Harlem Is Becoming As Expensive As the Rest of Manhattan
StreetEasy's Market Report for July is out now, and while some of the data within isn't too surprising—resale prices for Manhattan and Brooklyn hit record highs, as did rents—there are some interesting (and possibly depressing) tidbits. Namely: Resale prices in Upper Manhattan (covering north-of-110th-Street neighborhoods like Harlem, Inwood, and Hamilton Heights) are on the rise, with an 11.9 percent increase from this time last year. Even though the median resale price there is lower than the rest of the borough, at $565,690, it's a significant jump from the same period last year. In a press release, Alan Lightfeldt, StreetEasy's data scientist, said "With homebuyers being priced out of not only Manhattan but many Brooklyn neighborhoods as well, these northern neighborhoods are attractive now more than ever.…Upper Manhattan is a new battleground for bidding wars." Yikes.
See the Subway Map Snake Through New York's Streetscape
The New York City subway map is about as abstract as it can get. Compared with the actual topography of the city, the shape of the boroughs is about on par with what an attention-short seven-year-old might draw when asked to replicate a real map of New York City. And maybe it's that disconnect that makes it so hard to envision the subway system beyond the poster that's plastered in every train car. But here comes map aficionado and Tumblr user Anorrian to change all that (h/t 6sqft.) Anorrian has overlaid the city's vast underground transportation network—including the incoming Second Avenue Subway, PATH, and 7-train extension—over photos taken from a commercial plane. The results are delightfully informative, unlike garbled MTA overhead announcements.
5 Homes You Can Buy Instead Of This $450K NYC Parking Spot
Welp, here it is: a listing for a six-digit parking spot, threatened bymany and feared by all. The $450,000 parking spot, unlike apartmentsof similar expense, does not come with a bathroom. It does not have a kitchen or a window; heck, it isn't even a legal place to sleep. No, it isjust a place to put a car at pricey Tribeca condo One York. In honor of this flourishing practice of pricing parking spots above many apartments, we're taking a trip around the Curbediverse to see where you can actually live—kitchen and all—for $450,000.
Open House NY 2015 Includes Google HQ, World's Fair Relic
Mark your calendars: the best weekend of fall 2015 will take place onOctober 17 and 18 when the annual Open House New Yorkextravaganza brings city dwellers inside dozens of significant buildings, private homes, and usually off-limits spaces. Many fan favorites will once again open their doors—including the Ford Foundation, Brooklyn Army Terminal, and Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant—and a slew of new sites are joining the fun. New additions include the recently renovated City Hall, Google's headquarters in Chelsea, the beloved World's Fair New York State Pavilion, several "architectural gems" on CUNY's Bronx Community College campus, and the National Lighthouse Museum on Staten Island.
Tracking NYC's Lost and Endangered Movie Theaters
Is it a bad time to be a cinephile in New York City? Earlier this week, theNew York Times reported that a new two-screen, 225-seat movie theater, called Metrograph, would be opening on Ludlow Street sometime early next year, with a lineup curated by veterans of the Museum of the Moving Image and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. ABrooklyn outpost of the Texas-based Alamo Drafthouse is scheduled to open in the City Point complex when that comes to fruition; similar theater-restaurant hybrids, like Nitehawk Cinemas, are thriving.
But that doesn't change the fact that movie theaters, particularly smaller indie cinemas, are disappearing from the city at an alarming pace—and the ones that remain are often in danger of redevelopment, or worse, totally shuttering. (In some cases, this leaves entire boroughs—like the Bronx—nearly devoid of cinemas altogether.) See which theaters have been affected by this downturn, and which ones may be next. Know of any that we missed? let us know in the comments or on the tipline.—Additional research and writing by Jessica Dailey
7 Lovely Dwellings In Jackson Heights Asking Less Than $1M
The average Manhattan home costs $1.8 million (and there are many that are way more expensive than that), but this isn't a city of millionaires just yet. Pockets of affordability do exist, and Curbed's new feature aims to highlight the loveliest homes on the market in these less expensive enclaves.
