Bed-Stuy

Is the Western Hemisphere's tallest residential tower already experiencing some construction defects? According to a recent blog post by real estate author Michael Gross (h/t Curbed), 432 Park Avenue is showing signs of wear. Gross writes that "Two unconnected sources confirm that the architectural concrete that covers the poured concrete tower has already developed cracks, and that scaffolds hanging from the pillar in recent weeks were there because Nicholson Galloway, a top masonry restoration company, was hired to coat the structure with some 'nasty stuff,' as one of those sources puts it, called Silane that will seal those fissures."
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October 27, 2015

The Parlor Floor’s the Star at This Bed Stuy Rental, Asking $4,500 a Month

If you've got the option to rent a floor of a historic New York townhouse, you'll always want the parlor floor. Originally designed to be the showcase of the home, this floor comes with big windows and the best light, a great layout and usually access to the backyard. This Bedford-Stuyvesant townhouse at 611 Macon Street now has a rental apartment available, for $4,500 a month, that covers both the parlor floor and floor above it. The home is indeed lovely, with some well-kept historic details and some renovations to make it feel like an "open concept space."
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Distinctive Homes

October 26, 2015

Check Out the Views From 1,438 Feet in the Air at 111 West 57th Street

Last week, 6sqft brought you an up close and personal look at 111 West 57th Street's exterior facade mock-up, and now Property Markets Group (PMG), who is co-developing the super-tower with JDS Development Group, posted a nifty interactive panorama of the building's out-of-this-world views. Rising from the heart of Billionaires' Row (New York's very own Mount Olympus and preferred residence of our anonymous overlords), the building is 80 stories and 1,438 feet high and is nearly perfectly on axis to Central Park–an egotistical perk that Extell's Central Park Tower and Macklowe/CIM Group's 432 Park aren't granted despite having higher apartments.
This way for the views

October 21, 2015

A Behind the Scenes Look at How SHoP’s Stunning Facade at 111 West 57th Street Will Come to Life

Last month, JDS Development wowed us with an image showing a visual curtain wall mockup of their super-tower underway at 111 West 57th Street. Now the Michael Stern-led development team in partnership with Property Markets Group has released a new video and a handful of images to keep our mouths watering for what is poised to become New York's most daring skyscraper in generations. Designed by the local talents at ShoP Architects, the tower has already nervously impressed us with its extraordinary height of 1,438 feet and its jaw-dropping slenderness (a ratio of 1:24). Now that its engineers, the WSP Group, and the Times have thoroughly convinced us that the building will not fall over, we can focus our attention on the tower's elegantly detailed facade, composed of a feathery mix of terra-cotta, bronze, and glass. A recent video posted by JDS provides us with more glimpses of the cladding, a time-lapse video of how the facade will transform throughout the day, as well as some behind-the-scenes insight of the extraordinary undertaking involved to sheath this future landmark.
Watch the video and get more details

October 14, 2015

Robert A.M. Stern’s 520 Park Avenue Finally Reaches Street Level, $130M Penthouse on Its Way

Two years since its groundbreaking, Zeckendorf Development's tower o' opulence at 520 Park Avenue has finally emerged from its cavernous trench. Set for completion in 2018, the Billionaires' Row building will climb 54 floors and 780 feet into the Manhattan skyline, becoming the tallest and likely the most prestigious building on the Upper East Side. Envisioned by William Lie and Arthur Zeckendorf, 520 Park Avenue inherits the classically-inspired taste of the real estate dynasty's prior projects. In the '80s, their father William Zeckendorf Jr. erected some of the city's largest post-modern apartment complexes such as Worldwide Plaza, Zeckendorf Towers, and the Park Belvedere. Here, the developers commissioned the esteemed architect/historian and dean of the Yale School of Architecture Robert A.M. Stern as the designer and SLCE as the architects of record. This team also collaborated together on 18 Gramercy Park South and 15 Central Park West, which shattered apartment records when it opened in 2008. Intent on replicating its west side counterpart's success, the Zeckendorfs again gathered the now-not-so-secret ingredients: a powerful address, palatial apartments, and most importantly, the coveted Central Park view, all of which will culminate in a jaw-dropping $130 million penthouse.
More on the project's status

