All articles by Devin Gannon

84 studios for low-income seniors up for grabs at new Essex Crossing building, from $331/month

Rendering courtesy of Beyer Blinder Belle

June 19, 2019

84 studios for low-income seniors up for grabs at new Essex Crossing building, from $331/month

By Devin Gannon

The city launched on Wednesday an affordable housing lottery for 84 affordable studios on the Lower East Side exclusively for low-income seniors. The building at 140 Essex Street sits as part of the nine-site Essex Crossing development and contains 92 units total. Qualifying senior households earning between zero and 60 percent of the area median income can apply for the apartments, which range from $331/month to $761/month.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

Sunset Park gains four historic districts

535 to 545 48th Street via LPC

June 18, 2019

Sunset Park gains four historic districts

By Devin Gannon

The Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday voted to designate four historic districts in Sunset Park, protecting the Brooklyn neighborhood from potential out-of-scale alterations and development. The noncontiguous areas include Sunset Park North, Central Sunset Park, Sunset Park 50th Street, and Sunset Park South, all standing out for their cohesive and intact architecture, according to the commission.
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Policy

Six significant LGBTQ sites in New York City are landmarked

Top, left to right: GAA Firehouse, James Baldwin Residence, LGBT Community Center; Bottom, left to right: Audre Lorde Residence, Women’s Liberation Center, Caffe Cino; Photos courtesy of NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project

June 18, 2019

Six significant LGBTQ sites in New York City are landmarked

By Devin Gannon

Six sites significant to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community of New York City officially became city landmarks on Tuesday. The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to designate the Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse, the Women's Liberation Center, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, Caffe Cino, James Baldwin's Upper West Side home, and the Staten Island home of Audre Lorde. The designations coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, as well as the city's first time hosting WorldPride.
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City withdraws plan for mixed-income tower proposed for Upper East Side playground

Previous rendering of the original project; Via NYCHA

June 17, 2019

City withdraws plan for mixed-income tower proposed for Upper East Side playground

By Devin Gannon

The New York City Housing Authority has ditched plans to build a private 47-story apartment building on top of a playground on the Upper East Side, agency officials said Friday. The original plan called for a 300-unit tower to replace the playground at the Holmes Tower public housing complex with half of the units affordable and the other half at market-rate, the latter meant to raise funds for repairs at the tower. The new plan for the site will increase the number of market-rate apartments in order to collect more money, NYCHA officials told THE CITY.
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Affordable Housing

VIDEO: See the city’s highest rooftop pool get lifted 680 feet atop supertall Brooklyn Point

Rendering courtesy of Williams New York/Extell

June 14, 2019

VIDEO: See the city’s highest rooftop pool get lifted 680 feet atop supertall Brooklyn Point

By Devin Gannon

The tallest residential building in Brooklyn was crowned this week with the highest infinity pool in the Western Hemisphere. A video released by Extell shows a 27-foot-long pool being hoisted 680 feet in the air, taking its place atop Brooklyn Point. The 68-story tower, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, topped out in April and sits as part of the Downtown Brooklyn development City Point.
See the video

The Urban Lens: Capturing the final days of the Lower East Side’s shuttered Streit’s Matzo Factory

Ramon, Streit’s Mazo; © Joseph O. Holmes

June 13, 2019

The Urban Lens: Capturing the final days of the Lower East Side’s shuttered Streit’s Matzo Factory

By Devin Gannon

6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Joseph O. Holmes shares his photo series of Streit's Matzo Factory, the now-shuttered LES institution. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. In 2015, after nearly 90 years in operation, Streit's Matzo Factory on the Lower East Side closed its doors. But before the property's new owners demolished the site to make way for luxury condos, the Streit family let photographer Joseph O. Holmes tour the space. Through photos of the four-building factory, its old-school machinery, and its workers, Joseph captured the final days of this neighborhood icon. "If I hadn't shot it, most of it would be forgotten," Joseph told 6sqft. Although Streit's closed more than four years ago and condo building 150 Rivington has since risen in its place, Joseph's poignant photos were given new life this month. The developer purchased some of the photos to hang permanently in the lobby of 150 Rivington as an ode to the building's industrial roots. Ahead, hear from Joseph about what it was like to photograph the maze-like factory and why he finds old machines so beautiful.
See inside and meet Joseph

