Brooklyn

In Manhattan, much of Brooklyn, and parts of Queens like Long Island City, a 300-foot tower isn't even news. But out in the once-sleepy waterfront community of Sheepshead Bay, it's sure to get people talking. Last September, it was revealed that a joint venture between Muss Development and AvalonBay would be building a 30-story residential tower at 1501 Voorhies Avenue that would be four times taller than almost anything else in the area. Now, here's our first look at the large and rather glassy behemoth designed by Perkins Eastman Architects. According to revised building plans, the tower is two stories shorter than initially filed and has a height of 331 feet, 6 inches to the top of its rooftop mechanical bulkhead.
More details and renderings

January 8, 2016

432 Park Avenue Records Its First Blockbuster Closing at $18.1M!

By Diane Pham

And so it begins! Closings at Macklowe Properties/CIM Group's Billionaires' Row blockbuster 432 Park Avenue have officially commenced with its first sale showing an impressive $18.116 million figure, as city records released this afternoon reveal. The unit is #35B, a massive 4,003-square-foot, three-bedroom pad with four-and-a-half baths, a private elevator landing, and 10-foot by 10-foot windows providing southern and western exposures with park views. Documents show that the palatial home was purchased via a LLC, 432 PARKVIEW.
more on the sale and the floor plan here

January 8, 2016

Developer Matthew Blesso Looks for a Profit on This Gorgeous Park Slope Townhouse

The historic Park Slope townhouse at 857 Carroll Street hasn't spent a long time off the market. In February of last year, the developer Matthew Blesso settled in after buying it for $4.05 million. (We called his move a "total architectural 180," considering his previous pad was this green Noho penthouse he sold for $7.35 million.) Now he's put the Brooklyn property back on the market for a higher price than he bought it for, $4.695 million, with some upgrades to boot.
Take a tour inside

January 8, 2016

Could These Twin Glassy Towers Be Coming to the Greenpoint Waterfront?

Momentum is building along the Williamsburg-Greenpoint waterfront. Since the Bloomberg administration's sweeping 2003 rezoning of the two-mile stretch of East River shoreline, nearly every buildable river-facing plot has been accounted for by developers. More than a dozen master plans are in the works, dominated by residential uses that scale upward to 50 stories and 600-foot heights. One remaining mystery lot is a block-long parcel in Greenpoint currently holding a two-story warehouse at 161-167 West Street (aka 53 Huron Street). The 65,000-square-foot site lies near the India Street ferry stop and is sandwiched between three development sites: Park Tower Group's ten-tower Greenpoint Landing master plan and Mack Real Estate Group/Palin Enterprises' 10 Huron Street (155 West Street), and The Gibraltar at 160 West Street.
More details ahead

January 6, 2016

$1.7B Light Rail Connecting the Brooklyn-Queens Waterfront Proposed

By Diane Pham

The dream of a Brooklyn-Queens light rail is moving further into the realm of reality. Back in July last year, 6sqft reported that an advisory committee comprised of developers, transportation experts and civic organizers was in the midst of forming to address the need for a more robust transportation system that could connect underserved, but booming, areas of Brooklyn and Queens. Now as the Daily News tells us, a non-profit advocacy group called Friends of the Brooklyn Queens Connector has officially materialized to tackle the issue, and they've just released a detailed proposal revealing the route and the potential design the modern streetcars could take on.
Find out more about the proposal here

Transit

January 4, 2016

In the Historic ‘Fruit Streets’ of the Heights, a $4.5M Townhouse With a Private Garage

Tucked into one of the city’s more picturesque enclaves on Orange Street in Brooklyn Heights, this four-story, nearly-3,000-square-foot townhouse offers modern comforts with a nod to its historic surroundings. At an ask that doesn't raise eyebrows in a neighborhood whose graceful townhouses range from pricey to record-setting–sometimes regardless of interior state–this brick-clad row house, while not loaded with grand details, gets warmth from wood beams, exposed brick, a wood-burning fireplace and restored window moldings while providing turnkey touches like central air and an updated chef's kitchen. Another plus is a private garage, not exactly common in brownstone Brooklyn.
Have a look inside

Distinctive Homes

Should the City Impose a ‘Window Tax’ for Billionaires’ Row Central Park Views?

Google Earth rendering from CityRealty showing some of the supertalls around the south end of Central Park

December 31, 2015

Should the City Impose a ‘Window Tax’ for Billionaires’ Row Central Park Views?

