Midtown West

March 14, 2016

Former Headquarters of the Christian Brothers Is Now a $15M Hell’s Kitchen Mansion

Spanning 7,000 square feet, with a two-story master bedroom that cantilevers out eight feet over the back garden, a back wall of glass and smart-everything, this single-family modern masterpiece may be mere blocks from the trophy towers of Billionaire's Row, but it outshines any of those eight-figure abodes by a midtown mile. Built in 1910, this six-story, 7,000 square-foot building at 416 West 51st Street was the headquarters of the Christian Brothers, whose main role was to keep neighborhood youth out of trouble, from 1953 until 2011. In the middle days of the 20th century through its end decade, there was trouble aplenty in the rough district known for tenements and street gangs. The neighborhood has come an almost unfathomly long way in recent years, and "the manse," as the listing calls it, is as good a parallel as we've seen. What's now being offered for $15 million is the result of the current owners' four year effort, in collaboration with Suk Design Group, to create a single family home fit more for a heavenly host than the Hell's Kitchen of history. Every inch of the building is wired for comfort and control, and there's a fully-stocked arcade and a "glass-wrapped floating staircase winding around the elevator like a helix," four enormous bedroom suites and that dramatic duplexed master suite.
Tour this unbelievable vertical mansion

March 4, 2016

VOA Architects Design 70-Story Mixed-Use Supertall for the Far West Side

By Ondel Hylton

Here's a first idea of what may be coming to a valuable far west side corner owned by former governor Elliot Spitzer. First spotted by the eagle-eyed SkyscraperPage, the scheme was prepared by VOA Architects for Highgate Hotels and shows an approximately 70-story, mixed-use tower stacked with a 1,000-key hotel with condominiums above. The site at 451 Tenth Avenue at 35th Street was picked up by Spitzer for $62 million in 2014 through a 99-year lease from Madd Equities. VOA's blog page states, "the project would have been the first new convention hotel in NY since the Marriott Marquis opened in 1985." Judging by the past-tense nature of the description, it seems this exact vision will not come to fruition.
More renderings ahead

February 25, 2016

Pricing Revealed for Market-Rate Rentals at Bjarke Ingels’ Via Tetrahedron

By Dana Schulz

Bjarke Ingels' ever-captivating tetrahedron, officially known as Via 57 West and located at 625 West 57th Street, is set to hit the rental market on March 1st, and ahead of the launch, the Durst Organization has released pricing information, reports Curbed. In total, the flashy building will have 709 apartments, 142 of which are affordable and start at just $565/month. The market-rate units, however, will be considerably pricier, with an average asking price of $2,770/month for studios, $3,880 for one-bedrooms, $6,500 for two-bedrooms, $11,000 for three-bedrooms, and a whopping $16,500 for four-bedrooms. Eight listings have already gone live, and they're offering two months free on a 14-month lease or three months free on a 27-month lease.
More details ahead

February 19, 2016

Skyline Wars: What’s Rising in Hudson Yards, the Nation’s Largest Construction Site

By Carter B. Horsley

Carter Uncut brings New York City’s breaking development news under the critical eye of resident architecture critic Carter B. Horsley. This week Carter brings us the third installment of “Skyline Wars,” a series that examines the explosive and unprecedented supertall phenomenon that is transforming the city’s silhouette. In this post Carter zooms in on Hudson Yards. The Hudson Yards neighborhood in Far Midtown West is one of the country’s most active construction areas. Construction cranes dot its emerging skyline and dozens more are promised now with the district's improved connection to the rest of the city. Last fall, the 7-line subway station at Eleventh Avenue and 34th Street opened with one-stop access to Times Square. The newly-minted station features a lengthy diagonal escalator bringing commuters to the front-door of the huge mixed-use project being created over the rail yards west of Tenth Avenue between 30th and 33rd streets. Originally, a second station was contemplated on 41st Street and Tenth Avenue but transit officials claimed it could not afford the $500 million expenditure, despite the enormous amount of new residential construction occurring along the far West 42nd Street corridor. Nevertheless, the finished Hudson Yards station deposits straphangers into a new diagonal boulevard and park between 10th and 11th Avenues that will ultimately stretch from the Related Companies / Oxford Property Group's Hudson Yards master plan northward to 42nd Street.
read more from carter here

February 10, 2016

POLL: Are You a Fan of Bjarke Ingels’ Design for the Spiral?

