Energy Costs in The Bronx; Will RiverTower Go Condo?
· City plan to reduce energy costs in The Bronx [NYT]
· A secret sign behind an Upper East Side Starbucks [ENY]
· Some of the Transit Museum's best gems [FNY]
· Checking in on 242 West 53rd Street [TRD]
· Goodbye, House of Cards and Curiosities [Gothamist]
· GID Development buys part of Riverside Center for $41M [TRD]
· Living in Hell's Kitchen [NYT]
· New renderings for 1809 Emmons Avenue [SHB]
· RiverTower could go condo in $550M deal [TRD]
· A secret sign behind an Upper East Side Starbucks [ENY]
· Some of the Transit Museum's best gems [FNY]
· Checking in on 242 West 53rd Street [TRD]
· Goodbye, House of Cards and Curiosities [Gothamist]
· GID Development buys part of Riverside Center for $41M [TRD]
· Living in Hell's Kitchen [NYT]
· New renderings for 1809 Emmons Avenue [SHB]
· RiverTower could go condo in $550M deal [TRD]
Arquitectonica, GHWA Submit Designs for Riverside Center
[One of Arquitectonica's designs. Via YIMBY.]
Despite the fact that the massive Riverside Center complex is already on the rise, many of the West Side megaproject's planned buildings are still without formal designs. However, with YIMBY got a hold of some of the submitted designs for "Building 1" at West 61st Street and Riverside Boulevard, including two by Arquitectonica and one by Goldstein, Hill & West Architects.
There are two designs submitted by Arquitectonica—the same firm behind nearby 606 West 57th Street—one is extremely angular, while the other incorporates more curves and slopes. Both, however, heavily feature cantilevers and incorporate many of the design elements present in Christian de Portzamparc's original masterplan (now more or less scrapped), such as two towers rising from a smaller platform.
Couple Moves from Manhattan Studio to Clinton Hill Duplex
Welcome to It Happened One Weekend, our weekly roundup of The New York Times real estate section...
2) Every "The Hunt" column begins with the Hunters describing the apartment they want, and ends with them rationalizing whatever they came away with. This is The Hunt: Dreams vs. Reality
The Hunters: a couple looking to buy
Price
Dream: $700,000
Reality: $702,000
Neighborhood
Dream: N/A
Reality: Clinton Hill
Amenities
Dream: 1-2BR, finished
Reality: 2BR, duplex, bright, walk-in closet
Summary
This weekend's Hunters are a couple looking to move out of a crappy studio rental on East 14th Street. With a budget of around $700,000, they began looking for larger apartments all over the place, eventually narrowing their search to "Brooklyn" after moving in with a friend in Boerum Hill in the aftermath of Sandy. When their friend decided to move, they assumed the lease for $2,000/month but kept searching, eventually finding a two-bedroom duplex in Clinton Hill. The place has lots of light and a walk-in closet. It was asking $695,000 and our Hunters bought the place for $702,000. [More Space in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill; photo via Juni Safont/Curbed Photo Pool]
The Hunters: a couple looking to buy
Price
Dream: $700,000
Reality: $702,000
Neighborhood
Dream: N/A
Reality: Clinton Hill
Amenities
Dream: 1-2BR, finished
Reality: 2BR, duplex, bright, walk-in closet
Summary
This weekend's Hunters are a couple looking to move out of a crappy studio rental on East 14th Street. With a budget of around $700,000, they began looking for larger apartments all over the place, eventually narrowing their search to "Brooklyn" after moving in with a friend in Boerum Hill in the aftermath of Sandy. When their friend decided to move, they assumed the lease for $2,000/month but kept searching, eventually finding a two-bedroom duplex in Clinton Hill. The place has lots of light and a walk-in closet. It was asking $695,000 and our Hunters bought the place for $702,000. [More Space in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill; photo via Juni Safont/Curbed Photo Pool]
Undercover NYS Lawmaker Nabs Airbnb Hustlers
New York State Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal has donned the mantel of vigilante in order to stop the root of all injustice: Airbnb.
Rosenthal—who represents parts of the Upper West Side and Midtown—recently orchestrated a sting operation by seeking out Airbnb hosts with multiple listings for entire homes and apartments. She then proceeded to go undercover and book rooms, catching numerous offenders on camera proudly showing off their "illegal hotels." According to Gothamist, the worst offender was "a rental company that had no tenants at all, with a rental agent posing as a 'host.'"