By Dana Schulz

"The builders are charging up to $100 million for apartments that offer helicopter views of lush foliage, jagged skylines, soothing rivers and angelic clouds. They lure the superrich, many with suspect foreign assets, to sky-high mansions. They enrich themselves by exploiting weak zoning rules to pour hideous implants into Manhattan cavities." All of this, says Max Frankel, who was the executive editor of The Times from 1986 to 1994 and lives half a block from Central Park, may need some consequences. And he wonders if this should come in the form of a "user fee," where residents of these Billionaires' Row towers would have to pay a monthly "window tax" based on how high in a given tower their unit is located. And according to his "back-of-the-envelope calculations," this could bring in roughly $1 million a year per building for the city to use on public projects like street work, parks, education, and affordable housing.
More details ahead

December 30, 2015

Attractive New Bushwick Condo Rises on One of Brooklyn’s Ugliest Streets

It's rare to see a new development in Bushwick with any kind of style and grace, but a recently finished six-unit condominium at 27 Dodworth Street actually looks like some thought went into it. Even more remarkable is that it manages to do so on what is probably the most unfortunate looking street on the eastern seaboard. So breathtakingly ugly in fact that it could be thought of, by some, as chic. And as it turns out, buyers have shelled out up to $1 million for condos along this gritty stretch near the Bed-Stuy-Bushwick border.
See the good, the bad, and the ugly

December 29, 2015

First Look at Six-Family Townhouses Set for North Williamsburg

At the northern edge of Williamsburg, near the Greenpoint border, work is beginning on a 12-unit project developed by Ami Barr's Djem Land LLC and designed by Queens-based InFocus Design and Planning. The building is situated at 171-173 Bayard Street, between Graham Avenue and McGuinness Boulevard, and replaces a one-story, nondescript light industrial building that the Long Island-based developers snapped up for $1.8 million in early 2014. Renderings posted on the architect's website show an orderly facade of red brick, large sash windows, and steel lintels. A somewhat strange marble cornice tops the first three levels and the fourth story is set back, simulating a modern rooftop addition atop a rehabilitated manufacturing building.
More details ahead

December 29, 2015

Karl Fischer’s Greenpoint Development Gets a Makeover; Interiors Revealed

With its hodgepodge exterior once called "the Noah's Ark of bad design" and simply described as just plain "fugly," it seems Karl Fischer has taken the hint by reworking the design of 26 West Street into something slightly less offensive. Since the rendering reveal last April, construction is now well underway and a new image of the project has emerged on Fischer's website that shows the use of more red paneling and factory-style sash windows, a greater incorporation of balconies, and the placement of additional arched windows along its western, river-facing facade. Also shown and reflected in DOB filings is a seventh story, bringing the likely rental project up from 72 units to 96. Additionally, Fischer has now revealed the project's interiors, which seem to mix the two favored Brooklyn styles of rustic and industrial.
Check it all out

December 28, 2015

Renderings Revealed for Cantilever King ODA’s Bushwick Hotel

By Dana Schulz

Back in March, 6sqft brought you renderings of a cantilevered, ziggurat-like project in Gowanus. The architects were none other than of-the-moment firm ODA, who have become the king of cantilevers and cube-like designs. The project never came to fruition (the developers noted that they won't be working with ODA), but it looks like the firm recycled some of the design ideas for their latest endeavor. ArchDaily revealed renderings for a new seven-story, 100-key hotel at 71 White Street in Bushwick. The ODA-designed structure, of course, features a dramatic cantilever with an interior courtyard and employs their signature boxy facade. It will use the foundation of a former 1930s manufacturing building, but for a true Brooklyn twist, will incorporate the existing brick graffiti wall into the new design.
More renderings and details this way

December 27, 2015

Park Slope Duplex With Spiral Staircase and Private Roof Deck Asks $6,500 a Month

Here's a Park Slope rental that comes from a three-story brownstone that's been converted into three condo apartments. This unit pretty much fits your idea of what a Park Slope apartment should be: it's located on a charming block with other brownstones, there are lovely interior details, and it's large enough to fit a family. (This is a neighborhood with a lot of babies.) It's a duplex with 1,400 square feet, three bedrooms and two bathrooms total. The condo is now on the rental market for $6,500 a month. It looks like condos in this building have been selling for over $1 million for the past few years -- this apartment actually closed in 2012 for $1.150 million.
See the interior

December 24, 2015

Brooklyn’s First 1,000+ Foot Tower Moves Forward, Developers Close on Last Site Needed

By Diane Pham

It's official, developers Michael Stern and Joe Chetrit have closed on the Dime Savings Bank building at 9 DeKalb Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn for $90 million, providing them with the air rights needed to build the borough's tallest tower. According to Crain's, who first broke the news, Stern and Chetrit will be able to transfer the bank building's 300,000 square feet of unused development rights to the new structure's site at 340 Flatbush Avenue Extension. As 6sqft previously reported, the new tower will soar more than 1,000 feet and is being designed by SHoP Architects. It will also be the city's tallest building outside of Manhattan when complete.
on the deal here

