All articles by Devin Gannon

Waterfront Alliance’s ‘Harbor Scorecard’ says if your NYC neighborhood is at risk for severe flooding

June 2, 2017

Waterfront Alliance’s ‘Harbor Scorecard’ says if your NYC neighborhood is at risk for severe flooding

By Devin Gannon

This week marked the beginning of hurricane season and experts predict storms will be worse than usual, especially following President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord on Thursday. To better inform New Yorkers about the risks of rising sea level and storm surges, the Waterfront Alliance, a nonprofit that works to protect waterfronts, released a Harbor Scorecard, as reported by the Brooklyn Eagle. The interactive scorecard lets users view each neighborhood by its waterfront safety and coastal resiliency. The group found that more than 400,000 New Yorkers face a 50 percent risk of a major flood by 2060.
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Policy

New Jersey is the official owner of Ellis Island

Photo via Wiki Commons

June 2, 2017

New Jersey is the official owner of Ellis Island

By Devin Gannon

Photo via Wiki Commons Sorry, New York. Ellis Island, America’s first and biggest immigration center, technically belongs to New Jersey. In May of 1998, the Supreme Court ended a long-standing argument between New Jersey and the Empire State over who actually owns the Island, as Smithsonian Magazine discovered. Based on a land claims agreement between the two states made before Ellis Island became a gateway for nearly 12 million immigrants, the Court decided it belonged mostly to New Jersey, in addition to the federal government, since it's overseen by the National Park Service.
But it wasn't so easy

History

U.S. officials argue 650 Fifth Avenue is a secret front for the Iranian government

Image via Google Street View

June 2, 2017

U.S. officials argue 650 Fifth Avenue is a secret front for the Iranian government

By Devin Gannon

Image via Google Street View For the past few years, the federal government has claimed that the tower at 650 Fifth Avenue, owned by nonprofit the Alavi Foundation, is controlled by the Iranian government, which would violate U.S. sanctions. Since the court decision that allowed the government to seize the 36-story building was overruled last year, a trial has kicked off again this week to determine if the organization was funneling money to Iran. As reported by amNY, the government must prove the office tower, worth just under $1 billion, is a front for the Iranian government and will do so using emails, letters and journal entries from an Alavi board member.
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Policy

101 affordable units up for grabs in the Bronx’s Morrisania, from $368/month

June 1, 2017

101 affordable units up for grabs in the Bronx’s Morrisania, from $368/month

By Devin Gannon

Applications are currently being accepted for 101 affordable apartments in La Casa Del Mundo, a newly constructed housing development at 3475 Third Avenue in the Morrisania neighborhood of the Bronx. New Yorkers earning 30, 40, 50 and 60 percent of the area median income can apply for the available units, ranging from a $368/month studio to $1,224/month three-bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

Tour Manhattan’s only lighthouse at Fort Washington Park this Saturday

The Little Red Lighthouse found at Fort Washington, via Wiki Commons

June 1, 2017

Tour Manhattan’s only lighthouse at Fort Washington Park this Saturday

By Devin Gannon

If looking to learn more about historic New York City this weekend, head over to Fort Washington Park and check out the Little Red Lighthouse, Manhattan’s only remaining lighthouse. The city’s Urban Park Rangers are hosting a tour this Saturday, June 3, from 1 to 4 p.m. and will be on hand to provide information about this unique landmark (h/t Time Out).
Learn the interesting history of the lighthouse

MoMA reveals final design for $400M expansion

June 1, 2017

MoMA reveals final design for $400M expansion

By Devin Gannon

The Museum of Modern Art revealed on Thursday its final design for its $400 million renovation project, which calls for more space and a chronological and thematic approach to its exhibitions. In addition to the expansion of gallery and public spaces, the museum plans to feature more work of minority and female artists. Architecture firms Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Gensler have collaborated on the design, and the overall expansion will provide 50,000 square feet of new gallery space. The renovation is expected to wrap in 2019.
Check out MoMA's makeover

Help bring the world’s largest rhino sculpture to Astor Place

Rendering of the rhino sculpture in Astor Place

May 31, 2017

Help bring the world’s largest rhino sculpture to Astor Place

By Devin Gannon

The Northern White Rhino species faces imminent extinction as only three remain on Earth. To raise awareness, a husband-and-wife sculpting duo are creating the largest rhino sculpture in the world and installing it in Astor Place (h/t Time Out). Gillie and Marc plan on putting $150,000 of their own money behind the project and created a Kickstarter page to raise the additional $50,000 needed to complete it. If all goes according to plan, the sculpture, titled "The Last Three," will be installed in January 2018.
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Events & Things To Do