"This undercover investigation exposed that Airbnb is an enabler of the rampant illegal activity and is robbing New York City of precious units of affordable housing," Rosenthal said, but then, we already knew that. "We were able to identify unlawful hotel operations with just the click of a mouse and a camera. Seeing firsthand how easy Airbnb makes it to illegally rent residential units, it's no surprise why we are losing so much affordable housing."
"In order to fight evil, I must become evil," Councilwoman Rosenthal probably added, while staring into a mirror.
· Video: NYC Airbnb Abusers Caught Red-Handed In Sting Operation[Gothamist]
· All Airbnb coverage [Curbed]
· Video: NYC Airbnb Abusers Caught Red-Handed In Sting Operation[Gothamist]
· All Airbnb coverage [Curbed]
Weekend Open House Tour: East Village
This weekend on the Open House Tour, we're seeing what's on the market in the East Village. There are some nice, somewhat affordable apartments (as well as some not-so-affordable ones), including a two-bedroom on East 4th asking $899,000, a one-bedroom on East 11th asking $700,000, a three-bedroom loft on Broadway asking $4 million (above), and more.
Art at the Old Bronx Courthouse; Waterfront Homes in NYC
What $2,200/Month Can Rent You in New York City, Christina Ricci Buys $2M Townhouse Right Next to the BQE, Houston Rockets Owner Lists $47.5M Gramercy Park Penthouse, Diane Arbus's Former West Village Home Listed for $13.5M, 19th-Century Arches Could Be Key to Central Park's Safety, Tour Ellis Island's Creepy Abandoned Hospital, If You Dare, $22M Penthouse Is the Priciest Condo Along the High Line, Bjark Ingels's 57th Street Tetrahedron Shall Go By... Via, From Beach to Bay, 8 Waterfront Homes You Can Buy in NYC
Half a Million, for 250 Square Feet of West Village Real Estate
A world where $40 million is the new "normal" asking price for luxury apartments really makes you appreciate the little things. And by little things, we mean this 248-square-foot studio on Cornelia Street, which is just undeniably small. (A very scientific calculation was performed based on the floorplan, so it excludes the bathroom.) The tiny walk-up, which was renovated since the owner bought it for $250,000 in 2013, just hit the market asking double what he paid: $499,000. No, those closets don't house a Murphy bed, but the futon could serve as a crash pad, and the broker says a queen-sized bed—with no frame or headboard—could fit across from the radiator. It does have that West Village-y exposed brick, a brand-new kitchen and bathroom, and low monthly costs, but is there enough room? Remember, some New Yorkers live comfortably in 90 square feet (or 200), and with the right furniture (or snazzy movable walls) even the tiniest of apartments can feel like home.
Related's Giant Tower Relentlessly Rises on the Upper East Side
In all of four months, Related's East 92nd Street tower between Second and Third avenues has shot up into the sky. In January when A Fine Blog last checked in at the site, the Handel-designed condo/rental tower was nothing but a base. Now, it's built up to 15 stories; that's more than half-way to its eventual height of 425 feet. When complete, the 28-story building will have a 231 apartments averaging 1,400-square-feet in size, 33,000-square-feet of retail, and a 46,000-square-foot school for kids with learning disabilities, which the developer is probably hoping will smooth over the detail that the building is rising on the site of a community playground.
116-Year-Old Bushwick House Comes With a Modern Twist
When this townhouse at 716 Bushwick Avenue was built in 1899, it was probably a pretty grand house by the neighborhood's standards. These days, it fits right in with the Bushwick of 2015. The Renaissance Revival-style building currently serves as a two-family house—don't be fooled by the door painted on its facade—and has been altered in its 116 years to include such quirky details as a garret kitchen for a hobbit, a darkroom, and a graffiti-sheathed basement that the brokerbabble bills as "true to the artistic energy of Bushwick." The townhouse still contains a lot of its original details, though, like mantles and chandeliers, and some 34 five-paneled doors. The townhouse, also eyed by 6sqft, is on the market for $1.98 million.
POPULAR
Do You Prefer Preservation or Development for New York City?
