Real Estate Trends

Real Estate Wire: A Scathing Review of One WTC by the Times; Nearly 100 Sites to Be Removed from Landmarks Consideration
December 1, 2014

Real Estate Wire: A Scathing Review of One WTC by the Times; Nearly 100 Sites to Be Removed from Landmarks Consideration

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New York Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman reviews the design of One World Trade Center. Kimmelman does not mince words. [NYT] 95 historic city sites will be removed from Landmarks consideration without any public consideration or input. [GVSHP] Construction on 56 Leonard is well underway and the building already looks as crazy as the rendering. [Field Condition] Sales begin at Tribeca’s […]

10 Sullivan Street Leads Western Soho Residential Development
December 1, 2014

10 Sullivan Street Leads Western Soho Residential Development

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Back in June, units at 10 Sullivan Street in Soho hit the market. The 16-story, Cary Tamarkin-designed building is shaped like a mini Flatiron Building, and due to its height and scale, many consider it grossly out of place. But regardless of one's opinion, the scheduled completion of the triangular condo in late 2015 will cement western Soho's turn from primarily commercial to residential, a trend shared with adjacent neighborhood Hudson Square.
More on 10 Sullivan Street and western Soho's transformation
On Sale Now: An Unofficial Black Friday Bargain Hunt!

135 West 70th Street Penthouse BC; Listing photo Douglas Elliman.

November 28, 2014

On Sale Now: An Unofficial Black Friday Bargain Hunt!

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Late November can be an anxious time for both buyers and sellers; unpleasant weather, family events and just plain seasonal shutdown mode can reduce the traffic at open houses to a trickle and get properties pulled off the market until after New Year’s Day or even springtime. Sellers may panic and prices get cut in the hopes of getting the deal done before year’s end; it’s a good time for intrepid buyers to stay in the game, though, because the competition factor is at a minimum. After reading about Leo DiCaprio who, like Macy’s, Wal-Mart and Kohl’s, jumped the gun on the traditional discount day by price-chopping his haute-holistic Delos Living penthouse, we rounded up some stellar dwellings that received significant markdowns just in time for the popular post-Thanksgiving Day shop-a-thon. So if you’re on the hunt–or you’ve got a two-bed-two-bath-with-killer-views-sized stocking to fill–check out our list of sale merch of the real estate persuasion that–we hope–won't require you to queue up at the crack of dawn.
10 more discounted deals that are better than lords a-leaping
Real Estate Wire: Is Jersey City the Next Cultural Hub?; Landmarks Denies Glass Topper for Tammany Hall
November 26, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Is Jersey City the Next Cultural Hub?; Landmarks Denies Glass Topper for Tammany Hall

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Taking a look at the cultural rise of Jersey City. [NYT] Why are Brooklyn neighborhoods getting so hard to tell apart? [NYO] Landmarks Preservation Commission denies BKSK Architect’s glass topper proposal for Tammany Hall. [Curbed] Manhattan’s getting 14 million square feet of office space by 2019. [WSJ] Images: Jersey City via Singing With Light via photopin […]

World Trade Center Transportation Hub Gets Its Final Steel Rafter

Ironworkers attach the “Old Glory” flag to the final Oculus rafter piece before installation

November 26, 2014

World Trade Center Transportation Hub Gets Its Final Steel Rafter

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Just weeks after One World Trade Center and the Fulton Center Subway Station opened their doors for business, the last of the 114 steel rafters was installed on Santiago Calatrava's long-overdue, majorly over-budget flying bird-looking transportation hub. This is just one of many steel components in the project; it’s made up of 618 steel pieces which weigh more than 12,000 tons. The rafters were supposed to be completed by August, but though they were three months behind schedule, the hub is still expected to open in late 2015.
Read more here
NYC Dumpster Transforms into an Inflatable Urban Education Classroom
November 26, 2014

