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Unusual and flashy aren't words that come to mind when describing the industrial architecture of Red Hook, but a new proposal from the architects at Albo Liberis wants to infuse some colorful personality into the relatively sleepy waterfront 'hood. First spotted by CityRealty, the firm published renderings for a kaleidescope-looking, glassy office building at 150 Mill Street, right next to the BQE and less than a five-minute walk from Ikea and the NYC Ferry stop. And though the renderings are merely conceptual at this point (no permits have been filed), they certainly think outside the box, complete with a festive roof deck, their signature diaganal angles, and ground-floor retail.
More renderings right this way

A Guide to the gilded age mansions of 5th Avenue’s Millionaire Row – Part II

Mrs. Astor’s House on 65th Street and Fifth Avenue. Image via Library of Congress

August 28, 2017

A Guide to the gilded age mansions of 5th Avenue’s Millionaire Row – Part II

By Michelle Young

Last week, 6sqft went through the many mansions, predominately lost, along Millionaire's Row on Fifth Avenue up to 59th Street. Most of this stretch has been converted into upscale luxury retail and corporate skyscrapers, but Millionaire's Row continued northwards along Central Park, which opened in 1857. Though some have been lost, a significant number of these opulent Gilded Age mansions still stand within this more residential zone. The AIA Guide to New York City calls this area of Fifth Avenue from 59th Street to 78th Street the "Gold Coast," and rightly so. Walking up 5th Avenue, you'll first pass the decadent Sherry-Netherland Hotel with its recently uncovered 1927 Beaux-Arts mural and the Stanford White-designed Metropolitan Club, founded by J.P. Morgan in 1891 for friends who were rejected from the old-money Knickerbocker Club. But even before the construction of the Metropolitan Club, a mansion was rising less than a block away on 61st Street and Fifth Avenue.
Find out more about these incredible mansions here

Photo of Trump Village West via Trump 4 West

August 21, 2017

Loss of affordability at Coney Island’s Trump Village highlights issues with the city’s Mitchell-Lama program

Built by Donald Trump’s father, Fred, in 1964, Trump Village in Coney Island features seven 23-story towers with 3,700 co-op and rental apartments. To pay for the $70 million project, which would total $564 million today, Fred Trump used Mitchell-Lama, a government program that granted financial incentives in exchange for setting aside affordable housing. The typical rental contract lasts 20 years, and after that, landlords can opt-out of the program. As Crain’s reported, Trump Village became one of the first co-ops to exit the Mitchell-Lama program in 2007, letting residents sell their apartments for whatever the market allowed. Owners of 38,000 Mitchell-Lama apartments, representing 28% of the program's housing, have left in the past 20 years. But as the value of these apartments, which were once affordable, keeps rising, New Yorkers looking for affordable housing there, and other former Mitchell-Lama apartments, may be out of luck.
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New renderings of proposed Triboro Corridor, 17-stop outer borough light rail and linear park

Rendering: Only If + One Architecture

August 8, 2017

New renderings of proposed Triboro Corridor, 17-stop outer borough light rail and linear park

Back in June, the Regional Plan Association (RPA), an urban research and advocacy organization, in conjunction with the Rockefeller Foundation, announced a design competition asking for proposals that would transform various areas of the New York metropolitan region. One of the four ideas chosen to receive $45,000 was a transportation alternative that would serve the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn. As 6sqft reported, the proposal, developed by New York-based firm Only If along with Netherlands-based firm One Architecture, focuses on using a light rail to move passengers between the outer boroughs to alleviate some of the overcrowding that has plagued the current subway system with delays. On August 4, the organizations held an event at Fort Tilden to mark the opening of a public presentation of the selected proposals. "4C: Four Corridors: Foreseeing the Region of the Future" spotlighted this plan to strengthen the Triboro Corridor, a plan to address the future of the suburbs, and more.
See the renderings and learn more

Apply for 64 affordable units in new Brownsville supportive housing building, from $670/month

Rendering of Stone House via Urban Architecture Initiatives

August 3, 2017

Apply for 64 affordable units in new Brownsville supportive housing building, from $670/month

