Insufferable Video Shows New City Point Views; Flatbush Demo
DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN—This promotional video for City Point may be rather insufferable, but it does give new glimpses at the megaproject and more or less confirms that the project's third tower will rival 388 Bridge Street in height, meaning it will be one of the tallest in the borough. Other fascinating laughable tidbits from the video include reference to Brooklyn as an "under-retailed city" and an introduction to the borough via the following quote from GQ magazine, "Brooklyn today is the coolest city on the planet." [CurbedWire inbox; official; previously]
EAST FLATBUSH—A tipster sent word that the house at 325 Lenox Roadnear the Prospect-Lefferts Gardens border has been razed. But for what? Uh, nothing apparently. The lot, which is for sale for $2.15 million, appears to be being marketed as a development site by Douglas Elliman. The property is being billed as a potential combination lot with the adjacent through-block property. A google street view shot from October shows a shuttered commercial building of some sort on the property behind No. 325. No jobs for either property have been filed with the DOB. A neighboring building of similar build to 325 Lenox Road sold for $520,000 in 2012. [CurbedWire inbox]
Another Nonprofit Cashes Out; Bronx Rental Scammer Arrested
· Omek Capital sells two townhouses for $21.5M [Crain's]
· Bronx woman arrested for stealing $24,000 in rental scam[Gothamist]
· An interview with a 27-year-old condo flipper [Brick Underground]
· Checking in on the progress at One Vandam [Field Condition]
· Brooklyn nonprofit to be converted into mixed-use building [WSJ]
· Chambers Street reconstruction project finally has end date [Trib]
· Pictures of snowy Manhattan taken from a helicopter [ANIMAL]
· More problems for L train riders starting in March [Brokelyn]
· Bronx woman arrested for stealing $24,000 in rental scam[Gothamist]
· An interview with a 27-year-old condo flipper [Brick Underground]
· Checking in on the progress at One Vandam [Field Condition]
· Brooklyn nonprofit to be converted into mixed-use building [WSJ]
· Chambers Street reconstruction project finally has end date [Trib]
· Pictures of snowy Manhattan taken from a helicopter [ANIMAL]
· More problems for L train riders starting in March [Brokelyn]
"Nothing sad about it. These are creative, efficient, practical, and some people actually like to live this way. What is sad are McMansions and empty Penthouses."—grandmasterbeta [New York City's 14 Most Famous Micro Apartments]
Woodsy Duplex Carved From Former Clock Factory Asks $1.6M
Once upon a time, southern Park Slope's Ansonia Clock Factorychurned out timekeepers. In 1982, the German Romanesque Revival building was converted to co-ops called Ansonia Court while managing to maintain the beams, columns, and ceilings of the original. Don't confuse it with that other Ansonia on the Upper West Side; this one has 70 units surrounding a picturesque central courtyard. One of those units—a two-bed, 1.5 bath duplex—just hit the market. Asking $1,575,000, there's also a private patio and a sizable lofted office space that "could be used as a play space, a home office or a cool sleeping loft."
Navigate 375 Years of NYC Geography With 'Time Machine'
Remember a couple of months ago when the cartography enthusiastcorner of the internet exploded—Curbed included—because the NYPL digitized and made available 22,000 hi-res historic maps of New York City? Well, at least one person nerding out over the collection has used a few of the maps to create something useful. Orian Breaux has created a tool that's similar to NYPL's map warper, but is far more manageable. According to Breaux, he set out to create an easy way for people to navigate through the maps and see how they relate to each other. The result is NYC Time Machine, which lets users browse maps from between 1666 and present day. His next objective is to build out a concept he refers to as "historical street view" that would allow people to see historic photos tied to their location and era.