Renderings revealed of Jehovah’s Witnesses Watchtower transformation into ‘Panorama’

May 31, 2017

Renderings revealed of Jehovah’s Witnesses Watchtower transformation into ‘Panorama’

By Devin Gannon

Last summer, developers CIM Group, Kushner Companies and LIVWRK acquired the Jehovah’s Witnesses Watchtower building at 25-30 Columbia Heights in Brooklyn Heights for $340 million. The building, known for its iconic red sign, served as the world headquarters of the religious group for years, but they're relocating to Warwick, New York. Now, work has begun to turn its three 19th century brick and timber buildings into 635,000 square feet of office space, as well as 35,000 square feet of retail and outdoor areas, as Fast Company reports. The new space will be known as Panorama, for its stunning views of the Manhattan skyline and Brooklyn Bridge.
See renderings of the Panorama complex

Cuomo announces $151M elevated promenade to improve Staten Island’s coastal resiliency

Rendering via Governor Cuomo’s office

May 31, 2017

Cuomo announces $151M elevated promenade to improve Staten Island’s coastal resiliency

By Devin Gannon

Governor Cuomo announced a $151 million plan on Tuesday to build an elevated promenade to improve the resiliency of Staten Island’s east shores during natural disasters. The seawall will stretch from Fort Wadsworth to Oakwood Beach to protect residents from coastal flooding, while simultaneously creating new wetland habitats and recreational amenities. The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation will hold a series of community-based design forums, allowing for Staten Island residents to offer direct input into the project's final design, which will be complete in the winter of 2018, with construction expected to begin in 2019 and a completion date of 2022.
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MAP: Battery Park City is the country’s most expensive zip code for renters

May 30, 2017

MAP: Battery Park City is the country’s most expensive zip code for renters

By Devin Gannon

With little surprise, Manhattan comes in first for the highest apartment rents in the country, with Battery Park City leading the way for the most outrageous prices. According to data collected by RentCafe and assembled into an interactive map, the average rent in this downtown 'hood is about $6,000 per month, followed by the Upper East Side averaging $4,898 per month and the Upper West Side $4,892. Other pricey Manhattan zip codes that made the top ten include the Lower East Side, Soho and Clinton.
Find out the average rent of your zip code

Real Estate Trends

Popular Articles

With delays and long lines, some New Yorkers are frustrated with new ferry service

May 30, 2017

With delays and long lines, some New Yorkers are frustrated with new ferry service

By Devin Gannon

Mayor de Blasio’s citywide ferry service initiative, which launched May 1, was meant to provide commuters with an alternative to the problem-plagued subway. However, just under a month after the city launched the NYC Ferry service, passengers have faced delays, long lines, and overcrowding. As the New York Times reports, the ferry service transported roughly 26,000 passengers in total this past holiday weekend, with the East River Route carrying more than 9,600 people each day. In response to high demand, an extra three boats were put into service.
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Transit

Doon Architecture turned a run-down A-frame cabin into a family-friendly Hamptons home

May 27, 2017

Doon Architecture turned a run-down A-frame cabin into a family-friendly Hamptons home

By Devin Gannon

Led by architect Edgar Papazian, Doon Architecture has revamped a once dilapidated cabin into a cozy family home in Sag Harbor, an affluent neighborhood on Long Island (h/t architecture lab). The cottage, appropriately dubbed the Triangle House, provides a small, unique footbridge from a road to the entrance of the home because it sits on a sloped site. The interiors showcase incredible Douglas fir wood paneling, a curvy staircase, and a yellow cedar shake roof.
See the interiors

Architecture And Design

Ahead of L train shutdown, developers flock to properties along G, J, M and Z lines

G Train at Court Square via Wikipedia

May 26, 2017

Ahead of L train shutdown, developers flock to properties along G, J, M and Z lines

By Devin Gannon

In response to the looming 15th-month L train shutdown, which will affect its nearly 225,000 daily riders beginning April 2019, real estate developers have started looking at Williamsburg’s hip and slightly cheaper neighbors, Greenpoint and South Williamsburg. Both areas sit nearby the G, J, M and Z trains, and in the past have offered a variety of housing options at cheaper prices. According to the New York Times, as developers begin their plunge into Greenpoint, sites along these train lines have become pricier and more difficult to lock down.
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Trump SoHo sees sharp drop in event bookings, increase in layoffs

