been so popular that frustrated passengers often face delays, long lines and overcrowding when trying to board. While officials had anticipated demand on the weekends for the NYC Ferry to be high, they did not expect how much this demand would “outstrip supply,” as the New York Times reported. To meet demand, the city will charter two extra boats that will carry 400 people to serve the summer weekend crowds.
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Transit

June 15, 2017

City announces $106M plan to keep neighborhoods cool this summer

By Devin Gannon

After a few days of extreme heat, Mayor de Blasio launched a $106 million initiative on Wednesday to protect New Yorkers from the risks of dangerously high temperatures this summer. The Cool Neighborhoods program aims to lessen the effects of the “urban heat island effect,” a problem that occurs in New York City due to its abundance of heat-holding asphalt and concrete and lack of greenery. According to Gothamist, to reduce heat-related health risks and deaths, the city plans on planting more trees on streets and in parks, supporting forest restoration efforts and painting roofs of homes in vulnerable areas with reflective white paints.
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June 15, 2017

Architect claims SOM stole his design for One World Trade Center

By Devin Gannon

An architect from Georgia sued architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) on Wednesday for allegedly stealing his design for One World Trade Center. Jeehoon Park says the firm has unfairly taken credit for the tower, a design he says he developed in 1999 as a graduate student at the Illinois Institute of Technology, as the New York Post reported. At 1,776 feet high, One World Trade Center, also known as the Freedom Tower, is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and the sixth tallest in the world.
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Policy

June 14, 2017

New York City’s iconic architecture comes to life on this skyline chess board

By Devin Gannon

A new chess set lets you checkmate with New York City’s skyline. Developed by Skyline Chess, a company founded by two London-based architects, the game pieces capture the city’s early 1900s construction boom and the expansion of skyscraper architecture, along with more contemporary and recognizable structures. As contemporist discovered, the pieces are silhouettes of buildings like One World Trade Center, the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Flatiron Building, Guggenheim Museum, and traditional brownstones.
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June 14, 2017

84 affordable units up for grabs in Jamaica, Queens, from $368/month

By Devin Gannon

With several large-scale development projects in the works, like a new luxury complex with 100,00 square feet of retail and a 24-story Hilton Garden Inn, the neighborhood of Jamaica is undergoing some changes. Applications are currently being accepted for 84 affordable apartments in the Pavilion at Locust Manor, a newly constructed housing development located at 171-04 Baisley Boulevard. New Yorkers earning 30, 40, 50, 60 and 100 percent of the area median income can apply to units ranging from studios for $368 per month to two bedrooms for $1,511 per month.
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Affordable Housing

90 years ago, Charles Lindbergh received a ticker-tape parade in NYC

Photo courtesy of PBS

June 13, 2017

90 years ago, Charles Lindbergh received a ticker-tape parade in NYC

By Devin Gannon

On this day in 1927, the city of New York honored famed aviator Charles “Lucky Lindy” Lindbergh with a ticker-tape parade to celebrate his May 21st flight in the Spirit of St. Louis, the first solo airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean. At just 25 years old, Lindbergh flew nonstop from New York to Paris, and according to the New York Times, an estimated four million people attended the ticker-tape parade throughout the city to celebrate his journey.
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History

MTA finally details its plan to deal with Penn Station repairs

Image by Kev Harb via flickr

June 13, 2017

MTA finally details its plan to deal with Penn Station repairs

By Devin Gannon

Image by Kev Harb via flickrWith six weeks of infrastructure repairs at Penn Station beginning in July, the “summer of hell” for commuters is quickly approaching. In response, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has finally announced its plan to deal with Amtrak’s plan to close some of the station’s 21 tracks for renovations. As Crain’s reported, the MTA will shift three nighttime trains to rush hour and add about 36 cars, while also offering transit alternatives like ferry and bus services. The shutdown will force the MTA to cancel or divert 15-weekday trains between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m., affecting nearly 9,600 LIRR morning commuters, set to begin July 10.
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June 13, 2017

New hotline lets tenants report illegal Airbnb listings

By Devin Gannon

In an attempt to crack down on illegal short-term rentals, Mayor de Blasio’s budget for the fiscal year 2018 allocates $1.6 million to expand the city’s Office of Special Enforcement, the department that inspects and fines landlords who rent entire apartments for fewer than 30 days. Adding to these efforts, an anti-Airbnb coalition made up of public officials and housing organizations/unions created a hotline for New York City tenants to report any illegal rentals, as reported by the Daily News. Beginning today, ShareBetter will start receiving actionable complaints.
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Policy

June 12, 2017

Controversy builds over proposed elevated path in Central Park

By Devin Gannon

Central Park’s Belvedere Castle will undergo major renovations beginning this summer and early fall, to fix the 146-year-old structure’s cracked pavement, leaking roof and plumbing issues. While the plan to give the castle a face-lift was approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission last month, the plan to make its path handicap-accessible has not yet been approved. According to the New York Times, preservationists are concerned about the Central Park Conservancy’s proposal to build a ramp-like elevated walkway to the castle’s entrance, saying it would alter the experience of Central Park.
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Site of East Village gas explosion sells for $9.15M