By Dana Schulz

On Monday, 6sqft brought you the latest reveal from starchitect Bjarke Ingels, a cascading supertall tower set for Hudson Yards and known as the Spiral. It caught people’s attention not only for the architect attached to it, but for its series of landscaped terraces and hanging gardens that twist around its glassy facade. The interior views are […]

February 9, 2016

Crane Up! Third Hudson Yards Office Tower Rises to Street Level

By Ondel Hylton

One year since groundwork began, 55 Hudson Yards is starting its ascent into the the far west side skyline. The future 51-story, 1.3-million-square-foot tower is the third office building to rise from the 28-acre Hudson Yards master plan, behind the Coach building at 10 Hudson Yards and Time Warner's 30 Hudson Yards. Fifty-Five Hudson is being spearheaded by a partnership between Mitsui Fudosan America, Inc. (MFA), Related Companies, and Oxford Properties Group. Previously the parcel was owned by Extell Development who once planned a diagrid-ed skyscraper named One Hudson Yards (formerly the World Product Center). The site is positioned just north of the west side rail yards on a full-block parcel bound by Hudson Yards Boulevard, Eleventh Avenue, West 34th Street and West 33rd Street. The building will open onto the new Hudson Boulevard and the recently open subway station for the 7 train. A brick-faced ventilation building that serves the subway extension rises from the southwest corner of the parcel and will be absorbed into the building's massing.
More details, renderings, and construction views

February 8, 2016

Bjarke Ingels Reveals Design for Supertall Cascading Hudson Yards Tower, the Spiral

By Dana Schulz

It seems safe to say at this point that two of starchitect Bjarke Ingels' favorite architectural elements are stepped facades and integrated natural spaces. His latest creation, an office tower appropriately dubbed the Spiral, incorporates both of these features, with a "cascading series of landscaped terraces and hanging gardens as its signature element," according to a press release sent out today. The 1,005-foot-tall, 65-story tower will rise at 66 Hudson Boulevard, at the intersection of the High Line and Hudson Yards, occupying the full block bound by West 34th Street, West 35th Street, 10th Avenue, and the four-acre Hudson Boulevard Park (BIG is also designing a pair of towers at the southern end of the High Line). Ingels said his conceptual design "combines the classic ziggurat silhouette of the premodern skyscraper with the slender proportions and efficient layouts of the modern high-rise."
Check out more views of the Spiral

February 8, 2016

Housing Lottery Commences for EŌS, Live in NYC’s Shortest Skyscraper for $566/Month

By Ondel Hylton

The affordable housing lottery for the Durst Organization's nearly finished rental tower EŌS at 855 Sixth Avenue launches today, according to the NYC HPD. One year ago, 6sqft reported on the 42-story structure's topping out, which at exactly 500 feet makes it officially tied as the shortest skyscraper in the city. Now, with full leasing slated to begin this spring, the application process for the 75 newly constructed, below-market rate apartments set aside for low-income residents is open. Rents in the Midtown West tower will range from $566/month studios to $930/month two-bedroom units.
More renderings and details ahead

February 4, 2016

Rangers Goalie Henrik Lundqvist Sells Midtown West Penthouse for $5M

By Annie Doge

King Henrik (as Rangers fans call him) is leaving his Midtown West palace, as the Post reports that the world-famous Swedish hockey goalie has sold the penthouse at 310 West 52nd Street for $4,995,000. Lundqvist originally listed the 2,035-square-foot duplex for $6.5 million back in 2014, reportedly because he and his wife Therese are looking for a larger place downtown for themselves and their two daughters. The uber-contemporary and strangely purple decor is a bit surprising, considering Lundqvist often makes it onto "best dressed" and "most beautiful people" lists.
More right here

February 2, 2016

Construction Update: BKSK Architects’ ‘Hi-Side’ Tower Goes Vertical on the Far West Side

By Ondel Hylton

BKSK Architects have designed a robust steel- and brick-faced building at 509 West 38th Street, slated to open in 2017. After a failed condo proposal, a foreclosure, and a developer switch, the project is finally ascending and is already seven stories out of the ground since we last checked a week ago. Dubbed "The Hi-Side," the 158,000-square-foot, mixed-use tower is being developed by investment firm Imperial Companies, who picked up the site from Iliad Development in an undisclosed deal. Fast forward nearly eight years, and a 30-floor, 345-foot building is rising at the site. Situated at the eastern block front of the future Hudson Park Boulevard, bands of ribbon windows along its western face will provide residents with sweeping views of the Hudson River. The base of the tower, which will feature a restaurant, is clad in a muscular rhythm of exposed steel, brick spandrels, and large multi-pane windows.
Find out more