Construction began in 2015 for the Stone House at 91 Junius Street, a six-story, 161-unit building on the border of Brownsville and East New York. The supportive housing initiative comes via nonprofit Win, the largest provider of shelter for homeless families in New York City, who run two shelters just to the north of this site, according to CityRealty. The Stone House will reserve 96 units for homeless families and 64 for low-income households earning 50 or 60 percent of the area media income. The latter group has now become available through the city's affordable housing lottery, with apartments ranging from $670/month studios to $1,224 three-bedrooms, all of which have access to the building's offerings such as ground-floor retail, on-site laundry, a community room, outdoor playground, and on-site social services.
See the qualifications

Affordable Housing

July 31, 2017

INTERVIEW: Architect Rick Cook on the legacy of COOKFOX’s sustainable design in NYC

By Emily Nonko

Since its founding in 1990, COOKFOX Architects has become one of the most recognized names in New York City real estate. In the firm's early days, founding partner Rick Cook found a niche in historically-sensitive building design, looking for opportunities to "[fill] in the missing voids of the streetscape," as he put it. After teaming up with Bob Fox in 2003, the pair worked to establish COOKFOX as an expert in both contextual and sustainable development. They designed the first LEED Platinum skyscraper in New York City with the Durst family, the Bank of America Tower, then took on a number of projects with the goal of designing healthier workplaces. The firm also got attention for its work in landmarks districts, winning AIA-New York State awards for its mixed-use development at 401 West 14th Street (better known as the Apple store) and its revamp of the the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. (The firm also made it the first LEED-certified theater in the city.)
6sqft's conversation with Rick fox here

July 27, 2017

Explore the history of human communication through 100 Barclay’s ceiling murals

By Diane Pham

This post has been sponsored by 100 Barclay. To learn more about available condos or to schedule a tour, visit the official 100 Barclay website. Much attention has been given to the landmarked 100 Barclay as of late thanks to a recent redevelopment of the upper floors into luxury apartments by Magnum Real Estate Group and the CIM Group. The full-block building, which sits on a site at the southern edge of Tribeca and just off the Hudson River waterfront, was originally constructed between 1923 and 1927 as the headquarters of the New York Telephone Company. Then known as the Barclay-Vesey Building (also the New York Telephone Building), the tower was the world's first Art Deco skyscraper, designed by a young Ralph Walker while he was just an associate at McKenzie Voorhees & Gmelin. Walker's design provided not only a launching pad for his own career (he soon after became a partner in his firm and later went on to become one of the country’s most esteemed architects) but the Barclay-Vesey would provide inspiration for many of New York's future skyscrapers.
explore the murals here

Places

July 20, 2017

Elon Musk says he received ‘verbal’ approval to build Hyperloop One between NYC and D.C.

In a tweet around 11:00am Thursday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he "just received verbal govt approval for The Boring Company to build an underground NY-Phil-Balt-DC Hyperloop." The Hyperloop One plan will take passengers from NYC to D.C. in a mere 29 minutes via a high-speed tube moved by electric propulsion, with stations at each city center and "up to a dozen or more entry/exit elevators in each city," according to Musk. In a response to a comment on his initial tweet, he said: "First set of tunnels are to alleviate greater LA urban congestion. Will start NY-DC in parallel. Then prob LA-SF and a TX loop."
Get the full scoop

July 18, 2017

‘Loop NYC’ proposes driverless auto expressways across Manhattan and a 13-mile pedestrian park

Architecture/engineering firm EDG, noting that New York City faces a unique and complex set of challenges when it comes to navigating highways and byways, has offered an equally unique and innovative proposal: LoopNYC suggests the conversion of one lane of existing cross streets and highways into driverless automobile expressways. The result? A safe, sustainable and efficient "microhighway" automated traffic grid.
So how would it work?

July 11, 2017

Built from the ground up, this Hamptons retreat combines nature’s beauty and paradise imagined

This Sagaponack, NY home might just be the perfect antidote for the summer of hell; it would definitely make an insufferable commute worth it. Summerhill Landscapes, Steven Harris Architects and Rees Roberts + Partners designed the idyllic Hamptons retreat on a swath of meadowland where the tall grass is never far from the sea on the East End of Long Island.
See more of this Southampton summer vision

Architecture And Design

July 10, 2017

Lena Dunham sells her first Brooklyn Heights apartment for $850K

Though she grew up in Tribeca, Lena Dunham attended high school at Brooklyn Heights' progressive St. Ann's. And after hitting it big with Girls, she bought her first solo apartment in 2012 at 145 Hicks Street, not far from the school. She paid $500,000 for the one-bedroom, 800-square-foot co-op, but two years later, she upgraded to a $4.8 million condo in The Heights building, which she shares with her musician boyfriend Jack Antonoff. Dunham was subleasing her original pad to his sister, fashion designer Rachel Antonoff, but WWD now reports that she's officially unloaded it for a very cool $850,000.
READ MORE

