6sqft | NYC local news, events, and apartments

This beautiful Greek revival building, located at the Northwest corner of Washington Square Park, dates all the way back to the 1850s and previously functioned as a multiple family house. However, with new ownership often comes new ideas, and the current owners recently transformed the apartment building into a single-family residence. The renovation was led by the design team at Matiz Architecture & Design (MAD) and included a complete rebuild of the rear exterior, as well the addition of an central elevator providing easy access to all six floors. MAD's focus during the renovation was to conserve the existing details and restore the building's exterior while also giving the home an modern update. In addition to the architectural components, MAD was also responsible for all of the interior furnishings.
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April 4, 2016

L Train Shutdown May Include All Manhattan Stops; What Happened in East New York?

What to eat this year at Yankee Stadium. [Eater] We knew a possible L train shutdown would be hell for those living in Brooklyn, but turns out it might affect Manhattan, too. [Gothamist] The manpower behind the world’s most famous buildings. [Adzuna] For 25 years, East New York has been the city’s most crime ridden, polluted, and neglected […]

Uncategorized

April 4, 2016

MTA Takes Steps to Open 7 Train Station at 10th Avenue

Last month, the Port Authority of of New York and New Jersey officially launched a design competition for a new bus terminal, which could cost up to $10 billion and require the use of eminent domain. A new Port Authority Bus Terminal aims to accommodate tens of thousands of additional riders, many of whom will then need to connect to a subway line. To accommodate all these potential new riders, the MTA is looking to revive its past plan of building a 7 train station at 10th Avenue and 41st Street, reports Crain's, which could cost up to $1 billion.
Find out more

Transit

April 4, 2016

Live in a Boutique Harlem Building for $839/Month, Lottery Launches for 71 East 110th Street

The Lovina House, located at 71 East 110th Street in East Harlem, recently opened as a boutique rental building with 14 contemporary, loft-like apartments. Three of these units are now available through the city's affordable housing lottery. This includes a $839/month studio for a single person earning between $28,766 and $36,300 annually, and two $1,089/month one-bedrooms for households with incomes between $37,338 and $52,020, depending on family size.
More info on the building and lottery

Affordable Housing

April 3, 2016

Seniors Increasingly Struggle to Find Housing, But Some Find Ways to Cope

By Diane Pham

Income requirements on top of lofty rents make renting in New York a formidable challenge for all, but seniors who live on limited means with little to no incoming cash face even greater obstacles when it comes to securing a home in the city. Although seniors make up one of New York’s fastest growing populations […]

Real Estate Trends

April 1, 2016

An Art Collector’s $14.5M West Village Carriage House Is Both Private Gallery and Family Home

Purchased in 1996 for $950,000 by French music producer, newspaper publisher, entrepreneur and passionate lifelong art collector Jean Lignel, this West Village carriage house received a renovation by architect Jeffrey Flanigan that transformed the 1834 landmark into both a family home and a made-to-order art gallery with 6,700 interior square feet and 1,825 square feet of outdoor space. Lignel’s collection includes many works by Keith Haring, Warhol, and celebrated contemporary artist (and mother of filmmaker Beth B) Ida Applebroog among many others. In addition to being able to showcase large art pieces, modern conveniences–like an elevator and a garage–abound. Lignel first listed this "West Village Arthouse" (as the current listing calls it) in 2007 for a whopping $20 million, possibly fresh from its extensive–and no doubt expensive–renovation. Since then, the home has been on and off the market, with broker swaps and price chops happening each time. In this latest go-round, the three-story historic home with an artistic pedigree is listed at $14.5 million.
Take a look inside this private gallery and family home

April 1, 2016

In 1927, NYC Almost Got a 16-Mile Highway Along Building Rooftops

In the early 20th century, engineers and architects were certainly thinking outside the box when it came to city planning here in New York. There was the proposal to fill in the Hudson River for traffic and housing, the idea to create a giant conveyor belt to carry people between Grand Central and Times Square, and the plan to stack the city like a layered cake. Though these ideas sound whacky, they were born from the rise of the automobile and suburbinization. With many Americans moving out of urban centers, planners sought new ways to reimagine the modern city and entice car-loving prospects. Another such idea is this 1927 one for a 16-mile elevated highway that would have traveled across building rooftops from the Battery all the way to Yonkers. Conceived by engineer John K. Hencken, it required all buildings to be uniform at 12 stories. Within them would have been standard uses -- residences, offices, schools, theaters, restaurants -- and elevators to take cars from the street to the skyway.
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Distinctive Homes

