All articles by Michelle Cohen

Michelle is a New York-based writer and content strategist who has worked extensively with lifestyle brands like Seventeen, Country Living, Harper’s Bazaar and iVillage. In addition to being a copywriter for a digital media agency she writes about culture, New York City neighborhoods, real estate, style, design and technology among other topics. She has lived in a number of major US cities on both coasts and in between and loves all things relating to urbanism and culture.

This $2.5M Red Hook townhouse gets sustainable modernism right

Photo credit: DDReps/Shannon Dupre

March 17, 2022

This $2.5M Red Hook townhouse gets sustainable modernism right

By Michelle Cohen

This stunning free-standing townhouse at 19 Wolcott Street in Red Hook is a well-executed combination of sustainable construction and beautiful modern design. Innovative materials and an architect's eye are the backdrop for 21st-century living, with enviable features that include a spacious raised deck, an outdoor garden, and a fully enclosed garage with an electrical panel ready to install a charger. This modern classic of a three-bedroom Brooklyn townhouse, asking $2,500,000, was built using energy-efficient passive house construction throughout and solar panels above.
Tour this modern Brooklyn house

NYC launches online platform with free access to 9.3 million historical birth, death, and marriage records

Courtesy of The New York City Municipal Archives

March 16, 2022

NYC launches online platform with free access to 9.3 million historical birth, death, and marriage records

By Michelle Cohen

The New York City Municipal Archives has launched a digital search platform as part of a mass digitization project that will ultimately provide online access to 13.3 million historical birth, death, and marriage records. At 70 percent complete, the NYC Historical Vital Records Project currently has 9.3 million genealogical records accessible in digital form, free of charge.
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History

In Harlem, a treasure-filled corner condo with a huge outdoor terrace asks $4M

All photos by Eitan Gamliely for Sotheby’s International Realty

March 16, 2022

In Harlem, a treasure-filled corner condo with a huge outdoor terrace asks $4M

By Michelle Cohen

What's old is new again at this totally renovated corner apartment in the center of Harlem. On the 27th floor of the high-rise condominium at 1485 Fifth Avenue, this three-bedroom home is currently a showcase of antiques and artwork. Custom built-in lighted shelving throughout the apartment displays collected treasures in the most elegant way possible. Asking $3,995,000, this Uptown aerie offers breathtaking Manhattan views through walls of windows and a layout that maximizes privacy.
See more this way

Renovated historic Brooklyn mansion with a 1,200-square-foot ballroom is back on the market for $13M

Photo credit: Alan Barry

March 15, 2022

Renovated historic Brooklyn mansion with a 1,200-square-foot ballroom is back on the market for $13M

By Michelle Cohen

In 2016, 6sqft featured the impossibly ornate and enormous 1900s mansion for sale at 1305 Albemarle Road. Set among the Prospect Park South neighborhood's stately free-standing Victorians, the home was a standout; in addition to its 11,000-square-foot interior, its two-story portico with massive fluted columns, jaw-dropping original interiors including a fabulous top-floor ballroom–and the fact that it shares a street with Michele Williams' house–all generated quite a buzz. The home, asking $3,000,000, sold in less than a day. After a stem-to-stern renovation of epic proportions, the historic city mansion is back on the market, this time for an equally epic $12,950,000.
Tour the latest and best version of this extra fancy Brooklyn mansion

March 14, 2022

750 spots open on waitlist for Mitchell-Lama Lower East Side co-ops, for sale from $19,677

By Michelle Cohen

Applications are currently being accepted for newly-opened waitlist spots for studios and two-bedroom middle-income units at the Gouverneur Gardens co-op at 305 Madison Street. New Yorkers earning 125 percent of the area median income can apply to purchase apartments in the post-war development on Manhattan's Lower East Side, priced from $19,677 for a studio to $35,418.60 for a two-bedroom.
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Affordable Housing

$17.5M former hunting lodge is a Hamptons retreat with everything included, even an old-school windmill

Photo courtesy of Douglas Elliman Realty

March 14, 2022

$17.5M former hunting lodge is a Hamptons retreat with everything included, even an old-school windmill

By Michelle Cohen

This idyllic waterfront compound at 74-80 Cedar Lane in the secluded Southampton hamlet of Remsenburg was once a 19th-century hunting lodge. In far more recent days, complete restoration and renovation have bestowed this charming property–it's currently the hamlet's most expensive listing at $17,500,000–with some top-tier modern additions like an elevator, a guest house, a pool and tennis court, a porte-cochere and a five-car garage with hydraulic lifts, a boathouse, a fitness room, and a wine cellar. And in case you forget the laid-back Hamptons vibe, there's even an old-fashioned windmill on the property.
Tour this amazing waterfront property