· NYC Time Machine [Vestiges of New York]
· Browse 11 Sweet Maps From NYPL's Newly-Digitized Archives[Curbed]
· Cool Map Thing archives [Curbed]
· NYC Time Machine [Vestiges of New York]
· Browse 11 Sweet Maps From NYPL's Newly-Digitized Archives[Curbed]
· Cool Map Thing archives [Curbed]
Rent-stabilized tenants in 187 Lenox Avenue are claiming that landlord Seth Weissman, who bought the building for $1.6 million in June, is trying to force them out by renovating it without a permit. Weissman has racked up 49 violations since buying the building and was hit with a stop work order last month, though residents say that construction has continued anyway. One couple claims that the work began after they rejected Weissman's buyout offer, and that basic services like cleaning and trash pickup have been halted. [DNAinfo; previously]
NYC's Smallest Landmark Is An 1800s Crown Heights Home
Although it's no longer recognized on the map as a Brooklyn neighborhood, Weeksville was a bustling community founded in the 1800s, of which remnants still exist today. According to PropertyShark, one remaining home even claims the distinction of the city's tiniest landmark. The settlement, bounded by Fulton Street and Ralph, Troy, and East New York avenues in today's Crown Heights (disputed by other sources as Bed-Stuy), was founded in the mid-1800s by ex-slave James Weeks as a free African American communitywithin the city of Brooklyn. At a time of civil discord and reconstruction, Weeksville was a thriving, self-contained community.
This Penthouse Could Be Brooklyn's Most Expensive Condo
Alloy's One John Street is set to put its largest penthouse, PHE, on the market today for $8.8 million, The Real Deal reports. If the 3,600-square-foot, 27-window apartment sells for the full asking price (or close to it) it will become the most expensive condo to ever sell in Brooklyn, according to a Streeteasy search, topping unit no. 14 in Dumbo's Clocktower, which fetched $7 million in 2008. There is competition, though: the Clocktower's penthouse is currently on the market for $18 million, and has been since 2013. (Prior to that it was asking $25 million.) There's also a unit in the Pierhouse asking $10.49 million, and the penthouse in One Brooklyn Bridge Park, which was listed back in May for $32 million and was mysteriously delisted four days ago.
The ferocious battle between New York University's never-ending push to expand—and the Village's never-ending push to stop it from doing so—has reached another level. Today, the New York State Court of Appeals said it would hear an appeal made by the anti-expansion camp (and backed by some celebrity firepower). At issue is whether the school can build on what some believe is public parklandand others think is, well, not. In two prior court decisions, one judge sided with NYU and the other with NYU's enemies, so we really need a definitive legal eagle to deliver a verdict once and for all. [CurbedWire Inbox; previously]
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Which Manhattan Neighborhood Has The Smallest Studios?
This week, real estate appraiser, Curbed graph guru, blogger, and podcasterJonathan Miller looks at—what else?—the prevalence of micro apartments in Manhattan.
[Graphic by Miller Samuel. Click for big!]
Although I'm often a bit macro in this column, it's Micro Week at Curbed. So I thought I would rank Manhattan neighborhoods by the average square footage of their studio apartments based on all the closed sales of 2014. The results are in: if you want a plethora of small apartments, look uptown. On both the East and West Sides above 96th Street, from Morningside Heights and the Upper East Side to Harlem and Inwood, the average studio clocks in at under 500 square feet. By contrast, downtown, in areas like Soho, Tribeca, Battery Park City, and the Financial District, studios are larger. That makes sense for neighborhoods where buildings were converted from industrial or other used (like in the former) and for areas where the housing stock is relatively new (the latter).
8 of the Most Terrifyingly Tiny Rentals Available on Craigslist
Yesterday we brought you 13 of the tiniest homes for sale in New York City, but the truth is that the really frighteningly tiny (or just plain frightening places) aren't for sale; they're on Craigslist. Take, for example, this Williamsburg room or this furnished closet in the Financial District. Joining the pantheon is this two room...situation...in Forest Park, Queens (pictured above), which claims to total 204 square feet. But hey, at least it has a window. And...a chair. Without further ado, we bring you seven more of the most upsettingly small rental, sublet, or roommate situations currently advertised on the infamous website.
