All articles by Diane Pham

Diane is the founder and Editorial Director of 6sqft. After graduating from the University of Southern California with a B.S. in Real Estate Finance & Development and a minor in Architecture, she enjoyed stints at SCI-Arc, the A+D Museum Los Angeles, Perkins Eastman Architects and Resolution 4: Architecture. She also previously served as Senior Editor of Inhabitat.com and spent several years as an analyst at CB Richard Ellis Investments in Milan, Italy.
August 14, 2015

VIDEO: This Guy Pays $1,100 to Live in an 100-Square-Foot Apartment

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Madison, Wisconsin transplant Grayson Altenberg is paying $1,100 a month for a 100-square-foot apartment in a 4th-story walk-up. Yes, it’s as insane as it sounds. [Village Voice] Helping sugar daddies and their sugar babies find apartments on the hush is big business. [NYDN] A $150,000/month apartment at One57 is the city’s priciest non-hotel rental. [Curbed] The […]

Inside Brooke Shields’ Hamptons Cottage; A NY Cabby Scores a $226/Month Chelsea Pad
August 13, 2015

Inside Brooke Shields’ Hamptons Cottage; A NY Cabby Scores a $226/Month Chelsea Pad

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Taxi driver Hamidou Guira has finagled himself a $226/month apartment at the Chelsea High Line Hotel using a little known rent regulation law. [NYP] Take a tour of Brooke Shields’ colorful and classy cottage on Long Island. [Better Homes and Gardens] Real Estate bigwig and “Shark Tank” star Barbara Corcoran is reportedly eyeing Tavern Island as her […]

Study Says: The 4 Train Is the Worst Performing, the L Train the Best
August 13, 2015

Study Says: The 4 Train Is the Worst Performing, the L Train the Best

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The L train may be painfully packed during rush hour, but at least it can tout the title of being the best performing of all of NYC's subway lines—which appear only to be getting worse. The Journal reports that an audit recently conducted by the state comptroller’s office revealed that, on average, the subway system's on-time performance (how frequently a train reaches its last stop within five minutes of the scheduled time) is on the decline, falling to 74 percent on weekdays and 81 percent on weekends in 2014, from 81 percent and 85 percent in 2013. But the worst performing train of all? The 4 train.
More on the best and worst trains here
Take a Walk Down ‘Do the Right Thing Way’; NY Real Estate Could See a Slowdown in Chinese Investment
August 11, 2015

Take a Walk Down ‘Do the Right Thing Way’; NY Real Estate Could See a Slowdown in Chinese Investment

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A look at the new Goethals Bridge on Staten Island, now under construction. [SI Live] A street in Bed-Stuy has officially been named after Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing.” The name applies to Stuyvesant Avenue, a stretch between Lexington Avenue and Quincy Street. [Brooklyn Mag] The devaluation of the Chinese renminbi could lead to slowdown in New York investments. China has […]

Developer Avoids Rent-Stabilized Tenants by Building Luxury Condos on Top of Them
August 11, 2015

Developer Avoids Rent-Stabilized Tenants by Building Luxury Condos on Top of Them

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Here's a clever new move for the developer playbook: If you want to keep rent-stabilized tenants from interfering with your plans for ultra-posh condos, just build your pricey pads on top of them. According to the Times, the Department of Buildings (DOB) recently approved the construction of a 10-story luxury condo directly above a 1950s six-story apartment structure at 711 West End Avenue. Because the rent-stabilized tenants in the existing building are protected by law from getting the boot, Kaled Management and developer P2B Ventures dreamt up this sly alternative to buying out tenants, or waiting for unit de-regulation to build anew.
More on their plan here
New York Times Custom Birthday Book Features Every Front Page Since Your Birth
August 10, 2015

New York Times Custom Birthday Book Features Every Front Page Since Your Birth

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We've found the ultimate gift for the dedicated Times reader in your life—or a fun indulgence for a day you feel like treating yourself with something cool. The New York Times Custom Birthday Book is a beautifully bound hardback that culls every front page printed since the year of your birth, embossed with your name and birthdate for a super fascinating snapshot of world history over the course of your life.
Find out more here
Car2go Expanding to Queens; Brooklyn Rents in Trendy Nabes Outpace Manhattan
August 10, 2015

Car2go Expanding to Queens; Brooklyn Rents in Trendy Nabes Outpace Manhattan

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Car sharing service Car2go is expanding from Brooklyn to cover western Queens. [Crain’s] Rapidly growing brokerage Compass is looking to recruit. Here’s a quick video showcasing how they’re trying to “reinvent real estate.” [6sqft inbox] The Dakota’s co-op board allegedly tried to woo developer Robert Siegel—who has been trying to move into his apartment at the storied building […]