Distinctive Homes

Fernando Botero’s 8-foot ‘Sphinx’ sculpture has landed in the Meatpacking District

Photos courtesy of David Benrimon Fine Art

March 11, 2022

Fernando Botero’s 8-foot ‘Sphinx’ sculpture has landed in the Meatpacking District

By Michelle Cohen

Concurrent with an exhibition of celebrated Colombian artist Fernando Botero's work at David Benrimon Fine Art, Botero’s iconic "Sphinx" will be holding court in the Meatpacking District’s 14th Street Square until April 19. The exhibition and sculpture also mark the 90th birthday of Colombia’s most successful living artist. Botero's familiar style interprets mythological and everyday subjects with exaggerated, voluptuous proportions and flat, bright colors. The latest Meatpacking addition features the iconic creature with a human head, a lion's body and a falcon's wings in classic zaftig Botero style; there's no indication that it will be offering riddles.
International flair for a downtown square

Events & Things To Do

This $2.7M free-standing mansion with details intact sits on Bushwick’s historic ‘Doctors’ Row’

Photo credit: Allyson Lubow Photography

March 11, 2022

This $2.7M free-standing mansion with details intact sits on Bushwick’s historic ‘Doctors’ Row’

By Michelle Cohen

Though you might not think of Bushwick as the go-to neighborhood for grand, free-standing turn-of-the-20th-century mansions, a historic strip of Bushwick Avenue is home to quite a few. Known as "Doctors' Row" or "Brewer's Row" (several of its homes were built by beer baron William Ulmer), the avenue still boasts a number of impressive free-standing townhouses, including the landmarked Huberty House at number 1019. Built in 1900, the 4,250-square-foot home was designed in the Colonial Revival style by Helmle & Huberty, designers of the Prospect Park Boathouse among others. Asking $2,700,000, the townhouse has been owned by the same family since 1937, and many of its original details remain intact.
Tour this Bushwick beauty

Distinctive Homes

Photo credit: Russ Ross for The Corcoran Group

March 10, 2022

This $899K West Village co-op is bright and tranquil from top to bottom

By Michelle Cohen

Situated in a sliver of the West Village that embodies many a downtown NYC fantasy, this one-bedroom (convertible to two) pre-war co-op at 8 Bethune Street is the picture of Village charm. Asking $899,000, the walk-up apartment is only a two-flight hike, and nine-foot-plus ceilings, white-painted wood floors, pale brick walls, and treetop views make the walk worthwhile.
Take a peek

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First skyline-view sleepover at Top of the Rock will be an all-night celebration of spring

The sleepover space: Weather Room at Top of the Rock; image courtesy of Rockefeller Center

March 9, 2022

First skyline-view sleepover at Top of the Rock will be an all-night celebration of spring

By Michelle Cohen

As we slowly make our way toward spending time out there among our fellow New Yorkers, Rockefeller Center is hosting a new way to celebrate spring. Star Party at Top of the Rock will be the first-ever overnight musical experience at the famous skyline-view venue, held in celebration of the spring equinox as the evening of March 19 becomes March 20. The first of a new quarterly series offers a small audience the opportunity to experience all-night meditation and ambient sound against the sparkle of the city skyline.
Find out more ⭐️ ? ? ? ?

Events & Things To Do

Where to celebrate Women’s History Month 2022 in NYC

By Michelle Cohen

March is Women’s History Month, an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of American women–and March 8 is International Women's Day. The origins of the month-long celebration–and the suffrage movement itself, have their roots in New York City, and the city is a great place to learn more about the women who shaped the world as we know it. Top local arts and culture organizations are offering lectures, festivals, tours, and art exhibits in the five boroughs, all month long. More reason to celebrate and mark your calendar: Most hosts have returned to in-person events.
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Jen Ray, Jason Forrest, “Find the Secret Data Message, NY Alive.” Photo credit: Data X Design.

March 7, 2022

Open Data Week highlights NYC’s Open Data Portal with art, design, squirrels and more

By Michelle Cohen

New York City loves an opportunity to show off its smarts and find innovative ways technology, art and daily life are intertwined. Data Through Design (DxD), an exhibition happening from March 5 - 13 throughout the five boroughs, is a perfect example. DxD is a central component of the broader NYC Open Data Week, which in turn highlights the city's Open Data Portal and the many things that can be done with access to data. Design and art events offer visitors a chance to interact with the city through life-sized art pieces. Even the city's bushy-tailed rodents get involved in the fun.
Art, design, rats and squirrels, this way