By Devin Gannon

In March 2015, an explosion caused by an illegal tap into the gas main destroyed three buildings and killed two people in the East Village. Last month, Maria Hrynenko, the owner of the wrecked properties at 119 and 121 Second Avenue, sold two of the lots to Yaniv Shaky Cohen’s Nexus Building Development Group Inc. for $9.15 million, according to the New York Post. The third site destroyed by the explosion at 123 Second Avenue sold last year to Ezra Wibowo for $6 million, about $4 million less than the asking price.
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Real Estate Trends

June 12, 2017

Score a middle-income apartment in the Brooklyn Cultural District’s Caesura, from $866/month

By Devin Gannon

Applications are currently being accepted for 49 middle-income units at The Caesura in Fort Greene, a rental expected to open late this summer. Located in the heart of the Brooklyn Cultural District at 280 Ashland Place, the 12-story mixed-use rental building sits just one block from the famed Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). Designed by Dattner Architects and Bernheimer Architecture, Caesura features a landscaped rooftop garden and conservatory, fitness center, bike room, community room and a shared goods or “lending library” space. New Yorkers earning 80 and 130 percent of the area median income can apply to rent units ranging from $886/month micro-units to $2,715/month two-bedrooms.
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Affordable Housing

A retro dresser inspired Beam Group’s new Bushwick condo

Rendering of 127-129 Troutman via Beam Group/ Photo via Shanna Shryne Design

June 9, 2017

A retro dresser inspired Beam Group’s new Bushwick condo

By Devin Gannon

The neighborhood of Bushwick, known for its artistic hipsters, is about to get even cooler. The Brooklyn-based firm Beam Group/ J. Goldman Design revealed plans for their project at 127-129 Troutman Street in the western part of the neighborhood. The project, designed by the firm’s Adele Schachner, is inspired by the mid-century “luck of the drawer” dresser that features an incredible tri-geometric pattern in bright colors framed by a wooden border, as CityRealty learned. Renderings show the building's exterior will be composed of both opaque and screened panels.
See the renderings here

June 9, 2017

Proposed state Senate bill would ban brokers from using ‘SoHa’ in listings

By Devin Gannon

As real estate developers and brokers continue rebranding neighborhoods with new nicknames, some community members fear this gentrifies and strips the history away from their nabes. Like NoLo (SoHo + Nolita + Lower East Side) and DoBro (Downtown Brooklyn) before it, SoHa, the new branding moniker for South Harlem, has been met with resistance from residents. According to Crain’s, newly elected state Senator Brian Benjamin, a native of Harlem, talked with so many residents that opposed the term SoHa, he has introduced a bill banning people, specifically brokers, from using the nickname as a marketing tool.
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June 8, 2017

Former Hamptons cottage of late New York Times editor Arthur Gelb asks $2.8M

By Devin Gannon

The former Water Mill home of New York Times managing editor, the late Arthur Gelb, is for sale at an asking price of $2.77 million, according to the Post. Swiss writer Rose-Marie Bordihn bought the Hamptons cottage in 2007 for $2 million. The recently restored 2,550-square-foot home boasts an acre of land, five bedrooms, and views of a pond--the perfect summer beach house.
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Distinctive Homes

De Blasio denies funding half-priced MetroCards for low-income New Yorkers

Image by Ged Carroll via flickr CC

June 8, 2017

De Blasio denies funding half-priced MetroCards for low-income New Yorkers

By Devin Gannon

Despite months of lobbying efforts by transit advocates and public officials, Mayor de Blasio declined to fund a $50 million program for half-price MetroCards for low-income riders. The mayor has previously said the city could not afford the pilot program, and also shifted the responsibility for funding the program to the state, since Governor Cuomo oversees the MTA. As the Gothamist reported, a study released by the Community Service Society of New York and the Riders Alliance, the NYPD arrested 5,137 New Yorkers for fare evasion between January and mid-March of this year, 90 percent of whom were black or Latino.
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City Planning Commission officially approves Midtown East Rezoning

Conceptual image depicting all of the proposed sites of the East Midtown rezoning fully built out, via CityRealty

June 7, 2017

City Planning Commission officially approves Midtown East Rezoning

By Devin Gannon

The City Planning Commission unanimously approved the long-awaited rezoning plan for Midtown East on Wednesday, which will rezone 78 blocks in hopes of modernizing the neighborhood. The plan, which was released last August, follows Mayor Bloomberg’s failed attempt to rezone the area in 2013. According to the Real Deal, the proposal would create 6.5 million square feet of new office space over the next twenty years. This would potentially encourage taller and more modern office towers, attracting more commercial and corporate tenants.
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Policy