Photo of Trump SoHo via Trump Hotels

May 25, 2017

Trump SoHo sees sharp drop in event bookings, increase in layoffs

By Devin Gannon

Trump SoHo, a $450 million, 46-story hotel condominium at 246 Spring Street, has suffered from a sharp decline in corporate event bookings and an increase in staff layoffs. Documents reviewed by WYNC show the once $700-per-night hotel now offers rooms for under $400 a night, less than most of the city’s five- and even four-star rated accommodations. Plus, managers plan on laying off 12 room attendants out of the hotel’s 80 total housekeeping staff and removing turn-down service. While last year the hotel booked 29 large corporate events between January and mid-May, this year just 11 events were booked, with fewer well-known names.
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Events & Things To Do

Despite revised capital plan, MTA does not increase spending for subway improvements

May 25, 2017

Despite revised capital plan, MTA does not increase spending for subway improvements

By Devin Gannon

While just a few days ago Governor Cuomo announced his “aggressive” action plan to combat the chronic problems of the city’s subway service, the MTA’s new version of its capital plan released Wednesday shows barely any increase in spending for system improvements. As the New York Times reported, the agency increased its current five-year capital plan from $29.5 billion to $32.5 billion, adding $1.6 billion in debt. However, instead of allocating funds for subway service improvements, spending instead will go towards projects seen as priorities for Cuomo, like electronic tolling at bridges and the next phase of the Second Avenue Subway.
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‘Sounds of New York’ uses city noise to improve your focus

May 24, 2017

‘Sounds of New York’ uses city noise to improve your focus

By Devin Gannon

As a tribute to New York City, Breather, a company with rentable workplaces worldwide, developed a website that lets you listen to the sounds of different city neighborhoods and iconic Big Apple locations. Called Sounds of New York, ambient noises play in the background to help workers concentrate on their daily tasks. Enhance your productivity by listening to the atmospheric sounds of the Strand bookstore, McSorley’s Ale House, Zabar's, the Comedy Cellar, the Oculus, or Harlem’s Apollo Theater all from the comfort of your office.
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First look at CetraRuddy’s proposed hotel-apartment tower for Hudson Yards

May 24, 2017

First look at CetraRuddy’s proposed hotel-apartment tower for Hudson Yards

By Devin Gannon

Back in September, the developer Joseph Chetrit filed plans to build a 48-floor mixed-use tower with 421 hotel rooms and 135 residential units in the Hudson Yards neighborhood. Now, the wait is over as renderings of Chetrit Group’s proposed tower at 541-545 West 37th Street have officially been revealed. As CityRealty learned, CetraRuddy Architecture is designing the high-tech skyscraper, which is expected to rise 622 feet and overlook the future Hudson Boulevard Park. The building will span 621,000 square feet and include exhibition, retail, hotel and residential spaces.
More details and renderings

Governor Cuomo and the MTA announce a competition to fix the NYC subway system

Image via Alan Bloom/Flickr

May 24, 2017

Governor Cuomo and the MTA announce a competition to fix the NYC subway system

By Devin Gannon

Image via Alan Bloom/Flickr Seeking innovative solutions to fix the mess that is the New York City transit system, Governor Cuomo on Tuesday launched a competition called the “MTA Genius Transit Challenge.” Just one of the governor’s recently proposed ideas to fix the subway, the international competition challenges participants to develop ideas for better signaling, new car designs, and WiFi throughout the system, including in tunnels. The winner of each category will receive $1 million and a possible contract deal with the state. In addition to the challenge, Cuomo announced he has created a Penn Station Task Force to devise alternative transportation solutions during Amtrak’s track work at the station this summer.
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REVEALED: Early studies of David Adjaye’s Wall Street Tower, his first skyscraper in NYC

May 23, 2017

REVEALED: Early studies of David Adjaye’s Wall Street Tower, his first skyscraper in NYC

By Devin Gannon

Three years after completing his first New York City building, an affordable housing complex in Harlem called the Sugar Hill Development, starchitect David Adjaye is back. This time, he'll be working with David Lichtenstein's Lightstone Group to design a 61-story, 750-foot-tall condominium in the Financial District at 130 William Street known as the Wall Street Tower. Early conceptual studies uncovered by CityRealty show a gold-trimmed prism set against rigid rows of arched windows, as well as a glimpse at what the 244 apartments and amenity spaces will look like.
See the impressive renderings