$11M historic West Village home offers the privacy, parking, and outdoor space you'd find in a suburban subdivision

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

SHOP THE LISTING: Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy's $9.75M West Village townhouse is an all-season urban refuge

For $6.5M, this Sutton Place townhouse can be three apartments, one modernist mansion, or anything in between

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

$4.5M Central Park West duplex in Hotel des Artistes gets color just right

For $5.1M, this pretty Gramercy condo comes with a key to the private park

Minetta Lane townhouse with an 83-foot rock climbing wall asks $20M

For $3.25M, this compact Boerum Hill townhouse goes beyond the condo alternative with three levels and a yard

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Spotlight: Gotham Greens Talks Rooftop Farming Against the New York Skyline

The Gotham Greens team: Viraj Puri, Eric Haley and Jennifer Nelkin Frymark

April 1, 2016

Spotlight: Gotham Greens Talks Rooftop Farming Against the New York Skyline

By Susan Cohen

If you walk through the produce section at Whole Foods or scroll through Fresh Direct’s website, you likely have come across Gotham Greens’ Blooming Brooklyn Iceberg Lettuce or Queens Crisp. What make these lettuces different from others is that they’re local, urban greens, which are grown on rooftop greenhouses in Brooklyn and Queens with views of Gotham not too far in the distance. Gotham Greens was founded in 2009 with the goal of revolutionizing urban farming and providing a model for the future when cities are expected to be even more densely populated. One of the visionaries behind the company is co-founder and CEO Viraj Puri. Viraj and his partners started with one greenhouse in Greenpoint and now have four greenhouses between New York and Chicago that cover over 170,000 square feet and produce 20 million heads of lettuce every year. 6sqft recently asked Viraj some questions about what’s growing in Gotham.
read 6sqft's interview with Viraj

April 1, 2016

Two Pre-War Apartments Join to Make One Sustainable Home With Sliding Walls

The renovation of this pre-war home featured the transformation of two separate apartments into one all-inclusive unit. It was completed by architects Michael Chen and Kari Anderson of Normal Projects (Michael now has his own firm called Michael K. Chen Architecture, which specializes in micro housing), who designed the residence for an environmentally conscience couple and their young children. Not only did the couple want the materials used in their home to be ecologically sound, but they also wanted the design to encourage a sustainable lifestyle far into the future. In response, the design team defined a unique strategy that included a flexible floor plan made from custom sliding panels and a series of cuts and insertions. Even in the demolition of the previous property, sustainable practices were taken into account, and all the discarded materials were either reclaimed or recycled.
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April 1, 2016

Design Students Create Brilliant Rocking Chair-Hammock Hybrid

New York is no stranger to the beauty of the hybrid (it is home to the cronnut after all), and nothing pleases us more than seeing this approach applied to great design. Three student's at India's MIT Institute of Design have brought us exactly that with their innovative concept that combines a rocking chair with a hammock. This simple yet brilliant design replaces the traditional side-to-side swing of a hammock with the forward and backward motion synonymous with the rocking chair.
Find out more

April 1, 2016

Slopebottom and Wegmansville Are Brooklyn’s New ‘Hoods; Free ‘Hamilton’ Show in the Park

With the busy spring real estate season upon us, brokers have coined five new Brooklyn neighborhoods — GarGo Triangle, Greenwood Village, Slopebottom, Wegmansville, and Bushwick Heights. [Brownstoner] Catch a free performance of “Hamilton” in Prospect Park this summer! [Brokelyn] Now, in real news, Central Park’s lawns and fields are set to open this weekend. [West Side Rag] […]

Uncategorized

April 1, 2016

Freestanding Tudor With Two Sun Rooms Hits the Market for $2.7M in Forest Hills Gardens

