6sqft | NYC local news, events, and apartments

The interiors at this completely charming Park Slope home in a gorgeous historic townhouse at 134 Lincoln Place will seduce you from the start. And the location on a cinematic brownstone block in the heart of north Park Slope is one of the city's most sought-after and fought-over for everything from the schools and neighborhood amenities to its proximity to Prospect Park. But if a real two-bedroom apartment with any space to spare is high on your priority list, this 850-square-foot charmer may come up a little short.
Tour the apartment

Distinctive Homes

September 7, 2016

Two years after its launch, .nyc domain lacks popularity

Anyone with a computer and a credit card can register a domain name, but a .nyc extension is limited to a more select group. The Wall Street Journal points out that only local residents and business owners can purchase the domain, limiting the buying pool. There's also a $20 wholesale registration price, which is nearly three times the $7.85 cost of a regular .com, which causes some .nyc domains to go for as much as $40 on sites like GoDaddy. This has resulted in a mere 78,000 .nyc extensions purchased since the websites launched in September 2014, bringing in only $2 million in revenue for the city.
So what's the deal?

September 7, 2016

Kylie Jenner may have bought a $7M Tribeca penthouse

Unlike big sis Kim, Kylie Jenner may actually be paying for her NYC digs. Tribeca Citizen first reported information from an anonymous source that the model and youngest member of the Kardashian clan purchased a Tribeca penthouse, and Curbed determined, based on an Instagram photo and sales records, that it may be the $7 million top-floor unit at 15 Leonard Street. The five-bedroom triplex not only has luxurious interior details like floating concrete stairs and a limestone-clad master bath, but it boasts six outdoor terraces (perfect for setting up film crews).
Check it out

September 7, 2016

Uniqlo’s NYC subway-inspired t-shirt collection hits stores

By Rebecca Paul

The New York City subway map is an icon of our modern urban culture, and it was only a matter of time before the popular graphics made their way on to a t-shirt in some trendy way. Uniqlo just released a new line of SPRZ NY tees featuring designs pulled from the The New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual, a graphic system designed by Massimo Vignelli and Bob Noorda in the late 1970s. The new line of tees were produced in collaboration with the MoMA and appropriately named, "The Subway and the City."
see more designs here

50K oysters in Jamaica Bay tasked to filter pollutants and protect NYC wetlands

Photo: Flickr/nycwater

September 7, 2016

50K oysters in Jamaica Bay tasked to filter pollutants and protect NYC wetlands

The world might be your oyster, but Jamaica Bay is full of the bivalve molluscs. Starting with 36 thousand oysters last week and 12 thousand more this week, the largest single installation of breeding oysters in New York City began. A spokesman from the mayor’s office said hundreds of thousands of juvenile oysters will be added […]

Uncategorized

September 7, 2016

Park Slope’s Pavilion Theater to become Nitehawk cinema; long-lost 9/11 flag returns to museum

Controversial plans to raze and condo-fy Park Slope’s iconic Pavilion Theater have been scrapped. It’ll instead become home to an outpost of Williamsburg’s popular dine-in movie theater Nitehawk. [NYT] Bjarke Ingels‘ skyline-changing tetrahedron Via 57 West has wrapped up construction. [6sqft inbox] The American flag immortalized in the ground zero from 9/11 was lost until 2014. Now that it’s […]

Uncategorized

September 7, 2016

POLL: Are you in favor of the Pier 55 offshore park moving ahead?

As of late last month, summer construction work on the Barry Diller-funded Pier 55 was complete, with the first nine piles propping up the offshore park having been installed. It seemed as though all systems were a go at the $130 million futuristic park, but yesterday 6sqft reported that The City Club of New York, the civic group who was behind an earlier lawsuit and stop work order, may have a backer in none other than Douglas Durst. And today the Wall Street Journal shares that opponents had their first day in front a panel of state appellate-court judges to express environmental concerns and frustrations that the initial planning between billionaire Diller and the Hudson River Park Trust was done behind closed doors. What are your thoughts on the issue?
More details on the hearing, and tell us if you're in favor of Pier 55 moving ahead

