Real Estate Trends

After a year on the market, this incredible Upper East Side mansion designed by Bunny Mellon has finally found a family ready to call it home. According to the Observer, the 1960s townhouse currently owned by Irish businessman Tony White and his wife Clare just went into contract for $41 million. The couple originally paid $22.5 million for it in 2006, and when it came time to resell last year, they asked an impressive $46 million. Pricey? Yes. But given its darling location and architectural splendor, why this beauty didn't fly off the shelf is a bit of a surprise to us. Just have a look inside and you'll immediately understand why.
Tour the stunning estate

October 7, 2014

45 Park Place: Tribeca’s Latest Condo Tower Could be an Architectural Stunner

By Ondel Hylton

New images have been uncovered of an upcoming 39-story condominium tower poised to rise from a storied site in Tribeca. Curbed first broke the rendering reveal back in July and a representative of the developers noted that tower depicted in renderings are not quite final. Nevertheless new images posted on of SOMA Architects' website give us additional glimpses of what the project could be. Simply known as 45 Park Place (for now), the development is comprised of a 665-foot tower luxury tower and an Islamic museum, is being developed by a consortium led by Soho Properties, headed by Sharif El-Gamal. The tower is being crafted by Michel Abboud of SOMA Architects, with Ismael Leyva serving as the architect of record. Renderings posted on SOMA's website convey a light, airy tower composed of stem-like volumes bundled by delicate bands of lattice-like mullions. The ground-level view gives us our first glimpse of the adjacent Islamic museum and prayer space reportedly designed by Pritzker Prize–winning French architect Jean Nouvel. A small plaza fronting the museum will expose a vegetated side wall of the neighboring building that houses popular downtown grocer Amish Market.
More on the development here

October 7, 2014

Million Dollar Listing’s Ryan Serhant Nabs a Love Nest at the Renwick for $3.7M

It looks like Ryan Serhant of Million Dollar Listing fame is preparing for his upcoming nuptials by buying a lofty love nest atop the Renwick Modern. According to The Real Deal, the reality TV star just closed on the full 9th floor penthouse at the 22 Renwick Street building for $3.7 million. The 1,895-square-foot apartment hosts three bedrooms, a home office, a top of the line kitchen, and keyed elevator access. And for that little bit of extra oomph, the kitchen cabinets are clad in leather.
Inside the home here

October 7, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Harlem’s Upcoming Tallest Building; Graffiti on the Rise Across NYC

Harlem’s soon-to-be tallest building at 1800 Park Avenue gets a new look. [YIMBY] Sunnyside residents want to add a bridge of affordable housing to join two halves of their neighborhood currently bisected by the LIRR and freight rail yards. [Curbed] Graffiti is back. More and more tags are appearing overnight across the city and graffiti-related […]

Real Estate Trends

October 6, 2014

Hilton to Sell the Waldorf Astoria Hotel to Chinese Insurance Company for $1.95 Billion

It's where the Waldorf salad was invented; it was the first hotel to offer room service; and it has its own railway platform to Grand Central, large enough to fit FDR's car. The historic tidbits about the Waldorf Astoria are plenty, but now the world-famous hotel is making big changes to its future. Hilton Worldwide Holdings, who has officially owned the Art Deco landmark since 1972, has agreed to sell the 1,232-room hotel to the Anbang Insurance Group Co., a financial and insurance company based in Beijing, for $1.95 billion. Hilton, the world's largest publicly traded hotel operator, will continue to manage the property under a "strategic partnership."
More on the plans here

October 6, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Eichner’s Supertall Gets a Cash Infusion; Is Gowanus the Next DUMBO?

Bruce Eichner has secured $420 million in financing for his 777-foot-tall Flatiron tower at 45 East 22nd Street. [WSJ] Is Gowanus the next DUMBO? [NYT] Sales launch at 173 Amity Street in Cobble Hill. [6sqft inbox] Say goodbye to the White Castle on Myrtle Avenue. Greystone has just acquired this and another Clinton Hill site for condos. […]

Real Estate Trends

October 6, 2014

Fashion Designer Elie Tahari Buys Two Units at 15 Central Park West for $25M

Israeli-American fashion designer Elie Tahari has snatched up two units at famed, Robert A.M. Stern- designed 15 Central Park West for a combined $25.25 million, according to city records released today. The pair of adjacent apartments was originally marketed for a total of $29 million. Tahari had previously been renting a three-bedroom unit in the star-studded building for $30,000 a month, but it looks like he's decided to make his stay more permanent, now occupying an entire private floor. Unit 9m has two bedrooms, 1,862 square feet of interior space, and 1,619 square feet of outdoor space. Unit 9G is a three-bedroom unit with 2,237 square feet inside and a spectacular 1,700-square-foot terrace. Both spaces appear to offer a pretty clean slate, perfect for the creative new owner to imbue his signature tailored, modern vibe.
Check out Tahari's new purchases

October 3, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Residential Developers Pulling Out of the Game; Rockaway Boardwalk Renewal Delayed