Eric Richmond, who lost the Brooklyn Lyceum to a developer in a foreclosure auction last year, is claiming that the judge who allowed its sale lied when she told him he had seven days to appeal her ruling. Richmond claims that she filed her ruling on September 30, but when he filed his appeal on October 7 she told him it was a day late and threw it out. "If you're given seven days, you're supposed to get seven days — and you can't just change that after the fact," Richmond said. "My main goal is getting the building back, but if I have to fall on the sword of due process, I will fall on that sword." [Brooklyn Paper; previously]
Renderings Out for Greenwich Village's New Triangular Park
[Renderings by Hayes Davidson]
The design competition of the AIDS Memorial planned for Greenwich Village garnered a lot of press, but little attention was paid to the design of the park that it would be part of. When Rudin Managementmade a deal in 2011 to convert the old St. Vincent's Hospital into condos, the developer promised to build a public park on a triangular plot of land, and this week, ground was broken on the new green space, reports the Journal. The design team at M. Paul Friedberg & Partners also released the first renderings, showing a park with small grassy areas, lots of trees, winding walkways, and a play area for kids. The 16,000-square-foot open space is on Seventh Avenue between Greenwich Avenue and West 12th Street, and it will be called West Village Park. The memorial, designed by Studio a+1, will be located at the park's tip.
The Story of Ramblersville, New York's Smallest Neighborhood
[Hawtree Creek in Ramblersville, a quiet enclave off the Jamaica Bay]
What makes a neighborhood? Is it a shared sense of heritage, the way Little Italy used to be? A similar design, like Pomander Walk? Or, perhaps, the blessing of a higher authority, as with Bedwick? (Kidding!) There's no universally accepted definition; their alleged boundaries, nonetheless, are constantly in flux or in dispute. Because of this—and because some obscure name is sure to fly under one's radar, no matter how familiar one is with the city—we sought input from several sources in searching for the city's smallest neighborhood.
The Department of City Planning doesn't "do" neighborhoods, preferring to sort them into census tracts and Neighborhood Tabulation Areas; the only NTAs with populations smaller than 10,000 were parks, cemeteries(!?), and the airports. PropertyShark's picks weren't all that small—Tudor City was the tiniest—but StreetEasypulled up the areas with the least amount of real estate per square foot, which seemed reasonable. Topping that list: a place called Ramblersville, in Queens. We'd never heard of it, but after a visit and a dive into the archives, we soon wished we could visit during its heyday at the turn of the 20th century.
The Barclays Centerappears to finally be getting its sound- and leak-absorbing green roof. Real estate agent and blogger Andrew Fine snapped a few shots of the green roof's frame, which is being installed on the massive arena this week. Let's hope the 130,000 square feet of sedum that's being harvested in Connecticut and is supposed to cover the frame makes it out of this winter alive. [A Fine Blog; previously]SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
- How Ice Skating Made Fifth Avenue a Fashionable Destination
- Bleecker Street's Evolution From Sleepy Suburb to America's Left Bank
- Following Hook Creek Through Ghost Towns and Wetlands
- Remembering the Grand Spectacle of the 1939 World's Fair
- The Strange History of the East Village's Most Famous Street
- The Battle Over NYC's Folk Art Museum, Now Lost to MoMA
- How SHoP Became NYC's Go-To Megaproject Architects
- The Controversial Origins of NYC's Frick Collection
- Tracing Three Centuries of Williamsburg's Bedford Avenue
- A 24-Hour Stay on the Rapidly Changing Governors Island
- The Gilded Age Origins of New York City's Rooftop Gardens
- The Dramatic History of Gramercy Park's National Arts Club
- How NYC's Decade of Rezoning Changed the City of Industry
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- Closing the Deal
- Curbed’s Guide to Renting in New York City
- The Lowdown on Leases and Tenants’ Rights
- A Guide to NYC's Rental-Finding Sites
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- How to Deal With Your NYC Neighbors
- How To Join Your New York City Community Board
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