Architecture And Design

September 7, 2016

C-Squat: The history of one of NYC’s longest standing squat houses

By Cait Etherington

In the 1980s, the idea that Avenue C would eventually be home to condo developments with names like Boutique 67 would have sent most local residents into a fit of laughter and possibly a fit of rage. At the time, heroin was so widely available in Alphabet City that junkies would simply line up outside local tenements […]

History

Distinctive Homes

This six-story $13.9M Upper West Side townhouse has all of life's luxuries under one roof, with an elevator to get there

The corner terrace at this $4.4M Stella Tower condo puts the city skyline at your feet

For $1.45M, this barrel-fronted Bay Ridge home offers three floors for living and lots of outdoor space

This $3.15M co-op embodies East Village cool, all grown up

This $25M Greenwich Village townhouse has been an artist's refuge for well over a century

This $3.6M Spuyten Duyvil home is a tranquil refuge indoors and out, within New York City limits

For $32.5K/month, rent a five-story designer townhouse in Gramercy

For $5.8M, this Fifth Avenue co-op has 'Mad Men'-era vibes and Central Park views

Behold the breathtaking views from this $18M home on the Montauk coastline

For $3M, this two-family Crown Heights townhouse fills every available inch of space with great style

VIEW ALL

September 7, 2016

Be my roommate: Live on a leafy Fort Greene block with a filmmaker for $1,000

By Diane Pham

To help our fellow New Yorkers on their hunt for a good roommate, we present "Be My Roommate." If you have an empty room you'd like to see featured here, get in touch with us at [email protected]! Meet Jonathan, a freelance filmmaker who hails from Texas looking for not one, but two roommates to share his huge Fort Greene apartment with. Jonathan has been in NYC for over six years and has always found himself in living collaboratively with folks in oversized spaces (he shared an artist's loft with eight other people at one point). Now that two of his current roommates are setting out on their own, he's on the hunt for two new folks to move into their rooms. This home hits all the right notes; not only is it located in one of Brooklyn's most coveted neighborhoods, but it's got some great historic details, it's blindingly bright and did we mention that it's gigantic? Believe us, you'd be hard pressed to find such a fantastic room—let alone two—in a 2,000-square-foot apartment at just $1000 a month.
Go inside the apartment here

Where I Work

September 7, 2016

Downton Abbey director lists $5M Chelsea penthouse with glorious outdoor space

This duplex penthouse, located at the Chelsea condo 263 Ninth Avenue, has been listed for sale by Michael Engler, a director who has earned Emmy nominations for his work on Downton Abbey, Sex and the City, and 30 Rock. $4.95 million will get you his customized loft with a "private oasis" of outdoor space--nearly 1,000 square feet over a top-floor, south- and west-facing terrace. Engler owns the apartment with his husband--Stribling broker Steven Sumser, also the listing agent for the apartment--which they bought in 2006 for $2.545 million.
Check it out

September 7, 2016

Video: The first of 300 new R179 subway cars has (finally) arrived at the MTA’s 207th Street yard

The future has arrived, and it's delayed, of course. The first of the city's shiny new subway cars was delivered to the MTA yard at 207th street in Inwood last night. The new R179 cars are being made upstate by Canadian company Bombardier and are slated to replace old cars on the C, A, J, M and Z lines (the trains on the C line are the oldest); a final decision on which lines will get the new cars hasn't been made at this time. The newly-arrived car is a test model, though; we won't be packing into the new cars like sardines until at least 2018.
See the future pulling in

Transit

September 7, 2016

Manhattan meets Montmarte in a designer’s $2.45M Nomad penthouse

House Beautiful calls designer Leslie Klotz's rooftop loft "a wonderful mashup of Manhattan and Montmartre," and the homeowner says visitors are reminded of a Parisian artist's garret, though this designed-to-the-nines Nomad penthouse at 66 Madison Avenue is definitely more soigné than starving artist. A gut renovation of the space–it was once the building's boiler room–by the designer and former Banana Republic PR executive resulted in a light-filled aerie topped with a web of massive skylights and blessed with enough terrace space to accomodate her love of indoor/outdoor living and entertaining. Now on the market for $2.450 million, the apartment atop the full-service Madison Parq co-op is located in of one of the city's hottest downtown neighborhoods
Take the tour

Distinctive Homes

Miss Manhattan: The famous artist’s model who sits in iron and marble throughout the city

The Isidor and Ida Straus Memorial at Straus Park, modeled after Audrey Munson. Via Wiki Commons.

