Austrian-Born Investor Downgrades to Bon Jovi's Penthouse
The Real Deal has learned that the buyer of Jon Bon Jovi's recently sold penthouse is Austrian-American businessman Gerhard Andlinger, which should be exciting news for the all the Gerhard Andlinger superfans out there. The apartment was last priced at $37.5 million—coincidentally, the exact same price that Andlinger sold his own Time Warner Center penthouse for in 2009 (after first listing it for $65 million). And while the Bon Jovi penthouse is enormous, at 7,400 square feet, it is actually smaller than the 8,300-square-foot Time Warner Center place. Not a huge downgrade, but he'll probably have to get rid of a couch or two on Craigslist, and that's always annoying.
Million Dollar Listing New York S4E01: Frenemies For Life
It's Season 4 of Million Dollar Listing New York, where three brokers, Fredrik Eklund, Luis Ortiz, and Ryan Serhant, show the world what it takes to sell high-priced New York City apartments. Check in each week for recaps by Angela Bunt. Episode air date: 4/15/2015.
[Old friends, new enemies... we can't keep it straight anymore.]
When season three of Million Dollar Listing New York ended last June, it seemed that Luis and Ryan were forging a beautiful bromance, while Fredrik spiraled deeper and deeper into his money-fueled insanity. Luis had finally found his swag, and Ryan had finally found his soul. Yet as season four kicks off, it becomes clear that there's trouble in paradise.
West Village B&B-Turned-Mansion Sells for $25 Million
The impressive single-family townhouse at 278 West 11th Street, converted from a bed-and-breakfast that was itself converted from a townhouse, has sold for $25 million, The Real Deal reports. The 1853 Greek Revival house was purchased by one George Agiovlasitis for $8.2 million in 2011, and though he originally listed it for $30 million, he still made out pretty well. The buyer is News Corp. executive Paula Wardynski.
This Dated Queens House Needs Help Realizing Its Potential
Under the fiberglass drop ceiling tiles, linoleum, and vaguely hip chevron paneling lies a Colonial-style house that really, really needs some help in the form of a full renovation. The 2,900-square-foot Jamaica Estates house looks like something straight out of the suburbson the outside—sprawling lawn, attached two-car garage and all—but its interiors have been the victim of a few—okay, a lot of—bad decisions that have turned the house into a cringeworthy spectacle. It's asking $985,000 as is, and will require just about everything to bring it up to speed, but with some patience and a deep-pocketed buyer, this one can thrive.
Protestors Say The New Whitney Is a Symbol of The 1%
A group of eco-minded protestors gathered out front of the new Whitney Museum last night to decry the building's proximity to a high-pressure natural gas pipeline and the dubious relationship between art collecting and the carbon industry. Via Gothamist,
"Art has long been a means for the owners of ethically questionable wealth to launder their money into cultural capital...Museums are indeed temples of truth, reflecting the destructive policies of the one percent," [Noah Fischer of Occupy Museums] said, pointing to the labor practices undergirding the Walmart fortune that underwrote the Crystal Bridges museum, the indentured labor being used to build the new Guggenheim Museum in Abu Dhabi, and the fossil-fuel billionaire David Koch's deep involvement in New York cultural institutions.
So, is it a coincidence that the Renzo Piano-designed building actually looks exactly like a fuel-guzzling bus, as New York Magazine archicritic Justin Davidson has pointed out?
World's First Baccarat Hotel Is Dripping With Crystal, Naturally
Three years after its initial conception as Midtown's Dark Crystal, the Baccarat Hotel is finally open and accepting guests on West 53rd Street. (The remaining condos in the tower above are on the market, seeking buyers.) Naturally, the glitzy, glittery space named after the top-shelf crystal brand is chock-full of the stuff, with chandeliers galore. HotelChatter took a tour, and the hotel's official website offers a host of glimpses inside. Not only is the lobby wall lined with 1,800 glasses, each one of the 114 guest rooms has a different glass outside, enclosed in a display case. Room rates start at $729 per night, but a quick search for weeknights in June result in one suite that costs $18,875/night.
'The Best Condo Building Yet' Has Risen in Alphabet City
The eight-unit boutique condo building at 67 Avenue C has risen, EV Grieve points out, and it looks more or less like the rendering that was posted at the site—the second rendering, not the first rendering, as the first rendering was of a completely different (and more attractive) building. The actual structure, from East Village developer Natan Vinbaytel, touts its "surreal views," and also claims in advertising materials to be "the best condo building yet." Tough luck for all the other condo buildings out there.