Related Companies is the latest landlord to ask property managers to turn in tenants for listing their apartments on AirBnb. [TRD] Another potential residential development site in Tribeca could fetch $50M. [Crain’s] A Hudson Yards strip club may be turned into a 46-story residential tower. [TRD] Are too many luxury buildings being constructed? Some developers are opting to […]

Real Estate Trends

October 3, 2014

One57’s First Flip Sees a $3.5 Million Profit Just Five Months Later

The first of what's sure to be many flips at One57 has just netted its seller a respectable $3.45 million profit, just five months after its purchase. According to NYDN, the former owner, Investor Sso Enterprises, paid $30.55 million for the 58th-floor three-bedroom back in May, now selling it off for $34 million to hedge fund manager Harvey Sandler and his wife.
Inside the massive apartment

Real Estate Trends

Living in the Clouds: 50 New York Residential Towers Poised to Scrape the Sky (Part I)

By Ondel Hylton

It seems like every week a new residential skyscraper is being announced in New York City, just earlier this week the New York Times noted that a partnership between Steven Witkoff and Harry Macklowe is moving ahead with a redevelopment of the Park Lane Hotel at 36 Central Park West with an 850-foot tower. With the mind-boggling amount of residential spires poised to pierce the sky, here's a quick rundown of the tallest of the tall--the spindly bunch set to soar higher than 700 feet. Keep in mind that just 30 years ago, the tallest residence in the city was perched atop the 664-foot Trump Tower. Today, buildings are on the drawing board for more than twice that height.
See our list of the 26 tallest towers

October 2, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Listings Hit for 160 Imlay; Mega Mixed-Use Development Coming to Sunset Park

Listings hit for 160 Imlay, the Morris Adjmi-designed conversion in Red Hook. [Brownstoner] Commercial building sales expected to top $52 billion this year, the highest since 2007. [Daily News] Jets owner Woody Johnson lists 834 Fifth Avenue duplex for $75 million. [New York Post] Developers bring back plans for mixed-use complex in Sunset Park. [Brooklyn Paper] […]

Real Estate Trends

<b>The New Upper East Side: Changes Are Coming Above 86th Street</b>

The Upper East Side isn’t just for your grandparents anymore. Photo by Ed Yourdon cc

October 1, 2014

The New Upper East Side: Changes Are Coming Above 86th Street

There's been so much talk lately about how the Upper East Side is the next cool 'hood--this guy even says it's cooler than Brooklyn--and while that may be true (the neighborhood's got a Meatball Shop; is there really any use denying it anymore?), we have our sights set slightly farther north. The high 80's and 90's, clustered between Park and 1st Avenues, is a hot spot for young professionals who are looking for little more culture and a little less of the bro-tastic bar scene, as well as for just-starting-out families who want a community feel, but not the sky-high rents of Park Avenue and Museum Mile. A slew of new residential developments are popping up in the area, as are fun, independent restaurants and bars. And this piece of Manhattan offers almost just the same transportation convenience as the Upper East Side proper, but with lower rents and a calmer feel.
More on the new Upper East Side

October 1, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Durst Organization Acquires Astoria’s Hallets Point; 26-Story Tower May Come to Essex Crossing

The Durst Organization has paid more than $100 million to acquire 90% of the Hallets Point residential-retail development along the Astoria waterfront. [Daily News] Landmarks OK’s residential addition for 121-year-old Upper West Side church. [Curbed] 26-story, mixed-use tower proposed for Victoria Theater site in Harlem. [Yimby] Handel Architects filed preliminary permits for a 26-story tower as part of […]

Real Estate Trends

October 1, 2014

POLL: Will Freshkills Transform Staten Island?

Last week, we interviewed Eloise Hirsh, the Freshkills Park Administrator about her role in transforming 2,200 acres of reclaimed land at the former Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island, the largest landfill-to-park conversion in the world to date. Though it won’t be entirely completed until 2035, Staten Islanders are already visiting the park and enjoying its […]

Real Estate Trends

September 30, 2014

Makeshift Mansions: How Today’s Filthy Rich are Creating Homes of Epic Proportions

By Bonnie Clark

For Manhattan’s jet-set crowd, the 2010s are starting to look an awful lot like the 1900s. New York’s upper crust are embracing a return to the Gilded Age, moving out of their fancy penthouses, co-ops and lofts and into opulent single-family mansions. From Aby Rosen’s quest to build the largest private mansion on Park Avenue to Jared Kushner’s conversion of three former Brooklyn Law School buildings into single-family townhouses—the most affluent buyers are now on the hunt for New York’s ultimate trophy prize.
More on makeshift mansions

September 30, 2014

The Price of Parking: There’s More Than One $1 Million Parking Space in Manhattan

By Lauren Price

Car-owing New Yorkers can probably recite year-round alternative-side parking laws on cue, but most will also tell you how they loathe circling their block for 20 minutes, tracking which days to stay put, the inconvenience of babysitting a spot before the switch, figuring out a cluster of parking signs or, worse yet, arguing with a paid-for parking squatter. It often drives one batty. Yet, there is an option and that’s paying for a monthly but costly sliver of asphalt—hopefully an elevator ride away or at the very least, a quick walk a few doors down. However, the key word here is “paying” and if you live in New York, that slice of space could put you back a pretty penny, especially if you're shoveling out dollars for one in a new development. Unless you’ve been living under a real estate rock, there’s no doubt you’ve read about the $1 million dollar spaces at 42 Crosby Street’s garage in SoHo. Is this lofty price tag for parking a market first? Nope.
more on the price of parking here