October 13, 2015

252 East 57th Street Tops Off Construction Ten Years After Innovative Public-Private Partnership

Soaring more than 700 feet into the Midtown East skyline, World Wide Group and Rose Associate's 252 East 57th Street has officially topped out. Yes, it's hard being a stand-out skyscraper in Manhattan these days; some 30 years ago, the tower would have been the highest apartment tower in the city, just besting Trump Tower and Olympic Tower on Fifth Avenue. Today, the 57-story building is the shortest and eastern-most of six super-towers underway along the southern periphery of Central Park that have been raising average building heights and asking prices to new levels.
More details ahead

October 9, 2015

Construction and Sales Begin on SCDA’s Billionaires’ Row Tower, 118 East 59th Street

Construction and sales have commenced on a glass-encased, 500-foot-tall condominium tower at 118 East 59th Street developed by Euro Properties and designed by Soo K. Chan of SCDA Architects. Situated mid block between Park and Lexington Avenues, the tower is surrounded by the crème de la crème of New York real estate, positioned within the nexus of several high-value locales: The Plaza District, home to the GM Building, commands the city's top office rents; nearby shopping stretches of Fifth and Madison Avenues hold the world's most coveted retail corners; and a one-mile long, super-luxury residential corridor, nicknamed Billionaires' Row, straddles the southern bounds of Central Park and is set to reshape the city skyline into a trophy shelf of wealth.
More details ahead

September 22, 2015

SHoP’s Billionaires’ Row Supertall Gets a Spectacular Real-Life Mockup

Rendering versus reality? SHoP can certainly boast that the real thing will look as good, if not better, than the drawings they've put out. Yesterday afternoon, JDS Development Instagrammed (h/t Curbed) an amazing shot of a scale model facade of their ultra-skinny tower going up at 111 West 57th Street. The mockup features the same materials and finishes that will be applied to the actual construction, and by any stretch of the imagination, if you multiply this beauty's terracotta, glass, and bronze filigree to its 1,428-foot potential, it will certainly be one of the city's most striking buildings. Who says architects don't care about detail anymore?
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Architecture And Design

September 21, 2015

Units Finally Hit the Market at Jean Nouvel’s MoMA Tower

By Dana Schulz

The time has finally come. After years of setbacks and teasers, units at Jean Nouvel's 1,050-foot-tall MoMA Tower, now officially known as 53W53, have hit the market. Nine listings (out of 139) went up on Corcoran, according to Curbed, ranging from a $3.17 million one-bedroom 19th-floor unit to a $50.9 million four-bedroom, 63rd-floor unit. When construction started earlier this year, rumor had it that the listings wouldn't be made public, but now that we know otherwise, we've got plenty of floorplan porn to ogle, as well as lots more interior renderings courtesy of designer Thierry Despont.
Renderings and floorplans right this way

September 8, 2015

Hedge Fund Tycoon May Be the Buyer of $200M Penthouse at 220 Central Park South

By Dana Schulz

We first got wind of the potentially record-setting penthouse listing at 220 Central Park South back in March, when it was reported that the unit could sell for between $150 and $175 million. In June, sources said that a Qatari billionaire was looking to combine multiple apartments in the Robert A.M. Stern-designed building to create a $250 million mega-penthouse. Then last month, the Post speculated that another high-profile buyer was Ken Griffin, the billionaire hedge fun tycoon who is currently in the midst of a messy divorce from wife Anne Dias-Griffin (she's asking for $1 million a month in child support). Now the paper reveals that it's Griffin who's looking to snatch up the $200 million+ penthouse in what's being called the "billionaire's bunker."
More details this way

Real Estate Trends

September 2, 2015

Bed-Stuy Brownstone With Its Historic Details Intact Asks $1.9 Million

The days of finding an affordable historic brownstone in Brooklyn are long gone. Today, brownstones–like this one at 348 Gates Avenue in Bed-Stuy–are priced into the millions. Because the home has much of its historic interior details intact, like mantles, high ceilings and the original hardwood floors, it's especially pricey for the neighborhood, with an asking price of $1.9 million. It's also in a convenient area of the neighborhood, bordering Clinton Hill and off the main drag of Franklin Avenue. So, will this brownstone achieve its high ask?
See more to decide

