Real Estate Trends

Cookbook Author and New York Times Food Columnist Mark Bittman Gets $1.8M for UWS Co-op
August 11, 2015

Cookbook Author and New York Times Food Columnist Mark Bittman Gets $1.8M for UWS Co-op

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If you want to get in on the million dollar real estate game, get a food-related editorial job at the New York Times. First, we learned that op-ed columnist (and former chief restaurant critic) Frank A. Bruni bought a $1.65 million Upper West Side pad at 123 West 74th Street, quickly followed by the sale of his old apartment in the same building for $1.95. Now, just a few blocks away at 17 West 71st Street, the Times' famed food columnist Mark Bittman and his wife Kelly Doe, an art director at the paper, have sold their apartment for $1.82 million, according to city records released today. The couple bought the home in 2009 for $999,999, so they've almost doubled their money. Bittman is also the author of 14 cookbooks (the most well known of which might be "How to Cook Everything") and a regular judge on Food Network competition shows. This makes it curious that the kitchen of his Central Park West pad is rather small and dull.
Take a look around here
The Bronx Is Getting a New Mixed-Use High-Rise Near Yankee Stadium

Google Earth images courtesy of CityRealty

August 11, 2015

The Bronx Is Getting a New Mixed-Use High-Rise Near Yankee Stadium

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Brooklyn and Queens have been flush with new condos and rental developments lately, now it's time for the Bronx to get in on the action. Local developer M. Melnick & Co. has begun construction of a mixed-income, 17-story residential and commercial high rise at 810 River Avenue that will be the area's first since it was rezoned in 2009. The company dates back to 1934 and has proven to be reliable builders of multi-family, senior, supportive and mixed-use housing developments around the city.
Find out more right here
First Look at 23-Story Condominium Replacing Greenwich Village’s Bowlmor Lanes
August 11, 2015

First Look at 23-Story Condominium Replacing Greenwich Village’s Bowlmor Lanes

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Here's our first peek at the 23-story condominium tower replacing the former home of Greenwich Village's iconic Bowlmor Lanes at 110 University Place. Documents filed with the Department of Buildings depict a modest 280-foot-high tower rising from a block-long, one-story retail podium. Situated on a charming stretch of University Place lined with an assorted mix of low and mid-rises, the existing four-story, 75,000-square-foot building housed a parking garage in addition to the famed bowling alley. In 2012, Billy Macklowe, founder and CEO of William Macklowe Company and son of 432 Park Avenue developer Harry Macklowe, purchased a long-term controlling position in the building, which effectively made Macklowe the building's landlord for the next 72 years.
More details right this way
Take a Walk Down ‘Do the Right Thing Way’; NY Real Estate Could See a Slowdown in Chinese Investment
August 11, 2015

Take a Walk Down ‘Do the Right Thing Way’; NY Real Estate Could See a Slowdown in Chinese Investment

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A look at the new Goethals Bridge on Staten Island, now under construction. [SI Live] A street in Bed-Stuy has officially been named after Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing.” The name applies to Stuyvesant Avenue, a stretch between Lexington Avenue and Quincy Street. [Brooklyn Mag] The devaluation of the Chinese renminbi could lead to slowdown in New York investments. China has […]

The New LaGuardia Airport: Not Functional, Not Inspiring, Not an Icon
August 10, 2015

The New LaGuardia Airport: Not Functional, Not Inspiring, Not an Icon

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Carter Uncut brings New York City's breaking development news under the critical eye of resident architecture critic Carter B. Horsley. This week Carter looks at the new $4 billion LaGuardia airport proposal.  The recent announcement by Governor Cuomo and Vice President Joe Biden of plans to “rebuild” La Guardia Airport at a cost of $4 billion was described in a Page One caption in The Post as “the end of an error,” a reference to the airport’s reputation that became tarnished over the years. Last October, Biden remarked that if someone had taken him to LaGuardia, he’d think he was in “some Third World country.” Since its opening in 1939, when it accommodated “flying boats” at its Marine Air Terminal, the airport has not kept up with the growth of jumbo jets and air travel in general, but in the days of the Super Constellation passenger planes with their triple-tails and sloping noses, it was a very nice Art Deco place. The published renderings that accompanied the announcement were not terribly reassuring, as they depicted a very long curved terminal with gangly tentacles raised over plane taxiways that hinted at torsos of praying mantises: an awkward rather than a graceful vault.
More from Carter here
Permits Filed for New Faux-Loft Building at the Intersection of Boerum Hill and Gowanus
August 10, 2015