NYC Dumpster Transforms into an Inflatable Urban Education Classroom

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Well, this gives a whole new meaning to the term "dumpster diving." In Morningside Heights, at 109th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, the New York-based architect John Locke, of the Department of Urban Betterment, has created "inflato dumpster," a blow-up urban education classroom inside of a typical city dumpster. The design team was inspired by the "contemporary fascination with transforming existing street structures into utilitarian spaces for habitation," which led to their combining the seemingly invisible lightness of the inflatable material with the hard, gritty, steel dumpster.
More details on the inflatable dumpster
Real Estate Wire: Debate Continues over Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6; Looking at Coney Island Boardwalk’s Surrounding Neighborhoods
November 25, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Debate Continues over Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6; Looking at Coney Island Boardwalk’s Surrounding Neighborhoods

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Brooklyn Bridge Park Corp. defends Pier 6 development with need for potential revenue. [Crain’s] Actor Mark Ruffalo joins the fight against the NYU expansion plan. [NY Post] Coney Island’s boardwalk is experiencing a renaissance, but what about the surrounding neighborhoods? [WSJ] City Council approves the controversial Astoria Cove project. [NYO] Upper East Side residents who […]

Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones Sell Their Charming Bedford Farmhouse for $7.5M
November 24, 2014

Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones Sell Their Charming Bedford Farmhouse for $7.5M

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It looks like Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones are bidding adieu to their "tiny" six-bedroom, six-bath brick Colonial up in Bedford. According to the LA Times, the couple have just sold the home for $7.5 million—a bit under their $8.1M August asking price, but well above the $5.1 million they originally paid for it. Bedford residents, however, shouldn't say their goodbyes just yet; Michael and Catherine will still be staying in the area. In October, after ending their separation, the pair snagged a $11.25 million, 15,458-square-foot stunner boasting eight bedrooms, 13.5 baths and 13 acres (Talk about a fresh start!). While the recently-sold home is quite demure when compared to their new estate, the updated 1930s farmhouse has plenty of charm and comes complete with 5.7 bucolic acres of its own, surrounded by a horse farm on three sides.
More inside here
Real Estate Wire: Renée Zellweger Sells Hamptons Home with a Tidy Profit; The Rockefellers Are Moving from 30 Rock
November 24, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Renée Zellweger Sells Hamptons Home with a Tidy Profit; The Rockefellers Are Moving from 30 Rock

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Renée Zellweger has found a buyer for her Hamptons home. After a bidding war, the actress banked an extra quarter-million dollars on the deal. [NYP] Since 1933, the Rockefellers have been taking up space in their namesake building, but they’ve just announced they’re moving to a space across 49th Street. They “got a deal,” they say. [NYT] […]

Real Estate Wire: Most Expensive Townhouse Lists for $63M; High-Rise Towers Could Rise Along Gowanus Canal
November 21, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Most Expensive Townhouse Lists for $63M; High-Rise Towers Could Rise Along Gowanus Canal

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Morris Adjmi will design condos to replace the Brooklyn Heights Cinema. [BK Heights Blog] New York’s most expensive townhouse officially hit the market for $63 million. [Curbed] Queens real estate is getting a lot of attention lately. [NYT] An $18 million Williamsburg warehouse sold for $434/square foot, among the highest sales ever in the borough. [Crain’s] Gowanus […]

REVEALED: SHoP’s Scaled-Back South Street Seaport Tower
November 21, 2014

REVEALED: SHoP’s Scaled-Back South Street Seaport Tower

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This week, the Howard Hughes Corporation gave a presentation to the South Street Seaport community about their residential tower planned for the waterfront beside Pier 17. The original design by SHoP Architects was 52 stories and 650 feet, but to satisfy concerns by neighborhood residents and elected officials about the tower's appropriateness, the firm scaled back the design to 42 stories and agreed to also build a middle school and waterfront esplanade. But even this revised plan was met with much criticism at the community meeting; Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and City Council member Margaret Chin both expressed that they would not support the tower and likened it to plopping a high-rise in the middle of Colonial Williamsburg. The luxury residential tower is part of Howard Hughes's overall $305 million plan for the Seaport, which, if approved, would include a restoration of the historic Tin Building and a new home for the Seaport Museum.
More details on the project and revised design
Real Estate Wire: Staten Island Has an App Designed for Reporting Complaints; NYC Still a Safe Bet for Foreign Money
November 20, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Staten Island Has an App Designed for Reporting Complaints; NYC Still a Safe Bet for Foreign Money

