All articles by Devin Gannon

432 Park would have generated $30M for affordable housing with de Blasio’s mansion tax

March 24, 2017

432 Park would have generated $30M for affordable housing with de Blasio’s mansion tax

By Devin Gannon

Outside of 432 Park Avenue, Mayor de Blasio held a press conference on Thursday to discuss his mansion tax. The proposal calls for a 2.5 percent surcharge on sales of city homes valued at $2 million or more, which would in turn fund affordable housing for 25,000 senior citizens. De Blasio fittingly positioned himself outside 432 Park because, according to the city, if the proposed tax had been passed, this residence alone would have generated $30.2 million since 2015 in support of housing for low-income seniors. "And that would have been based--and this is stunning to me--on the sale of just 62 condominiums. But it would have meant enough money to subsidize affordable housing for 2,000 seniors," he said.
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New renderings revealed for NYCHA’s raised earth Red Hook Houses by KPF

March 24, 2017

New renderings revealed for NYCHA’s raised earth Red Hook Houses by KPF

By Devin Gannon

When Superstorm Sandy hit the community of Red Hook, thousands of residents were left without power and basic necessities for over two weeks. The neighborhood’s infrastructure suffered substantial damage, with almost all basement mechanical rooms destroyed. In an effort to rebuild Brooklyn’s largest housing development, Red Hook Houses, post-Sandy, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) commissioned a project by architecture firm Kohn Pederson Fox (KPF). Their “Lily Pad” design includes installing 14 “utility pods” that deliver heat and electricity to each building, as well as creating raised earth mounds to act as a flood barrier (h/t Archpaper).
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Bioswales face backlash from city residents for being eyesores

March 23, 2017

Bioswales face backlash from city residents for being eyesores

By Devin Gannon

While you may have never heard of the term “bioswale,” you have probably seen these curbside gardens throughout the city. A bioswale, or rain garden, is a pit dug into the sidewalk that's been filled with rocky soil and shrubbery. These gardens absorb polluted stormwater and prevent runoff that could seep into waterways through the sewer system. Despite being an effective solution to water pollution, the New York Times reports that some city residents are crying out against find bioswales, calling them unattractive, messy, and hotbeds for trash and pests.
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On this day in 1811, the Manhattan Street Grid became official

Photo courtesy of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation

March 22, 2017

On this day in 1811, the Manhattan Street Grid became official

By Devin Gannon

Deemed by historians as the "single most important document in New York City’s development," the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811, which planned Manhattan's famous grid system, turns 211 years old this month. As the Village Preservation tells us, the chief surveyor of the plan, John Randel Jr., and city officials signed the final contract on March 22, 1811. The plan, completed at the end of the 19th century, produced 11 major avenues and 155 cross-town streets still used today.
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History

Comptroller Scott Stringer lays out plan for NYC to invest in its seniors

Photo via Gary Knight/Flickr

March 22, 2017

Comptroller Scott Stringer lays out plan for NYC to invest in its seniors

By Devin Gannon

Photo via Gary Knight/Flickr Like many cities across the country, New York City’s population is getting older. Today, more than 1.1 million adults over 65, nearly 13 percent of the city’s total population, live in the five boroughs, a number which is expected to rise to over 1.4 million by 2040. In response to both this growth and the Trump administration’s budget cuts to beneficial senior programs like Medicaid and Medicare, City Comptroller Scott Stringer released a new report detailing policies that invest in the city’s seniors (h/t Metro NY).
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82 billionaires live in NYC, the most in the world

Photo via Public Domain Pictures

March 22, 2017

82 billionaires live in NYC, the most in the world

By Devin Gannon

For the second year in a row, New York takes the title of the city with the most billionaires in the world. According to Forbes, NYC is home to 82 billionaires with a total combined net worth of just under $400 billion. In last year's list, the city placed first, but with 79 billionaires and a total net worth of $364.6 billion. Despite gaining a few more wealthy inhabitants, New York's David Koch (worth $48.3 billion) and Michael Bloomberg still rank as the first and second richest in the city, though last year they were flip-flopped.
See the full list of cities here

City Living

Is it illegal to swipe someone through with your MetroCard?

March 21, 2017

Is it illegal to swipe someone through with your MetroCard?

By Devin Gannon

Swiping a fellow New Yorker through the subway turnstile with your MetroCard is practically a New York pastime. But is it actually legal? As DNAinfo reports, the NYPD and MTA say it's completely lawful to help another rider gain access to the subway, as long as you’re not charging them for the swipe. And for those looking for a free ride? Last year, the city changed their policy on “fare-begging,” which lowered the consequence for riders asking for a swipe from an arrest to a ticket or summons.
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Swale floating park returns this spring with a new look

Photo courtesy of Strongbow

March 21, 2017

Swale floating park returns this spring with a new look

By Devin Gannon

With spring officially here, it’s the perfect time to visit your favorite park. While there are plenty to choose from, there’s only one that floats on water. As reported by Time Out, Swale, the collaborative floating food forest, which let visitors pick free produce last summer, is back with an updated design--"a blossoming apple orchard surrounded by garden beds filled with herbs, fruits and vegetables." In a collaboration with Strongbow, the newly designed barge will be docking at public piers from April through October.
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Senior musicians may lose affordable housing at Bronx Commons