August 31, 2015

Revealed: Floor Plans and Pricing for Jean Nouvel’s MoMA Tower

By Dana Schulz

After progress crept along for nearly ten years, Jean Nouvel's highly anticipated MoMA Tower, officially known as 53W53, is now inching closer to the finish line. A year ago we got a peak at unofficial penthouse floorplans, and the first interior renderings were revealed in February, followed by a pre-sales-launch video of the interiors in May. Now, the Post has uncovered floorplans and pricing for three of the units in the 1,050-foot, 82-story asymmetrical tower. They include a 3,846-square-foot, 55th-floor three-bedroom asking $21.7 million; a smaller 55th-floor three-bedroom for $14.42 million; and a 4,362-square-foot, 72nd-floor three-bedroom duplex going for $39.2 million.
More floorplans and pricing

August 24, 2015

Top Design Pro’s Impressively Renovated Bed-Stuy Brownstone Asks $2.375M

By Michelle Cohen

This townhouse at 806 Greene Avenue may not make much of an impression from the outside–though it sits on a pretty, historic block in the neighborhood's Stuyvesant Heights district–but a top NYC designer-helmed renovation and a double duplex layout may be what it takes to move this four-story, two-family brownstone at what would be one of the neighborhood's highest-priced trades to date if it gets its current ask of $2.375 million. At 18 feet wide (2,709 square feet total), it's a little on the narrow side, but there's plenty of space in both units by NYC standards. What makes us sit up and take notice is the sexy renovation by the home's current owner, Siobhan Barry, a partner at high profile design firm ICRAVE, whose work includes this modern Hamptons pool house and dozens of buzzy commercial projects like the W Hotel VIP lounges, Delta Airlines terminals at LaGuardia and JFK, the JetBlue terminal at JFK and jet-set nightclub Lavo, to name just a few.
Tour the townhouse here...

Distinctive Homes

August 19, 2015

Supermodel and Daughter of Zipcar Founder, Cameron Russell Scoops Up a $1.5M Bed-Stuy Townhouse

By Annie Doge

Victoria's Secret model, TED Talk speaker, burgeoning media mogul and daughter of Zipcar founder Robin Chase, Cameron Russell has just scored herself a cover-worthy townhouse in Stuyvesant Heights. According to city records filed this afternoon, the model dropped $1.522 million on the home, paying a tad more than the original ask of $1.45 million. Featured on 6sqft previously, the three-story, multi-family property was given an update back in 2011 and boasts high-end renovations, beautifully restored details and all the Brooklyn brownstone charm one could ask for. There's even a solar array topping off the structure and a large garden to boot!
Have a closer look inside

August 18, 2015

The Final Design of Extell’s Nordstrom Tower Still Undecided

Back in May it was reported that the official rendering for Extell's Nordstrom Tower—a.k.a. Central Park Tower, a.k.a. NYC and the country's future tallest tower (by roof height)—had finally been released by the developer, showing a glassy construction rising 1,523 feet from its 217 West 57th Street address. But now comes news from The Post's Steve Cuozzo that the tower's final design is actually "still up in the air."
Find out more here

August 17, 2015

NeighborhoodX’s 3D Map Reveals the Blocks Where Real Estate Prices Are Soaring

Click for the expanded version >> We all have a pretty good idea which NYC neighborhoods command top dollar, but this incredible 3D map from NeighborhoodX really puts things into perspective by pinning the city's 325 neighborhoods against one another in a visually jarring side-by-side comparison. Among the most expensive? For Brooklyn, Gravesend beats out our best guess of DUMBO/Brooklyn Heights with its enclave of multi-million dollar, over-the-top mansions; and in Manhattan, Billionaires' Row rises as a whole other beast with prices soaring as high as its supertalls.
get a more detailed look here

Real Estate Trends

August 17, 2015

Wood Detailing Galore at This Bed-Stuy Brownstone Asking $2 Million

One of our favorite things about old, well-kept brownstones? The intricate wood detailing you'll find along the doorways, mantelpieces, staircases and shelving. The phrase, "They just don't make them like that anymore" applies here. This brownstone at 429 Hancock Street in Bed-Stuy, a classic Brooklyn brownstone neighborhood, has plenty of the above details. As the listing says, the home is in the Queen Anne style with some Romanesque Revival elements thrown in. It's also got some modern upgrades to go along with it. For this blend of the historic and the new, it's going to cost you a total of $1.999 million.
Tour the interior

Distinctive Homes

July 29, 2015

$1.75 Million Bed-Stuy Townhouse in a Future Historic District Has Location, Space and Charm

