Search Results for: gentrification

November 25, 2015

200 Calories of Thanksgiving Foods; Ride the 95-Year-Old Wooden Escalators at Macy’s

Here’s what 200 calories of your favorite Thanksgiving foods looks like. [Business Insider] Though Macy’s is emerging from a four-year, $400 million renovation, shoppers can still ride the store’s historic wooden escalators. [NYT] Nine things you didn’t know about Frank Gehry. [Fast Co. Design] The strange history of New York’s Thanksgiving ragamuffins. [Ephemeral NY] You can […]

November 18, 2015

Bought for Just $7,600 in the ’70s, Prospect Heights Co-op Returns 43 Years Later for $2.15M

In the statuesque Art Deco-style Turner Towers co-op along what’s arguably the most picturesque stretch of the grand Olmsted and Vaux-designed boulevard in Prospect Heights, this sprawling four-bedroom residence at 135 Eastern Parkway has been a family home for 43 years. The current owner moved to–and fell in love with–the neighborhood in the early ‘70s, when it was on the cusp of far darker times. How she came to acquire the spacious 14th-floor apartment, with unobstructed views over the treetops, the park and to the Verrazano Bridge and beyond, for $7,600 (nope, that’s not a typo) is a classic New York story.
Read More on the brains, luck and community spirit of Brooklyn in the 70s
November 17, 2015

VIDEOS: Jeremiah Moss’ Shuttered Storefronts and Alicia Glen’s Opposition to Retail Rent Control

“The evidence of disease is everywhere,” claims Jeremiah Moss. No, he’s not talking about New Yorkers’ health; this is something he believes is even more merciless: hyper-gentrification. Moss, the pseudonymic chief editor behind the "bitterly nostalgic" blog Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York and the founder of the anti-gentrification movement #SaveNYC, and James and Karla Murray, authors and photographers of "Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York" submitted a short film to last month's Municipal Arts Society Summit 2015. The ten-minute clip opens with a sinister assertion that “the soul of New York is dying,” and plays as a visual obituary of the small businesses we have lost over the past two decades. Shortly after Jeremiah's melancholic melodrama, Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen was asked whether New York should adopt commercial rent control policies. Unconvinced this is an applicable solution, she instead emphasized that a "healthy and vibrant mix of businesses" is important and "bad" businesses must be allowed to fail. Nor is Glen convinced of the plight of the mom and pop, calling it a Manhattan-centric argument. While she acknowledges certain neighborhoods are changing rapidly, she says independent businesses are thriving in other boroughs.
Watch Jeremiah's video and hear more of Glen's argument
November 4, 2015

Where I Work: Tour KUSHNER Studios’ smart and quirky Chinatown office

6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and off-beat workspaces of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we take a tour of architect Adam Kushner's quirky and intelligent Chinatown office space. Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! You might remember hearing from Adam Kushner a little over a year ago when 6sqft interviewed him about building the world's first 3D-printed estate. And while this is certainly a huge project for the architect, it's only one of many that he and his three firms are working on. In addition to architecture/design practice KUSHNER Studios, which he founded in 1994, Adam heads up construction practice In House Group Inc. and 3D-printing company D-Shape Enterprises New York. What these practices have in common, other than their intellectual creativity, is that they're housed in a quirky-yet-functional Chinatown office. Adam recently took us on a tour of his office, giving us the story behind the studio's unconventional models, his vintage scooter collection, and the giant plane jutting out of the wall.
Look around the creative space
November 2, 2015

For $699K, a Private Backyard and Tons of Charm in the Heart of Hell’s Kitchen

Have you ever gazed out of your office window with envy at a sweet private back garden or cool roof deck right in the middle of Manhattan? This one-bedroom co-op at 315 West 55th Street is one of those. On a beloved residential block in Hell's Kitchen on the city's West Side, this updated apartment has enough room for comfort and the added bonus of a landscaped, full-sized back garden oasis. It's perfect in spring and summer, but magical year-round as it's visible through a pair of sliding glass doors whenever you enter the living room.
Get a closer look
October 22, 2015