Bronx Commons via Danois

March 20, 2017

Senior musicians may lose affordable housing at Bronx Commons

By Devin Gannon

The $160 million Bronx Commons mixed-use development, located in the borough's Melrose neighborhood, broke ground in January. When complete, it will combine affordable housing, retail, landscaped public space, and a 300-seat music and arts venue known as Bronx Music Hall. As 6sqft previously reported, the Hall was envisioned as a way to celebrate and revitalize "the deeply rooted history of cutting edge Bronx music," which nonprofit developers WHEDco and BFC Partners also hoped to address by setting aside 15 percent of the 305 below-market rate apartments for older musicians. But as the Times explains, despite the South Bronx's past as a hub for jazz and doo-wop music venues and sidemen, the city says this may be in violation of fair housing laws that prohibit preferences based on age or race.
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Rent a one-bedroom in Mayor de Blasio’s Park Slope home for $1,825 a month

March 20, 2017

Rent a one-bedroom in Mayor de Blasio’s Park Slope home for $1,825 a month

By Devin Gannon

A one-bedroom apartment in Mayor de Blasio’s private Park Slope home is back on the market. As Politico reports, the prior tenants of the row house at 384 11th Street have moved out, opening the upstairs apartment for non-smokers without pets for $1,825 per month. The listing describes the unit as having a “comfortable, sun-filled, and flexible layout.”
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Distinctive Homes

Popular Articles

L train shutdown will be 15 months instead of 18 months

March 20, 2017

L train shutdown will be 15 months instead of 18 months

By Devin Gannon

Finally, there’s some good news for the nearly 225,000 daily L train riders commuting to Manhattan. This weekend the Metropolitan Transit Authority announced that the Canarsie tube, which carries the L train between Manhattan and Brooklyn, will be closed for 15 months instead of 18, three months ahead of schedule. As reported by the Daily News, the MTA plans to begin rehabilitating the tunnel in April of 2019.
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NYC schools, housing, and transit to lose hundreds of millions in federal aid under Trump’s budget

March 17, 2017

NYC schools, housing, and transit to lose hundreds of millions in federal aid under Trump’s budget

By Devin Gannon

Under President Trump’s first budget proposal, New York City will lose hundreds of millions of dollars for schools, housing, transportation, homeland security, and other city agencies. According to the Daily News, city schools and afterschool programs can be expected to lose $140 million, homeland security grants will be cut $190 million, and NYCHA will lose $370 million, which is on top of the $76 million cut they were already expecting. Ironically, the budget also slashes transit projects by $2 billion, which means completing projects like the Second Avenue Subway and the Gateway trans-Hudson River tunnel may be on the chopping block, despite the fact that they were specifically called out in Trump's previous $1 trillion infrastructure plan to receive $14.2 billion and $12 billion respectively.
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Policy

Oiio’s ‘Big Bend’ proposal for Billionaires’ Row would be the world’s longest building

March 17, 2017

Oiio’s ‘Big Bend’ proposal for Billionaires’ Row would be the world’s longest building

By Devin Gannon

New York City Architecture firm Oiio has proposed a conceptual skyscraper that would curve at the top and then return to the ground, becoming what the firm believes to be the “longest” building to ever be created. As reported by dezeen, their "Big Bend" proposal challenges Manhattan’s obsession with supertall skyscrapers by substituting extreme height with length—stretching 4,000 feet from end to end. If they are able to design this building, Oiio hopes it could potentially provide a solution to the height limitations imposed by city zoning laws.
See the renderings here

Architecture And Design

‘Bach in the Subways’ brings classical music underground this weekend

March 17, 2017

‘Bach in the Subways’ brings classical music underground this weekend

By Devin Gannon

This weekend, celebrate Johann Sebastian Bach's 331st birthday by listening to musicians play all the Baroque hits in subway stations across the city. From Saturday to Monday, Bach in the Subways will bring hundreds of performers underground and above, sharing the German composer's work with New Yorkers for free as part of the MTA's Music Under New York program.
Find out how it all started

Events & Things To Do

NYC’s drinking water may be at risk after Trump’s environmental cuts

March 16, 2017

NYC’s drinking water may be at risk after Trump’s environmental cuts

By Devin Gannon

President Trump released his budget proposal Thursday that lays out his plan to bulk up defense and homeland security spending, and thereby dramatically cut funds to the Environmental Protection Agency (as well as foreign aid, the arts, and public broadcasting). As reported by amNewYork, these proposed EPA cuts, which total $2.6 billion or 31 percent, include staff reductions and program eliminations, which may make the city’s drinking water and air quality vulnerable to pollution.
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Policy

Yellow is the best color to paint a taxi if you want to reduce accidents

March 15, 2017

Yellow is the best color to paint a taxi if you want to reduce accidents

By Devin Gannon

It’s difficult to imagine the hustle and bustle of New York City without its culturally-iconic yellow taxicabs. And while it’s obvious companies chose the color yellow to be more visible to ride-hailers, a study conducted in Singapore found that not only are yellow cars harder to miss, they get in fewer accidents (h/t Mental Floss).
What are the origins of the famous yellow cab