By Michelle Cohen

For anyone looking to bet on Bed-Stuy–not a bad idea, we hear–this classic three-family townhouse at 44 Macon Street could be a fine opportunity. While the $1.75 million ask for this 2,720 square-foot, 13-room home might have been unheard-of even five years ago, anything this charming under $2 million in brownstone Brooklyn is going to get some attention these days. The multi-family layout gives you lots of options–while still getting the 1-3 family tax break. Currently set up as an upper duplex with two floor-through apartments below, there is one catch: There's a tenant in place in the garden apartment, which won't be delivered vacant; this should certainly be considered, but that leaves three floors, all tastefully renovated with a laid-back, loft-like aesthetic, to do as you please.
Check out this classic Bed-Stuy bet, this way

Distinctive Homes

July 22, 2015

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

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

July 16, 2015

SCDA’s Switchback Skyscraper Launches Teaser Site and Clears Its Midtown East Lot

Last November, 6sqft brought you news that a 29-unit boutique condominium would rise at the edge of Billionaires' Row, in that somewhat ambiguous zone occupied by Bloomingdale's and Bloomberg LLP. Now, the high-end development's teaser site has launched, which showcases a handful of images of the tower's common spaces, and we took a trip to the site to get a first look at the construction progress. Just last month, the two 4- and 6-story office buildings occupying the site at 116-118 East 59th Street were cleared, and recent Department of Buildings filings reveal that the envisioned $330 million tower will stand exactly 500 feet tall, making it spot-on-the-mark of what we (and other bean-counters) officially deem a skyscraper.
More details and renderings ahead

July 15, 2015

One57 Received $66M in Tax Breaks in Exchange for Just 66 Units of Affordable Housing

If you need more proof that there are some serious flaws with the 421-a program, once again, look no further than One57. As reported by the Journal, the super-luxe tower was the beneficiary of a whopping $65.6 million tax cut, an abatement granted in exchange for a paltry $5.9 million contribution to help cover the cost of 66 affordable apartments in the Bronx. That means your tax dollars subsidized apartments at nearly $1 million per unit—the highest known subsidy under the program—when affordable units on average cost a mere $179,000 apiece. It's estimated that the generous cut could have provided for 367 affordable apartments. The findings came from the latest review by the city’s Independent Budget Office (IBO).
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Affordable Housing

Construction Update: Robert A.M. Stern’s 220 Central Park South Begins Race into the Sky

Image courtesy of Desimone Engineering

July 8, 2015

Construction Update: Robert A.M. Stern’s 220 Central Park South Begins Race into the Sky

Billionaire's Row's race into the sky continues. Two of its biggest projected selling towers are beginning to rise out of their gargantuan foundations and are rushing to claim their piece of coveted Central Park-fronting airspace. Construction of Vornado's 220 Central Park South development has an early lead against Extell Development's significantly larger Central Park Tower (formerly Nordstrom Tower) across West 58th Street. The first level of concrete and re-bar are now poking up above street level and the elevator/stairway cores are now clearly visible to pedestrian passersby.
See new images of the tower here

June 16, 2015

Extell’s Nordstrom Tower Will Be the Country’s Tallest by Roof Height

The Nordstrom Tower may not become the overall tallest building to ever rise NYC, besting One World Trade Center as previously reported and then rebuffed, but new filings unearthed by NY Yimby show that the supertall will still carry a very worthy, head-craning title. Documents show that the 95-story building will become not only the tallest building by roof height in NYC, but also in the country at 1,522.83 feet.
get the scoop here

June 12, 2015

Finally, an Historic Brooklyn Brownstone for Under a Million Dollars

By Aisha Carter

What if we told you you could have an entire 2,664-square-foot brownstone in Brooklyn for under one million dollars? This four-level home at 374 Decatur Street in Bed-Stuy has everything you need to make your dreams come true. Naturally, you're going to have to put in a little sweat equity (or you can always pay someone), but the final result will be exactly what you want it to be and well worth the $855,000 investment. Sound interesting? We thought so.
More pics inside

Distinctive Homes

June 11, 2015

Historic Interior Pairs with Contemporary Touches at This $2.75M Bed-Stuy Brownstone

Are all the prettiest listings in Bed-Stuy? It sure seems like it these days! This brownstone at 25 Monroe Street is on the market asking $2.75 million. It has a beautifully restored historic interior that's been paired with a more modern renovation to add a contemporary touch. The result is an impressive balance of both old and new.
See more of the inside

Distinctive Homes

June 10, 2015

Wood Details Abound in This $1.3M Bed-Stuy Townhouse