Places

Six restaurants to open this fall in Nordstrom’s flagship store at Central Park Tower

Rendering courtesy of Nordstrom

June 12, 2019

Six restaurants to open this fall in Nordstrom’s flagship store at Central Park Tower

By Devin Gannon

Six unique restaurants and bars will set up shop at Nordstrom's flagship store in New York City when it opens in October. Located in the base of the supertall at 225 West 57th Street, known as the Central Park Tower, the 285,000-square-foot Nordstrom takes up seven floors of the building. As Eater NY first reported, the restaurants will be run by two chefs from Seattle: Ethan Stowell and Tom Douglas.
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The Strand bookstore gets landmarked, despite opposition from owner and community

June 11, 2019

The Strand bookstore gets landmarked, despite opposition from owner and community

By Devin Gannon

The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted on Tuesday to designate The Strand bookstore as an individual landmark, despite opposition from the store's owner and local community members. Nancy Bass Wyden, who owns the Strand building, did not support designation because she worried that restrictions placed on landmarked buildings would prevent timely construction or renovation of the store in the future. While more than 11,000 people signed a petition opposing the designation, according to Wyden's attorney, the commission voted unanimously in favor of landmarking. "Although this is not the outcome we hoped for, we'll continue to serve our customers as we have done robustly for 92 years," the Strand wrote in a tweet Tuesday.
Full scoop this way

Policy

Leaking skylight of World Trade Center’s Oculus may not be fixed for 9/11 anniversary

June 10, 2019

Leaking skylight of World Trade Center’s Oculus may not be fixed for 9/11 anniversary

By Devin Gannon

Since 2016, the skylight of the World Trade Center's Oculus has reopened on each anniversary of September 11 as part of the "Way of Light" ceremony. But the annual event may not happen this year. The skylight, which has been leaking since last fall, may not be repaired in time for this year's anniversary, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
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Uncategorized

Popular Articles

The Four Seasons is closing this week, less than a year after $40M reopening

Photo via Wikimedia

June 10, 2019

The Four Seasons is closing this week, less than a year after $40M reopening

By Devin Gannon

Less than a year after moving out of the historic Seagram Building and reopening a new space, the famed Four Seasons Restaurant will close Tuesday, the New York Times reported. The news comes after the restaurant reopened last year on East 52nd Street with a $40 million renovation. And last December, former managing partner Julian Niccolini resigned after pleading guilty to sexual assault in 2016.
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Food & Dining

Federal government puts Paul Manafort’s Soho loft on the market for $3.6M

29 Howard Street via Google Street View

June 7, 2019

Federal government puts Paul Manafort’s Soho loft on the market for $3.6M

By Devin Gannon

The federal government is selling former Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort's Soho apartment for $3.663 million. As first reported by the New York Post, the loft at 29 Howard Street is one of five properties in New York City seized by the government after Manafort pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges last September. The listing, posted by the United States Marshals, describes the pad as being a "classic full-floor Soho loft" with "remarkable open sky and city views."
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Uncategorized

How artist-activist Gwen Shockey is keeping the memories of NYC’s fading lesbian bars alive

Photo of Gwen and “Girl Party Wallpaper” series, courtesy of Gwen Shockey

June 7, 2019

How artist-activist Gwen Shockey is keeping the memories of NYC’s fading lesbian bars alive

By Devin Gannon

After 49 people were killed in a mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando in 2016, New York City artist Gwen Shockey gathered with queer people at the Cubbyhole and Stonewall Inn to mourn. The tragedy made Gwen think about the importance of lesbian bars and safe spaces for this community. She began talking with her friends, interviewing them about coming out and navigating NYC's queer community. This laid the groundwork for Gwen's 2017 "Addresses" project, a digital map marking more than 200 current and former queer and lesbian bars across the five boroughs. Using information from interviews she's conducted and from police records and newspapers, Gwen found each location and photographed what sits there now. "It felt like a secret pilgrimage, going to each location and looking for a site that was more or less invisible to everyone else around me," she told us. And with just three lesbian bars remaining in NYC today, the need to preserve the memories of these places seems more apparent than ever. Through her project, which is ongoing, Gwen realized that although the number of lesbian bars in the city is dropping, there are "huge shifts occurring in the queer community toward inclusion not based on identity categories but based on who needs safe space now and who needs space to dance, to express their authenticity, and to be intimate." Gwen shared with 6sqft the process of tracking the lesbian bars of NYC's past and lessons she's learned about the city's LGBTQ history along the way.
Meet Gwen

My 450sqft: Stamp artist and Rivington School rebel Ed Higgins shows us his LES apartment of 40 years

Our series “My sqft” checks out the homes of New Yorkers across all the boroughs. Our latest interior adventure brings us to artist Ed Higgins‘ Lower East Side apartment. Want to see your home featured here? Get in touch!