Forest Hills Gardens, a planned community in Queens that's known for its winding streets and Tudor architecture, is home to some of the most impressive freestanding homes in all of New York. Here's one at 63 Wendover Road -- it occupies a corner lot so it boasts plenty of lawn outside, as well as a long private driveway that leads to a two-car garage. From the interior, you have not one but two sun rooms to enjoy the view out onto the sprawling backyard. Suburban life in Queens doesn't sound so bad.
See the interior

Distinctive Homes

April 1, 2016

Average Sales Price in Manhattan Exceeds $2M For the First Time

Last July, the average Manhattan sales price hit a record of $1.8 million, which signaled it was only a matter of time before it crossed the $2 million mark for the first time ever. Eight months later, that's exactly what's happened, notes DNAinfo. According to Douglas Elliman's 2016 first quarter Manhattan sales report, the average sales price climbed $2,051,321, a five percent increase from 2015's fourth quarter average of $1.9 million and an 18 percent increase from the same time last year when the average was $1.7 million. Additionally, the average price per square foot is now $1,713, a 35.6 percent from last year. The rise is attributed to limited resale inventory and increased closings in new developments, further evidenced by the fact the average sales price in this high-end market is $3.9 million, and the number of closings nearly doubled over the past year. And when we look at the luxury market, average sale prices hit a whopping $8.3 million.
More facts and figures this way

Uncategorized

March 31, 2016

Famed Architect Zaha Hadid Dies at Age 65

By Diane Pham

6sqft is sad to report that world-renowned architect Zaha Hadid has passed away. According to BBC News, Ms. Hadid died of a heart attack today in a Miami hospital, where she was being treated for bronchitis. The Baghdad-born Iraqi-British architect is considered one of today's most prolific and her works have been commissioned across the globe, including here in New York where her first Manhattan building is currently on the rise at 520 West 28th Street (seen above). Hadid was the first female architect to receive a Pritzker Prize award (2004) and she was also the first woman to receive the RIBA Gold Medal (2015).
more here

Architecture And Design

March 31, 2016

NYC Water 101: From the Catskill Aqueduct and Robotic Measurements to Your Tap

New York City is the nation’s largest municipal water supplier. While many locals happily choose tap water at restaurants and extol the virtues of New York’s wettest, we sometimes wonder how and where the magic happens–even more so recently, in light of some other cities’ far less stellar experiences with the local water supply. This recent New York Times article clears things up, so to speak, on how 9.5 million people (and growing, apparently) can keep the good stuff flowing. The source: More than 90 percent of the city's water supply comes from the Catskill/Delaware watershed, about 125 miles north of NYC; the other 10 percent comes from the Croton watershed. The watershed sits on over a million acres, both publicly and privately owned, but highly regulated to make sure contaminants stay out of the water.
Robots, radiation and more of the journey

March 31, 2016

Art Nerd New York’s Top Event Picks for the Week – 3/31-4/6

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! Childhood memories of show and tell are revisited this week at the Roger Smith Hotel's adult rendition that, of course, involves booze from their in-house bar. Times Square's Midnight Moment is all new for April, with JUNGLE-IZED, an Amazon takeover of the advertising screens. Artist Jan Tichy talks about his time-based projections at Fridman Gallery, and Todd Lim explores works inspired by Søren Kierkegaard at Booth Gallery. The Queens Museum of Art celebrates a closing reception Saturday afternoon, while MoMA PS1 opens their doors for Spring, including a performance by Cao Fei and Chinatown rap group Notorious MSG. MTV's Liquid Television star animator Bill Plympton enlivens South Street Seaport, and four artists poke at nature versus nurture at the Royal Society of American Art.
more on all the best events this way

Events & Things To Do

26-Foot Ceilings and Stained Glass at This Brooklyn Heights Church Turned Condo

If the idea of living in a former church intrigues you, there are plenty of options on the market. Just yesterday, 6sqft featured a $3 million Williamsburg condo with soaring cathedral ceilings. But the 26-foot ceilings at this $6,900/month Brooklyn Heights church turned condo are some of the most spectacular we've yet to see in the residential realm. Located at 99 Clinton Street in the old Presbyterian Church, the architecture is downright holy, with many of the 19th century cathedral details like stained glass windows incorporated into the interior. And the exterior still boasts its historic stone facade.
Take a look