January 22, 2016

New Renderings for Chinese Lantern-Inspired Skyscraper at 470 Eleventh Avenue

By Ondel Hylton

Reaping the seeds of the Bloomberg administration's sweeping 2005 rezoning of the far west side, a consortium of developers led by Siras Development hopes to begin construction this year on a dramatic 720-foot skyscraper at 470 Eleventh Avenue. Anchoring the southeast corner of Eleventh Avenue and 38th Street, the 47-story tower will soar from a quarter-acre site across from the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center that the developers purchased in 2014 for $110 million. The mixed-use project dubbed Hudson Rise will boast a total of 380,000 square feet split between a commercial podium, 328 hotel rooms/hotel condos, and topped by 40 condominiums that that will be marketed to Chinese buyers. Archilier Architects are the tower's designers, and though the firm has designed numerous large-scale developments in China, this will be their first in New York. Said to be inspired by traditional Chinese lanterns, the tower will be one of the most spatially complex skyscrapers in the city, distinguished by a vertical stack of alternating, cantilevering, and interlocking volumes that are clad in an array of facade treatments.
More details and renderings ahead

January 22, 2016

SOM Architects Reveal New Renderings of Hudson Yards-Adjacent Manhattan West Towers

By Michelle Cohen

Architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has released new drawings of the Brookfield Properties-developed Manhattan West project located between 32nd and 33rd Streets and Ninth and Tenth Avenues, Dezeen reported today. The glass-clad Manhattan West towers–punctuated by green public space–will be rising next to the Hudson Yards development. The five-million-square-foot project will include two office towers, a rental tower with 844 apartments at 435 West 31st Street, retail space and a new landscaped public plaza designed by James Corner Field Operations, the firm responsible for the design of the High Line.
Take a look at the latest images

January 12, 2016

See How 6 Columbus Circle Could Change the Central Park Skyline

By Ondel Hylton

Last Friday, a marketing brochure was released promoting the sale of 6 Columbus Circle, an 88-room boutique hotel that exudes a modernist '60s flair throughout its spaces. While the brick and limestone gem owned by the Pomeranc Group received an ungainly five-story addition in 2007, its ornate 58th Street facade survived intact–though now, its days may be numbered. The New York Observer reported last month that the owners have placed the building up for sale, tapping Cushman & Wakefield as exclusive marketers. With angled views of Central Park starting at less than 100 feet above street level, a source estimates the property could fetch a staggering $1,400 per buildable square foot, a pot of gold to developers' eyes. And the marketing brochure makes the possibilities very clear, conceptualizing a 700-foot-tall, mixed-use spire from the nimble, 42-foot-wide lot.
See how this could change the skyline

January 7, 2016

Renderings Revealed for Governor Cuomo’s $3B Penn Station Overhaul

By Dana Schulz

6sqft asked readers yesterday if Governor Cuomo would finally be able to get the Penn Station overhaul off the ground, after various news outlets reported that he would be announcing a plan to do just this. The majority of you said it wasn't going to happen, but it looks like the long-envisioned project has just gotten one step closer to reality. During a press conference yesterday at Madison Square Garden, the Governor revealed that he'll be heading up a major revamp of Penn Station, which he called "un-New York," according to Gothamist. The more than $3 billion redevelopment has been dubbed the Empire Station Complex, and a request for proposals will go out this week, due back in 90 days (not good news for the decade-old deal with developers Related Cos. and Vornado Realty). As expected, it includes the long-stalled Moynihan Station project that will convert the adjacent Farley Post Office into a large waiting area, similar in size to the main room at Grand Central. This will increase the size of the nation's busiest transit hub by 50 percent and will connect to the current station by a network of underground tunnels. Though several options are on the table for a redesign, the renderings released by the Governor's office show a glassy and light structure that's quite unlike the current space that Cuomo described as "dark, constrained, ugly, a lost opportunity, a bleak warren of corridors… a miserable experience and a terrible first impression."
More details and renderings ahead

January 6, 2016

POLL: Can Governor Cuomo Finally Get the Penn Station Overhaul off the Ground?

