Search Results for: penthouse

February 18, 2015

Developer Matthew Blesso Settles into a Spectacular Park Slope Townhouse for $4.05M

Developer Matthew Blesso is doing a total architectural 180. Blesso, who used to call  this uber-sleek Noho penthouse home, has just closed on a far more cozy historic construction in the heart of Park Slope according to city records filed today. No official listing could be found for the three-story pre-war home, but previous reports show that it was last being rented out by its former owner William Lawrence for about $11,000 a month. The neighborhood and the townhouse are certainly quite a change for Blesso, whose last home was about as modern and metropolitan as they get.
Have a gander inside this architectural gem ahead
February 17, 2015

$2.7M Countrified Brooklyn Heights Pad Offers the Best of Both Worlds

If you like your city with a side of country, you’ll love this Brooklyn Heights duplex penthouse on Remsen Street, asking $2.675 million. This place is the definition of the best of both worlds: a city pad with a bucolic vibe, original details with modern technology, plus it’s spacious and has a private planted deck while still being close to transportation and neighborhood hot spots. Yes, this penthouse definitely earns the title of most well-rounded.
More pics inside
February 16, 2015

VIDEO: Katz’s Deli Owner Shares Stories of the Shady LES of 20 Years Ago

By now many of you have probably seen this amazing video showing a changing Lower East Side circa 1995. While plenty of colorful characters and weirdness abound, let's not forget that the area at the time was also one of the city's most unsafe. As part of the new video series called "True Yorkers," Katz's Deli owner Alan Dell reflects on the Lower East Side that once was—well before it transformed into the bar crawl we know today. Sharing his own memories of the neighborhood as a kid, and more poignantly his opinion of what it has become, Dell's recount really makes you think about just how severely pacified and homogenous today's version of New York is. "A lot of people from the neighborhood moved away...I just can't get used to it," Dell says in the episode. "I have customers talking about their million dollar penthouse on Rivington Street—it blows my mind. The Bowery was unsavory, there used to be bums, I don't even know if kids know what a bum is...You know, they call it progress, I'm not really sure about that. It's a mixed bag...15-20 years ago we were closing early. Unless you were coming to buy crack late at night over here, it was not safe...it's just changed. It's just different."
watch the video here
February 14, 2015

Weekly Highlights: Top Picks from the 6sqft Staff

Adrian Grenier Buys Five-Story Clinton Hill Townhouse for $2.1 Million Mapping Where in NYC Millennials Live PlaceInvaders Invites You to Have Dinner in NYC’s Most Extraordinary Private Homes What Would NYC Look Like If Sea Levels Rose 100 Feet? Joan Rivers’ Legendary Upper East Side Penthouse Is on the Market for $28M Would You Live […]

February 13, 2015

Would You Live on the 13th Floor of a Building? A Look at Our Irrational Fear of Numbers

In honor of Friday the 13th, The Atlantic took a look at the number 13—and namely how obsessively superstitious some individuals can be when it comes to certain digits and our inclination to apply a deeper meaning to them. 18, for instance, is chai in Hebrew, which means life; while number 2 represents balance and cooperation in Chinese; and of course we're all familiar with the divine and oh-so-lucky number 7. But then there's 13, a number generally looked upon as especially sinister, particularly in Western culture. In fact, 13 is so suspect that there's even a scientific name for the fear of the number: triskaidekaphobia (a fear of Friday the 13th the date is called paraskevidekatriaphobia, by the way). But here's the funnest bit in the piece that really grabbed our attention: Taking a closer look at New York's residential buildings with the help of CityRealty, they found that of the 629 buildings with 13 or more floors, only 55 had labeled the 13th floor as the 13th floor—that's only 9 percent of the total. Common placeholders they found were 14, 12B, 14A, M (the 13th letter in the alphabet) or simply "Penthouse" if the top unit sat on the 13th floor.
More from the 13th Floor here
February 12, 2015

The Meatpacking District: From the Original Farmers’ Market to High-End Fashion Scene

Why is it called the Meatpacking District when there are only six meat packers there, down from about 250?  Inertia, most likely. The area has seen so many different uses over time, and they're so often mercantile ones that Gansevoort Market would probably be a better name for it. Located on the shore of the Hudson River, it's a relatively small district in Manhattan stretching from Gansevoort Street at the foot of the High Line north to and including West 14th Street and from the river three blocks east to Hudson Street. Until its recent life as a go-to high fashion mecca, it was for almost 150 years a working market: dirty, gritty, and blood-stained.
Read the full history here
February 12, 2015

Carmelo and LaLa Anthony Score an $11 Million Pad Overlooking the High Line

New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony and wife LaLa have been on the hunt for a Chelsea home since last fall, and after touring countless multi-million dollar homes (like this one and this one) it looks like the pair have settled on a High Line-adjacent condo at Cary Tamarkin’s new 10-story, 15-unit complex at 508 West 24th Street. The Post reports that the hoopster is putting down $11 million for a massive full-floor home.
Check it out here
February 12, 2015