June 5, 2019

My 450sqft: Stamp artist and Rivington School rebel Ed Higgins shows us his LES apartment of 40 years

By Devin Gannon

In 1976, with a recently earned art degree, E.F. Higgins III moved from Colorado to the Lower East Side. A small advertisement in the Village Voice led him to a rent-stabilized place on Ludlow Street for just $100 per month. Forty-three years later, Ed has never lived anywhere else. As expected, his rent has risen over the last four decades. He now pays “$500 and change” for his one-bedroom. Upon arriving in Manhattan, the Midwestern-born artist became part of an art scene that was antithetical to what was happening anywhere else. Ed was a founding member of the Rivington School, a group of anti-commercial artists who took the city’s open land as their own, creating make-shift gallery spaces and performance centers in basements and on vacant lots. A painter and printmaker by trade, Ed is a part of the mail art movement, which involves sending art through the mail via postcards, decorated objects, and original stamps. 6sqft recently toured Ed’s apartment, which is full of his own Doo Da Post stamps, mail art that was sent to him, paintings, hand-written notes, and so many tchotchkes it’s hard to discern one room from the next.
See inside and meet Ed

Home Tours

Jeanne Gang’s first residential tower in NYC tops out in Downtown Brooklyn

Images courtesy of Studio Gang

June 4, 2019

Jeanne Gang’s first residential tower in NYC tops out in Downtown Brooklyn

By Devin Gannon

The first residential tower in New York City designed by Jeanne Gang's Studio Gang topped out this week in Downtown Brooklyn. Reaching 620 feet tall, 11 Hoyt Street will offer 481 condos, an elevated park, and 55,000 square feet of amenities. Sales launched at the Tishman Speyer-developed building last September, with prices ranging from $690,000 for studios to about $3.5 million for a four-bedroom. Hill West Architects served as the architect of record for the project.
More this way

Dating app Bumble will open a permanent cafe and wine bar in Soho this fall

June 4, 2019

Dating app Bumble will open a permanent cafe and wine bar in Soho this fall

By Devin Gannon

A dating app wants to make planning first dates in New York City easier by narrowing down the choices of cafes and bars to just one. Bumble, the app that prompts women to make the first move online, is opening a permanent cafe and wine bar in Soho for people to meet, as Bloomberg first reported. Bumble Brew, opening this fall, will operate as a coffee shop during the day, with wine and small plates offered later.
Learn more

Food & Dining

Iconic ‘Sopranos’ house in NJ hits the market for $3.4M

Photo courtesy of Victor Recchia

June 3, 2019

Iconic ‘Sopranos’ house in NJ hits the market for $3.4M

By Devin Gannon

The New Jersey home of fictional mob boss Tony Soprano and his family has hit the market for $3.4 million, the New York Times first reported last week. The 5,600-square-foot North Caldwell mansion served as the backdrop for many scenes of HBO's "The Sopranos," a drama starring James Gandolfini that first aired in 1999. Fans of the series frequently visit and take photos the iconic property, especially the long driveway where Tony, clad in a white robe, picked up the morning paper.
More details here

New 9/11 memorial honoring rescue and recovery workers opens at World Trade Center

Photo by Monika Graff for the 9/11 Memorial & Museum

June 3, 2019

New 9/11 memorial honoring rescue and recovery workers opens at World Trade Center

By Devin Gannon

The 9/11 Memorial & Museum's new monument honoring first responders opened Thursday, on the 17th anniversary of the official end of the recovery effort at Ground Zero. The 9/11 Memorial Glade monument recognizes first responders who are currently sick or who have died from illnesses caused by toxins following the September 11 attacks. Located at the World Trade Center site, the memorial consists of six stone monoliths that point skyward to "symbolize strength and determination through adversity."
See it here

Apply for 63 affordable studios at new La Central development in the Bronx for $650/month