September 6, 2016

Miss Manhattan: The famous artist’s model who sits in iron and marble throughout the city

Audrey Marie Munson. The name may not ring a bell, but you've undoubtedly seen her likeness around town. From the New York Public Library to the Brooklyn Bridge, this woman in various states of undress was once the most famous artist's model in the country. The story of Munson began in 1906, when she was 15 years old and was spotted window shopping on Fifth Avenue by photographer Felix Benedict Herzog. After he took a series of portraits of her, she was introduced to well-known sculptor Isadore Konti, who began her career as "Miss Manhattan," immortalizing her in iron and stone. But a short-lived hiatus as a film actress, followed by a murder scandal, changed things for the model.
The full history this way

September 6, 2016

Turn any image into a custom template for wallpaper and more with Morpholio’s ‘Stencil’ app

By Rebecca Paul

It's no secret that stencils are all the rage these days, and here in New York City we've been enjoying sites adorned with stencil-inspired graffiti for decades. Like many trends that start in the streets, the art of stencils have made their way into the design language of everything from t-shirts to pillows, magazines and most definitely interior design. As a response to these trends, Morpholio has just released Stencil, a new app that allows you transform any image you come across into a custom digital stencil to use with any of your designs.
find out more here

September 6, 2016

Bringing New York’s oysters back from near extinction; can uber help with L train shutdown?

The Environmental Protection Department is working to restore a self-sustaining oyster population in Jamaica Bay to improve water quality, protect the shoreline from erosion, and revive fish and wildlife habitats. [NYT] Uber proposes temporary “rideshare” deregulation to deal with L train shutdown. [Politico] The tong wars: how 1900s Chinatown descended into violence, bloodshed and savvy politics. [Post Magazine] From overpasses to […]

Uncategorized

September 6, 2016

Molly Ringwald sells East Village duplex to noted fashion photographer for $1.7M

80s icon Molly Ringwald, of “Sixteen Candles,” “The Breakfast Club” and “Pretty in Pink” fame, has made a sale on her charming East Village duplex, reports the Post. The former teen idol put the two-bedroom pad on the market back in June for $1.79 million, and per city records just released, she's sold the home to noted fashion photographer (and bona fide Polish prince) Alexi Lubomirski and his wife Giada for $1.7 million.
go inside the home here

September 6, 2016

New York designer will show her collection on Snapchat, not Fashion Week runway

New York-based fashion designer Misha Nonoo is giving away front row seats to her latest collection—and you don’t even have to leave the house. In fact, you don’t even have to leave bed, because this fashion show is happening on Snapchat. The womenswear designer made headlines when she opted out of a traditional show in […]

Uncategorized

Port Authority plans to sell One World Trade Center for up to $5B

It's been almost two years since Condé Nast's 3,400 employees moved into One World Trade Center. At the time, only 58 percent of its 3 million square feet of space was leased, but the hope was that the media company's presence and perceived confidence in the $3.8 billion tower would attract more tenants. This didn't quite pan out, as it's still one third empty, and the Port Authority continues to drop $3 million a month to cover Condé Nast's old lease (this amounted to $47.6 million in 2015 alone). Due to these issues, along with the fact that the tower only brought in $13 million in revenue last year-- a mere 0.35 percent return on its investment--the cash-strapped Port Authority has made plans to sell One World Trade Center for as much as $5 billion. As Crain's notes, this would be the highest price ever paid for an office building in the country.
More details ahead

Uncategorized

September 6, 2016

Alec and Hilaria Baldwin scope out $16.5M Chelsea penthouse for growing family

It's safe to say at this point that Alec Baldwin's infamous New York Magazine tirade about leaving the public eye of New York was not literal, as two and half years later the actor and his wife Hilaria haven't budged. In fact, the couple, currently expecting their third child together, was seen checking out a $16.5 million Chelsea penthouse, according to the Post. The 5,000-square-foot apartment is located at the top of one of the London Terrace Towers towers and is being sold as an approved combination of two existing units. It's said to be currently owned by "Sopranos" creator David Chase. But Baldwin hasn't eased up on privacy concerns. Baldwin hasn't eased up on privacy concerns, however. Sources say he's visited the apartment three times and "has been hanging out in the lobby asking residents about the building and what it’s like to be there."
See the whole space