Jackson Heights—the Queens neighborhood bounded by Woodside, East Elmhurst, Corona, and Elmhurst—is the place to go for nice, even updated lodgings that don't cost an arm and a leg. According toStreetEasy, the average price per square foot for residential property in Jackson Heights is $413. Compare that to Clinton Hill ($724), Bedford Stuyvesant ($498), and even Woodside ($649). A large stretch of the neighborhood was landmarked as part of the Jackson Heights Historic District in 1993 (PDF!), which has imparted a delightful, historic architectural character on a large swath of the neighborhood. Now, here's what you can score for less than $1 million in the neighborhood's bounds.
World Trade Center Slurry Wall Might Be Leaking
[View of the slurry wall from within the September 11 Museum, where a portion has been left uncovered.]
A little leak may be a big problem for the World Trade Center site.DNAinfo has learned that the site's slurry wall, which is responsible for keeping the Hudson River separate from the cavernous underground infrastructure of the site, may be the source of a leak that workers have been investigating. Sources told DNAinfo that workers began to hear the sound of rushing (not dripping) water behind the walls of the lower concourse in areas not accessible by the public sometime within the last two weeks. Crews investigating the issue have begun dismantling parts of walls in search of the leak's origin. Although no one really knows if it's the 3,200-foot-long slurry wall that's leaking, some people fear that it wasn't properly insulateddespite the millions of dollars the Port Authority poured into repairing the wall since September 11.
Charting the Growth of NYC's Tallest Residential Towers
[The Waldorf Astoria was the tallest residential building in NYC for more than 50 years. Photo by Marco Rubino / Shutterstock.com.]
With its latest exhibit, "Ten Tops," the Skyscraper Museum is looking at the tallest buildings in the world—according to the parameters they've put into place, that means structures that exceed the 100-story mark, including One World Trade Center and the Empire State Building. Earlier this year, the museum launched a digital exhibition to accompany the IRL one, which includes a virtual timeline of the tallest structures throughout history. And now, they've created lists of "alternative" top tens—things like the top ten residential towers in New York City, or the tallest observation decks around the world—to show how supertall buildings are used globally.
Why NYC's Most Magnificent Cathedral Is Not Landmarked
[Photo by Kripaks/Wikimedia Commons.]
The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Morningside Heights, ranks as one of the most impressive cathedrals not just in New York City, but in the world. The elaborate facade towers over Amsterdam Avenue and the building extends a full avenue block down to Morningside Drive. The interior is distinguished by Gothic and Romanesque details, with a massive central dome made of Guastavino tile and 45-foot-tall stained glass windows. It also holds the Guinness Book of World Records' title of 'Largest Cathedral in the World.' The St. John the Divine websitesums up its importance: "The Cathedral is more than 120 years old, and remains unfinished. Despite incomplete construction, it is the largest cathedral in the world, making it a global landmark."
Problem is, this building is not a designated New York City landmark. That means that New York's most significant cathedral—deemed by the Landmarks Preservation Commission as "one of the great religious structures of the world"—isn't protected by the city at all. It's not for lack of trying, as the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the cathedral in 2002, but the decision was overturned by the City Council in a greater attempt to landmark the entire, nearly 12-acre site. An inability to do that, however, left the cathedral unprotected and the grounds open for development, hence the two rental towersunder construction right next door.
Controversial Bill Could Wipe Out Landmarks Backlog
[Manhattan Municipal Building, where the LPC meets. Photograph by Evan Bindelglass.]
A bill making its way through the City Council would impose deadlines on the 50-year-old Landmarks Preservation Commission in regards to designating landmarks and historic districts. While its sponsor says the bill is supposed to make things more efficient and help the commission deal with its backlog, advocates are concerned that it would hamstring the LPC, and eliminate dozens of items that are being considered as landmarks.
Historic Townhouse in Bed-Stuy Has Lots of Nice Details
Welcome to the Brooklyn Townhouse Roundup, where we—you guessed it—take a look at the most notable Brooklyn townhouses on the market. Got tips?Send 'em here.
↑ First up is this four-story townhouse in Bed-Stuy. It's located in the Stuyvesant Heights Historic District and has some very nice floor-to-ceiling woodwork, original stained glass, parquet floors, barrel windows, and pocket doors. It's currently set up for four families and it's asking $2.42 million.