June 28, 2017

17-stop outer borough light rail proposed as a NYC subway alternative

By Diane Pham

While pols and officials twiddle their thumbs and shift blame for the subway system's current state of chaos, the Regional Planning Association (RPA) and Rockefeller Foundation are actively looking for long-term solutions to help ease the city's transportation woes. As first shared by DNA Info, earlier this year the two organizations put out a design competition asking participants to develop proposals that could transform various areas of the New York metropolitan region. Four ideas were awarded $45,000 by the RPA and Rockefeller, one of which included a transportation alternative that would exclusively serve the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn.
more details here

Transit

June 27, 2017

Young Projects upended the traditional Brooklyn townhouse design for this Williamsburg renovation

By Emily Nonko

You wouldn't guess it from first glance, but this property on the corner of Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg was originally a modest 1900s brick townhouse. Architecture and design firm Young Projects was tasked with modernizing and expanding the existing structure, for which they took a bold approach that they call "a radical break from Brooklyn’s traditional townhouse typology." The massive rear addition is clad in perforated, corrugated zinc, "subtly playing off the scale, proportion, fenestration and texture of the existing townhouse." The interior is just as dramatic, with a massive, curving staircase that wraps around a double height living room.
You have to take a look inside

Rendering courtesy of SCAPE Landscape Architecture

June 19, 2017

Gowanus Canal Conservancy unveils renderings for SCAPE-designed Gowanus Lowlands

The Gowanus Canal Conservancy (GCC) has announced the launch of Gowanus Lowlands, a new comprehensive vision for the transformation of Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood and a 'blueprint for NYC’s next great park.' As 6sqft has previously reported, between developers eyeing the pricey parcel of southwest Brooklyn land as Paris on the Gowanus and the city's ambitions to transform the long-embattled area into "Little Venice," all eyes have been on the neighborhood and the once-toxic, steadily improving Superfund canal that anchors it. With an important rezoning on the horizon–the process kicked off last October with meetings to gauge community opinion–passions are running high. The conservancy has identified SCAPE landscape architecture studio to guide the Lowlands vision toward reality.
Find out more

June 15, 2017

Architect claims SOM stole his design for One World Trade Center

An architect from Georgia sued architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) on Wednesday for allegedly stealing his design for One World Trade Center. Jeehoon Park says the firm has unfairly taken credit for the tower, a design he says he developed in 1999 as a graduate student at the Illinois Institute of Technology, as the New York Post reported. At 1,776 feet high, One World Trade Center, also known as the Freedom Tower, is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and the sixth tallest in the world.
Find out more

Policy

June 11, 2017

Michael Haverland’s 20-acre East Hampton ‘campus’ is arranged around a series of courtyards

By Rebecca Paul

This gorgeous East Hampton property is located on a 20-acre site that was surveyed and designed by architect Michael Haverland in the format of a "campus" rather than one large suburban home. It's arranged around a series of courtyards and gardens to take full advantage of the subtle undulations of the site's organic topography, providing room for an L-shaped main house, pool house and 25-meter pool, gym, spa, and tennis court.
Tour the whole property

Architecture And Design

June 8, 2017

10 things you never knew about Frank Lloyd Wright

Considering today would have been Frank Lloyd Wright's 150th birthday, you'd think we all know everything there is to know about the prolific architect. But the wildly creative, often stubborn, and always meticulous Wright was also quite mysterious, leaving behind a legacy full of oddities and little-known stories. In honor of the big day, 6sqft has rounded up the top 10 things you likely never knew about him, including the mere three hours it took him to design one of his most famous buildings, the world-famous toy that his son designed, his secondary career, and a couple present-day ways his work lives on.
Everything you never knew about FLW