Dorm architecture: Admiring avant-garde student housing designs in New York

Image courtesy of SOM by James Ewing

September 6, 2016

Dorm architecture: Admiring avant-garde student housing designs in New York

By Cait Etherington

Historically, college dorms have been characterized by anything but great architecture. While many older institutions rent out rooms (“cells” may be a more apt description) in neo-gothic structures, newer institutions tend to house students in some of the world’s least inspiring modernist buildings (for an example, head over to the I.M. Pei towers that dominate NYU’s University Village). More recently, however, at least some colleges and universities have begun to acknowledge that where students live may have an impact on their performance. Financially savvy institutions have also started to link student housing options to student retention rates. As a result, on many campuses, drab gray concrete structures with prison-size windows are finally giving way to light, glass and wood and to an entirely new range of built-in amenities. This means that whether or not all students know it, a growing number of them are now living in buildings on the cutting edge of contemporary design.
Ahead, we highlight some of the best and most innovative in the new york area

Architecture And Design

September 6, 2016

Mogul vs. mogul: Is Douglas Durst trying to stop Barry Diller’s offshore park?

Once again in the news is media mogul Barry Diller's futuristic offshore cultural pier development at Pier 55 on the Hudson River. The proposed park project, known informally as Diller Park after its main backer, who is chairman of IAC/InterActiveCorp and is married to fashion designer Diane Von Furstenburg, is helmed by the Hudson River Park Trust. The New York Times reports that the project’s main opponent, a civic group called The City Club of New York, may have an equally powerful backer. According to Diller, there is a deep-pocketed "hidden hand” funding the legal actions against the park. In a recent interview, Diller said, “The backer of all this is one Douglas Durst.”
Find out more

September 6, 2016

$495K Park Slope brownstone co-op has a roof deck and a kitchen that hides when you’re not using it

Tucked into one of the gorgeous century-old townhouses on a center Slope block just a stone's throw from Prospect Park, this fourth-floor co-op at 53 Montgomery Place is a cozy cabin of a penthouse walk-up, complete with a private roof deck offering killer city views. While this one-bedroom apartment is indeed cozy, custom renovations have made the space a versatile and charming home.
READ MORE

Distinctive Homes

September 4, 2016

Upstate home built in 1730 by a Revolutionary War captain asks $1.25M

$1.25 million won't just buy you this home at 100 Old Lake Street in West Harrison, New York, it'll buy you a piece of history (h/t CIRCA). According to the listing, the oldest portion of this pre-Revolutionary War home is said to have been originally built in 1730 by Captain William Shelley and his brothers--they fought at Merritt Hill, the site of the Battle of White Plains, during the Revolutionary War. The house has since been expanded and modernized, although the building still has its original structural details.
Take a look at the historic interior

September 2, 2016

Maps reveal NYC neighborhoods with the worst air pollution and exposure risks

Everything you need to know about affordable housing: applying, getting in, and staying put

You might be able to get some fresh air in Manhattan—if you hang out in Central Park all day. Otherwise, the hazards of breathing city air change just about as quickly as it takes for your Uber to arrive at your destination, according to a new study from MIT Senseable City Lab. The MIT team […]

Uncategorized

Friday 5: Live in Midtown for less, modern towers now offering free rent

Every Friday 6sqft rounds up five of the best rental deals showcased on CityRealty.com’s no-fee rentals page, a space where house hunters can find the best concessions being offered by landlords across the city.