New Developments

December 22, 2015

Stubby Shotgun-Style House Asks $775K in East Bed-Stuy

Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn is a neighborhood that's famed for its architecture: majestic Italianate, Neo-Grec, Romanesque Revival and Queen Anne townhouses, churches and schools line a majority of the side streets. But this little house, at 288 Chauncey Street in East Bed-Stuy, stands in a category all its own. It looks more "New Orleans shotgun house" than Brooklyn townhouse, although it does boast a classic, historic cornice. It's also rare to see a townhouse in the neighborhood that's so stubby, with a one-story front facade (The home is actually a compact two-story, but the lower level sits mostly underground). What's even the proper price tag for such an oddball home? A few years ago, it was asking $350,000, but now that the Bed-Stuy market is so hot it's aiming high with an ask of $775,000.
Check out the interior

December 21, 2015

A Historic and Festive Three Bedroom in Cobble Hill Asks $6,000 a Month

The holidays are a notoriously hard time to sell and rent apartments, so we appreciate that this rental unit at 416 Henry Street in Cobble Hill is just going ahead and getting into the holiday spirit. A Christmas tree is on display in the lovely living room with its big windows and ceiling moldings. 416 Henry Street is a four-story brownstone building that holds three units, this being on of them. What appears to be a floor-through unit, holding three-and-a-half bedrooms and two bathrooms, is on the rental market for $6,000 a month. Looks like it last rented in 2013 for $4,300 a month.
Check it out

Distinctive Homes

December 20, 2015

Architensions’ Writing Pavilion Is a Tiny Backyard Retreat for Two Brooklyn Creatives

By Dana Schulz

Most Brooklyn creatives head to the local cafe when they need to escape to get work done, but this lucky couple can retreat right to their backyard garden (h/t Inhabitat). They enlisted local firm Architensions to design a space where they can find "a condition of isolation or immersive solitude" for writing and drawing. The result is the Writing Pavilion, a 50-square-foot wooden structure that is light-filled and serene, but purposefully simple and void of distractions.
Find out more about this outdoor escape

Architecture And Design

December 18, 2015

Spotlight: A Cold Dip With the Coney Island Polar Bear Club’s Dennis Thomas

By Susan Cohen

The city may be having an unseasonably warm December, but it's fair to say most New Yorkers still find it a bit too chilly for the beach. Members of the famed Coney Island Polar Bear Club, on the other hand, relish the drop in temperature as they head out for an ocean swim. The Polar Bear Club is a New York institution dating back to 1903. While the organization is renowned for its annual New Year’s Day swim where New Yorkers gather to welcome the year with a chilly dip, it’s far from the only time the club embraces the cold water. In fact, they meet 12 times throughout the winter months and draw a sizable membership that's a mix of ages, backgrounds, and cultures from the metropolitan area and beyond. At the club's helm is president Dennis Thomas, who fell in love with Coney Island years ago and later discovered the serenity of swimming on brisk days. More than thirty years after he first became a member, Dennis spoke with 6sqft about the Polar Bear Club's history, what a typical swim is like, and what happens when hundreds of New Yorkers turn out for a New Year's Day swim that supports Camp Sunshine.
Read the interview here

December 17, 2015

Edible Real Estate: These Amazing Gingerbread Houses Are Totally Turnkey

What could be better than real estate you can eat? Though these (mostly) edible homes are way too pretty to take a bite of, there’s just something about the idea of frosting on the roof… Ahead, check out some of the sweet, scaled-down edifices we've scouted across the web and NYC, including a gingerbread version of the Hogwarts School, Frank Lloyd Wright's iconic Fallingwater, and the Guggenheim, which, as they say, takes the cake!
More amazing cookie creations this way

December 17, 2015

$1.6 Million Dumbo Apartment Comes With Awesome Views of the Brooklyn Bridge

Views! Views! Views! Seriously, that's what you're getting with this two-bedroom apartment at 70 Washington Street, a former Dumbo warehouse that has been converted into 225 condo apartments. It was converted by Two Trees Management, prominent developers in the neighborhood, who built out luxury loft apartments and included a 24-hour concierge, doorman, fitness room, and roof deck with the building. This apartment has windows in both the living room and bedroom that offer an incredible look out onto the entire stretch of the Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan skyline. There's a total of 1,310 square feet and a lofty, open floor plan. A view like that in a neighborhood as popular as Dumbo doesn't come cheap -- although you can still find the occasional apartment in the area for under $1 million without the impressive views, of course. This one is on the market for $1.6 million, after last selling in 2007 for $1,055,926.
Take the tour