Pier 55 Floating Park Moves Forward with a Lease Deal

Last we heard about Pier55–the 2.4-acre futuristic floating park and performance space proposed by billionaire media mogul Barry Diller that would jut 186 feet into the Hudson at 13th Street–Community Board 2 had mixed feelings about the project. They liked Thomas Heatherwick's design, but cited concern over the lack of transparency from Diller and the Hudson River Park Trust. Despite these feelings, though, we've learned today from the Times that the Trust approved a lease agreement with Pier 55 Inc., a nonprofit group controlled by Diller, to help develop the $130 million public space. Diller has already pledged $113 million toward the project through the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation (his wife is fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg). So, what's next?
What's to come for Pier 55
February 9, 2015

PlaceInvaders Invites You to Have Dinner in NYC’s Most Extraordinary Private Homes

There's definitely no shortage of amazing homes to ogle over from your desktop (especially when on 6sqft), but how often do you actually get to experience one of these places up close and personal? PlaceInvaders is a cool new local startup that gives us regular folks the keys to some of the city's most incredible apartments. Here individuals are invited to schmooze with fellow NYC inhabitants while also wining and dining on often experimental fare. PlaceInvaders recently brought foodies into Cindy Gallop's infamous “Black Apartment,” while another event found a group eating delicious moose pot pie (yes, you read that right) in an artist's loft overlooking the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Find out how to sign up here
February 9, 2015

Foreign Shell Companies Hide the Names of the Seedy Buyers of NY’s Luxury Real Estate

We've been talking a lot lately about foreign investors with their hands in the NYC real estate market, but a story in the Times took the investigating one step further by uncovering the secrecy of more than 200 shell companies at the Time Warner Center, documenting "a decade of ownership in this iconic Manhattan way station for global money transforming the city’s real estate market." Though most of these were simply wealthy Americans, at least 16 were rich foreigners who "have been the subject of government inquiries around the world, either personally or as heads of companies," ranging from environmental violations to financial fraud. In 2014, around 50 percent of all $5 million+ sales were to shell companies, but at the Time Warner Center it was 80 percent. With this growing trend, however, the government hasn't taken a closer look at the money being used to buy luxury real estate, allowing shell companies to make the movement of foreign funds largely untraceable.
Find out more about Mr. Low and this real estate trend
February 3, 2015

7,279 NYC Homes Are Valued at More Than $5 Million

If you think that statistic is jaw-dropping, consider this, too–those 7,279 homes valued at more than $5 million amount to a total fair market value of $65.2 billion, according to data from the city’s Independent Budget Office. The Wall Street Journal requested the data to take a closer look at the proposal to impose higher property taxes on pied-à-terre owners, and the findings show that "the city’s most expensive homes would generate less money from a higher tax surcharge than what its advocates have suggested."
More details here
February 2, 2015

Developers Rush to Break Ground and Add Affordable Housing Before Tax Incentives End

It would be nice to think that developers added affordable housing to their projects out of the goodness of their hearts, but it probably has more to do with the construction bonuses and tax incentives afforded for up to 25 years to developers when they reserve at least 20 percent of a building's units for poor and moderate-income tenants. But this real estate tax break, known as the 421a abatement, is set to expire on June 15, lighting a fire under developers to break ground on new projects. The concern, though, is that some development sites receive 421a benefits as of right (meaning solely for putting up a new building), while others are required to include affordable housing. The difference is based on geographic location. For example, Manhattan between 14th and 96th Streets and the waterfronts of Brooklyn and Queens must include affordable housing. According to Crain's, some housing advocates "want projects to get abatements only if they create affordable units—which are priced for renters who earn 60 percent or less of the area's median income."
What does this mean for the future of affordable housing?
January 30, 2015

Soho Pad with ‘Ghost’-ly Past Returns to the Market as a $32,500/Month Rental

This pristine full-floor condo at 102 Prince Street has a lot to brag about. For starters, it's newly renovated and stunning, landing a spot in Interiors magazine’s "Best of 2011" issue. But its biggest claim to fame is that the apartment above is where Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze shot their iconic pottery scene in Ghost. The only thing more brag-worthy would be if Whoopi Goldberg dropped by occasionally to tell the future tenants, “You in danger, girl!” The unit sold for an impressive $13.8 million just this past March, netting the seller a $4.9 million profit (they had purchased it in March of 2013 for $8.9 million). The 2014 sale was the highest price anyone had paid for a non-penthouse unit in Soho. And now, after just six months, it's back on the market as a $32,500/month rental.
More pics inside
January 29, 2015

Actress Gina Gershon Sells Chelsea Duplex in Celeb-Favorite 200 11th Avenue for $8.2M

Just after Robert Pattinson checked out a $20 million penthouse with a private, drive-in elevator at 200 Eleventh Avenue, actress Gina Gershon sold her duplex unit in the building for $8.2 million, reports the Post. She and her partner Bobby Dekeyser, founder of outdoor furniture brand DEDON and subject of the biography Not for Sale!, purchased the $2,391-square-foot Chelsea pad in 2012 for $6.6 million, and after listing in June for $9.5 million, they've made the sale for a little more than a million under the asking price.
See inside here
January 26, 2015

Tribeca Townhouse with Wild and Fiery Facade by System Architects Will Soon Come to Life