September 2, 2016

Friday 5: Live in Midtown for less, modern towers now offering free rent

By 6sqft

If you love being in the thick of it all, there's no area of New York that pulsates quite like Midtown. With ample entertainment and dining options along every street and on every corner; stunning architecture spanning numerous decades and styles everywhere you look; and no shortage of transit options to deliver you to just about any neighborhood in a matter of minutes, this neighborhood is made for the truest of urban explorers and city enthusiasts. Ahead are five extra-tall modern towers that put the city's spectacular offer up close and personal—and they're all giving out free rent!
check out who's offering deals here

Uncategorized

THE 6SQFT SHOP

The best websites for buying and selling used furniture in NYC

The 6 best furniture rental companies in NYC

8 best places in NYC to thrift for home goods

Everything you need to know about using a guarantor in NYC

15 quintessential NYC gifts for the New Yorker in your life

New York City's best holiday markets of 2023

Raising chickens in NYC: Laws, tips, and everything else you need to know

10 Ways to Decorate an Exposed Brick Wall Without Drilling

Snag the Greenest Seat in Town: Gufram's 1972 Pratone Chair is Shaped Like a Patch of Grass

VIEW ALL

September 2, 2016

One month after anti-Trump sale, Keith Olbermann’s former Trump Palace condo returns for $3.9M

Liberal commentator Keith Olbermann listed his Trump Palace condo on the Upper East Side for $3.9 million in April, publicly citing his opposition to the presidential candidate. Even though he took a loss on the sale (it went through for $3.8 million in July, but he bought it for $4.2 million in 2007), he couldn't hide his relief: "I feel 20 pounds lighter since I left… If they had changed the name of it to something more positive like Ebola Palace I would have happily stayed." Now, just a month after Olbermann's tweet that he was "FREEEEEEEEE!" and "got out with 90% of my money and 100% of my soul!" the 40th floor spread is back on the market for $3.9 million. As LLNYC reports, the buyer was Syrian businessman Albert Nasser, who has very different reasons for unloading the condo.
READ MORE

September 2, 2016

For $2.38M, an Upper East Side maisonette with a generous side of landscaped garden

This two-bedroom co-op at 11 East 92nd Street tops the menu for prime location and well-designed space: In Carnegie Hill half a block from Central Park, with spacious bedrooms on opposite sides, the elegant first-floor home offers a wood-burning fireplace and pretty pre-war details like a step-down living room. But the best surprise is the generous private landscaped side and rear garden paradise with its own brick fireplace.
What else comes with that?

Distinctive Homes

September 2, 2016

Live in SOM’s new Hudson Yards project for $913/month, lottery launching for 169 units

6sqft revealed renderings at the beginning of the year of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill's Hudson Yards-adjacent, five million-square-foot Manhattan West project, which "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." As of Tuesday, September 6th, New Yorkers earning 60 percent of the area median income can apply for 169 affordable apartments in the residential tower; they'll range from $913/month studios to $1,359/month three-bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify here

Affordable Housing

September 2, 2016

Developer proposes floating glass restaurant for Hudson River’s Glenwood Power Plant

Glenwood Power Plant was built in 1906 in Yonkers atop of 6,000 piles in the Hudson River for the electrification of the New York Central Railroad from Grand Central. After sitting vacant since the 1960s, the complex began a new incarnation in 2013 when developer Lela Goren embarked on a project to transform it into The Plant, a one million+ square foot conference, event, retreat, and performance venue, preserving its Romanesque Revival architecture and cultural history. Another local developer, however, has a vision of their own--to suspend a glass cube from Glenwood's two smoke stacks and have it function as a floating restaurant. First shared by ArchDaily, the conceptual plan from Big Foot Developers "aims to blend architecture and nature while having a minimal impact on the view of the site."
More details this way

Architecture And Design

September 1, 2016

Interactive graphic explores the diversity of Queens through its 59 endangered languages

Queens is one of the most diverse places on the planet, and it's believed that around 500 languages are spoken here. Fifty-nine of these, however, are endangered, meaning that those who speak these languages are the last people on Earth who know them. This number is staggering, considering the fact that UNESCO puts the worldwide number of "critically endangered" languages at 574, which is why artist Mariam Ghani has embarked on a mapping project that explores these disappearing tongues. First shared by Fast Co. Design, The Garden of the Forked Tongues is an online, interactive graphic and an acrylic mural in the Queens Museum, both of which plot colored polygons to represent how the languages are distributed throughout the borough.
All the info

