Real Estate Trends

April 1, 2015

POLL: Is Chinatown the Next Hip ‘Hood?

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Yesterday, we took a look at a Wall Street Journal article that reported on a new crop of shops, galleries, and condos popping up in Chinatown, attracting both a hipster crowd and real estate developers. While developments like Essex Crossing are definitely setting parts of the neighborhood on the gentrification track, other areas are still full of open-air […]

City Council Task Force Will Look at Park Shadows Cast by Supertall Towers

What the NYC skyline could look like in 2018, via CityRealty  

March 31, 2015

City Council Task Force Will Look at Park Shadows Cast by Supertall Towers

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It comes up every time a rendering is released for the latest supertall tower –how will the massive structure impede the views of its neighbors and what kind of obstructive shadows will it cast below? With a dozen supertalls (1,000 feet or higher) in the construction or planning stages in Manhattan, the threats are imminent and unavoidable, but Councilman Mark Levine hopes to get ahead of the issue moving forward. Levine, who chairs the parks committee, will introduce legislation today to create a task force that will examine, as he put it, "the looming threat of shadows falling on our parks from the rising number of skyscrapers," according to Capital New York.
More information here
Chinatown, Once Unchanged, Now Attracting Hipsters–and Real Estate Developers

Image via CityRealty

March 31, 2015

Chinatown, Once Unchanged, Now Attracting Hipsters–and Real Estate Developers

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"Canal Street is a gantlet of billboards and signs; Courvoisier, Pearl Paint, Bally's Grand Hotel, Salem Cigarettes, Lincoln Savings Bank, Mc Donald's, and signs in Chinese impend on traffic, which is the covered with signs and graffiti itself." A New Yorker article published in 1990 paints a picture of Chinatown that isn’t all that different from the one we know today. Despite its prime location, few developers have eyed Chinatown as a destination for luxury living. As a largely self-sustaining community—many stores don’t even bother with English—it has preserved its cultural fabric even as the city has gone through transformation after transformation just streets away. But all of this is changing. A new crop of shops, galleries and condos is starting to find its way into the neighborhood's depths, the Wall Street Journal reports, and brokers are predicting rapid change for Chinatown over the next decade.
more on changes in chinatown
Extension of NoMad Historic District Has Preservationists at Odds with Building Owners

Broadway between 26th and 27th Streets, part of the current Madison Square North Historic District, via Wiki Commons

March 31, 2015

Extension of NoMad Historic District Has Preservationists at Odds with Building Owners

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Over the past few years, NoMad (north of Madison Square Park) has been the subject of countless articles looking at its rise to becoming a go-to place for culture, food, business, and residential opportunities. In fact, as we reported last June, since 2009 the neighborhood has seen price-per-square-foot averages rise by 40 percent. But not everyone looks at this neighborhood as the next frontier. Local residents and preservationists see the area as a relic of the late 19th century, when it was home to the city’s most opulent hotels and mansions and brownstones occupied by New York’s elite, as well as of the Roaring Twenties, when the community boomed as a commercial hub. For these cultural reasons and for NoMad's wealth of industrial and gilded architecture, a proposal will be heard tonight in front of the landmarks committee of Community Board No. 5 to extend the Madison Square North Historic District. NoMad property owners and developers don't agree with the proposal, citing that the area's building stock has been significantly altered over the years. As the Wall Street Journal reports, "The face-off is significant because it is centered in an area that has seen hundreds of millions of dollars of private investment, with new hotels and apartment buildings breaking ground, and new stores and restaurants opening almost weekly. In the eyes of real-estate executives, it would freeze growth in a rare section of Midtown Manhattan still ripe for development."
More details
New Rendering and Teaser Site Released for 111 West 57th Street

Rendering via Hayes Davidson and SHoP Architects

March 30, 2015

New Rendering and Teaser Site Released for 111 West 57th Street

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"111 West 57th Street defines the idea of a modern classic: a residence whose timeless design evokes the prewar Golden Age of Manhattan skyscrapers, while also delivering high-technology performance, 21st century engineering, and contemporary comfort without compromise." This is the text from 111 West 57th Street's new teaser site. The webpage for the will-be world's skinniest tower is accompanied by a new rendering, which makes the SHoP-designed supertall appear even more dominant in the skyline than previously envisioned and tacks an additional seven feet onto its height, bringing it to 1,428 feet.
More details and a new height comparison ahead
NYC Planning Commission Approves One Vanderbilt; A New ‘World’s Skinniest Tower’ Coming
March 30, 2015

NYC Planning Commission Approves One Vanderbilt; A New ‘World’s Skinniest Tower’ Coming