Get lost on two sprawling floors of this $7.5M 12-room Upper East Side co-op

Photo Credit: Coldwell Banker Warburg

March 7, 2022

Get lost on two sprawling floors of this $7.5M 12-room Upper East Side co-op

By Michelle Cohen

If the location of this five-bedroom co-op at 1165 Fifth Avenue–with Central Park just out the window and across the street–weren't enough to make it a big deal, it's a veritable sky-townhouse with co-op convenience. Asking $7,495,000, the 12-room duplex is a combination of two apartments, resulting in space galore, divided among colorful, livable, renovated rooms.
Take the two-floor tour

Distinctive Homes

For $3.25M, this pretty Gramercy co-op has a near-perfect layout and a key to the park

Photo credit: Brown Harris Stevens

March 4, 2022

For $3.25M, this pretty Gramercy co-op has a near-perfect layout and a key to the park

By Michelle Cohen

Only a fortunate few residences in the Gramercy Park neighborhood come with keys to the actual park, and this two-bedroom co-op at 32 Gramercy Park South is one of them. The apartment–a two-unit combo asking $3,250,000–is fully renovated without the awkwardness sometimes found when units merge. Spacious bedrooms and extra living space make the layout just right, and city skyline views add to the perfect Manhattan apartment equation.
Take the tour

Distinctive Homes

Brooklinen’s new towel collection brings NYC icons to the beach

Photo courtesy of Brooklinen

March 3, 2022

Brooklinen’s new towel collection brings NYC icons to the beach

By Michelle Cohen

Though it might not be quite time to hit the beach, we're counting the days. Luxury bed linen disruptor Brooklinen has offered us a ray of sunshine in the form of a new collaboration with a nod to everyone's favorite New York City icons. Inspired by their Brooklyn roots, the company is collaborating with six New York City artists on a collection of limited-edition, summer-themed beach towel prints. The first three in the series, available starting March 3, include NYC Summer, High Tide, and Island Life. The first of these is indeed a snapshot of summer in the city.
Pigeons, pizza, pretzels

$17.8M Brooklyn Heights waterfront townhouse has an elevator, garage, and loads of original details

Photo credit: Andrew Kiracofe for Sotheby’s International Realty

March 3, 2022

$17.8M Brooklyn Heights waterfront townhouse has an elevator, garage, and loads of original details

By Michelle Cohen

If you crave a historic brownstone with original architectural details, this 5,050-square-foot, four-story home at 77 Columbia Heights will certainly get your attention. Immaculately restored interior architecture frames a Brooklyn Heights corner townhouse with East River and Manhattan views from almost every room. In addition to state-of-the-art modern updates (including an elevator), the 25-foot-wide townhouse, asking $17,777,000, comes with a two-car garage, a wine cellar and gym, and a landscaped roof deck with a custom outdoor kitchen.
Historic townhouse details galore, this way

This $15M UES mansion has six floors topped by a solarium and roof garden

Photo credit: DDreps/Sotheby’s International Realty

March 2, 2022

This $15M UES mansion has six floors topped by a solarium and roof garden

By Michelle Cohen

Appropriately situated on one of the Upper East Side's grandest blocks, the Adele Kneeland Mansion at 154 East 71st Street is a 20-foot-wide Neo-Georgian townhouse with more than 11,000 square feet of interior space. Asking $14,950,000, this six-story residence boasts both original and updated architecture on the inside and outside. An elevator serves all floors, including the glass-walled double-height solarium and 1,250-square-foot landscaped rooftop terrace at its crown. The options here are many on the live/work spectrum; in addition to a palatial private home, it would be well-suited for a medical practice, school, private art museum, or non-profit organization HQ.
More about this historic Manhattan mansion

Distinctive Homes

Photo of NYC’s Billionaires’ Row in 2020: Wikimedia commons

March 1, 2022

New transparency bill would make it harder for international elites to hide behind LLCs in NY

By Michelle Cohen

State Sen. Brad Hoylman and Assembly Member Emily Gallagher on Tuesday introduced legislation that would help shine a light on the money behind Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) and anonymous shell companies. The new bill would help uncover assets of international oligarchs, trace tax evaders and help hold bad landlords accountable by requiring LLCs to disclose to the NYS Department of State the names and addresses of their beneficial owners.
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$4M Tribeca loft offers privacy and plenty of room for living

Photo credit: Yale Wagner for Sotheby’s International Realty

March 1, 2022

$4M Tribeca loft offers privacy and plenty of room for living

By Michelle Cohen

For anyone who dreams of loft living but wants modern condo convenience and privacy, this freshly renovated Tribeca loft in the Sugar Warehouse at 79 Laight Street should hit a sweet spot. For $3,995,000 you get a private elevator landing, three well-distanced bedrooms, a huge entertaining space, and sparkling new finishes in an authentic, historic loft frame.
More modern loft goodness, this way

