Max Roberts The Massimo Vignelli subway map (or, more accurately, subway diagram), introduced in 1972, was modeled after Harry Beck’s simplified map of the London Underground, and modified aspects of New York City’s geography to maximize the diagram’s visual navigability. It was widely loathed for that very reason, and was replaced seven years later, in 1979. However, Vignelli’s work has enjoyed something of a nostalgic resurgence in popularity in recent years, and now Max Roberts, designer of the concentric circle subway map…
Coming Attractions: Oddly-Placed Hotel Coming to Boerum Hill Manufacturing Area
A new hotel may be coming to a rather industrial block on the Gowanus/Boerum Hill border. Buzz Buzz Home reports that a four-story, 34-room hotel is in the works for 489 Baltic Street between Bond and Nevins streets. The hotel will bring a restaurant of sorts, office space, and a cellar-level conference room to the light manufacturing area. Demolition plans have been filed for the existing 5,000-square-foot warehouse on the site. Larry Kutnicki of Kutnicki Bernstein Architects is listed…
Development Watch: 28-Unit Rental Will Replace Factory On Wyckoff Avenue
What once was a two-story factory building is on its way to becoming a new 5-story apartment building on the corner of Madison Street and Wyckoff Avenue in Ridgewood, Queens. According to permits filed with the Department of Buildings, the completed building at 779 Wyckoff will hold 28 rentals and will include an enclosed parking space. It’s currently owned by 1612 Madison QX and will be designed by Gerald J Caliendo Architects PC, the same firm behind 60-15 Myrtle…
Comment Of The Day: I guess that the building boom…
I guess that the building boom around the Highline will stop when it has created a cramped, shadowed, ugly place to walk with nothing to see except into other people’s windows. It’s getting there faster than I imagined.—Rbrbr Juul-Hansen Condos Rise on Either Side of The High Line
Linkage: Evolution of Bike Lanes; McKibbin Lofts Basement ‘Perilous’
Curbed Flickr Pool / Kirit Prajapati · How to get around during the G’s planned 5-week outage DNA · Boring rendering revealed for 29 apartments in Bed-Stuy ‘Stoner · McKibbin Lofts basements “perilous to human life,” DOB Brokelyn · Billyburg Starbucks opened today, patrons go shamefully ENY · Watch 120 years of bike lane evolution in NYC StreetsBlog · Commercial site sale sets record in Boerum Hill CO · Where NYers move when they leave the city BBH ·
Linkage: Tech Company Signs At 4WTC; Wealthy People Not Fleeing NYC
Photo by Sam Reid/Curbed Flickr pool · Tech company MediaMath takes three floors at 4WTC Crain’s · Author John Cheever’s Westchester home is for sale NYT · Wealthy people are not fleeing NY because of high taxes NYT · LPC member may be the new BSA chair Crain’s · City-trimmed trees in Canarsie now look like ‘pitchforks’ BK Daily · Checking up on the luxe building rising on Bond St. EVG · You may soon be able to pay for Citi Bike with pre-tax dollars NYP · This 92-unit
CurbedWire: Colony 1209 60 Percent Leased; Urban Compass Raises $40M
BUSHWICK—After a few delays, the futuristic sounding Colony 1209, under new ownership, started leasing in April. Now, aptsandlofts, who are handling the marketing of the rentals, reports that 60 percent of the building’s 127 units are leased. The remaining unit range in price from $1,899 to $3,100. CurbedWire Inbox; previously THE INTERNET—Urban Compass announced that is has raised $40 million in Series B funding, allowing the company to expand its presence in New York (and other cities). Urban Compass recently
Lawsuits: Harry Macklowe is embroiled in yet…
Harry Macklowe is embroiled in yet another legal battle. The lawsuit-loving developer is suing Eliot Rabin for $100,000 over his men’s clothing store Peter Eliot, which occupies the street level of 150 East 72nd Street, a rental building that Macklowe converted into condos. Macklowe says Rabin didn’t pay rent for four months, but Rabin says he didn’t pay because during construction, Macklowe cut off his heat and damaged his storeroom. NYP; previously
Preservation Watch: Tribeca Group Invites Dissent With Historic District Expansion