Distinctive Homes

December 17, 2015

Williamsberry’s Modern Mini-Me at 79 South Fifth Street Gets Glassed

Over in South Williamsburg, construction is moving apace on Mona Gora's noodle factory-to-nests condo conversion known as Williamsberry. While the building’s name has picked up a fair bit of ridicule, we think its ambiguity represents the neighborhood well; like that over-processed frozen yogurt flavor that's tangy to some, bitter to others, but too intriguing to stop tasting. The project is composed of an eight-story, former noodle factory building that is being transformed into 54 high-ceilinged residences topped by a rooftop solar farm. Alongside the conversion, the team is constructing a modern yet complementary six-story building at 79 South Fifth Street, which is also being designed by Workshop DA with interiors by Paris Forino.
Lots more details and renderings

December 16, 2015

Beautiful Brownstone Rental in Fort Greene Sports Historic Details and a Spacious Kitchen

If you're going to inhabit a couple of floors of a brownstone, the top choice is definitely a parlor-garden combo; you get the grandeur of high ceilings, huge rooms and lots of light on the parlor floor, and then–ideally–you get a lower level that opens out to a pretty backyard. If you're extra lucky, the parlor floor has access down to the yard as well. This beautifully-restored duplex at 75 Willoughby Avenue in Fort Greene is just that perfect combination–hence the $7K a month rent. But what you get–three bedrooms, two baths, a gorgeous private backyard accessible from both floors in a mint-condition historic townhouse with all the trimmings–is about as good as it gets.
Have a look

Distinctive Homes

December 15, 2015

REVEALED: Domino Sugar Factory’s Tiny New Neighbor at 349 Kent Avenue

In the shadow of the Williamsburg Bridge and across from the massive Domino Sugar Factory redevelopment underway by Two Trees, a tiny corner site at 349 Kent Avenue and South 5th Street will give rise to a six-story, 10-unit residential building designed by Brooklyn-based Workshop DA. The 4,000 square-foot lot was purchased for $1.3 million by Eugene Bushinger's 351 Kent Realty LLC in early 2011 and in May, it was reported that building permits were filed for a 15,300 square-foot residential building. The pre-existing, two-story structure that once provided a welcome splash of color along the Brooklyn Greenway has since been demolished. Its worn, brick faced boasted a geometric and robot-infused mural painted by R. Nicholas Kuszyk (a.k.a. RRobotsollaboration) with How and Nosm in 2011.
find out more about the development here

December 11, 2015

This Boerum Hill Duplex Comes With a Private Patio and 600-Foot Jogging Track

When a residential building is called the Skytrack Condominium, you know the roof deck is going to be awesome. This building, at 120 Boerum Place in Boerum Hill, was originally a manufacturing building back when the neighborhood was filled with boarding houses for ironworkers working on Manhattan’s bridges and skyscrapers. The building went condo in 1983 and maintained many of the old industrial interior details, including a “skytrack” that wraps around the roof of the building. The track, which runs around the perimeter of the building's roof deck, is now used as a walking or jogging path by residents. While residents share the roof deck distinguished by the "skytrack" feature, this condo up for sale comes with even more outdoor space. A private deck off the master bedroom—with its very own skytrack (!)—is a nice perk of the lofty duplex going for $1.575M.
See it here

December 10, 2015

This Pint-Sized Penthouse Has Two Terraces and a Big View of the Hearst Tower

A mere block from where Midtown’s newest Billionaires’ Row continues to rise along 57th Street south of Central Park, you'll find a thriving example of the classic New York City streetscape that has long-defined Midtown West, in places a jumble of skyscrapers, low-lying brick and rows of standard-issue mid-(20th)-century apartment buildings, in one of which you'll find this cozy co-op studio at 310 West 56th Street, described aptly by its listing as “the perfect pied-a-terre penthouse.” The 1964 co-op building is in a spot that’s getting more prime by the decade, already steps from the park, Columbus Circle and the Time Warner Center and blocks from Lincoln Center; then there’s that glittering condo canyon to the east and Bjarke Ingels’ game-changing Via rising to the west. The iconoclastic Norman Foster-designed Hearst Tower was among the vanguard–and it’s right across the street. Whoever lives here should probably be a fan of its gleaming white-and-glass geometric grid frame. Because they’re going to be seeing a lot of it.
Take a look

Distinctive Homes

December 8, 2015

Lofty Duplex in Greenpoint Comes With Double Height Ceilings and a Parking Space