Distinctive Homes

March 31, 2016

Airframe 01 Is a Lightweight Cabinet Inspired By Early 20th-Century Airplane Wings

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Dutch designer Mieke Meijer has created a cabinet that, while ideal for housing clothing or linens, is much more than just a storage piece. Called Airframe 01, it draws inspiration from the wings of early 20th-century airplanes, which were light, wooden structures covered with translucent white textiles.
Learn more about this lightweight cabinet

March 31, 2016

FDNY Fireboat Getting Turned Into a Restaurant; Nostalgia Trains for Baseball Season

A new interactive map lets you find buildings in your neighborhood with lead paint violations. [Huff Post] The 62-year-old fireboat that the city was auctioning off for $510 was ultimately purchased for $57,400 by two Westchester restaurant owners who plan to use it for another eating establishment. [Gothamist] This smart luggage can weigh itself, charge phones, and let […]

Uncategorized

March 31, 2016

Take a Virtual Tour of Don Draper’s Mod Park Avenue Apartment from ‘Mad Men’

It's been almost a year since "Mad Men" ended its seven-season run, but if you're jonesing for a fix of mid-century nostalgia, it's your lucky day. ArchDaily, in collaboration with Archilogic, has created a virtual tour of Don Draper's swanky Upper East Side apartment that he moved into in season five with his new wife Megan. From the sunken living room and orange kitchen cabinets to the white carpet and retro window treatments, set designer Claudette Didul didn't miss a beat when designing an authentic 1966 residence. But as ArchDaily points out, she also managed to create "a psychogram of a man who is about to fall apart at the seams."
See and learn more about Don Draper's pad

March 31, 2016

Rent Governor Cuomo’s Former Douglaston Manor for $6,000/Month

Last year, Governor Cuomo's former mansion in the suburban waterfront enclave of Douglaston, Queens hit the market looking like something straight out of the Great Gatsby. Cuomo lived in the sprawling home with his ex wife Kerry Kennedy, but sold it in 1993, when he joined the Clinton administration. It's a six-bedroom, Mediterranean-style manor that was constructed in the 1920s and was asking $2.7 million. In January, the home sold for a cool $2.4 million. And the new buyers have listed it for rent, asking $6,000 a month. In Manhattan, $6,000 a month could definitely get you a nice apartment, but it couldn't get you a mansion and outdoor space this impressive. It's enough to lure a person way out to Douglaston.
Take a look around

March 31, 2016

Demolition Begins for 50-Story Midtown East Skyscraper, New Rendering Released

Just northeast of Grand Central Terminal at 141 East 47th Street, Brooklyn-based New Empire Real Estate (NERE) is moving ahead with plans to build a svelte 49-story condominium tower. New building permits were filed yesterday, an updated rendering has been released, and removal of the site's low-slung structures has commenced. NERE's skyscraper will rise mid-block along the northern blockfront of 47th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues. Up until the still-under-construction hotel rising at 147 East 47th Street, the block was one of the few remaining in Midtown East that had been spared the imposition of a post-war high-rises.
Get the scoop

March 31, 2016

$8M Park Slope Brownstone Is Historic and Luxurious With a Professional-Grade Gym

It's pretty rare to come across an historic home that manages to be "sophisticated and elegant" with "prolific original architectural details" and also be a block from Prospect Park. But this amazing Park Slope townhouse, a restored Romanesque brownstone, "perfectly integrates historic detailing with a modern sensibility" and boasts a professional-grade gym in the basement and a private landscaped rose garden. The 6,000 square feet of perfection at 178 Eighth Avenue, which probably already has plenty of offers over its $8 million ask, is luxurious in the best possible way, from gorgeous chandeliers to wall treatments that have plenty of flair but never veer into the whimsical or look "decorated." There's not an ostentatious frill or questionable architectural choice in sight; no Hermès leather walls. No spotlit purse-cochere. It's almost too understated in places, but not even close to austere.
Take a look at the house and fail to drool.