By Dana Schulz

After chatter last month that the state may reboot the plan to expand Penn Station into the adjacent Farley Post Office, the Wall Street Journal is now reporting that Governor Cuomo will announce this week a full overhaul for the nation’s busiest transit hub. It’s expected that his plan will indeed include the projected $900 million post office redevelopment […]

Real Estate Trends

Automat by Berenice Abbott, 1936

January 4, 2016

Horn & Hardart Automats: Redefining lunchtime, dining on a dime

By Michelle Cohen

In the 1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s Automats were a New York City dining staple for a hard-working lunch crowd, a modernist icon for a boundless machine-age future. At their height there were over three dozen in the city, serving 800,000 people a day. And nearly everyone who actually experienced Automats in their heyday says the same thing: They never forgot the thrill of being a kid at the Automat. Created by Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart in Philadelphia in 1902, coin-operated Automats were lovingly-designed Art Deco temples to modern efficiency. Sleek steel and glass vending machine grids displayed sandwiches and main dishes as well as desserts and sides, each in their own little boxes, square and even, clean and well-lit. You put a coin in the slot, opened the door and removed your food—which was reportedly quite good, as the founders took terrific pride in their craft.
What was it about the experience that made for such a lasting memory?

December 30, 2015

POLL: Have You Ever Gone to Times Square for New Year’s Eve?

By Dana Schulz

Yesterday, 6sqft shared a video that explored the history of New Year’s Eve in Times Square. The first celebration was held in 1904 as a celebration of the New York Times’ new building at the crossroads, and in 1907 the first ball drop took place. Since then, the tradition has taken place every year except […]

Events & Things To Do

December 10, 2015

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

By Michelle Cohen

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 10, 2015

Art Nerd New York’s Top Event Picks for the Week – 12/10-12/13

By Lori Zimmer

In a city where hundreds of interesting happenings occur each week, it can be hard to pick and choose your way to a fulfilling life. Art Nerd‘s philosophy is a combination of observation, participation, education and of course a party to create the ultimate well-rounded week. Jump ahead for Art Nerd founder Lori Zimmer’s top picks for 6sqft readers! Ease back into real life after a super rainy Art Basel Miami by upping your experiential art intake. Take a journey across the Atlantic Ocean without leaving New York in this month's #MidnightMoment film taking over the screens in Times Square. Help fight Parkinson's disease while celebrating the work of two artists whom the disease has affected in an exhibition benefitting the Michael J. Fox Foundation at Waterhouse & Dodd, then head to the Bronx to check out emerging artist Eric Orr's first solo exhibition. Art on paper gets a new avenue with the introduction of Paper Crown Press, and Joseph Gross has rounded up their favorite artists for a new wintry group show. Kraftwerk is the focus at a night of art and music at the Morbid Anatomy Museum, and Yoko Ono opens one show in two Chelsea galleries on the same night (and claims she'll attend both openings). Finish off the weekend with a free jazzy brunch celebrating the art of Judy Rifka and Jay Milder.
All the best events to check out here

Events & Things To Do

December 9, 2015

VIDEO: Watch Ironworkers Set Panels on Bjarke Ingels’ Via Tetrahedron

By Dana Schulz

Earlier today, 6sqft announced that Via, aka BIG’s 57th Street tetrahedron, is the winner of the 2015 Building of the Year competition. What likely made the starchitect-designed rental building such a frontrunner is its unusual shape, rising 460 feet from its site. Since progress has been right on track, it's easy to forget that the unconventional form yields some unique design and construction challenges. In this video from from Ironworkers Local 580, who set a Gopro up on the crane, we can see the skill required to set the shimmering panels on the slope wall. We also get a very vertigo-inducing view of the building from its apex looking down.
Watch the full video

December 9, 2015

The Penn Station Atlas Wants to Make the Awful Space Less Confusing

By Dana Schulz

"The concept behind this project is simple but powerful: a user-centric atlas of a complex space – a unique set of maps designed to help anyone easily find the best way to their destination in Penn Station." Designer John Schettino realized that even though he traveled through Penn Station every day, he'd still find himself lost in the labyrinth that has become one of New Yorkers' most loathed destinations. So he studied maps of the underground station and observed how people interacted with the space to create the New York Penn Station Atlas. The project uses 2D and 3D models that make up a set of maps to show general layout, key locations, and routes for getting from one point to another. Schettino, with a boost from the Municipal Art Society, hopes all these resources will become available for electronic devices at no cost.
Plenty more details this way