Uncategorized

September 1, 2016

Upstate Adirondack-style cabin is both rustic and charming–and calling for you

It doesn't get any more rustic than this. This custom-renovated, "Adirondack Great Camp Style" cabin is now on the market for $2.4 million. Located in Carmel, in Upstate New York, it looks like the ultimate escape--a gorgeous home decked out with custom-built woodwork and stone fireplaces, located on more than four acres of land. For anybody that's wants the camping experience in truly luxurious settings, this may be the property for you.
Take the grand tour

September 1, 2016

Midcentury Danish design at the UN; first building at Essex Crossing tops out

This United Nations office got a midcentury Danish renovation. [Curbed] Commercial needs and recreational desires are struggling to coexist in New York’s waterways. [NYT] The last two World Trade Center PATH train cars from 9/11 will open to the public for first time. [Untapped] Essex Crossing— the Lower East Side’s 1.65 million square foot mixed-use development–reaches a milestone with 175 […]

Uncategorized

September 1, 2016

Former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown lists elegant Sutton Place triplex for $9.75M

By Diane Pham

As you would expect from a former editor of one of the world's most recognized lifestyle magazines, Tina Brown has for the last 20 years found refuge in a spectacular home in an equally spectacular building at 447 East 57th Street. But now the media mogul, who also served as an editor at The New Yorker and founded The Daily Beast, and her journalist husband Harold Evans, who himself boasts quite a resume having held top positions at the likes of U.S. News & World Report and The Atlantic, have listed their elegant Sutton Place abode for $9.75M. According to the listing, the triplex comes with five bedrooms, 5.5 baths and an incredible 19'x64' private walled-in garden. But what might be the most alluring feature of this maisonette is that it's more than once served as the backdrop for riveting conversations (and surely some heated arguments) with names like Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Henry Kissinger and Angelina Jolie. As Brown so breezily told the Journal, “Yes, we love to entertain our friends, but there is always content to the evening, where we try to bring exposure for someone that has something incredible.”
Have a closer look inside this special home

September 1, 2016

Victoria’s Secret model sued for misrepresenting her ‘comfortable spacious island retreat’ on Airbnb

If you rent an apartment from a Victoria’s Secret model, you might expect some pretty posh digs, but one Airbnb customer is suing for the exact opposite. Christian Pugaczewski, a West Hollywood attorney with the New York-based firm Shearman & Sterling, rented a Roosevelt Island apartment from Lyndsey Scott, a Victoria’s Secret model in June. Pugaczewski […]

Uncategorized

September 1, 2016

Art Nerd New York’s Top Event Picks for the Week- 9/1-9/7

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! Summer's over, but you can alleviate some of the pain with a slew of arts events this weekend. Times Square Arts brings it with their September #Midnightmoment partnership with the Met Opera, and the Met Museum's gorgeous Manus X Machina comes to a close. Head over to Governors Island before it closes for the season to check out the Center for Holographic Arts, and head out to the Hamptons to enjoy Dita Von Teese while supporting Housing Works. Revisit the '70s with a Paradise Garage Reunion, or honor Captain James T Kirk with a group show inspired by Star Trek. Experience the hype that is the Japanese pop band Perfume, then educate yourself on the sprawl and settlement of the Bronx.
More on all the best events this way

Events & Things To Do

September 1, 2016

Knicks’ new star player Joakim Noah buys a $6M Chelsea penthouse with huge terrace

Joakim Noah--NBA All Star, philanthropist, social activist, and noted free-spirit--signed with the Knicks in June for $18 million a year after spending nine years with the Chicago Bulls. Ahead of his debut season in New York, Noah has scooped up a $5.8 million Chelsea penthouse with an appropriately tricked-out entertaining terrace, reports the Post. The three-bedroom spread at 555 West 23rd Street not only has 2,300 square feet of impeccable indoor space, but the 2,000 square feet of outdoor space boasts a built-in hot tub, gas grill and wet bar, pergola, self-watering planters, and surround sound.
Check out the full bachelor pad

September 1, 2016

City studying the cost of allowing landmarked Midtown East properties to sell their air rights