March 30, 2016

A Closer Look at ODA’s 75 Nassau Street & Other Nearby Towers Planned For Fulton Street

Capitalizing on a revitalized Financial District, Fulton Street is bursting with residential development activity. With a re-imagined Fulton Street Transit Hub open and the second coming of the World Trade Center shopping center and Pier 17 on the horizon, at least five sizable towers are jostling to join the street's renaissance. Most interesting of the bunch is a 40-story residential skyscraper set to rise at 75 Nassau Street. Developed by Lexin Capital and designed by ODA Architects, its 307,000-square-foot, slab-like massing is distinguished by fragmented and nibbled-away edges that run vertically along the tower's corners. At its more than 500-foot-high pinnacle, a forest of trees will top the structure, giving the high rise a profile that will recall the iconic finials of the district's skyscrapers.
More on ODA's tower and its four other neighbors

March 30, 2016

Controversial Zoning Change Would Fill Lower Manhattan Public Plazas With Retail

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

Whether you consider them "dead-end" corridors devoid of street life or nifty urban shortcuts (or just convenient rain shelters), the city's covered public walkways and arcades are finding themselves in something of a spotlight, reports the Wall Street Journal. This recent focus is on the covered walkways that run alongside skyscrapers in the Water Street corridor in lower Manhattan. A proposed zoning change, which would affect property owners in the Water Street Subdistrict, would allow retail to open up shop in these arcades.
Find out why some object to new retail additions

THE 6SQFT SHOP

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

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

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March 30, 2016

Though Pint-Sized and Pricey, This $1.15M Village Studio Has Tons of Charm and Storage

While space in this Greenwich Village studio at 12 West 9th Street definitely has its limits, there's plenty of loveliness and luxury–not to mention clever storage and well-planned placement–in this small package. For $1.15 million, you get one of the best addresses in the city, gorgeous light, convenience, and a sweet, if diminutive place to call home. The apartment's current owners purchased the studio just a few years ago in 2013, according to records, for a shockingly pocket-sized $455,000. For a prime Village property, even a studio, that's nearly a steal, and the sellers are certainly hoping to make the most of it.
Check out its crazy closet and more stealthy storage

Distinctive Homes

The Country’s First Botanic Garden Was on 20 Wooded Acres at Today’s Rockefeller Center

View of Elgin Botanic Garden in 1801

March 30, 2016

The Country’s First Botanic Garden Was on 20 Wooded Acres at Today’s Rockefeller Center

Today, New Yorkers get to enjoy lush landscapes and beautiful plantings at the 250-acre New York Botanical Garden and the 52-acre Brooklyn Botanic Garden, but these outdoor oases weren't founded until 1891 and 1910, respectively. About 100 years prior, a public botanic garden sprouted up on 20 acres of land at what is today Rockefeller Center, and it was the first such garden in the nation. Elgin Botanic Garden was founded in 1801 by Dr. David Hosack, a physician, botanist, and educator, perhaps best known for serving as the doctor to Alexander Hamilton after his duel with Aaron Burr in 1804. He used his own money to purchase and landscape the grounds, and by 1805 it was home to more than 1,500 plant species, which he studied for medicinal purposes.
The full history of Hosack and the Elgin Botanic Garden

History

March 30, 2016

Richard Meier-Designed Tower Finally Begins Construction at Turtle Bay South Complex

Construction has finally begun on the westernmost lot of Sheldon Solow's Turtle Bay South master plan, 16 years after the developer purchased the site. Excavators are picking away at the 30,000-square-foot site at 685 First Avenue that has long held a surface parking lot and is just a small portion of a larger, long-planned development straddling First Avenue between East 35th and 41st Streets. Last August, plans were filed for 685 First, which will be a girthy 42-story residential tower with 555 rental units and 800,000 square feet of gross floor area. The tower is being designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Meier, a surprising choice given the American architect is best known for his modest-scaled projects and white exteriors, while Solow is best known for their monolithic towers sheathed in black glass curtain walls. Nevertheless, when complete, the tower will be Meier's largest ever project in New York and will be just one of four residential towers and a pavilion he is scheduled to design for the billionaire developer.
More details and renderings ahead