· Looking at 67 Avenue C, where the condo views are spectacular and surreal [EVG]
· 67 Avenue C coverage [Curbed]
· Looking at 67 Avenue C, where the condo views are spectacular and surreal [EVG]
· 67 Avenue C coverage [Curbed]
The Life and Death of New York's Shortest Avenue
[Detail of an 1885 map showing 13th Avenue, via NYPL]
Unlucky, unknown, and itty-bitty, 13th Avenue is Manhattan's shortest numbered avenue, but when it was created by the city in 1837, it wasn't intended to be a stunted addition to the street grid. Built—and then destroyed—by order of the city, the avenue exists today as just a single block on the Hudson River in the Meatpacking District, between Little West 12th Street and Bloomfield Street, just west of 11th Avenue, but far away from 12th Avenue. In its heyday in the mid-1800s, 13th Avenue encompassed nearly 15 blocks, extending from West 11th Street to 25th Street, and according to Gotham Unboundauthor Theodore Steinberg, the city originally planned for avenue to stretch all the way to 135th Street, built with dirt excavating from upper Manhattan's hills. But 13th Avenue never made it out of Chelsea.
How Much For This Tiny Bespoke Haven In the West Village?
PriceSpotter is Curbed's asking price guessing game. We provide you with some details and pictures from a listing, and you take a crack at the price in the comments. Tomorrow we reveal the answer. And hey, no cheating!
What/Where: A two-bedroom turned one-bedroom co-op in a large West Village building
Monthly Costs: $936
Monthly Costs: $936
Although this West Village apartment is characteristically (and comedically) small, it does not wont for custom details. The co-op was recently gut renovated, which brought it a brand new kitchenette with fancy appliances, as well as two sliding glass doors that facilitate the flow of light (although the top-floor walk-up probably wasn't too short on it to begin with.) The space has a decent amount of storage for its size and also has a washer and dryer. How much do you think it's asking?
POPULAR
Former Williamsburg Salvation Army Site Finally Sells, for $36M
Though the broker for 176-180 Bedford Avenue, the former site of a now-demolished Salvation Army in Williamsburg, claimed to have received "five to six offers a week for the property and over the last three years," it still took a rather long time to sell. Now, though, The Real Deal is reporting that Thor Equities, led by developer Joe Sitt, is in contract to buy the prime development site for $36.1 million, which comes out to a substantial $2,500 per buildable square foot. The money will go toward Salvation Army's adult rehabilitation centers.
· Joe Sitt's Thor pays $36M for Williamsburg development site [TRD]
· 176-180 Bedford Avenue coverage [Curbed]
· Joe Sitt's Thor pays $36M for Williamsburg development site [TRD]
· 176-180 Bedford Avenue coverage [Curbed]
There's Really Not Much to Say About This South Slope Building
This seven-story, 17-apartment building is coming to the corner of 17th Street and 5th Avenue in South Slope. A YIMBY tipsterspotted the odd-looking on-site rendering and signage, which says the building is being developed by Prospect Construction Corp. Design Studio Associates is the project architect. The building will have three 1,200-square-foot apartments per floor, except for the penthouse floor which will be split between two units. The parking lot-replacing structure will also have 12 parking spots, as is required by area zoning. [Rendering via New York YIMBY.· Revealed: 236 17th Street South Slope, Brooklyn [YIMBY]
Surprise, Tiny Living Enthusiasts are Making RVs Popular Again
Photo via Vintage Revivals
It's not just you—RVs are making a comeback. From the many refurbished ones vintage campers to the new "Five-Star Luxury" Airstreams, it seems these mobile homes are the coolest, most in-demand tiny housing options du jour. As writer Laura Bliss puts it in a new CityLab piece exploring the who and why of the RV's resurgence: "There's no small amount of "tiny house" ethos implicit in the appeal of these compact, vintage-inspired models: Folks buy these vehicles expecting (and perhaps projecting) a sense of adventure and freedom, reduced belongings, and stylish, simple functionality."
Bay Ridge House With All Marble Everything Sells For $4.4M
At first glance, this aggressively-marbled Bay Ridge home looks like a thing straight out of the late 1900s, and that's because it unabashedly is. But its buyers, who unloaded an eye-popping $4.4 million on the house at 8205 Shore Road in an estate sale, are undeterred by what NYO refers to as its "quantities of swirling marble, tile and linoleum to vanquish any chance of subtlety." To put it simply, the Bay Ridge home is tacky. Props to its new owners, who may imagine a future for the quarry as refined as that of the marble-clad sky-high apartments at One57, which isn't saying a whole lot.
Madison Square Park's Next Office-to-Apartments Project Is On
It's official: an office building at the northwest corner of Madison Square Park can undergo a residential conversion. (Following in the footsteps of its wildly popular neighbor to the south, no doubt.) New York YIMBY reports that the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved changes to 1913-built 212 Fifth Avenue, which include restoration work, reconstruction of a parapet, and making over the storefronts at the ground level, and as well as more controversial tweaks, such as changing the very visible south-facing facade and making the penthouse bigger.
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