Everybody Hates de Blasio's Times Square Overhaul Proposal
It's pretty rare for a mayor to propose something that everybody immediately agrees on, but pretty much everybody seems to agree theMayor de Blasio's proposal (expanding from a remark by Police Commissioner Bratton) to get rid of the pedestrian plazas in Times Square because we must Protect The Children from body-painted women is, in a word, bad. "Sure, let's tear up Broadway — we can't govern, manage or police our public spaces," Times Square Alliance president Tim Tompkins told Times archicritic Michael Kimmelman, who writes:
It's hard to grasp [de Blasio's] calculus. One of Mr. de Blasio's big initiatives, Vision Zero, aims to improve pedestrian safety. Ripping up the pedestrian plazas in Times Square, restoring cars and forcing millions of people to dodge traffic again, runs headlong into his own policy.
...
Time and again, Mr. de Blasio leaves an impression that he understands very little about the dynamics of urbanism and the physical fabric of the city ... Entertaining the demolition of the plazas, the mayor sends a message that New York can't support the sort of great pedestrian hubs that thrive in competing cities around the globe.
What $4,100/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: $4,100/month.
↑ In the East Village, a floor-through one-bedroom is renting for$4,100/month. It appears to come with two people acting out a play or something, as well as a huge moose head. There's also a private backyard and the bathroom looks pretty big.
See 1967 New York City Through the Eyes of a Tourist
Maybe it's Josh Burdick's love for New York City that brought these photographs, of a 1967 family trip that predates his birth, to light. In an email Burdick explains that, as an electronics technician for the FAA, his father's job took his still-growing family across the country from Texas to to Baltimore, where they took the opportunity to visit the Big Apple. Burdick sets the scene for the trip—the family's only to New York City,
My Mom toted along my three older siblings, Cecil III, Bill, and Jenny while being pregnant with Jeff (to be born in Nov '67). I didn't come along until Dec. '72. She and the kids usually sat on a park bench are [SIC] in the car while my dad hiked up to the top of the Empire State Tower or the Statue of Liberty to shoot these photos. I think he did a pretty good job!
The photos are an endearing look into what feels like a whirlwind NYC exploration of another era, and also unknowingly pay tribute to a much squatter city where the Empire State Building stuck out like a sore thumb and Niemeyer and Corbusier's United Nations building was just 22 years old. Burdick had the images scanned from slides, and has also set up a website where he sells prints. Check out his website for more photographs of an erstwhile New York.
More vintage photos of New York City:
What 15 Historic New York City Scenes Look Like Today
Relive the Empty, Industrial Streets of 1990s Williamsburg
Tourists' Photo Treasure Trove Captures 1980s New York City
Fly Back and See Eero Saarinen's TWA Terminal in Its Prime
In Memoriam: 15 Photos of the Twin Towers in the 1970s
What 15 Historic New York City Scenes Look Like Today
Relive the Empty, Industrial Streets of 1990s Williamsburg
Tourists' Photo Treasure Trove Captures 1980s New York City
Fly Back and See Eero Saarinen's TWA Terminal in Its Prime
In Memoriam: 15 Photos of the Twin Towers in the 1970s
Tracing 350 Years of Harlem's Ever-Shifting Boundaries
Some neighborhood names appear to be jokes. Some have stuck around for centuries, despite changing connotations. Some shift with the winds of gentrification. Welcome to Blurred Lines, in which writer Keith Williamsstudies New York City's changing neighborhood boundaries.
[1868 map illustrating the 1776 Battle of Harlem Heights via Wikimedia Commons.]
Ask a handful New Yorkers to define the southern boundary of Harlemand you'll likely get a few different responses. The most popular, in my unscientific experience, is 96th Street east of Central Park and 110th Street elsewhere. A few old-timers will claim it used to dive down to 96th Street on the West Side, and other people contend that the presence of Columbia University disqualifies Morningside Heights from consideration. In recent years, development east of Central Park and north of 96th Street has caused some to question whether that area should now be considered part of the Upper East Side. I've never heard anyone, however, claim that the Harlem of today matches its original boundaries; when it was officially chartered in 1660, its southern border stretched from today's 129th Street on the Hudson to 74th Street on the East River.
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