NYC real estate
fromCurbed
4 days agoThe Brutalist Beach House on Ocean Avenue
A distinctive Brutalist-inspired Manhattan Beach house by WXY has struggled to sell despite high local demand and multiple price reductions over eight years.
Wednesday, Oct. 22 at 10 a.m.: The NYC Planning Commission will meet regarding the following land use applications: 142 Flagg Place, 47 Farview Place SNAD Authorization, Jenna Lane - Modification, Praise Tabernacle, Queens CD 3 Walk to Park Site Selection / Acquisition, Brooklyn CD 5 Walk to Park Site Selection / Acquisition, AAMUP Follow-Up Action, Coney Island Business Improvement District. .
Developer Harry Macklowe said he wanted an "absolutely pure building" in 432 Park and tapped the Uruguayan modernist architect Rafael Viñoly to help execute that vision. On top of being one of the tallest and slimmest buildings in the world, the perfectly rectilinear tower would also be a stark, clean white. But that signature aesthetic, which apparently helped sell out the building's 125 units for more than $2.5 billion - A-Rod and Jennifer Lopez were among the early buyers - now appears to be the source of some major problems, per the Times.
The two-building complex faces the neighborhood's eponymous Sunset Park and was completed in 1927, according to the certificate of occupancy. The Sun Heights Building Corp. was behind the construction with architect Eric O. Homgren behind the design of the restrained yellow brick buildings with a hint of neo Classical ornament. Holmgren also designed the earliest Finnish co-operative buildings in the neighborhood, Alku and Alku Toinen.
The owner closed what was essentially a local monopoly because of what it termed "significant operating deficits in recent years." While the store will remain open to sell over-the-counter medications and other products and to keep running its soda fountain and lunch counter, prescriptions are being transferred to Southold Pharmacy on the mainland, inconvenient at the least for Shelter Island residents, especially its senior citizens.
Bespoke millwork, soaring ceilings, and light-filled spaces create an elegant, stately feel as you swan from room to room. Starting at the garden level, a wrought-iron gate takes you through a landscaped courtyard garden and into a marble vestibule. Just inside, the chef's kitchen sports a custom banquette and flows into the formal dining room, with hand-painted wallpaper and a wood-burning fireplace. French doors along one of the walls spill open to the red-brick rear garden, which includes mirrored trellises and a fireplace-warmed pergola.
Brooklyn's office market is carving out its own identity as companies and workers move away from Manhattan's pricier spaces, according to new data from JLL. Average asking rents in Brooklyn dropped 5.1% over the past year, now at $53.33 per square foot. But the report shows a sharp divide between high-end and mid-tier offices. Class A buildings, the newest spaces with modern amenities, are facing vacancies close to 25%.
At the intersection of the Hudson Square and SoHo neighborhoods, 10 Sullivan Street rises as a 16-story wedge that makes a respectful nod to one of New York's most celebrated architectural icons: the Flatiron Building. Its unusual shape is part boat prow, part clothing iron, thanks to a long, narrow triangular lot that tapers to a point at the southern end.
Tay Ladd watched " The Gilded Age," so she gets the old money vs. new money divide. The debate might be as old as New York. The TV show's characters covet storied old townhouses, while contemporary buildings are considered gauche. Ladd knows what side she's on. She prefers a newer "luxury" apartment building filled with communal amenities, like fitness classes or spas, that classic pre-war apartment buildings almost never have.
I am standing astride my bicycle, a sapling in a torrent of traffic, at the spot where Flatbush Avenue angles across Fulton Street. The light changes but my eye drifts up to the towers of Downtown Brooklyn silhouetted by the afternoon sun. Angry honks jolt me back to my task, and as I ride on, it occurs to me that this is how this new-growth forest of high-rises is best seen: in passing and under pressure.
Two months before the start of her master's program at New York University, Amrutha Kosuru hadn't found housing and posted requests for assistance on her university's Facebook group. This was Kosuru's first time in New York; she was born in India. Her goal was to complete two years of study in the city. She was ready for a challenge-a heavy academic workload and high tuition-but she didn't realize how difficult it would be to find a place to live.
For the most part, Grand Street between Driggs and Roebling is a clean line of low brick buildings, some dating to the 19th century. No. 241, however, stands out like a goth at the high-school prom. The façade is black with a zigzag of windows down the center between rusty exposed beams. This is strange enough, but the place has also been vacant for about 20 years while the rest of Williamsburg has turned into a luxury mall.
Since 1960, New York has been in a state of housing emergency, meaning a vacancy rate of 5% or less; today the vacancy rate is 1.4%, which, in turn, has driven up housing costs higher than ever. According to Apartments.com, the average rent for an available studio apartment is around $3,270 per month. In 2021, 53% of households in the city were spending over 30% of their income on rent.
Green Street picked up the Williamsburg properties for $15.5 million late last year from the Franquinha family, against the apparent objections ofCrest's owner, Joseph Franquinha. Over the decades, the hardware store that was first started by Joseph's father and uncle had evolved with the neighborhood, from a place where handymen and artists living in converted lofts could get paint or new pipes to a destination for luxury-condo buyers looking for ZZ plants.
A New York City teacher earning $70,000 applies for an affordable housing unit in Queens and is told she doesn't qualify. Not because she makes too much money, but because she doesn't make enough. The "affordable" one-bedroom requires a minimum income of $90,000, and even the studio required $75,000; just out of reach. Stories like this illustrate a broader paradox in New York's housing policy.
For under a million dollars, one can find all sorts of housing configurations: park- and subway-adjacent studios, one-bedrooms hidden in carriage houses or former shoe factories, and even the occasional true two-bedroom. We're combing the market for particularly spacious, nicely renovated, or otherwise worth-a-look apartments at various six-digit price points. This week, we've got a converted studio on the Upper East Side with a wall of oversize windows and a one-bedroom across the street from Prospect Park with a deeded parking spot.
The Peninsula New York is a remarkable testament to blending heritage with contemporary luxury, offering an inviting refuge that celebrates Manhattan's Art Deco heritage, enhanced by a significant renovation.
"Steinberg's building is one of the last prewar co-ops to have a private restaurant. The amenity was ubiquitous in the years when developers were inventing the modern apartment building and the city wasn't yet bursting with dining options."