Tom Dixon’s New Sophisticated Copper Coffee Set Improves Every Step of the Art of Brewing

Famed British designer Tom Dixon is paying a brilliant tribute to the daily act of preparing and drinking coffee. His Brew Coffee Collection is a sophisticated beverage set with gleaming copper elements that any New Yorker will love to wake up to. But the bling isn't the only thing here, as the designer explains, "The range includes a piece to perfect every stage of the coffee ritual, from the push of the plunger to the dunk of the biscuit."
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October 12, 2015

INTERVIEW: ADFF Founder Kyle Bergman Invites You to Revel in Architecture Films All This Week!

Attention all film, architecture and architecture film buffs! This week marks the start of the seventh annual Architecture and Design Film Festival (ADFF). For six glorious days, from October 13th-18th, New Yorkers are invited to enjoy more than 30 feature-length and short films centered on, you guessed it, architecture and design. While many of you may be thinking that watching a two-plus hour movie about a building is a guaranteed snoozer, ADFF's Kyle Bergman would most definitely argue otherwise. We recently caught up with the festival founder and architect who turned the once five-film gathering into a multi-city phenomenon that has captured the eyes, ears and hearts of not just design professionals, but folks from all walks of life looking to be inspired and moved by great cinema. Learn more about how the festival came to be and what's in store for this year's ADFF ahead. **BONUS: 6sqft readers can enjoy special discount on tickets! Just enter the code “FLOOR” at check out.**
read the interview with Kyle here
October 12, 2015

Landmarks Gets Started on 25-Year Backlog; A Manhattan Studio Asking Less Than $1,000/Month

After withdrawing its plan to de-calendar 95 historic sites that had been on backlog for 25 years, the Landmarks Preservation Commission has begun public hearings for these places. [WSJ] A new report shows that NYCHA residents see little benefit from gentrification in their neighborhoods. [NYDN] The 1920s Green Point Savings Bank in Prospect Heights will be […]

September 29, 2015

New Yorker Book Review Calls 432 Park the Oligarch’s Erection

"Cities can’t win. When they do well, people resent them as citadels of inequality; when they do badly, they are cesspools of hopelessness." This is the opening line to Adam Gopnik's New Yorker review of three forthcoming urban history books: Gerard Koeppel's "City on a Grid: How New York Became New York," which tells the history of the city's famous 1811 street grid plan and explores how that forever shaped life in the city; Evan Friss' "The Cycling City: Bicycles and Urban America in the 1890s," which recounts the rise and fall of bicycle culture in the late 19th century; and David Maraniss' "Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story." These very specific topics lend themselves to larger themes about the current state of our city, and in exploring these, Gopnik came out with an incredible one liner: The things that give cities a bad conscience are self-evident: seeing the rise of 432 Park Avenue, the tallest, ugliest, and among the most expensive private residences in the city’s history—the Oligarch’s Erection, as it should be known—as a catchment for the rich from which to look down on everyone else, it is hard not to feel that the civic virtues of commonality have been betrayed.
More thought-provoking themes from the review
September 29, 2015

This $2.35M Artist-Renovated Ditmas Park Victorian Is Both Cozy and Cool

While we're used too seeing renovated houses with gorgeous details and top-of-the-line finishes, it's not as often we see one that's modern and fresh, but also feels like a well-loved home. The 1902 Victorian at 210 Stratford Road is that rare house. According to the listing (h/t Brownstoner), it was "lovingly restored and renovated by two artists," which explains the perfect blend of cozy and cool evident on every floor of this two-family, three-story Ditmas Park home on the market for $2.35 million.
Take the tour
September 18, 2015

New Yorker Spotlight: Chris Gallant of the Bronx Brewery Brings Craft Ales to the Boogie Down