June 7, 2017

The MetLife Building’s letters are getting a makeover

While the Brutalist architecture of the MetLife Building, formerly the Pan Am Building, makes this 59-story skyscraper stand out among Midtown's many tall towers, its large sign touting its namesake makes it easy for all to identify. Beginning this week, the insurance company will replace the massive letters with a brand new typeface, as Crain’s reported. The installation of the new, more modern logo will be the first time the building’s sign has changed since 1993 when 15- and 18-foot-long letters spelling out MetLife replaced Pan Am’s sign. Additionally, the firm's new corporate logo--made more colorful in an attempt to shift their marketing strategy along with a new tagline "Navigating life together"--is being installed on the tower's east side.
Find out more

Architecture And Design

May 31, 2017

Moscow-based Meganom reveals designs for 1,001-foot skinny supertall in Nomad

Joining the ranks of supertall, super-skinny skyscrapers like 432 Park, 111 West 57th Street, and 125 Greenwich Street comes 262 Fifth Avenue in Nomad (h/t Dezeen). The first U.S. project by Moscow-based firm Meganom, the residential tower will soar to 1,001 feet, which will make it the tallest structure between the Empire State Building and One WTC, stealing the title by a longshot from the 777-foot 45 East 22nd Street. The architects say the project "will include several 'firsts' in terms of its design and environmental sustainability features," and that it will boast "a striking arched observation deck" at its top.
More renderings and details ahead

Ahead of L train shutdown, developers flock to properties along G, J, M and Z lines

G Train at Court Square via Wikipedia

May 26, 2017

Ahead of L train shutdown, developers flock to properties along G, J, M and Z lines

In response to the looming 15th-month L train shutdown, which will affect its nearly 225,000 daily riders beginning April 2019, real estate developers have started looking at Williamsburg’s hip and slightly cheaper neighbors, Greenpoint and South Williamsburg. Both areas sit nearby the G, J, M and Z trains, and in the past have offered a variety of housing options at cheaper prices. According to the New York Times, as developers begin their plunge into Greenpoint, sites along these train lines have become pricier and more difficult to lock down.
Find out more

May 24, 2017

First look at CetraRuddy’s proposed hotel-apartment tower for Hudson Yards

Back in September, the developer Joseph Chetrit filed plans to build a 48-floor mixed-use tower with 421 hotel rooms and 135 residential units in the Hudson Yards neighborhood. Now, the wait is over as renderings of Chetrit Group’s proposed tower at 541-545 West 37th Street have officially been revealed. As CityRealty learned, CetraRuddy Architecture is designing the high-tech skyscraper, which is expected to rise 622 feet and overlook the future Hudson Boulevard Park. The building will span 621,000 square feet and include exhibition, retail, hotel and residential spaces.
More details and renderings

May 16, 2017

Landmarks approves plans to disassemble RKO Keith’s Flushing Theater’s historic interiors

In a rare case, the RKO Keith's Flushing Theater is an interior landmark, but the building it's inside is not landmarked. Built in 1928 to the designs of noted theater architect Thomas Lamb, the elaborately ornamented Churrigueresque-style movie palace has sat decrepit for the past three decades, until Chinese firm Xinyuan Real Estate (they're also behind Williamsburg's Oosten condo and the forthcoming Hell's Kitchen condo that will be anchored by a Target) bought the vacant theater for $66 million last year with plans to develop it into a 269-unit luxury condo. Moving ahead with this vision, they've tapped Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and preservation specialists Ayon Studio to erect a 16-story glass tower at the site, which includes plans to "enclose the interior landmark, and to disassemble, restore off-site, and reinstall salvaged ornamental plasterwork and woodwork and replicas" in a new residential lobby. Despite some opposition from the Historic Districts Council (HDC) regarding public accessibility, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted in favor of the plan, congratulating the architects and expressing great admiration for their design.
More details ahead

Policy

May 10, 2017

Starchitect César Pelli lists 5,000-square-foot San Remo apartment with gorgeous views for $26M

Internationally renowned architect César Pelli, founder of the firm Pelli Clarke Pelli, just listed his San Remo apartment at 145 Central Park West for $26 million (h/t LLNYC). Pelli and his wife, landscape architect and urban design scholar Diana Balmori, who died last year, purchased the five-bedroom co-op for $17.5 million in 2015 from John Leguizamo's mother-in-law, Rona Maurer. Pelli is known for skyscrapers like Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Towers and, closer to home, Brookfield Place in Lower Manhattan, and he's now hoping to make quite the profit on this incredible spread.
View more of this Central Park West classic

May 3, 2017

Bowerbird architects create a custom nest in a Boerum Hill loft with details in steel and reclaimed wood