This isn't the sort of design we'd expect to see in Tribeca, but lo and behold, this bold statement by architect Jeremy Edmiston is about to become a reality along its brick and mortar block. The Tribeca Citizen reports that the single-family residence located at 187 Franklin Street is moving forward with construction on the kooky design which was first proposed in 2010. The project will see the building's facade removed and replaced with an undulating red facade complemented by silvery, net-like balconies.
READ MORE
January 22, 2015

East Village’s Historic Meseritz Synagogue Gets Ready for Restoration and Condo Conversion

At the turn of the century, the Lower East Side/East Village was home to 75 percent of the 2.5 million Ashkenazi Jews that immigrated to the U.S. They quickly established synagogues, many of which were "tenement synagogues," aptly named because they were built on the narrow lots between tenements and served the mostly-impoverished people who lived in the surrounding, overcrowded buildings. Only one of these tenement synagogues is still in operation–the Congregation Meseritz Synagogue (or Anshei Meseritz) at 515 East 6th Street. Narrowly saved from the wrecking ball in 2012, Meseritz is now undergoing a total overhaul. Real estate developer East River Partners is adding three luxury apartments, including an 11-foot-tall penthouse, to the top of the structure. Though the plan was initially contested by some neighbors and local community and preservation groups, the developer is undertaking a multimillion-dollar gut renovation of the ground floor, creating a new home out of which the congregation can worship.
More details ahead
January 22, 2015

Billionaire Roman Abramovich’s DIY Mansion Getting Bigger; A Gramercy Park Building Wants $200M

After holding a 199-unit apartment building in Gramercy Park for nearly 70 years, the owner has put it on the market for $200 million. [Crain’s] Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich’s makeshift mansion could be even bigger than initially reported. Word is he’s purchased yet another building on East 75th Street. [NYP] Designer Michael Kors is purchasing a posh penthouse at […]

January 21, 2015

Can Developers Still Make a Profit as Land Prices Reach Record Sums?

Most landowners, especially those who have been in the development business for a long time, aren't easily persuaded to sell their holdings, but with sales reaching record sums, that's all starting to change. As Crain's recounts, back in November Jerry Gottesman, who has a property empire worth over $3 billion, sold a parking lot he owned between 17th and 18th Streets near the High Line for $800 million. He bought the site in the early '80s for $2.4 million. Influenced by the sale, other landowners are also looking to get in on the action; just last week three large residential development sites hit the market asking $1,000 or more per buildable square foot–a 50 percent increase in the price of Manhattan land from last year. And if the parcels fetch these sums, it will be the first time values per buildable square foot reach four figures. With these record sale sums, Manhattan condo builders would have to sell units at sky-high prices to make a profit. For example, a 1,000-square-foot apartment would need to sell for $3 million or more just to break even.
More on the trend here
January 20, 2015

Tour the Chefs Club Restaurant by ‘Food & Wine’ Magazine at the Landmark Puck Building

There's been plenty of talk about the luxurious penthouses that top off the historic Puck Building. But just below these spectacular homes is an equally stunning space that's sure to take your breath away—or at least get your stomach rumbling. Archdaily brings us on a tour of the Chefs Club, a brand new dining experience dreamt up by the folks over at Food & Wine magazine. The sleek eatery opened just last fall to rave reviews, and it's no surprise; the Chefs Club by Food & Wine is exactly what you'd hope it is: the magazine's "Best New Chefs" and an international roster of rockstar cooks whipping up meals unlike any you've had before.
Take a tour of the spectacular interiors here
January 19, 2015

Russian Billionaire Roman Abramovich Buys Up Three UES Townhouses to Build a Makeshift Mansion

While some billionaires are busy eyeing the glass penthouses of the city's up-and-coming and ultra-luxe towers, others are taking a more DIY approach to realizing their dream home. The latest to join the building-your-own-mansion trend is billionaire Roman Abramovich, who according to the  NY Post has just "secretly" purchased a 9,495-square-foot townhouse at 11 East 75th Street for $29.7 million from developer Larry Gluck. The buy follows Abramovich's December purchase of another 7,286-square-foot townhouse two doors down for $18.3 million, and word on the street is that he's in contract for the townhouse wedged right in between.
READ MORE
January 19, 2015

Construction Resumes at 432 Park; The Case Against Supertalls and Their Super-Long Shadows

Work has resumed on 432 Park. This follows last week’s stop work order issued after an eight-foot pole fell from tower and crashed into the street below. [Dezeen] Critics of supertalls blast NYC’s “as of right” development policy and what little has been done to protect the urbanscape from the shadows cast by these massive buildings. [The Guardian] A window washer […]

January 16, 2015

$100 Million Condo Sale at One57 is NYC’s Most Expensive Ever

Expect another blockbuster year for the super-luxury tower that launched a slew of other wannabe developments across the city. A palatial unit occupying the 89th and 90th floor of One57 has just sold for a record-breaking $100,471,452.77—the most expensive condo purchase ever recorded Manhattan. The buyer of the massive 10,923-square-foot penthouse apartment remains a mystery—city records simply show an […]