Brooklyn is no longer the only borough making a name for itself in the local craft beer industry. Thanks to the Bronx Brewery, the northernmost borough is staking a claim in the market with a fun spot dedicated to making pale ales. Founded in 2011 by co-presidents Chris Gallant and Damian Brown, the Bronx Brewery is located in Port Morris, a mixed-use neighborhood near the Major Deegan Expressway. While still young, the brewery in the Boogie Down is certainly finding a following with its impressive lineup of year-round and seasonal beers that can be found on tap and in stores throughout the tri-state area. With a tasting room, tours, and a backyard to sit back and relax in, it's quickly becoming a popular spot for both locals and Manhattanites looking for a day trip. We recently spoke with Chris to learn how the Bronx Brewery came to be and how the company has evolved and grown over the last few years.
Our convo with Chris right this way
September 11, 2015

New Yorker Spotlight: William Helmreich Went on the Ultimate 6,000-Mile Walking Tour of NYC

New Yorkers are known for spending their free time taking leisurely strolls through the city's numerous neighborhoods. They even use their feet as a means to learn by going on weekend walking tours to discover the history, the mystery, as well as the evolution of their favorite places—and there are certainly plenty of tours out there to serve all sorts of curiosities. But when William Helmreich decided he wanted to learn more about New York on foot, he took walking tours to another level. In fact, he decided to walk the entire city. William is a sociology professor at The City College of New York and also teaches at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Over the course of four years, he has walked just about every block in New York City. It was an adventure William was primed for as a lifelong New Yorker who possesses a research interest in urban studies; his background allowed him to be at ease while speaking with city residents in the five boroughs, and he had the eagerness necessary to uncover hidden gems in the lesser known nooks and crannies of our metropolis. The culmination of William's journey is his book, "The New York Nobody Knows: Walking 6,000 Miles in New York City," which was published in 2013 and released last month in paperback. We recently spoke with William about his long walk, and to find out what it taught him about New York.
Meet William here
September 10, 2015

Turn Hot Coffee to Iced in Minutes With the Coil

New Yorkers love to drink coffee, and while most can manage the time and effort required to brew a pot, getting the bubbling liquid cold is another story. Many of us are willing to spend upwards to four or even six dollars if someone can ice it for us. Well, fellow coffee addicts, thanks to the Coil, a chiller that drops the temperature of coffee within minutes, your days of over-priced joe have come to an end.
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September 9, 2015

REVEALED: First Look at 1399 Park Avenue, 23-Story Tower Coming to East Harlem

Here's our first look at Heritage Real Estate Partners' 23-story, 108-unit residential building underway at 1399 Park Avenue in East Harlem. Designed by Goldstein Hill & West Architects (GHWA), the 253-foot tall, glass and cast-stone tower is expressed as a stack of variably-sized, staggered volumes creating numerous terraces that face north towards the East River and west towards Central Park. Fittingly, Heritage has filed permits under the alias "Heritage on the Park LLC," possibly hinting at the official name for the tower.
More details ahead
August 25, 2015

My 770sqft: Tour a Media Executive’s Urban Zen Upper West Side Apartment

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 the Upper West Side. Want to see your home featured here? Get in touch! Carlos Alimurung has been calling Manhattan home for nearly all of his life; he's lived in Midtown East, the West Village, and today he can be found in the Upper West Side. But for Carlos, the neighborhood is more than just a place to lay his head. Rather, he feels a very special connection with it: his parents met at a party there in the 1970s and he has fond memories of eating freshly sliced hot pastrami at Zabar's as a kid. As such, in 2007, while hunting for a new home to settle into, Carlos decided to replant his roots along 88th Street in a one-bedroom apartment in a pre-war condo conversion. As a media executive and a passionate traveler, Carlos has been around the globe and back, collecting art, baubles and all sorts of worldly items along the way. But while world travelers are often susceptible to hoarding goods, Carlos has created an ultra-zen space in the city that feels like a museum without all the "do not touch" signs. From the South American and Asian artifacts he's collected during his expat days to mementos from his parents' time living in NYC to gifts from the friends he's met on his journeys, see how this cultured minimalist has outfitted his 770-square-foot Upper West Side pad.
Tour this well-traveled residence
August 18, 2015