December 9, 2015

Cute Co-op Asks $489K at the Whitby, an Emery Roth-Designed Building in Midtown

By Emily Nonko

Architect Emery Roth was considered the master of apartment design back in his day. In the early 1900s, he masterminded an impressive number of buildings with sprawling floor plans and luxurious finishes. (That was a time when the rich still needed to be convinced to live in apartments, rather than mansions.) He finished the Whitby, at 325 West 45th Street in Midtown West, in 1923. Since then the building has been broken down into mostly small studio, one- and two-bedroom co-ops. This is a one-bedroom in the building that still has some pre-war details, although it's lacking the gracious floor plan that made Roth so famous. Still, it's a central location at a decent asking price, $489,000. And the apartment is pretty darn cute.
Take the tour

Distinctive Homes

December 9, 2015

Revealed: Crowne Plaza Hotel Rises South of Times Square, Boasts Streetwall-Friendly Atrium

By Ondel Hylton

Construction is getting vertical on Raber Enterprises' 251-room Crowne Plaza Times Square South. The expected four-star, 118,200-square-foot building at 320 West 36th Street will only be the second in Manhattan to carry the Crowne Plaza flag, whose larger, 795-room location at 1605 Broadway has been operational since 1989. Situated between Seventh and Eighth avenues, the 8,200 square-foot parcel formerly held a parking garage that the team purchased with two other lots in December 2012 for $33.5 million. The metal-clad 28-story tower is designed by Flatiron-based Stonehill & Taylor Architects & Planners and will feature an 85-foot tall base that will thankfully adhere to the consistent streetwall of the Garment District. The base will be clad in corrugated-aluminum and its interior will hold an 80-foot high, galvanized steel atrium containing a restaurant and the reception lobby. The architects note that the metallic aesthetic "celebrates the neighborhood’s manufacturing and transportation hub heritage and also produce a play of light and shadow on the building’s deeply modulated surfaces." Flintlock Construction are the builders, WSP Flack & Kurtz the mechanical engineers and GACE, the structural engineers.
more on the project here

December 7, 2015

Could This Otherworldly 102-Story Tower Covered in Ornaments Be Coming to 57th Street?

By Ondel Hylton

Jaded by glass boxes and architectural imitations of styles gone by? Well this fascinating design by Mark Foster Gage Architects is sure to turn your architectural world upside down. Here's our first look at their 102-story residential supertower seemingly flown in from some advanced airborne civilization in a galaxy far, far away. While details are scarce, this eagle lands in the heart of Midtown's Billionaires' Row along West 57th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. The whimsical design is a habitable sculpture of sorts, adorned from top to bottom in ornaments ranging from gears and propellers to an abstracted pair of birds diving in for a landing on two wing-supported balconies. The tower is topped by a temple-like observational platform which is then crowned by a golden wreath-like structure fit for any victorious Roman general.
more eye-popping visuals this way

December 3, 2015

Victoria’s Secret Model Isabeli Fontana Tries to Sell Her Central Park South Pad for $2.65M

By Emily Nonko

A pretty apartment for a pretty person: The Italian-Brazilian Victoria's Secret model Isabeli Fontana (who first appeared in the lingerie catalogue at age 16) is selling her two-bedroom co-op at 120 Central Park South (aka the Berkeley House), according to the Observer. She bought the apartment in 2013 for $1.66 million. Previously, the model has lived at Trump Place on Riverside Boulevard and a condo at 88 Greenwich Street. This apartment, which was totally remodeled by Fontana (is that a self portrait we see?), has some good things going for it. It's got lots of windows and views of the park, tons of closet space and some old-world details.
Check it out

November 25, 2015

Historic Palace Theater to Get Raised 29 Feet to Accommodate New Retail Space

By Dana Schulz

At a public hearing yesterday the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a plan drawn up by Platt Byard Dovell White Architects (PBDW) for Maefield Development to raise the historic 1913 Palace Theater 29 feet in order to accommodate expanded facilities and new retail space underneath. The decision isn't sitting well with preservationists, but the exterior of the theater was replaced in the early 1990s to make way for the 45-story adjacent DoubleTree hotel, and as the Wall Street Journal reports, the actual theater space is an interior landmark and the $2 billion redevelopment project will restore the decorated interior and add 10,000 square feet of theater facilities.
More on the history and future of the Palace Theater

The 74

201 East 74th Street

Lenox Hill

Gracious Upper East Side condos with Central Park and skyline views

2 beds starting at $3,380,000
3 beds starting at $4,850,000
5 beds starting at $11,950,000

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