The MTA considers a ‘car-free busway’ as L-train alternative

L train via Wiki Commons

June 7, 2017

The MTA considers a ‘car-free busway’ as L-train alternative

By Devin Gannon

L train via Wiki Commons To mitigate the nightmare commuters will face during the 15-month L-train shutdown, the MTA and the Department of Transportation presented four possible alternatives that would make a portion of 14th Street a car-free busway. Streetsblog NYC reported that during a Manhattan Community Board 6 meeting on Monday, the agencies laid out the following options: a standard Select Bus Service (SBS) along 14th Street, enhanced SBS that includes turn and curb restrictions, a car-free busway in the middle lanes along 14th and a river-to-river car-free busway. Agency officials predict between 75 and 85 percent of the daily 275,000 daily L riders will use other subway lines, with bus service possibly absorbing between 5-15 percent of displaced trips.
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June 7, 2017

The MetLife Building’s letters are getting a makeover

By Devin Gannon

While the Brutalist architecture of the MetLife Building, formerly the Pan Am Building, makes this 59-story skyscraper stand out among Midtown's many tall towers, its large sign touting its namesake makes it easy for all to identify. Beginning this week, the insurance company will replace the massive letters with a brand new typeface, as Crain’s reported. The installation of the new, more modern logo will be the first time the building’s sign has changed since 1993 when 15- and 18-foot-long letters spelling out MetLife replaced Pan Am’s sign. Additionally, the firm's new corporate logo--made more colorful in an attempt to shift their marketing strategy along with a new tagline "Navigating life together"--is being installed on the tower's east side.
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Architecture And Design

June 6, 2017

The National Debt Clock will move back to One Bryant Park

By Devin Gannon

While the debt continues to grow, the ticker that estimates the current national figure is temporarily coming down this month. The National Debt Clock at 1133 Sixth Avenue will be moved on June 8 to make way for a new entrance at the Durst Organization’s building just one block away to One Bryant Park (aka the Bank of America Tower), the spot where the original clock first stood, as the Post reported. Real estate developer Seymour Durst first put up the ticker on the corner of Sixth Avenue and 42nd Street in 1989, when the debt was a mere $3 trillion. Today’s debt totals over $19 trillion, with each family’s average share more than $168,000, according to data from the US Treasury.
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Uncategorized

Brooklyn developer Zproekt plans a craggy condo for East Williamsburg

Renderings created by the Vyater Group

June 6, 2017

Brooklyn developer Zproekt plans a craggy condo for East Williamsburg

By Devin Gannon

Renderings created by the Vyater Group Brooklyn real estate developers RYBAK and BK have laid out their collaborative plan for a new luxury condominium in East Williamsburg at 88 Withers Street. The building, when officially approved, will be called Element88 and will capture the neighborhood’s creative and eclectic residents. As CityRealty learned, renderings show a sculpted pile of floors, offset from one another. In addition to its 33 new residences, the building will also provide workspaces in its cellar that can be used for home offices, workshops, wine cellars or art studios.
See the electic renderings

June 5, 2017

Set up a vacation home anywhere with these pop-up smartdomes

By Devin Gannon

As a way to escape the stress of urban life, a dome construction company has created a mobile geodesic dome for do-it-yourself nature lovers. The Slovenia-based firm smartdome construction created a dome that users set up and dismantle themselves. The elevated dome can be set up almost anywhere, is built on a set of adjustable steel legs, and is made of prefabricated modules engineered for energy efficiency.
See the DIY smartdomes

June 5, 2017

An NYU project hopes to virtually track 10,000 New Yorkers for 20 years

By Devin Gannon

Beginning this fall, a research project led by a neuroeconomic professor from New York University will follow 10,000 New Yorkers for two decades in hopes of understanding the future of big data and human decision making. The Human Project, developed by Paul Glimcher, will gather a ton of data from residents, including medical records, diet, credit card transactions, social interactions, sleep, educational achievement, blood work, stool and urine samples and even more. As the New York Times reported, the goal is to create an atlas of the entire human experience. With a $15 million budget, the project hopes to start making some findings by 2020.
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Some Trump Palace apartment owners want to remove the building’s name

Google Street View

June 5, 2017

Some Trump Palace apartment owners want to remove the building’s name

By Devin Gannon

Google Street View Despite winning the presidential election last fall, Donald Trump’s New York City properties have hit a losing streak. Trump-branded hotels and condos throughout the city have seen a sharp decline in event bookings and property values. And at the 55-story Trump Palace at 200 East 69th Street, one of the tallest towers in the neighborhood, the average unit sits on the market for 107 days, 35 percent longer than the average luxury unit. To combat declining property values, an apartment owner at Trump Palace has written a letter asking neighbors to come together and remove the name “Trump” from the building, as the Hollywood Reporter discovered.
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Celebrities

June 2, 2017

Buy this entire 62-acre ghost town in Connecticut for just $1.9M

By Devin Gannon

Johnsonville, an abandoned, small town in East Haddam, Connecticut, is on the market for an asking price of $1.9 million (Yes, the entire 62-acre town is asking less than $2 million). Founded in the 1800s, it includes semi-neglected Victorian homes, a general store, post office, restaurant, mill, and a covered bridge (h/t WTOP). The current owner is hotel company Meyer Jabara Hotels, who paid $2.5 million for the town in 2001. The property was previously listed in an online auction in 2014 and sold for $1.9 million, but the bidder was unable to seal the deal. It’s been a ghost town for nearly two decades.
See the abandoned town here

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