It's the 50th anniversary of New York landmarks law, so the city and Curbed are celebrating by covering the ripple effects of the legislation o' preservation from every angle possible. So is every publication in the city. New York magazine's archicritic Justin Davidson put nostalgia-loving preservationist Jeremiah Moss, of Vanishing New York, and new-development cheerleader Nikolai Fedak, of New York YIMBY, into a room and had them duke it out. What resulted is an amazing transcript that distills the major conflict underlying many of the city's real estate battles today. It's exactly not as cut-and-dried as preservation versus development, but the questions are legitimately worth grappling with. Should the city risk losing character, history, small businesses, and low-rises for the sake of higher living standards, taller buildings, more housing, and (ideally) lower price and rents? Read the debate in full, enjoy the highlights below, and leave your thoughts in the comments. Do you support Moss or Fedak?
What $2,200/Month Can Rent You in New York City
Welcome to Curbed Comparisons, a column that explores what one can rent for a set dollar amount in various NYC neighborhoods. Is one man's studio another man's townhouse? Let's find out! Today's price: $2,200/month.
↑ In Hell's Kitchen, a one-bedroom with two splotches of exposed brick, each with a fireplace-shaped hole, is asking $2,250/month. The kitchen, such as it is, does not offer a bounty of counter or storage space.
Manhattan's 6 1/2 Avenue Is Getting A Luminous Upgrade
[Left: 52nd Street entrance. Right: 53rd Street entrance]
The CetraRuddy-designed lightsaber tower at 135 West 52nd Street is rising atop Manhattan's 6 1/2 Avenue, a string of privately-owned public spaces that stretch from 51st to 57th Street, and as part of the project, the development team is revamping a block of the hidden thoroughfare. The developers, Chetrit Group and Clipper Equity, hired French lighting designer Thierry Dreyfus, the man responsible for the 423-foot tower's glowing facade, to create a permanent installation for the pedestrian passageway, which will have landscaping, including a huge green wall and a waterfall, by M. Paul Friedberg & Partners. If the finished space looks as snazzy as the renderings, this slice of Midtown, between 52nd Street and 53rd Street, could become one of the neighborhood's best hidden gardens.
Bjark Ingels's 57th Street Tetrahedron Shall Go By... Via
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New York City apartment buildings have been bestowed with namesfor as long as they've been being built—starting with the city's first, The Stuyvesant—but as competition amongst buildings heats up, the names just seem to be trying harder and harder. For instance: everyone calls Bjarke Ingels' in-construction tetrahedron (nee pyramid) on West 57th Street "The Tetrahedron," but the New York Times reports that the Durst Organization-developed building will officially go by—wait for it—Via.
19th-Century Arches Could Be Key to Central Park's Safety
Matthew Falber led walking tours of Central Park for years before the idea struck. After a spate of tragic pedestrian deaths in the park in 2014, a mayoral official posited that Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux's 19th-century design of the park could be to blame. That's when Falber decided to channel his knowledge into activism. "It sort of hit me that there was a solution to the problem that was in the original park plan," he says. That solution? Arches. Calvert and Vaux included many in their 1857 plan to separate—and thereby protect—all its users: carriages; horseback riders; and those on foot.
Falber sent out a short proposal to government and park officials and then formalized his idea into the Central Park Arch Project, produced an explanatory video, and is starting to spread the word. This weekend, he's leading a (free!) six-hour Jane's Walk tour to talk about his group's mission. Among the main aims are to restore arches, some of which were removed or damaged over a century and a half, to rebuildsome arches in other, problematic areas in order to disperse park traffic, and to revise a few collision-prone pedestrian pathways—all in the name of saving lives.
At Last, Tesla Unveils its $3K Batteries for Powering the Home
All photos via The Verge
Tesla, the company so far famous for electric cars, is trying to conquer much, much more. Last night, CEO Elon Musk finally lifted the curtains off Tesla Energy, its long-anticipated battery system for powering homes, businesses, and potentially public utilities. The product aimed at average homeowners is the Powerwall, a shield-like pack that measures three feet by four feet in size and six inches thick, and can be hung indoors or outdoors. Targeting solar energy adopters, Powerwall stores electricity generated from solar panels during the day and saves it up for use at night and as a backup supply.
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