NYCHA’s open space development plans move ahead with affordable senior housing in the South Bronx

Rendering of Mill Brook Terrace courtesy of NYCHA

March 15, 2017

NYCHA’s open space development plans move ahead with affordable senior housing in the South Bronx

By Devin Gannon

As part of the New York City Housing Authority’s NextGen initiative--the controversial policy of partnering with private companies to develop housing on open space in existing public housing projects--an affordable senior development is coming to the South Bronx. As reported by NY Yimby, Mill Brook Terrace in Mott Haven will be a nine-story, 169-unit building at 570 East 137th Street and will be set aside for seniors who earn no more than 50 percent of the area media income, or less than $36,250. Designed by Perkins Eastman Architects, the building will include a 9,000-square-foot senior center on the ground floor, which will include a commercial kitchen, community space, activity room and an outdoor garden.
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Governor Cuomo’s $1.4B Central Brooklyn plan stokes gentrification debate

March 15, 2017

Governor Cuomo’s $1.4B Central Brooklyn plan stokes gentrification debate

By Devin Gannon

Governor Cuomo announced a $1.4 billion initiative last week to bring resources like health care services and new jobs to Central Brooklyn. According to the governor, the plan, called “Vital Brooklyn,” will bring 7,600 jobs and more than 3,000 new affordable housing units to Brownsville, East New York, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights. And while Cuomo’s administration found these neighborhoods to be some of the most disadvantaged in the state, residents worry about the possible gentrification and displacement effects (h/t NY Times).
Learn more about Vital Brooklyn here

Fewer young foreigners traveling to NYC because of Trump

March 14, 2017

Fewer young foreigners traveling to NYC because of Trump

By Devin Gannon

New York City expected tourism from foreigners to fall after President Trump’s chaotic announcement of his first executive order in January which banned travel from seven majority-Muslim countries because it was unclear which travelers would be allowed into the country. However, as reported by Crain’s, it’s not just money-spending travelers that have avoided the Big Apple; it’s student and youth groups that are canceling trips to the city.
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NYPD vetting 30-40 officers with ‘solid records’ for full-time Trump Tower detail

March 14, 2017

NYPD vetting 30-40 officers with ‘solid records’ for full-time Trump Tower detail

By Devin Gannon

Although the President has not visited Trump Tower since his inauguration, the NYPD plans on increasing the number of officers who guard the tower after struggling with ways to effectively man the building. As reported by TMZ, the police department will choose between 30 and 40 full-time officers with "solid records" to work 12-hour shifts at the skyscraper.
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Celebrities

A pavilion created from 300,000 recycled cans is coming to Governors Island this summer

March 13, 2017

A pavilion created from 300,000 recycled cans is coming to Governors Island this summer

By Devin Gannon

"Cast & Place" is the winner of FIGMENT’s 2017 City of Dreams competition, an annual design contest that challenges architecture and design firms to build a pavilion out of recycled materials to be assembled on Governors Island and displayed during the summer. This year, it will be made out of more than 300,000 aluminum cans (the number of cans used in NYC in an hour), melted down and cast into cracked clay. According to the group’s Kickstarter page, the material will be soil excavated from the East River, recycled cans, and reclaimed wood, which will form lightweight, strong panels to provide structure and shade.
See their design here

$2M garage conversion in Bed-Stuy has a zen atrium and industrial glamour

March 13, 2017

$2M garage conversion in Bed-Stuy has a zen atrium and industrial glamour

By Devin Gannon

Although this listing looks like a basic garage from the outside, inside 222 Madison Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant is actually a single-family home on the market for just over $1.9 million. The cured cement floors, exposed white-washed brick wall, and high ceilings topped by skylights add plenty of industrial glamour, while a private garage, multiple sleeping areas, and 3,000-square-foot open layout retain all the functionality one could hope for in a residence.
Check out the unique space

Distinctive Homes

For $125K, you can buy the first map to credit Henry Hudson

Photo courtesy of Martayan Lan Rare Maps & Books

March 10, 2017

For $125K, you can buy the first map to credit Henry Hudson

By Devin Gannon

This weekend, head over to the New York Antiquarian Book Fair, located at the Park Avenue Armory, where the first map to credit Henry Hudson with navigating his nominative river will be on display (h/t NY Times). The map, the third engraving of its kind known to exist, is being sold by Robert Augustyn, who owns Martayan Lan Fine Antique Maps, Atlases and Globes in Manhattan. The minimum asking price for the 12-by-17 inch, 280-year-old map? $125,000.
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History

March 10, 2017

At $31B, Airbnb now second most valuable private company behind Uber

By Devin Gannon

After raising an additional $1 billion in a financing round that began last summer, Airbnb, the short-term stay rental company, is now listed as the second most valuable private company in the United States, following Uber, the ride-hailing business, as the New York Times reported. Airbnb, based in San Francisco, has raised more than $3 billion and secured a $1 billion line of credit since the company was founded in 2008. It is now worth nearly $31 billion dollars.
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