Map of the northern section of Tribeca’s four current historic districts, via Broadsheet. A group of Tribeca preservationists has broadened its mission: instead of just working to landmark a 1830s Federal-style house on Walker Street, it wants to redraw the boundaries of the Tribeca North Historic District—and make it larger. Tribeca Trust tells Broadsheet Daily no link available yet that the existing boundaries of the district, above, leave out some 30 buildings that could be worth preserving formally. As the Trust’s founder told Broadsheet: “‘Some are the work of distinguished architects or sites of historically important events.’ Others… ‘are former stables and carriage …
Tuesday Townhouse: Interior Design Hall of Famer’s Ex-Townhouse Wants $5.5M
Angelo Donghia, one of the most celebrated interior designers of the 1970s, counted among his clients such celebrities as Donald Trump, Barbara Walters, Diana Ross, Mary Tyler Moore, Halston, Ralph Lauren, Neil Simon, and many more. He was described in his New York Times obituary as “one of America’s most influential interior designers” who “championed unexpected combinations of patterns and textures, gray flannel for plump over-scale furniture, shiny lacquered walls and bleached wood floors.” Some of that is still evident in the Lenox Hill townhouse that Donghia bought in 1972, renovated, and left in 1980. That house, now on the market for $5.5 million, includes features such as built-in pickle wood bookcases, a finished English basement, a patio, a …
QUICKLISTING: Corcoran: 54 East 1st Street
East Village Coop 1 BR, 1 BA | Asking $549,000 HWF, Renovated Bath, Exposed Brick 54 East 1st Street The Corcoran Group
Towers of the Future: Over the last seven years, developer…
Over the last seven years, developer Icon Realty Management purchased six low-rise buildings along Second Avenue between 80th and 81st streets. Now, restaurants in those buildings—including Upper East Side institution Pig Heaven—are being forced out of their spaces. That, plus the fact that Icon also bought a bunch of air rights, is a sure sign that a tower is set to rise on the site. Plus, from the guy who sold the air rights: “They’re going to build a high-rise—I’ve seen the renderings.” Everyone, get on demolition watch. DNAinfo
Rendering Reveals: New Look For 105 Rentals Joining BK’s ‘Canyon of Mediocrity’
Renderings via NY YIMBY from Adam America. The 12-story rental building Adam America is bringing to 470 4th Avenue at the Gowanus/Park Slope border has a new look. The new renderings from Aufgang Architects first spotted by YIMBY show a slightly less angular version of the 84,454-square-foot building between 10th and 11th streets. The 105-apartment building will have parking for 36 cars and 53 bicycles, a gym, tenant storage, community space, and ground floor retail. The building, in Brooklyn’s “Canyon of Mediocrity,” surprisingly won praise from archicritic James Gardner, The brick surface, which is solid as it recedes from the avenue, becomes spottier and more …
Neighborhood Beefs: Park Slopers File Lawsuit Against Hospital Expansion
The New York Methodist Hospital’s big expansion was approved by the Board of Standards and Appeals last week, but that’s not stopping Preserve Park Slope, the neighborhood group that has been fighting the expansion for the past year. The 800-member group filed suit in Manhattan Supreme Court last week after the decision was announced, complaining that the new hospital would be too large and out of context in the mostly residential neighborhood, and that proper environmental reviews have not been conducted. Since those…
Arrested Development: Harlem’s 125th Street has seen a…
Harlem’s 125th Street has seen a huge development boom over the last several years, but a prime lot at the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 125th Street still sits vacant. Property Shark lists the address as 2015 Fifth Avenue and shows that’s it sold in a foreclosure auction in 2006. It’s unclear what could become of it, but one Harlem Bespoke commenter says “the land owner is bitter from a previous development that went sour a few years ago and is only willing to sell only at ‘downtown’ prices.” Harlem Bespoke; previously
QUICKLISTING: Silver Towers
Silver TowersOne bedrooms from $4,190Pool, fitness by Clay, Abigail Michaels conciergesilvertowers.com
QUICKLISTING: Stribling: 135 East 79th Street
Upper East Side Condo 6 BR, 6 BA | Asking $18,500,000 Outdoor Space, Floating Staircase 135 East 79th Street, MW Stribling
Cool Map Thing: Beautiful Mapped Data Reveals Trends Across New York City