March 30, 2016

$3.3M Williamsburg Condo in a Converted Brick Church Has Soaring Cathedral Ceilings

When this listing calls this condo "one of a kind," they aren't kidding: This apartment was carved from the former Pentecostal Church at 541 Leonard Street  in Williamsburg. (These day's it's not at all uncommon for religious buildings to go residential.) The building holds three apartments total, all with three bedrooms and three bathrooms, boasting keyed elevator access, 20-foot wood-beamed ceilings and access to private outdoor space. This particular apartment is now on the market for $3.3 million.
See the rest of the interior

Distinctive Homes

Apply Today for Two $939/Month One Bedrooms Near the Best Bronx Attractions

Google Street View of the site while still under construction

March 30, 2016

Apply Today for Two $939/Month One Bedrooms Near the Best Bronx Attractions

The Bronx is having a moment, thanks in part to popular institutions like the Bronx Zoo, New York Botanical Garden, and Italian food mecca along Arthur Avenue. If you want to get in on the action, you can now enter the lottery for newly constructed, $938/month affordable apartments nearby at 863 Fairmount Place in Tremont. There's just one little catch -- only two units are available.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

March 30, 2016

New MealPass Service Offers Cheap Weekday Lunches; App Finds City Recycling Bins

This smart bed automatically makes itself in less than 60 seconds. [Today] MealPass, a ClassPass-style lunch service, launches this week. Pay $99/month to get weekday lunches from about 130 restaurants. [Eater] A new app called Intellibins helps you find recycling bins on city streets. [Inhabitat] Meet New York City’s last accordion repairman. [Colossal]

Uncategorized

March 30, 2016

POLL: Are Floating Parks the Future of Public Space in NYC?

Yesterday, 6sqft uncovered conceptual renderings for a nine-acre island/pier in the Hudson River that would serve as a final terminus for the High Line. It would be a circular-shaped cultural and recreational center, dotted with five interconnected pyramid-shaped buildings, as well as an elevated promenade and a marina. It’s quite similar in design and theory to Barry Diller’s […]

Architecture And Design

March 30, 2016

Is Buying a House With Your Friend a Good Idea?

By Diane Pham

With deals below a million dollars few and far between, home ownership in NYC is out of reach for the majority. But what about pooling your money with a friend to make a big ticket purchase? This might come as a surprise, but taking the plunge and purchasing a property with pals—not a family member—is […]

Real Estate Trends

March 29, 2016

Across from Hudson Yards, Architect Proposes 9-Acre Floating Island As an Encore to the High Line

New York architect and longtime visionary Eytan Kaufman has drawn up a conceptual plan to connect the final leg of the High Line to a new island/pier in the Hudson River. Currently, the High Line gets tantalizingly close to the waterfront in its final spur around Hudson Yards, but then swerves inland towards an anticlimactic end at the Jacob Javits Center. Kaufman's scheme called Hub on the Hudson would build a pedestrian bridge over the West Side Highway, shuttling people from the elevated park to a sprawling, circular-shaped cultural and recreational center. It's quite similar to Barry Diller's proposed Pier 55 floating park, which is planned for a Hudson River site slightly farther south in the Meatpacking District. Extending more than 700 feet into the river, and spanning nearly nine acres in size, the pie-in-the-Hudson plan would build five interconnected pyramid-shaped buildings, comprised of an art center, restaurants, and publicly accessible open spaces. A circular elevated promenade would encircle the island, which Kaufman says would contrast to the linear procession of the High Line. At ground level there will be a central reflecting pool with a promenade leading out to a marina. The pentagonal, pyramidal and circular themes expressed in the plan make its spiritual intentions quite clear: To sail the High Line's tourists back home.
Check out all the renderings this way

Architecture And Design

March 29, 2016

Three People Share What It’s Like to Live in Common’s Co-Living Concept in Brooklyn