Another 1,000-Foot-Plus Tower Moves Forward Near South Street Seaport

Rendering created by CityRealty based on the reported height

August 7, 2015

Another 1,000-Foot-Plus Tower Moves Forward Near South Street Seaport

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There's no slowing down the city's supertall boom. Crain's reports yet another 1,000-foot plus tall tower could soon be joining the New York City skyline, rising at the combined sites of 80 South Street and 163 Front Street. Chinese investment company China Oceanwide Holdings released a statement saying they would be purchasing the development parcels for $390 million through a U.S. subsidiary from current owner Howard Hughes Corporation. The new tower will sit just south of the South Street Seaport, and amid a grouping of other tall, but not quite as tall, towers.
FInd out more here
My 1,680sqft: Artist Anne Peabody Invites Us Into Her Landmarked Clinton Hill Carriage House
August 4, 2015

My 1,680sqft: Artist Anne Peabody Invites Us Into Her Landmarked Clinton Hill Carriage House

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Our ongoing series “My sqft” checks out the homes of 6sqft’s friends, family and fellow New Yorkers across all the boroughs. Our latest interior adventure brings us to Clinton Hill. Want your home to be featured here? Get in touch! Anne Peabody is no stranger to turning the completely ordinary into something extraordinary. As an artist she creates elaborate and beautiful works with pieces of glass sized as small as a grain of rice to sheets as large as doors; as a preservationist, she’s restored many a home in both her native Kentucky and New York City (her last featured in the Wall Street Journal). Two years ago, Anne and her husband Tony purchased a landmarked home in Clinton Hill. She had long dreamt of owning one of the neighborhood’s historic carriage houses, and when one came to the market she immediately jumped on it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in an ideal state at signing—the previous owner had 20 cats and no litter box and the floors were soaked in pee—but she knew exactly what she was getting into. We recently visited Anne to have a look at her house before it goes under renovation this fall—a project that will entail restoring the exterior to its original late 1800s glory and the addition of an art studio and glass extension at the back of the home—and to hear why she's always stuck so close to this particular neighborhood. Though the current space is sparse, it’s easy to see the potential that lies within.
Inside Anne and Tony's next big project
LaGuardia Overhaul Could Actually Cost $8 Billion and Take Over 10 Years to Complete
July 29, 2015

LaGuardia Overhaul Could Actually Cost $8 Billion and Take Over 10 Years to Complete

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Womp womp. For those of you still flying high over yesterday's news that LaGuardia Airport would soon be getting a major revamp, here comes some unfortunate news that might bring you back down to earth. As Crain's reports, Governor Cuomo appears to have grossly underestimated his vision for the upgraded air hub. "According to several sources with direct knowledge of the project," the paper says, "a new LaGuardia could take more than 10 years to build and cost close to $8 billion"—a price that's double the Cuomo administration estimates of $4 billion, with at least another five years tacked on to the schedule.
Find out more here
July 29, 2015

Inside the Woolworth Penthouse; Rent-to-own Programs Are Making a Comeback

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Rent-to-own programs are becoming an option for those with bad credit who want to one day own a home. [WSJ] The MTA sent Mayor Bill de Blasio a letter yesterday urging the city to provide the $3.2 billion that the agency needs to close its capital budget deficit. [New York Post] Go inside the under-construction, ultra-expensive penthouse at the famed Woolworth […]

Eero Saarinen’s Iconic JFK Terminal to Be Reborn as the ‘TWA Flight Center Hotel’
July 28, 2015

Eero Saarinen’s Iconic JFK Terminal to Be Reborn as the ‘TWA Flight Center Hotel’

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For the last 14 years, JFK's most beloved structure has mostly languished vacant, reopened intermittently for public tours or to serve as the backdrop of some Jet Age fashion shoot. While there has been plenty of talk surrounding the TWA Flight Center's transformation into a hotel, details have remained sparse until now. As Curbed has it, the city has finally revealed that MCR Development will be taking the reigns alongside JetBlue and the NYNJ Port Authority, bringing the iconic terminal back to life as a 505-room LEED-certified hotel with restaurants, 40,000 square feet of meeting space and a 10,000-square-foot observation deck. The project will aptly be called "The TWA Flight Center Hotel."
FInd out more here
IKEA Is Selling a Placemat with a Pocket for Your Phone
July 27, 2015