Permits Filed for New Faux-Loft Building at the Intersection of Boerum Hill and Gowanus

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Avery Hall Investments filed permits last week for an eight-story, 20-unit residential building at the corner of Third Avenue and St. Marks Place. The site is situated in the area where bucolic Boerum Hill meets the utilitarian factory lofts of Gowanus. The development at 125 Third Avenue will replace a one-story commercial building that Avery picked up earlier this year for $5.65 million according to city records. The team also recently broke ground on another Boerum Hill condominium at 472 Atlantic Avenue designed by the context-sensitive Morris Adjmi Architects.
More details on the project
Car2go Expanding to Queens; Brooklyn Rents in Trendy Nabes Outpace Manhattan
August 10, 2015

Car2go Expanding to Queens; Brooklyn Rents in Trendy Nabes Outpace Manhattan

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Car sharing service Car2go is expanding from Brooklyn to cover western Queens. [Crain’s] Rapidly growing brokerage Compass is looking to recruit. Here’s a quick video showcasing how they’re trying to “reinvent real estate.” [6sqft inbox] The Dakota’s co-op board allegedly tried to woo developer Robert Siegel—who has been trying to move into his apartment at the storied building […]

Another Pivoting Skyscraper Coming to Crowded Midtown East Block
August 10, 2015

Another Pivoting Skyscraper Coming to Crowded Midtown East Block

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It's hard for a new building to stand out in the Big Apple these days, with striking towers designed by the world's foremost architects, soaring pinnacles jutting 1,500 feet into the clouds, and massive 1,000-unit apartment buildings possessing all the amenities of a Caribbean resort. However, within the densest thicket of Midtown skyscrapers, Handel Architects along with SLCE have crafted a 43-story, 450,000-square-foot residential tower whose elevations are angled to the street grid on all sides. The tactic will set the skyscraper apart from its perpendicular neighbors and grant its residents a touch more light and air within Midtown's concrete canyons. Envisioned by Lloyd Goldman’s BLDG Management Company, the future 360,000-square-foot tower at 222 East 44th Street will rise from a claustrophobic stretch of street that perhaps is the closest Manhattan gets to matching the tightness and vertical density of Hong Kong. The feeling is further heightened by the street dead ending into Lexington Avenue and the imposing MetLife building looming behind.
Find out more here
Another 1,000-Foot-Plus Tower Moves Forward Near South Street Seaport

Rendering created by CityRealty based on the reported height

August 7, 2015

Another 1,000-Foot-Plus Tower Moves Forward Near South Street Seaport

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There's no slowing down the city's supertall boom. Crain's reports yet another 1,000-foot plus tall tower could soon be joining the New York City skyline, rising at the combined sites of 80 South Street and 163 Front Street. Chinese investment company China Oceanwide Holdings released a statement saying they would be purchasing the development parcels for $390 million through a U.S. subsidiary from current owner Howard Hughes Corporation. The new tower will sit just south of the South Street Seaport, and amid a grouping of other tall, but not quite as tall, towers.
FInd out more here
How to Stop Supertall Towers from Swaying; FAO Schwarz’s Times Square Deal Falls Through
August 7, 2015

How to Stop Supertall Towers from Swaying; FAO Schwarz’s Times Square Deal Falls Through

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JFK Airport will receive $8.9 million in federal funds for runway and airfield upgrades. [Crain’s] Fortis Property Group is making progress with its controversial plan to bring four apartment towers to the former site of the Long Island College Hospital in Cobble Hill. [Curbed] With Manhattan skyscrapers getting taller and thinner, developers are installing giant counter […]