22,000 New Apartments Coming to Northern Brooklyn by 2019

We recently reported that New York City was entering its biggest building boom since 1963. Building permits rose 156 percent over the last year, accounting for 52,618 new residential units. If that number seems large to you, keep in mind it's spread over the five boroughs, including the supertall towers of Manhattan. But a new report from CityRealty shows that northern Brooklyn alone with get 22,000 new apartments over the next four years. According to the report, which only looked at buildings with 20 or more units, "around 2,700 new units are expected to be delivered in 2015. That number will nearly double in 2016, when approximately 5,000 apartments will be ready for occupancy." The majority of these units, 29 percent or 6,412 apartments, will come to Downtown Brooklyn, followed by Williamsburg with 20 percent or 4,341 units.
More on the Brooklyn building boom
August 12, 2015

Green, Grand, Great Eats: A History of Jackson Heights and Its Future as the Next Hot ‘Hood

As the transformation of Queens reaches a bit deeper into the borough, it’s really no surprise that Jackson Heights is quickly becoming a focal point for savvy buyers and renters. The area, roughly bounded by Northern Boulevard, Junction Boulevard, Roosevelt Avenue and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, is fully loaded with stunning pre-war co-ops practically everywhere and shiny new redevelopments for under $800,000. Combine this with its diverse cultural offerings and a myriad of subways that can always get you smack dab in the middle of Manhattan in less than 30 minutes (that’s better than a lot of the up-and-coming areas of Brooklyn, mind you), it has all the makings for the next hipster-setting housing boom.
Why Jackson Heights is one to consider
August 11, 2015

The Bronx Is Getting a New Mixed-Use High-Rise Near Yankee Stadium

Brooklyn and Queens have been flush with new condos and rental developments lately, now it's time for the Bronx to get in on the action. Local developer M. Melnick & Co. has begun construction of a mixed-income, 17-story residential and commercial high rise at 810 River Avenue that will be the area's first since it was rezoned in 2009. The company dates back to 1934 and has proven to be reliable builders of multi-family, senior, supportive and mixed-use housing developments around the city.
Find out more right here
August 6, 2015

Huge Head Made of Reclaimed Materials Lands in Tribeca; 131 Years of the Dakota

Artist Nicholas Holiber crafts a big head out of reclaimed materials that’ll be on display in Tribeca Park until September. [Contemporist] From brothels to boutiques, GreeneStreet.nyc maps out 400 years of one Soho street’s gentrification. [WIRED] CUNY professor William Helmreich did something meshuga (our new favorite word): He walked every block in every borough. [CBS […]

August 3, 2015

Modern Playgrounds for Design Lovers; Are You a Gentrifier? Find out with This Calculator

Are you guilty of gentrifying your neighborhood? Find out with this gentrification calculator. [Slate] New Yorkers don’t like to follow directions. Looks like we’ve been illicitly cracking open fire hydrants for centuries. [Atlas Obsurca] Ten modern playgrounds in the city design-loving-parents will love taking their tiny tykes to. [Curbed] All of the states’ economies were ranked from worst to […]

July 30, 2015

Art Nerd New York’s Top Event Picks for the Week, 7/30-8/2

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 end of week picks for 6sqft readers! A weekend of adventure awaits your beckoning call. Choose your own adventure: a cruise on the high seas whilst dressed as a sea monster (or sea siren if that's your preference), sleep amidst the taxidermy animals at an adult sleepover hosted by the American Museum of Natural History, or get dirty and explore "Old New York" through trash at Dead Horse Bay with Abandoned NYC. Feeling less adventurous? You can always learn about our ever-changing city at Van Alen's latest exhibition with the Gentrification Lab NYC, which reconnects the role of architecture with expansion. Try out a different kind of studio visit with dancer and artist Jillian Peña, who will perform her new architecturally-influenced dance and actually take time to explain it to visitors, or check a screening of the Swedish film making waves with its representation of transgender life at Pioneer Works. Enjoy the new José Parlá pieces outdoors at The Standard High Line while sipping cocktails from the garden. Lastly, trek to Times Square late at night as artists Os Gemeos take over the ad screens for Midnight Moment all month long.
All the best events to check out here