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Disgruntled Staten Island residents can now report problems directly to borough hall with a new app called BP Assist. [DNA Info] NYC real estate is still the safest bet for foreign investors. [CO] The de Blasio administration will sell a 25,204-square-foot plot on the southern side of West 53rd Street between 10th and 11th Avenues […]

Hudson Yards Cost Taxpayers $650 Million So Far, and It’s Not Over

Hudson Yards rendering

November 19, 2014

Hudson Yards Cost Taxpayers $650 Million So Far, and It’s Not Over

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Just yesterday, the city hailed the completion of the platform built over the west side rail yards that will support the Brookfield West development, a major component of Hudson Yards, the 26-acre development rising on the far west side. And while Brookfield will boast a two-acre park plaza, two 60-plus-story high rises and other public commercial space, it's important to note that $7 million was spent just on designing and producing a special machine called "The Launcher" to lift the 56,000-ton concrete slabs to build the platform. This is just one of many substantial costs in the mammoth Hudson Yards project, for which the city will have paid nearly $650 million in subsides by the end of this fiscal year, money that, over the past ten years, has come straight from the pockets of taxpayers. And that's not all; according to a review by the city's Independent Budget Office, even more will be needed through 2019 to complete the "next great commercial district."
More on the subsidies and Hudson Yards
Real Estate Wire: Mega Residential Development Could Come to Bronx Waterfront; Fifth Avenue Is World’s Most Expensive Retail Address
November 19, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Mega Residential Development Could Come to Bronx Waterfront; Fifth Avenue Is World’s Most Expensive Retail Address

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William Randolph Hearst’s penthouse apartment at 91 Central Park West is back on the market for $27.5 million after Giorgio Armani’s deal fell through. [Curbed] An abandoned industrial lot on the Bronx waterfront could become the next mega residential development for $30 million. [NYDN] Fifth Avenue is the world’s most expensive retail address, overtaking Hong […]

City Wants to Up Mansion Tax to Raise Funds for Affordable Housing

When completed, 520 Park Avenue will have a $130 million penthouse, the most expensive apartment ever in NYC

November 19, 2014

City Wants to Up Mansion Tax to Raise Funds for Affordable Housing

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As the city continues to explore new avenues for the creation of affordable housing, the WSJ reports the latest idea being floated is a new "mansion tax" that would increase the amount collected on the most expensive apartment sales. Currently, homes that change hands for more than a million dollars are subject to a 1% tax, but the city wants to up this to take advantage of the red hot luxury housing market. The proposal, unsurprisingly, has met with much criticism.
More on the mansion tax here
Real Estate Wire: Inside a Spooky $2.1M Staten Island Mansion; Construction on the B2 Modular Tower to Resume
November 18, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Inside a Spooky $2.1M Staten Island Mansion; Construction on the B2 Modular Tower to Resume

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This eerie $2.1M home on Staten Island has been the backdrop for murder, madmen and fashion models. [NYT] Forest City Ratner may soon restart construction on the B2 Tower at the Atlantic Yards. The developer has agreed to buy out builder Skanska’s interest for an undisclosed amount. [NYDN] A 66th Street mansion that sold in July […]

New Residential Building To Rise Near the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria
November 18, 2014

New Residential Building To Rise Near the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria

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An aptly located residential building called the Marx is getting underway in Astoria. The seven-story building at 34-32 35th Street is a "stone’s throw away" from the Museum of the Moving Image and directly across from Kaufman Astoria Studios (think Sesame Street and Saturday Night Live). The building will replace two small houses and a parking lot and sits adjacent to a stalled construction site slated to give way to its own seven-story residential building. The Marx is designed by Fogarty Finger Architects, who also designed One Murray Park, and will contain 33 units, likely rentals. It will feature a dark grey brick façade of large, evenly gridded square windows (the latest rage in NYC architecture) whose angled metal panels and glazing variations will create an interesting play of light and shadow.
More on the project here
Minetta Street Townhouse with Yo-Yo Sales History Goes for $5.7M
November 18, 2014