BuzzFeed Editor Picks Up a $2.25M Harlem Townhouse
August 6, 2015

BuzzFeed Editor Picks Up a $2.25M Harlem Townhouse

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Listicles must certainly be profitable. Mark Schoofs, BuzzFeed News' investigations and projects editor, just picked up a $2.25 two-family Harlem townhouse, according to property records released today. The buy comes just a few months after we uncovered that New York Times editor Frank Bruni bought an Upper West Side apartment for $1.65, leaving many wondering just how "struggling" are writers these days? Schoofs' new home was constructed only seven years ago and has two units on six floors. The larger five-bedroom residence, where we assume the homeowner will live, occupies the top four floors and has three balconies, a terrace, and a duplex roof deck. The other two-bedroom unit on the first two floors has access to the back patio and garden.
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The Many Lives, and Miraculous Recovery, of NYC’s First Cancer Hospital
August 5, 2015

The Many Lives, and Miraculous Recovery, of NYC’s First Cancer Hospital

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Walking down Central Park West from the north end of the park, it's hard to miss the castle-like structure on the corner of 105th Street. The facade is dominated by great conical towers, majestic turrets, deep red brick, and a soft Belleville brownstone. A closer look reveals stained glass windows and intricate stonework, all convincing details that someone went out to build a fairy-tale castle on the perimeter of Central Park. Among the surrounding townhouses and co-op buildings, it's a stunning piece of architecture that looks like it doesn't quite belong. Indeed, the story of how this building, constructed at 455 Central Park West in 1887, still stands is an unlikely one that is rooted in medical history–a dark medical history, at that. This was New York's first cancer hospital, and the first hospital in the United States dedicated specifically to its treatment. This was a time when cancer treatment was unfamiliar to most doctors–in the back of the castle was a crematorium and smokestack that was often in use. After the hospital's closure in 1955, it became a notorious nursing home known for mistreating its patients. When investigations caused the nursing home to close in 1974, the building was left to rot. Not until a redevelopment plan took off in 2000 was it restored into a luxury condo development. Today, despite its grim past, it remains an important piece of New York's medical and architectural history.
Keep reading for the full story
Want to Enter an Affordable Housing Lottery? You’ll Be up Against 696 Other Applicants

Photo via Wiki Commons

August 4, 2015

Want to Enter an Affordable Housing Lottery? You’ll Be up Against 696 Other Applicants

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Photo via Wiki Commons According to a new report from the Daily News, for every affordable apartment offered through the city's housing lotteries since 2013, there were 696 applicants, leaving you with a measly 0.14 percent chance of being selected. "All told, there were 2.9 million applications for 4,174 affordable units available from 72 lotteries run by the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD)," says the News, yet another signifier that average New Yorkers are struggling to pay ever-increasing rents.
Find out more here
Actors and Filmmakers of Tribeca: The Movie Mecca Downtown
August 3, 2015

Actors and Filmmakers of Tribeca: The Movie Mecca Downtown

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With its cobblestone streets, quirky artists' lofts and industrial-chic architecture, Tribeca is a hot spot for filming movies and television scenes. This past spring, we did a round up of the musicians that call Tribeca home; now we're taking a look at the flock of actors and filmmakers who have made the move to the 'hood's picturesque streets. Tribeca's most famous resident, Robert De Niro, is often credited with transforming the neighborhood into the vibrant place we know today by opening multiple restaurants, developing property, and most notably creating the world-famous Tribeca Film Festival. In addition to De Niro, we mapped out Tribeca's celebrity residents who are famous onscreen and behind the scenes. Ranging from Gwyneth Paltrow's "fuzzy nap zones" with river views to Lena Dunham's artist loft from "Tiny Furniture," it's clear that celebrities feel at home in Tribeca.
More details and our celeb map
First Look at Toll Brothers’ Chelsea Condo Designed by Morris Adjmi
August 3, 2015