Last week, the city released their long-awaited Midtown East Rezoning plan, a controversial upzoning of the area bound by Madison and Third Avenues and 39th and 50th Streets that would encourage taller, more modern office towers to attract commercial tenants. One of the debated points is the proposal to permit owners of landmarked properties to sell their air rights across the district, whereas now they can only be transferred to sites directly adjacent or above the existing structure. The city has now embarked on an appraisal of these unused development rights, which amount to 3.6 million square feet and will likely be distributed to the 16 new towers that the rezoning would yield over the next 20 years. As Crain's explains, hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake, which is part of the reason Mayor Bloomberg's 2013 attempt at the rezoning failed--opponents were concerned about "the difference between what could be built on a given parcel (such as a soaring office tower) and what actually sits on the site (a church or synagogue a few stories tall)."
More details ahead

Policy

September 1, 2016

Bright apartment in historic Stuyvesant Heights brownstone offers a lot of space for $1,850/month

With lots of space, a wealth of pre-war details and plenty of natural light, this third-floor one-bedroom-plus-office brownstone apartment at 513 Macon Street in the historic Stuyvesant Heights section of Bed-Stuy looks like a pretty good deal at $1,850 a month. It also offers a fully renovated kitchen and bath with new appliances and a convenient location near the A and C trains. Besides trees and townhouses, you're surrounded by the restaurants and cafes that have been making this neighborhood a new favorite.
See more of this cute Bed-Stuy pad

Distinctive Homes

August 31, 2016

FXFowle’s NOMA condo rises in ‘neo-Bauhaus’ style at the crossroads of Manhattan

By Ondel Hylton

Earlier this year, sales launched at The NOMA, a 55-unit ground-up condominium developed by Alchemy Properties and designed by Daniel Kaplan of FXFowle Architects. The 24-story building is distinguished by a gray-brick skin and ribbons of gridded windows that pay homage the area's industrious roots. The "neo-Bauhaus" exterior references the older loft buildings from the early 19th century, the clean lines of the Bauhaus movement, and the massing of the parade of newer residential towers that have cropped up along Sixth Avenue in Nomad.
Get the full scoop on the building

August 31, 2016

$1.5M Bushwick townhouse charms with its blend of modern and historic

This Bushwick townhouse, at 169 Schaefer Street, has got a little something for everyone: details like the original fireplace mantle and wainscoting for the old house lover, a fancy, renovated kitchen for those who prefer something modernized, and a garden-level duplex rental for a buyer looking to make extra money from a renter. The two-family, semi-detached home was recently renovated to blend the old and the new, and it's now asking $1.449 million.
Go inside

Distinctive Homes

August 31, 2016

My 350sqft: Inside a fundraising professional’s creatively balanced Park Slope studio

Our ongoing series “My sqft” checks out the homes of 6sqft’s friends, family and fellow New Yorkers across all the boroughs. Our latest interior adventure brings us to fundraising professional/art lover's cute Park Slope studio. Want to see your home featured here? Get in touch! When Lindsay Casale moved to Brooklyn seven years ago, she shacked up with roommates in North Williamsburg. But after finding success as a nonprofit professional working in fundraising--first for arts groups and museums and now at EL Education, a K-12 education reform organization--she decided it was time to have a space of her own. A self described "avid consumer of the arts, long-distance runner, and proud bookworm," Lindsay relocated to North Park Slope for her first solo apartment, where she's designed a creative home that perfectly toes the line between tranquil and bold, and artsy and refined, descriptors that also match her warm personality.
Get a look at Lindsay's studio oasis

This never-built Washington monument would have been the city’s tallest structure

View of the proposed monument from the New York Herald in 1847 (L); Cornerstone ceremony procession by James S. Baillie, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

August 31, 2016

This never-built Washington monument would have been the city’s tallest structure

When most people think of George Washington and New York City they envision the Washington Square Arch, not only one of the city's most notable landmarks, but one that clearly pays homage to our nation's first president. Real history buffs may also recall the Equestrian Statue of Washington in Union Square. But before both of these sites were erected (in 1895 and 1865, respectively), there was a plan in 1847 to honor him on the Upper East Side by building a 425-foot monument that would've dwarfed Trinity Church, the tallest building in the city at the time.
So what happened?