Midtown’s tiny Greenacre Park fights for light among sky-high skyscrapers

Terry Tynes via flickr (CC)

May 23, 2017

Midtown’s tiny Greenacre Park fights for light among sky-high skyscrapers

By Devin Gannon

As a small oasis in the center of Manhattan, Greenacre Park is home to honey locust trees, azaleas, pansies and a 25-foot-high waterfall, all taking up just 6,360 square feet of space. However, the city’s plan to rezone Midtown East to allow for more commercial buildings worries some advocates who say it may deplete Greenacre Park from any sunlight, as the Times reported. But the Municipal Art Society, New Yorkers for Parks, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Councilmember Daniel Garodnick, are backing a campaign called "Fight For Light" to protect the park's right to sunlight.
Get the full scoop

Policy

VIDEO: West 8’s proposal for NYC’s largest private garden at One Manhattan Square

May 23, 2017

VIDEO: West 8’s proposal for NYC’s largest private garden at One Manhattan Square

By Devin Gannon

Adding to its unique character, Extell's One Manhattan Square will soon be home to NYC's largest outdoor private garden, detailed in a new video released today by the developer. The proposal, designed by urban planning and landscape architecture firm West 8, includes more than an acre of garden space for residents to both work and socialize, boasting indoor and outdoor grilling spaces, ping-pong tables, a putting green, children's playground, adult tree house, tea pavilion, and an observatory made for stargazing.
Watch the video here

52 wave sculptures designed by celebrities like Slash and Cara Delevigne hit NYC

Jason deCaires Taylor’s “Silent Evolution” wave via Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation

May 22, 2017

52 wave sculptures designed by celebrities like Slash and Cara Delevigne hit NYC

By Devin Gannon

Ocean conservation nonprofit Project 0 has partnered with luxury skin care brand La Mer, to bring 52 wave-shaped sculptures designed by artists and entertainers like Keith Richards, Slash, Sienna Miller, Rita Ora, Cara Delevigne to NYC. Between May 20 and June 21, the La Mer Wave Walk will feature public art pieces throughout the five boroughs to raise awareness about ocean conservancy, as DNA Info learned. The installations will be up for auction on June 21, with all proceeds going to the charity La Mer Blue Heart Oceans Fund for Project 0.
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Governor Cuomo asks Trump for emergency assistance during Penn Station repairs

May 22, 2017

Governor Cuomo asks Trump for emergency assistance during Penn Station repairs

By Devin Gannon

As his administration finalizes its budget plan, Governor Cuomo wrote a letter Sunday to President Trump asking for emergency federal funds to lessen what he called Penn Station’s “summer of agony,” reports the Daily News. With six weeks of infrastructure repairs coming to the transit hub this July and August, the governor said the station’s daily flow of 600,000 passengers will face a 20 percent reduction in service during peak hours while Amtrak shuts down some of its tracks, which will then have a ripple effect on the subway system and regional transit.
More details ahead

Renderings revealed for controversial mixed-income tower on top of UES playground

Rendering via NYCHA

May 19, 2017

Renderings revealed for controversial mixed-income tower on top of UES playground

By Devin Gannon

After over a year-long debate, the city has finally unveiled renderings of a mixed-income tower set to rise on an existing playground at the Holmes Towers public housing complex in Yorkville. The New York City Housing Authority’s plan, which falls under the city’s NextGen program, will construct a 47-story building among the complex on East 93rd Street, as well as a new 18,000-square-foot recreation and community center run by Asphalt Green (h/t DNA Info). The new building will feature 300 total units, with half of them at market-rate prices and half of them affordable. However, an alleged plan to separate the floors by income level, as well as the fact that high-end housing is coming to a low-income site where the community wasn't consulted, has sparked a good deal of controversy.
Get the whole story

Lower East Side’s Landmark Sunshine Cinema will close next year

Photo via East End Capital

May 19, 2017

Lower East Side’s Landmark Sunshine Cinema will close next year

By Devin Gannon

The Lower East Side will be losing a neighborhood fixture next year. Landmark’s Sunshine Cinema at 139-143 East Houston Street will be closing its doors when its lease expires in January 2018, to make way for a new mixed-use development with retail and office space. As the Post reports, the theater, which was built in 1889 and first opened in 1909 as the Houston Hippodrome, was sold for $31.5 million to developers East End Capital and K Property Group.
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New Developments

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