IKEA Is Selling a Placemat with a Pocket for Your Phone

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We're having a hard time deciding whether this design is brilliant or just plain depressing. These new placemats come courtesy of IKEA and are part of their upcoming SITTNING collection, a limited edition series made up of 40 pieces focused in on "the joys of sharing a meal with those you love." The new mats—which will reportedly be called "Logged Out"—will feature a convenient little pouch for you to tuck your smartphone away so you can finally enjoy a meal with your friends without checking Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, email...
More on IKEA's new design here
$51M Time Warner Center Penthouse Sale Sets a Record for the Building
July 24, 2015

$51M Time Warner Center Penthouse Sale Sets a Record for the Building

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Maybe it's the location near Lincoln Center and lots of shopping, or maybe it's the unobstructed views of Central Park, or maybe it's the ease of planting tons of one's foreign cash without worry within its walls, whatever the case may be, the ultra-luxe Time Warner Center has just drawn in a record $50.92 million sale. The owner, Russian billionaire Andrey Vavilov, listed the sprawling 14-room penthouse for $75 million early last year, then dropping the price to $68 million in November, finally landing on $51 million with a buyer known only as "Columbus Family LLC," according to city documents filed today. As CityRealty reveals, the transaction is the highest ever recorded at the building; the runner-up, incidentally, the same unit, which traded hands last in 2009 between Vavilov and Austrian investor Gerhard Andlinger for $37.5 million.
Have a closer look inside
How You Can Live in a Billionaire’s Row Condo for Free AND Make Six Figures
July 22, 2015

How You Can Live in a Billionaire’s Row Condo for Free AND Make Six Figures

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Get a job as one of their building managers. As DNA Info reports, if you're just a regular Joe or Jane looking to take up residence in one of the city's priciest towers, you don't need to be a billionaire—or even a millionaire for that matter. The resident managers at four headline-stealing, ultra-luxury towers will live rent-free, in very large apartments, while also earning respectable six-figure salaries for their services.
Find out more here
Another Supertall Opponent Emerges on the City Council; Extell’s LES Project Still Causing Street to Sink
July 22, 2015

Another Supertall Opponent Emerges on the City Council; Extell’s LES Project Still Causing Street to Sink

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The Hudson Yards will be home to 28,000 plants when complete. [NYT] City Councilman Ben Kallos is leading a forum to block supertall, shadow-casting towers tomorrow night. [DNA Info] The Healthy Buildings Lab is working to help New Yorkers understand if toxic building materials have been used in their homes. [DNA Info] Donald Trump has […]

Edo Bertoglio’s Polaroids Transport Us to the 1980s NYC of Warhol, Basquiat and Madonna
July 22, 2015

Edo Bertoglio’s Polaroids Transport Us to the 1980s NYC of Warhol, Basquiat and Madonna

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When it came to music and avant garde art, few eras shone as brilliantly as the 1980s. The city was an incubator for experimental creatives like Andy Warhol, Basquiat, Debbie Harry and Madonna, individuals forging a name for themselves in a gritty yet glam city that was frantically pulsating with life. Photographer Edo Bertoglio was lucky enough to experience the time, spending his days amongst these inevitable icons from 1976 to 1989 and oftentimes snapping photos of them in intimate situations with his Polaroid camera. Now, decades later, Bertoglio is sharing his experience through his new book, "New York Polaroids 1976-1989," which culls 140 cherished images he's kept near and dear since those bygone days.
See a sampling of the photos here
10 Unbelievable Upstate NY Escapes You Can Rent by the Night
July 21, 2015

10 Unbelievable Upstate NY Escapes You Can Rent by the Night

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Home-sharing sites like Airbnb and Home Away often spell trouble in the big city, but just about everywhere else, they're an excellent opportunity for individuals to not only explore a new place, but live in a home they would never otherwise dream of inhabiting. We've rounded up a handful of unique summer escapes that promise to offer an unforgettable experience. From an eco-friendly yurt to an upstate barn renovated by local artisans to the woodland retreat where President Calvin Coolidge kicked off his boots to an ultra-modernist retreat in the middle of the forest, get to know all of these dreamy upstate New York hideaways ahead and then grab your friends and family for some out-of-city fun. We've got something for just about every budget!
see them all here
Buyers of Luxury Condos Can No Longer Hide Behind Shell Companies
July 21, 2015

Buyers of Luxury Condos Can No Longer Hide Behind Shell Companies

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Earlier this year the Times made waves in the real estate industry with a lengthy exposé zooming in on the growing trend of foreigners—many the subject of government inquiries ranging from environmental violations to financial fraud—using LLCs as a way to scoop up luxury properties and stash their cash while avoiding taxes. Now the paper reports that the De Blasio administration has imposed new disclosure requirements on those who intend to use shell companies as a vehicle to buy and sell property in the city. Under the new rules, these shell companies must now provide to the city both the names and tax IDs of all members involved in a transaction.
Find out more here
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