History

August 31, 2016

How Airbnb messes with mortgage refinancing; Randall’s Island getting free sunscreen dispensers

Humans of New York profiled veterans and got an overwhelming response. [Washington Post] When the line between residential and commercial property gets blurred, homeowners renting rooms through Airbnb are having issues with refinancing mortgages. [WSJ] The art of the NYC manhole cover. [Hyperallergic] Million Dollar Listing’s Ryan Serhant opens first Brooklyn office in Bed Stuy. […]

Uncategorized

222 LES Tower + Lofts

222 East Broadway

Lower East Side

Art Deco romance meets 21st-century convenience

Studios starting at $799,000
1 bed starting at $1,100,000
2 beds starting at $1,955,000
3 beds starting at $2,875,000

Learn More

August 31, 2016

Superhero bookshelves transform your living room into a secret urban lair

By Rebecca Paul

Technically we all have to grow up, but that doesn't mean we can't always be kids at heart. Turkish product designer Burak Doğan helps us integrate this sense of play into our often serious adult lives with his series of superhero bookshelves. Now you can transform your dull living room into your very own superhero lair.
READ MORE

August 31, 2016

POLL: Will the South Bronx become the next ‘it’ neighborhood?

When 6sqft shared views yesterday of how a trio of new residential towers will alter the South Bronx skyline, we also looked at developer Keith Rubenstein's ambitious, albeit misguided, plans to rebrand the neighborhood. After dubbing the area "the Piano District" and throwing a party that made light of the troubled "Bronx is Burning" days of the 1970s, locals criticized his insensitivity and blatant attempts to accelerate gentrification. In addition to the aforementioned project, which will yield a total of six towers, Rubenstein is planning a food and beer hall nearby. And he's not the only one turning to this new frontier. Other seemingly "trendy" establishments that have opened up in recent years include the Bronx Brewery, Bronx Baking Company, a slew of coffee shops, and the Port Morris Distillery, and there's the plan to transform the Bronx General Post Office into a dining/drinking/shopping destination. But on the other side of the coin, the Bronx has been a hotbed for affordable housing development. In fact, the borough was issued the most residential permits in the city during the first six months of 2016, likely due to the fact that 43 percent of units under Mayor de Blasio's affording housing plan that began construction during this time were in the Bronx. But is this enough to preserve the diverse culture and demographics of the South Bronx, or is it poised to become the next "it" neighborhood?
Share your thoughts in our poll

Real Estate Trends

August 31, 2016

Kim and Kanye now enjoying a $30M Tribeca pad for $0, courtesy of Airbnb

If you needed any more proof that Kim Kardashian is the Queen of Social Media, look no further than her latest Instagram post where she can be seen lounging on the cream couch of a $30 million Tribeca penthouse—the spread she and hubby Kanye will be living in for free through October. As 6sqft previously reported, the couple was in talks with Airbnb the last few months for a lavish pad that would be provided to them at no monetary cost, so long as Kim posted something on one of her many social media accounts about it. And lo and behold, as The Post first reports, Kim sealed the deal yesterday on Instagram with a sultry shot captioned with “Just checked into our NYC penthouse. Thanks @airbnb for the gift of our home away from home.”
find out more here

August 31, 2016

Kate Spade founder’s boho East Village townhouse returns as a $40,000/month rental

We'll take any opportunity to admire the four-story townhouse at 215 East 12th Street in the East Village, just south of the bustle of Union Square, and its appearance on the rental market for $40,000 a month is as good an excuse as any. Just a few months ago, the townhouse owned by Pamela Bell, one of the founders of fashion brand Kate Spade, popped up for sale at $16 million accompanied by many pretty pictures of its gently renovated historic-chic interiors and beautifully-preserved 1800s origins. Bell bought the house in 2007 for $4.3 million, so there's a tidy sum to be made if it snags a buyer; in the meantime, renters get a chance to experience nine-bedroom garden-filled townhouse living in a vibrant, 24-hour neighborhood.
Take the tour

August 30, 2016

$4M 19th century brick townhouse in Williamsburg masquerades as a loft