September 30, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Karim Rashid’s HAP Four Hits a Pricey Snag; More High Line Condos Coming

HAP Investment Developers’ plans for a Karim Rashid-designed rental at 653-667 West 187th Street have hit a bump in the road—they’re missing the parcel at 653 West 187th Street. [TRD] 36 new condos are coming to the High Line and they’ll be designed by Brazilian architect Isay Weinfeld. [Curbed] A downtown development site at 112, 114, 116 and 118 […]

Real Estate Trends

September 30, 2014

Isabella Rossellini’s Daughter Buys Eerie $2M Fort Greene Townhouse

Elettra Rossellini Wiedemann, daughter of famed Italian actress and model Isabella Rossellini, has just picked up a $2.2 million Fort Greene townhouse, according to city records. And the beautifully historic, yet slightly disheveled home at 23 South Elliott Place would make the perfect backdrop for a fashionably eerie photo shoot (or some really good Instagrams). Built in 1870, and part of the Fort Greene Historic District, the five-bedroom home is currently configured as a two-family residence, but we're guessing Ms. Rossellini isn't going to be looking for roommates and will likely convert it back to a single-family dwelling.
Tour the historic, sepia-toned home here

<b>Goldilocks Blocks: Vanderbilt Avenue in Wallabout, Brooklyn</b>

Between hyper-developed hotspots, main drags in up-and-comers, and those genuinely avoidable areas, there can often be found a city’s “just-right” zones. They aren’t commonly known, but these micro-neighborhoods often hide within them real estate gems coupled with perfectly offbeat vibes. Continuing our Goldilocks Blocks series, this week we turn to Brooklyn.

September 29, 2014

Goldilocks Blocks: Vanderbilt Avenue in Wallabout, Brooklyn

By Michelle Cohen

The culturally rich, architecturally stunning Brooklyn neighborhoods of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill need little introduction. The Brooklyn Navy Yard to the north is busily growing as a start-up business incubator and creative and commercial hub. An “in-between” zone—the sort of area that engenders a question mark and a furrowed brow when perusing neighborhood maps—lies just north of Myrtle Avenue and south of the Navy Yard. Known as Wallabout, the area was named for Wallabout Bay to the north, much of which was filled in to create the Navy Yard in the 19th century. Unique among its neighbors, a block-long stretch of this border district feels more like a small-town side street than a growing urban crossroads.
Find out what makes this historic block so special, and why it’s likely to stay that way.

September 29, 2014

The Top 15 Family-Friendly Buildings in NYC

By Elijah Quinton

Last week, we talked to five families currently raising children in New York City’s many diverse and multifaceted neighborhoods about why they pick city living over the suburbs, and most of our readers agreed that they prefer an urban upbringing to the more "traditional" suburban childhood. But once you've decided to raise your children in the Big Apple, it can be tough deciding which neighborhood is best for your family. Many factors come into play: What are the best schools in the area? What amenities does the building offer? Are there playgrounds nearby? How secure is the building? And the list goes on. But to make the process a little easier, we've rounded up 15 of the best family-friendly buildings in New York City.
Check out our list here

September 29, 2014

Triangular Townhouse in Greenwich Village with Italian Renaissance Interior Sells for $5M

Fashion director and stylist Alessandra Gambaccini (who goes by Sciascia) purchased her Greenwich Village townhouse at 45 West 12th Street in 1996 for $865,00, and has now sold it for a whopping $4,975,000. But it's not just the incredible profit Ms. Gambaccini made that makes this historic home stand out--it's also its unusual triangular shape, the result of having been built in 1846 diagonal to Minetta Brook, since covered over by the city. There are hidden remnants of the old creek all throughout the Village, and this Greek Revival townhouse is definitely one of the most storied. Sciascia spoke to the Wall Street Journal about her fascinating home and how she was rather intrigued by its unusual shape. The four-bedroom house is also noted for its opulent interior, outfitted with custom-made Italian décor thanks to Milan-based architect and decorator Roberto Gerosa. And if those weren't enough talking points, the deed to the cobblestone courtyard is said to have once been owned by English royalty, and Frank Lloyd Wright's sister is a past inhabitant.
Now, let's check out those interiors

September 26, 2014

Real Estate Wire: A Look Inside the Woolworth Condos; Another Tall Residential Tower for DoBro

A first glimpse inside the new Woolworth condos. [NYT] The penthouses at Tribeca’s Seven Harrison have hit the market. [CityRealty] This block near the final section of the High Line is real estate gold. [TRD] Downtown Brooklyn’s skyline is a getting another tall residential tower. This one will rise 65 stories at 420 Albee Square. [Brownstoner] […]

Real Estate Trends

September 26, 2014

New Exterior Rendering Released for 60 Water Street Rental Project in DUMBO