Minetta Street Townhouse with Yo-Yo Sales History Goes for $5.7M

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Sure, we all love a good flip story, but this is more like a flip flop. This lovely townhouse at 17 Minetta Street in Greenwich Village sold for the first time as a single-family home in 2010 for $5.1 million; it then sold again in 2013 for $5.8 million (after asking $7.5); now it's sold for $5,676,000, above the $5.35 asking price, according to city records. We're not quite sure why the landmarked home keeps getting tossed around for little to no profit. The 19th century Federal townhouse got a modern renovation in 2008 by architects and designers Zhenya Merkulova and Alan Tanksley; it's accessed through a gated mews that leads to a private garden.
Tour 17 Minetta Street here
One Vanderbilt: New Images of Midtown East’s Zigzag Supertower
November 17, 2014

One Vanderbilt: New Images of Midtown East’s Zigzag Supertower

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Recently at the Municipal Art Society's 2014 Summit for NYC, James von Klemperer, FAIA , a principal at Kohn Pederson Fox & Associates, briefed the audience with new details on the architecture firm's upcoming supertall project known as One Vanderbilt. In case you haven't been paying attention, the 68-story, 1,514-foot zigzag building is expected to become the tallest office tower in Midtown and third tallest in the city behind One World Trade Center (1,776 feet to spire tip) and Extell's Nordstrom Tower (1,775 feet to spire tip).
Check out all the new images of the supertall tower here
20 Years from Now We May Sorely Regret Building All of These Glass Towers

What Manhattan will look like in 2018. Many of the buildings going up will be wrapped in glass. Image via CityRealty

November 14, 2014

20 Years from Now We May Sorely Regret Building All of These Glass Towers

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Providing more affordable housing to New Yorkers is at the top of the De Blasio administration's agenda, but greening the city is certainly a major concern as well. It is anticipated that a new bill aimed at cutting the city's greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050 will be signed in to law, much of which is expected to center on green building. Ambitious, yes—but is 2050 too late? The Globe and Mail recently interviewed Canadian architect and journalist Lloyd Alter on the glass condo obsession, which, as with NYC, is taking the cities of Vancouver and Toronto by storm. What Alter shares for the future of glass towers worldwide is quite bleak, but he also proposes a number of measures and case studies that NYC developers should certainly take note of if they want to reduce costs and keep property values up in the long run.
Find out more here
Checking In on the Progress of Zaha Hadid’s High Line Condos
November 14, 2014

Checking In on the Progress of Zaha Hadid’s High Line Condos

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Of the condos planned along the High Line Park, one of the most—if not the most—anticipated addition comes via Zaha Hadid. One of our intrepid reporters recently stopped by the construction site located at 520 West 28th Street to see how works are coming along, and it looks like the site is near-ready for its starchitect treatment. […]

Real Estate Wire: Inside the Kelley Mansion’s Top Floor Apartment; Ben Shaoul Wants $73M Cash for 62 Bloom
November 14, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Inside the Kelley Mansion’s Top Floor Apartment; Ben Shaoul Wants $73M Cash for 62 Bloom

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The top floor of the historic Kelley Mansion in Bed-Stuy hides an interesting apartment with an unexpected modern design. [Curbed] Ben Shaoul is looking to sell 62 Bloom for $73M cash. [TRD] 532 West 20th Street, the site of an art gallery near the High Line, has sold for $24.25M to luxury condo builder DDG. [Crain’s] Development sites at the south of […]

ESPN NFL Guru Adam Caplan Swaps Almost-Identical Tribeca Apartments
November 14, 2014

ESPN NFL Guru Adam Caplan Swaps Almost-Identical Tribeca Apartments

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It's pretty common that we report on celebrities upgrading their digs, but today we have the opposite story. ESPN's NFL insider Adam Caplan sold his two-bedroom, floor-through penthouse apartment at 150 Chambers Street in Tribeca for $3 million, but picked up another similar two-bedroom unit in the same building for $2,375,000, according to city records released today.
Take a look at Caplan's old and new homes
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