By Michelle Sinclair Colman

What if your home was more than just a place to live? What if it took care of the tedious parts of everyday life (like cleaning, paying utility bills, and shopping for the basics) and there were always a bunch of interesting and like-minded people hanging out in your living room? Brad Hargreaves, CEO of Common, has structured his co-living housing company to be just that. While we've reported on Common before (as well as WeWork's similar new shared housing setup in FiDi), today we're going behind the scenes at Common's first outpost located in Crown Heights. We asked three residents why they chose to live at Common, if this catered style of co-living beats the standard New York roommate setup, and, of course, what we all really want to know—with 10 different personalities under one roof, just how "Real World" do things get?
Meet residents Jason, Kamilah and Adam here

March 29, 2016

The Official 2016 NYC Bike Map Has Arrived

The Department of Transportation just released the downloadable 2016 New York City Bike Map ahead of a paper version due next month. This year's map shows 70 miles of new or "upgraded" bike-specific lanes, twelve of which are protected (physically separated from auto traffic). Also on the map are seven miles of newly-created off-street bike lanes.
Check out the map

Middle-Income Housing Lottery Opens for 16 Newly Renovated Apartments in Harlem

152 West 124th Street (L); 70 East 127th Street (R). Via Google Street View.

March 29, 2016

Middle-Income Housing Lottery Opens for 16 Newly Renovated Apartments in Harlem

The Third Party Transfer Program (TPT) is an initiative of the NYC Department of Housing and Preservation Development that was created in 1966 where the city forecloses on properties with unpaid taxes and eventually transfers ownership to a developer who must rehabilitate the building if necessary and manage it as affordable housing. Two Harlem buildings, 152 West 124th Street and 70 East 127th Street, were renovated under this program and are now offering 16 middle-income units through the city's housing lottery. They range from $1,040/month studios to $2,165 two-bedrooms for persons earning anywhere between $36,995 and $107,875 annually, depending on household size.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

March 29, 2016

Bel and Bel Transform Lifeless Vespas Into Stylish Italian Office Chairs

No doubt Vespas are fun to ride, but what happens to these popular motorbikes when they're no longer fit for the road? Designers Carles and Jesus Bel, founders of the design studio Bel & Bel, take the retired bikes and transform them into stylish office furniture. The Barcelona-based design duo breathes new life into the old rides by attaching legs and leather upholstery to the existing frame, rescuing the hip Italian scooter from what would be an otherwise unglamorous future.
READ MORE

March 29, 2016

Renovated Top Floor of a Carroll Gardens Townhouse Asking Just Over $1 Million

Nine years and a renovation will really make a difference for real estate in Brooklyn -- just take this two-bedroom co-op at 188 Degraw Street in Carroll Gardens. It sold in 2007 for $595,000 according to public records. The current owners then spiffed up the top-floor apartment and have just listed it for $1.095 million.
See the rest of the reno

Distinctive Homes

March 29, 2016

Plaza Foreclosure Auction Cancelled; Millennials Have an Affinity For Paper Towels

Sean “Diddy” Combs is opening a charter school in Harlem this fall. [DNAinfo] Next month’s foreclosure auction for the Plaza was cancelled after the mortgage lenders granted an extension. [Crain’s] Millennials are killing the napkin industry, opting for evil paper towels instead. [Washington Post] A new book celebrates Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre, including its history, decline, […]

Uncategorized

March 29, 2016

Construction Update: The Style Condominium Takes Shape in East Harlem

By Emrys Fitzgerald

Two years after renderings were first unveiled, 6sqft brings a construction update for a two-building condominium complex rising in East Harlem. Known as the Style and developed by the the Fane Organization, the property sits on a block-through parcel of land between East 131st and 132nd Streets, bound by Madison and Park Avenues. The Style's 31 residences are housed in two buildings with distinct addresses on opposite ends of the lot, but they're unified by an interconnecting lobby and courtyard. Gene Kaufman Architects is handling the design of the buildings, which are similar, but not identical. Despite the project's bold name, however, they're quite ordinary in design. The most distinguishing feature are sand-colored frames encircling the exteriors' windowed and black-paneled areas, reminiscent of Midtown's Solow Building (but without the bell bottoms).
More details ahead