Manhattan borough president calls for seizure of Russian oligarchs’ NYC properties

220 Central Park South as seen in May 2020. Photo by Jim.henderson (cropped) via Wikimedia Commons.

February 28, 2022

Manhattan borough president calls for seizure of Russian oligarchs’ NYC properties

By Michelle Cohen

High-profile sales deals with wealthy Russian buyers have made headlines–Dmitry Rybolovlev's $88 million condo buy at 15 Central Park West, for example–and Manhattan's trophy condos have been seen as a safe investment for Russian oligarchs. But since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, there have been calls to seize those properties, The Real Deal reports.
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NYC Council approves zoning amendment in move toward permanent outdoor dining

Maiden Korea, 316 5th Avenue; Courtesy of Alfresco NYC

February 25, 2022

NYC Council approves zoning amendment in move toward permanent outdoor dining

By Michelle Cohen

The New York City Council on Thursday approved the Open Restaurants zoning text amendment to NYC’s Zoning Resolution, an important step in the path to making permanent outdoor dining a part of city life. The zoning amendment expands the areas where outdoor dining can be considered to all NYC neighborhoods. The amendment joins proposed legislative changes that would cut red tape for restaurant owners.
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A lofted upper level gives this $2.75M Chelsea condo extra living space

Photo credit: Scott Wintrow for The Corcoran Group

February 25, 2022

A lofted upper level gives this $2.75M Chelsea condo extra living space

By Michelle Cohen

This two-bedroom condo at 121 West 20th Street, asking $2,750,000, has classic Manhattan loft details like 15-foot ceilings, oversized windows, and cast-iron columns. A lofted mezzanine provides the second bedroom, plus office space and closets, and a new renovation adds a sleek kitchen, designer fixtures and finishes, and contemporary convenience.
Take the tour

Everything is for sale, including the $6.5M apartment, at this Upper West Side interior design exhibition

Dining table in rosewood with red under-painted inset glass top designed by Joaquim Tenreiro, Brazil, 1948, $125,000.00; “First Chairs” in rosewood and cane seat designed by Joaquim Tenreiro, Brazil, 1942, $80,000.00 for set of eight; “Vine” illuminated sculpture with hand-blown round soda glass globes and fifteen sockets designed and made by Jeff Zimmerman, USA, 2018, $125,000.00; Photo courtesy of frenchCALIFORNIA

February 24, 2022

Everything is for sale, including the $6.5M apartment, at this Upper West Side interior design exhibition

By Michelle Cohen

The Belnord at 225 West 86th Street is getting plenty of attention recently. The Upper West Side condo building stars as the fictional Arconia in Hulu’s "Only Murders in the Building" series. Now, a three-bedroom unit, on the market since October for $6,475,000, is having a turn in the spotlight as an international interior design showcase. The Belnord Project presents the home's interiors and art in a shoppable exhibition curated by frenchCALIFORNIA in partnership with Evan Snyderman of modern and contemporary design gallery R & Company.
Check out the design collaboration, room by room

Mayor’s budget comes up short on housing and homelessness, NYC advocates say

Mayor Eric Adams presents New York City’s $98.5 billion Preliminary Budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023. City Hall. Wednesday, February 16, 2022. Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office via Flickr.

February 23, 2022

Mayor’s budget comes up short on housing and homelessness, NYC advocates say

By Michelle Cohen

Mayor Eric Adams released the city's preliminary budget for fiscal year 2023 last Wednesday, placing emphasis on public safety, employment, and aiding the plight of the city's youngest residents by addressing childcare and at-risk youth. While the mayor's safety-focused policy actions–prohibiting homeless people from sleeping in subway stations, for example–made headlines, advocates for equitable housing and the homeless say the proposed budget is a disappointment without a previously promised focus on those basic needs.
More on where the money's going, this way

For $1M, this historic Hudson bed and breakfast has lots of options beneath its mansard roof

All photos courtesy of Houlihan Lawrence

February 23, 2022

For $1M, this historic Hudson bed and breakfast has lots of options beneath its mansard roof

By Michelle Cohen

This eclectic 1865 Second Empire-style home–complete with mansard roof and widow's walk–is currently operated as Hudson City Bed and Breakfast in buzzy Hudson, NY. Asking $1,025,000, the 4,825-square-foot, six-bedroom, seven-and-a-half-bath home at 326-328 Allen Street has lots of appeal for anyone fond of architectural quirks, including an Italianate tower and one of the town's only accessible widow's walks with views of the surrounding Catskill Mountains.
Tour this historic Catskill home

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