First Look at Toll Brothers’ Chelsea Condo Designed by Morris Adjmi

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Here's our first glimpse at Toll Brothers' under-construction condominium rising at 55 West 17th Street in Chelsea. Morris Adjmi is the building's architect, which is not surprising given his track record crafting sensitive designs for the city's historical areas. The miniscule rendering displayed on the developer's website illustrates a quiet and dignified facade composed of large square-ish windows and soft gray cladding. The project's teaser site was recently launched, and marketing materials describe the 55-unit building as "distinctively modern, classically detailed condominiums in Chelsea."
More details here
Last Music Row Shop Closes; The Mansions of Mill Basin
August 3, 2015

Last Music Row Shop Closes; The Mansions of Mill Basin

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Home-furnishings chain Restoration Hardware is opening a boutique hotel and restaurant around the corner from its flagship store in the Meatpacking District. [Crain’s] The last store of Music Row, the stretch of 48th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues that was once filled with guitar sellers, studios and repair shops, has closed. [NYP] Residents are staying […]

Surge in City Construction Permits Hits Levels Not Seen Since 1963
August 3, 2015

Surge in City Construction Permits Hits Levels Not Seen Since 1963

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If the city seems even more like one big construction site than usual, it's not your imagination. Building permits have risen to an historic peak, up by 156 percent over the last year, the Daily News reports, and an astounding 749 percent over the 2010 post-slump low. This new high–according to Department of Buildings Data and the New York Building Congress–includes permits for 52,618 new residential units over that time period.
Find out what's behind the boom
REVEALED: What the Development Replacing the Essex Street Market Could Look Like
July 31, 2015

REVEALED: What the Development Replacing the Essex Street Market Could Look Like

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Here's our first look at what the site of the storied Essex Street Market could hold. Known simply as "Site 9" in the Essex Crossing mega-development, the 12-story mixed-use development would contain market-rate condominiums and two levels of commercial space at its base. The design of the market-replacing building was penned by GF55 Partners who hope the brick, metal, and glass structure will "co-exist with the area’s visual clutter and loudness of the Williamsburg Bridge traffic." In the sole image provided, a distinguished  two-story base recalls the structural features of the nearby Williamsburg Bridge. According to their description, the commercial base is for a restaurant with various bars and dining areas.
More details ahead
Starchitect César Pelli Buys $17.5M San Remo Apartment from John Leguizamo’s Mother-in-Law
July 30, 2015

Starchitect César Pelli Buys $17.5M San Remo Apartment from John Leguizamo’s Mother-in-Law

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Starchitect César Pelli and his wife Diana Balmori have bought a $17.5 million apartment at the San Remo, according to city records released today. And the seller of the 4,900-square-foot, 12-room residence is Rona Maurer, John Leguizamo's mother-in-law who was recently involved in a lawsuit claiming she was covering up the sale of the home to keep her stepdaughter from getting any of the profits. The corner unit has all the details one would hope for from the Upper West Side's most prestigious co-op, including 65 feet of Central Park views, soaring ceilings, herringbone floors, three entertaining rooms, and a marble entry gallery.
More photos this way
First Look Inside 64 East 1st Street’s Lofty Condominiums in the ‘Bowery District’
July 30, 2015

First Look Inside 64 East 1st Street’s Lofty Condominiums in the ‘Bowery District’

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Here's our first look at the lofty interiors of an upcoming GF55 Partners-designed condominium at 64 East 1st Street. The seven-story property is being developed by MGM Property Group, and the site was previously occupied by the much-maligned restaurant/hookah bar La Vie. MGM purchased the 3,300-square-foot lot in late 2013 to the tune of $5.4 million and swiftly demolished the one-story building last year. Excavation work is currently ongoing.
More details ahead
NYC Entering Biggest Building Boom in 50 Years; New Rendering of 220 Central Park South
July 30, 2015

NYC Entering Biggest Building Boom in 50 Years; New Rendering of 220 Central Park South

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New residential construction permits are at the highest since 1963, likely attributed to the expiration of the 421-a tax break. [WSJ] Two Billionaires’ Row condos, 111 West 57th Street and 1 Park Lane, only subsidized 23 affordable housing units. [DNAinfo] Jeopardy host Alex Trebek bought a $1.92 million fixer-upper Harlem townhouse for his 25-year-old son. [NYP] […]

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