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One Vanderbilt gets the green light. The City Planning Commission gave unanimous approval (12-0; 1 recusal) to the controversial Midtown project slated to rise on a site adjacent to Grand Central Station. [6sqft inbox] More units at 432 Park are coming to the market. Nine new listings, including a $76.5 million penthouse, have been posted in the last seven […]

Fly-Through Video of ODA’s 10 Jay Street Shows Crystalline Facade from Every Angle

Rendering via ODA

March 30, 2015

Fly-Through Video of ODA’s 10 Jay Street Shows Crystalline Facade from Every Angle

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We've been seeing a lot of innovative work from ODA Architecture lately–from their Bushwick rental project that looks uncannily similar to a project by Bjarke Ingels in Denmark to their provocative ziggurat-like proposal for Gowanus. And last week, their design for the northern façade of 10 Jay Street in Dumbo won approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The site was formerly a sugar refinery, which inspired ODA's crystal-like design, and the warehouse will be turned into condos with ground-floor retail. We've now uncovered a fly-through video of the building, which shows the façade from every angle. The video description says: "When there is no wall to preserve and no façade to restore, contemporary architecture can tell a story about a sequence of historical events. The architect is a visual biographer writing a tale of one building from 1897 to 2015 arguably doing more for preservation than imitating reality."
Watch the video here
Norman Foster-Designed Residential Tower to Rise in Sutton Place; Peek Inside BIG’s West 57th Street Pyramid
March 27, 2015

Norman Foster-Designed Residential Tower to Rise in Sutton Place; Peek Inside BIG’s West 57th Street Pyramid

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Have a look inside construction at BIG’s pyramid at 625 West 57th Street. [Field Condition] A 269,000-square-foot tower designed by Foster + Partners will rise at 426-432 East 58th Street. The developer, Bauhouse, plans to raze four properties in Sutton Place to create the 95-unit building. [6sqft inbox] Manhattan condo inventory hit an historic low in February. [NYDN] The rise […]

New Renderings Revealed for Tadao Ando’s ‘Glass Jewel Box’ Condo in Nolita
March 27, 2015

New Renderings Revealed for Tadao Ando’s ‘Glass Jewel Box’ Condo in Nolita

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Over the summer we got a couple of teaser renderings for Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando's forthcoming Nolita condo at 152 Elizabeth Street. But now the Times has released the entire batch of starchitecture porn, including a full building shot and interior details. Ando's first-ever standalone building in New York is a seven-story condominium with just seven units, and its design is completely representative of his signature style. Described as a "glass jewel box" by the Times, it's made of in-situ concrete, galvanized steel and glass, combining to create a simplistic, modern esthetic that blends with the area's industrial character. The Japanese self-taught starchitect wanted to create "a space which no one has created before with a very common material which anyone is familiar with and has access to. Concrete can be made anywhere on earth."
Pricing info and renderings this way
NYC Will Get Richer and Denser, New Report Reveals

Bethesda Fountain Bethesda Fountain – Central Park via photopin (license)

March 27, 2015

NYC Will Get Richer and Denser, New Report Reveals

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Think New York City is crowded now? You ain't seen nothing yet. According to census data and a new report by the Brookings Institute on job proximity, the city is on track for a population boom of professionals raking in big bucks. The city has by far the highest job density in the country, even when the national trend is for both people and jobs to move to the suburbs. Similarly, NYC tops the list of increase in population of college grads between 2007 and 2012 by a landslide. And as The Atlantic observes, this combination is creating a feedback loop that will make our already rich and crowded city even richer and more crowded. "The densest cities tend to be the most educated cities, which are also the richest cities, and often the biggest cities. They’re gobbling up a disproportionate share of college grads. And, as a result, they are becoming richer, denser, and more educated."
More details ahead
Woody Johnson’s Co-op Sale Still Sets Record, but Comes In Lower Than Expected at $77.5M
March 26, 2015

Woody Johnson’s Co-op Sale Still Sets Record, but Comes In Lower Than Expected at $77.5M

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The real estate world was abuzz last fall when the news hit that Jets owner Woody Johnson had sold his Upper East Side apartment to billionaire Leonard Blavatnik for $80 million, setting the record for most expensive co-op sale ever. The official city documents have hit, though, and the sale price came in lower than expected at $77.5 million. But […]

Mayor’s Affordable Housing Plan Flawed, More Likely to Harm Brooklyn’s Most Expensive Nabes
March 26, 2015

Mayor’s Affordable Housing Plan Flawed, More Likely to Harm Brooklyn’s Most Expensive Nabes