This map portrays the locations of independent coffee shops throughout Brooklyn, via You Are Here. The exceptional breadth of datasets and the advent of digital maps go hand-in-hand like, well, site-specific data and maps; people love to see information visualized. That’s what the crew behind MIT Media Lab’s You Are Here project is banking on. You Are Here was conceived by Sep Kamvar who, according to Marketplace Tech, realized that the cities we inhabit differ in subtle ways often due to deliberate decisions, and its these decisions that give shape and a certain character to the city. The visualizations take traditional maps to the next level: they don’t just tell onlookers how to get around, but reveal where things are happening…
That’s Rather Creepy: Nightmarish Doll-Filled Upper West Side Apartment Asks $1.3M
This three-bedroom condo on West 98th Street is on the market for $1.295 million, which isn’t quite as good a deal as it seems at first glance considering that it comes with a rent-stabilized tenant in place. However, if you are in the (sleazy) business of buying “investment” apartments and waiting for their occupants to die, then, really, how long is it going to be before this person’s terrifying doll collection comes alive and exacts its revenge? Probably not long, right? The dolls are looking restless, particularly the one in the box labelled “Satin Skin.” According to Gothamist, the apartment’s “aesthetic is somewhere between Mommy …
Languishing Listings: It seems that no one wants…
It seems that no one wants to move to fancy-schmancy Bronx neighborhoods like Riverdale and Fieldston. We’ve seen more than a few multi-million dollar mansions in those areas hit the market, but many of these languish on the market for six months of more. The Manhattan market is booming, but the Riverdale area has seen 30 percent less sales from 2009 to 2013 than it saw in the five years prior. NYO
Finger Building Watch: Even More Long Island City Condos Debut, Get Snapped Up
A finger building on Hunter Street in Long Island City—which is positively teeming with new residential development—launched condo sales a month ago… and already, 30 percent of the units are in contract. With a very Manhattan-y name, The Madison hit the market in late June, offering apartments starting from $500,000. According to StreetEasy, four out of six apartments that have been listed thus far are taken, with the two remaining priced at $575K and $560K, respectively. There are 14 apartments total in the modern, balconied nine-story building, which is tucked in a low-rise area south of the Queensboro Bridge ramp, west of where it turns…
Coming Attractions: 18 Stories of Luxury Rentals Coming to Troubled Tribeca Site
Charles Dayan of Bonjour Capital, the developer behind Bed-Stuy’s 333 Greene Avenue, has a new project in the works, this one at 358 Broadway in Tribeca. The site is currently home to a six-story building, which will be demolished to make way for an 18-story building containing 89 rental units. Permits filed yesterday with the Department of Buildings, also spotted by New York YIMBY, have the architect listed as Daniel Goldner and put the total square footage at 89,080. The building will be fully residential. Dayan acquired the site in a 2012 foreclosure auction, paying $12.69 million, after former …
Hanging Out: How is it determined if the…
How is it determined if the city’s historic and landmarked buildings are in need of exterior repair? Turns out there are firms of engineers and architects who, with the assistance of ropes and harnesses, rappel from buildings’ windows to get up-close to the areas in question. “You can crane your head out a window, you can use binoculars, but it’s not the same thing as being inches away from something that may be a hairline crack or confirm there is not a crack
Cornerspotter: Cornerspotted: The Affinia Hotel at 31st St. and Seventh Ave.
The Affinia Hotel now occupies the building at the southeast corner of 31st Street and Seventh Avenue, which was first erected as the Governor Clinton Hotel. The hotel across the street from Penn Station was designed by architects Murgatroyd & Ogden—the latter a Cooper Union graduate—and opened in 1929. The hotel was originally named after New York state’s first governor, George Clinton, who held the position from 1777-1795 and 1801-1804. · Hotel Governor Clinton, 371 7th Ave. at 31st St. 14to42 · Hint: This Tower Was Named After a Prominent NY Figure Curbed · Cornerspotter archives Curbed