March 29, 2016

$2.5M Greenwich Village Loft Offers Plenty of Light For an Indoor Garden

It can be tough to find the sophistication of a Manhattan apartment building and still get the open space and old-school industrial feel of a loft, but this $2.5 million, two-bedroom co-op at 111 Fourth Avenue does a great job with the best of all possible worlds. In an amazingly convenient (though perhaps a little busy if you're seeking a neighborhood vibe) spot at the crossroads of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and steps from Union Square, you're getting enviable city views, finely finished interiors and building amenities like an elevator, laundry, landscaped roof decks and parking, while scoring all the open loft architecture, 1920s construction and walls of casement windows you could possibly wish for.
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Distinctive Homes

March 28, 2016

Victoria’s Secret Model Amy Hixson Buys $875K Harlem Condo

By Annie Doge

Over the summer, 6sqft discovered that model Amy Hixson, who has graced the pages of GQ and Victoria’s Secret, was looking to unload her custom-designed, bespoke East Village pad for $899,000. She purchased the home for $625,000 in 2010 and then undertook a three-month renovation with Own Entity designers. The pad sold in August for $916,000, and using that extra profit the blonde beauty has now snapped up a two-bedroom Harlem condo for $875,000.
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Real Estate Trends

520 Fifth Avenue

Midtown West

Live at the center of NYC

1 beds starting at $2,445,000
2 beds starting at $3,435,000
3 beds starting at $6,775,000

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March 28, 2016

Actor Chris Lowell Sells Double-Height Greenwich Village Loft for $1M

By Annie Doge

Former "Veronica Mars" actor Chris Lowell listed his Greenwich Village loft for $1.195 million back in November, just three months before buying another loft, this time in Soho, with girlfriend and fellow actor Kerry Bishé (from the AMC drama “Halt and Catch Fire” and the film “Argo”). The cute couple's new home, a triplex with outdoor space and tons of exposed brick, cost almost double at $2.25 million, which is why it's perfect timing that Lowell unloaded his bachelor pad. The Observer reports that he got $1,050,000 for the co-op at 67 East 11th Street, which boats 16-foot ceilings, double-height windows, and cast iron columns.
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March 28, 2016

New Views and Renderings of Eliot Spitzer’s ODA-Designed Williamsburg Mega-Development

Construction and excavation is now underway on Spitzer Enterprises' trifecta of towers along the South Williamsburg waterfront. Set to rise from a three-acre parcel at 416-430 Kent Avenue, between Broadway and South 9th Street, the development is graced with nearly 400 feet of prized East River frontage. Approved permits filed with the Department of Buildings detail that the plan will comprise 857 rental apartments within three 22-story towers. A publicly accessible park and esplanade will run along the shoreline and connect to the the existing esplanade of the Schaefer Landing development to the south. The relatively young firm of ODA Architects is handling the design, which features many of their volume-popping elements to which we've grown accustomed. Firm founder Eran Chen told the Times that their design is a "molded iceberg, sculpted to create the maximum number of views and outdoor spaces." And as can be seen from the construction photos below, units will have stellar views of the Downtown and Midtown skylines and the East River bridges. The 253-foot-tall buildings will feature rooftop pools and terraces, on-site parking, bicycle storage, fitness centers, and lounge and recreation rooms. Twenty percent of units will be reserved for low-income households.
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‘Eloise From Hell’ Spent 35 Years in the Plaza for $500/Month, Until Donald Trump Came Along

Illustration by Hilary Knight, courtesy of Simon and Schuster

March 28, 2016

‘Eloise From Hell’ Spent 35 Years in the Plaza for $500/Month, Until Donald Trump Came Along

Remember the story of Herbert J. Sukenik, the famous Central Park West "hermit holdout?" Developers paid the rent-controlled curmudgeon $17 million and gave him a free massive pad overlooking the park in a legendary buyout. His female counterpart might be one Fannie Lowenstein, whom none other than Donald Trump is said to have ended up bestowing a sprawling suite in the venerable Plaza Hotel at 1 Central Park South, complete with a Steinway grand piano and maid service. For zero dollars a month. For life. Here’s how the story of the woman the hotel staff referred to as “the Eloise from Hell” became yet another Manhattan rent regulation legend, as told by Vice.
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March 28, 2016

Headspace’s Meditation Pods Help You Find Inner Peace on the Go