Rendering of 626 Bergen via FXCollaborative

May 31, 2019

Apply for 63 affordable studios at new La Central development in the Bronx for $650/month

By Devin Gannon

A new housing development in the Bronx launched a lottery this week for 63 studio apartments. Located in the South Bronx, the La Central complex will include five buildings with 992 units of mixed-income housing, a new 50,000-square-foot YMCA, a television studio, landscaped courtyard, and a skate park. Qualifying New Yorkers earning 60 percent of the area median income (AMI) can apply for the $650/month studios.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

NYC Council considers turning mass gravesite on Hart Island into a city park

Photo of Hart Island via Flickr

May 31, 2019

NYC Council considers turning mass gravesite on Hart Island into a city park

By Devin Gannon

One of the country's largest burial ground may become a city park. The New York City Council is considering making Hart Island, an island located off of the Bronx coast where roughly one million people have been buried since the Civil War, more accessible to visitors. Because the city's Department of Correction (DOC) currently maintains the site and hires inmates from Rikers Island to bury bodies there, access remains restricted. During a hearing Thursday, the City Council introduced a package of legislation aimed at improving Hart Island, including one bill that would transfer control of the land from the DOC to the city's parks department.
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Policy

Delayed pedestrian bridge in Battery Park City will finally open this fall

Rendering by WXY architecture + urban design

May 30, 2019

Delayed pedestrian bridge in Battery Park City will finally open this fall

By Devin Gannon

A new pedestrian bridge in Lower Manhattan will open this fall, more than ten years after it was proposed, the city announced Wednesday. The 230-foot West Thames Street Pedestrian Bridge replaces the Rector Street Bridge, a temporary structure built after two bridges in the area were destroyed during the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Designed by engineer Thornton Tomassetti and WXY architecture + urban design, the $45 million bridge crosses West Street and connects Battery Park City with the Financial District.
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Architecture And Design

NYC Council votes to close mechanical void loophole

Rendering of 50 West 66th Street; courtesy of Binyan Studios/ Snøhetta

May 30, 2019

NYC Council votes to close mechanical void loophole

By Devin Gannon

The New York City Council on Wednesday voted to close a zoning loophole that has allowed developers to fill multiple floors of a tower with mechanical equipment without counting the floors as part of the building. The so-called mechanical void loophole enabled taller residential towers, and therefore higher, more expensive units, without actually creating more housing. The amendment approved by the Council will count mechanical voids taller than 25 feet as zoning floor area, as Crain's reported.
More here

Policy

Help marine scientists catch, count, and release hundreds of fish in NYC this weekend

May 29, 2019

Help marine scientists catch, count, and release hundreds of fish in NYC this weekend

By Devin Gannon

It's time to seine. This weekend, marine scientists dispatch to waterfront sites across New York City, Westchester, and New Jersey as part of the annual "Great Fish Count." Alongside top scientists, attendees will be able to cast a net and help catch, count, identify, and then release some of the fish found in the Harbor and Hudson River. Volunteers are welcome to attend any of the 18 seining events happening on Saturday.
More here

Events & Things To Do

Historic African American burial ground in Elmhurst hits the market for $13.8M

47-11 90th Street via Google Maps

May 29, 2019

Historic African American burial ground in Elmhurst hits the market for $13.8M

By Devin Gannon

A plot of land in Queens that contains a historic burial ground is selling for $13.8 million. As first reported by Patch, the lot at 47-11 90th Street in Elmhurst was home to the United African Society of Newtown, founded in 1828 as one of the first freed African American communities in the area, and its cemetery. In a brochure, real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield markets the land as "92,000 buildable square feet for residential development," but makes no mention of the historic burial ground underneath.
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Tightrope-walking Wallenda siblings will travel 25 stories above Times Square

Nik Wallenda on the tightrope at Canada’s Wonderland in 2009; via Flickr

May 28, 2019

Tightrope-walking Wallenda siblings will travel 25 stories above Times Square

By Devin Gannon

A brother and sister tightrope walking duo will attempt to travel 25 stories above Times Square next month. Nik and Lijana Wallenda will balance 1,300 feet on a tightrope between One Times Square and Two Times Square on June 23, ABC announced Thursday. The television network will broadcast the "never-before-attempted" daredevil stunt live during a two-hour special.
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Events & Things To Do

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