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The revitalization of East New York is at the center of Mayor Bill de Blasio's affordable housing plan, but like his ambitious Sunnyside Yards project, his ideas for the fallen areas of Brooklyn are apparently also filled with holes. According to a piece published by the Wall Street Journal yesterday, de Blasio's plan to re-zone 15 neighborhoods to allow for taller and denser housing won't do much good for affordable housing. The main reason? The rents are too low. In fact, housing experts believe that his plan is more likely to hurt the character of Brooklyn's most tony areas, including Park Slope, Fort Greene, and Crown Heights, amongst many others.
More on their findings here
Fashion Stylist Joe Zee Sells Chelsea Pad to Famed Designer Narciso Rodriguez for $2M
March 26, 2015

Fashion Stylist Joe Zee Sells Chelsea Pad to Famed Designer Narciso Rodriguez for $2M

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In a very fashion-friendly transaction, stylist and journalist Joe Zee–creative director of Elle for seven years and currently the editor-in-chief and executive creative officer of Yahoo Fashion and host of a fashion-based television show called “All on the Line”–has sold his Chelsea apartment at 300 West 23rd Street to clothing designer Narciso Rodriguez for $2 million, according to city […]

Rent Stabilization Demystified: Know the Rules, Your Rights, and if You’re Getting Cheated

Image by Jorbasa Fotografie / Flickr 

March 24, 2015

Rent Stabilization Demystified: Know the Rules, Your Rights, and if You’re Getting Cheated

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In New York City there are currently about one million rent stabilized apartments–about 47 percent of the city’s rental units. So why is it so hard to snag one? What are the benefits of having one (other than affordable rent, of course)? According to the New York City Rent Guidelines Board nearly 250,000 rental units have lost the protections of rent regulation since 1994. Why are we "losing" so many of them?
Find out the facts and how they could affect you
Live in a Sprawling Queens Mansion; Things to Consider Before Subletting
March 24, 2015

Live in a Sprawling Queens Mansion; Things to Consider Before Subletting

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Some very important things to take into account before subletting your apartment. [BU] A sprawling Jamaica Estates mansion in Queens has hit the market for $3.49M. [Brownstoner Queens] A 100-acre manufacturing area in northern Inwood is being eyed for rezoning for housing and tech. [Curbed] New $200 million, 14-mile bus route unveiled for Queens. [NYDN] Robert Durst linked to yet […]

Two Best Friends Sell Their Massive Midtown Artists’ Loft for $4.83M
March 23, 2015

Two Best Friends Sell Their Massive Midtown Artists’ Loft for $4.83M

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Remember this amazing loft we featured on 6sqft back in September? Well it looks like it's found a new owner to fill its cavernous spaces. According to city records, the two-loft combo at 361 West 36th Street sold today for $4.83 million. While when we last wrote about this cool apartment we were going gaga over its beautiful 4,800 square feet of sun-soaked spaces, it turns out the story of the two women–both artists–who once dwelled within its walls is far better anything else found inside.
Find out more here
REVEALED: ODA’s New Bushwick Rental Project Looks a Lot Like BIG’s 8 Tallet in Copenhagen

ODA’s 10 Montieth Street (L); BIG’s 8 Tallet (R)

March 20, 2015

REVEALED: ODA’s New Bushwick Rental Project Looks a Lot Like BIG’s 8 Tallet in Copenhagen

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If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Bjarke Ingels should give himself a big pat on the back. A newly revealed residential design by architectural firm ODA for the Rheingold Brewery site in Bushwick looks a lot like Bjark Ingels Group's (BIG) 8 Tallet in Copenhagen. The Denmark building takes the shape of a figure 8 with a sloping ramp that runs from the base of the building to its roof, creating a large interior courtyard. Similarly, the 400-unit rental building planned for Bushwick at 10 Montieth Street has a subtle bow-tie shape with a sloping, zig-zagging green roof and amenity-laden courtyard. And just as 8 Tallet is the largest private development ever undertaken in Denmark, ODA's 400,000-square-foot building would be the largest residential building ever built in the area if completed.
More details on the proposed project
In Case of Fire, Take the Elevator to Safety
March 20, 2015

In Case of Fire, Take the Elevator to Safety

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If you work in a tall tower, throw everything you ever learned about fire safety out the window because the Fire, Buildings and City Planning Departments are re-writing the rules. In response to the supertalls popping up across Manhattan, the agencies are looking to create more occupant-evacuation elevators that can be used to move people down a tower in the event of an emergency. Because, really, can you imagine trying to flee down 90 flights of stairs?
READ MORE
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