After the fireworks, there will be open houses. Curbed Marketplace is on the case with our weekly roundup. More where this came from in our Open House Calendars.
Sunday Sales
- 1) 135 West 14th St (above, left), 2BR, 2BA, 2148 sq ft, $1.795M [Prudential Douglas Elliman]
- 2) 250 Mercer St, 1BR, 1BA, 950 sq ft, $799K [Prudential Douglas Elliman]
- 3) 418 East 59th St, 2BR, 2.5BA, 1400 sq ft, $1.395M [Prudential Douglas Elliman]
- 4) 161 West 133rd St, Studio, 1BA, $170K [Prudential Douglas Elliman]
- 5) 61 West 62nd St, 2BR, 2BA, 1250 sq ft, $1.299M [Prudential Douglas Elliman]
- 6) 244 Madison Ave, Studio, 1BA, 600 sq ft, $369K [Prudential Douglas Elliman]
- 7) 120 West 58th St, 1BR, 1BA, 730 sq ft, $649K [Prudential Douglas Elliman]
- 8) 399 East 78th St, 2BR, 1BA, 900 sq ft, $625K [Prudential Douglas Elliman]
- 9) 100 West 58th St, Studio, 1BA, 607 sq ft, $720K [Prudential Douglas Elliman]
- 10) 250 East 65th St, 1BR, 1BA, 1025 sq ft, $925K [Prudential Douglas Elliman]
- 11) 2025 Broadway, 1BR, 1BA, 650 sq ft, $475K [Prudential Douglas Elliman]
Sunday Rentals
- 1) 61 W. 62nd St (above, right), 2BR, 2BA, 1250 sq ft, $4,850 [Prudential Douglas Elliman]
- 2) 100 W. 58th St, 0BR, 1BA, 607 sq ft, $2,900 [Prudential Douglas Elliman]
- 3) 312 E. 9th St, 2BR, 1BA, $2,350 [Prudential Douglas Elliman]
- 4) 460 E. 79th St, 2BR, 2BA, 1200 sq ft, $5,250 [Prudential Douglas Elliman]
· Properties for Sale [Curbed Marketplace]
· Properties for Rent [Curbed Marketplace]
· Sales Open House Calendar [Curbed Marketplace]
· Rentals Open House Calendar [Curbed Marketplace]]]>
The Brooklyn Paper, in a bit of man-on-the-street fun, got people to comment on The Brooklyner, the 500-unit rental tower at 111 Lawrence Street that's now the tallest building in the borough. A taste: "It looks like some high-tech stuff. Upper-class people will want to live there. And it's out-of-scale for Brooklyn. Maybe I can understand Manhattan, but not in Brooklyn. It's weird." [Brooklyn Paper; previously]]]>
The craziest idea of this week—architecture firm Ballistic Architecture Machine's desire to build a bird sanctuary on the roof of the Battery Park City Embassy Suites—is shockingly most likely not happening, the Broadsheet Daily reports. However, building owner Goldman Sachs is "interested in doing something with the roof here, but they've been talking about an open-air bar or a putting green." Well, at least birdies are still involved. Zing! [Broadsheet; previously]]]>
The tail end of 2008 brought word of yet another new hotel coming to Hudson Square, this time to 68 Charlton Street, and now the Observer reports that developer Extell has filed buildings plans. Some details: "The plans call for a pool in the basement; a first-floor 'eating and drinking establishment'; hotel rooms on floors four through 34; and yet another 'eating and drinking establishment' on the 35th floor." Chicago-based Lucien Lagrance Architects is designing. [NYO; previously]]]>
As we've been known to do, we pinged Jonathan Miller—real estate appraiser, Curbed graph guy, blogger, podcaster and, most importantly on this day, the man who prepares Elliman's quarterly market reports—for a chat about the latest Manhattan numbers.
At the corner of Sixth Avenue and 12th Street, Joe Jr's—a legendary diner dating back 45 years in the neighborhood—suddenly finds itself in a fight for its life. Per signage posted today at the establishment, they've lost their lease and may have to shutter as early as Sunday. Shudder. [Eater] ]]>
City officials—trying to keep Toll Brothers and other developers interested in building hundreds of luxury apartments along the fabulous Gowanus Canal—has proposed an alternate plan to the E.P.A.'s Superfund designation proposal. It still involves a clean-up, with voluntary payments from polluters (heh.), federal cash, the Army and just 9½ years of effort instead of two decades of stigmatizing Superfund action. [NYT; previously]]]>
Mayor Bloomberg is undefeated on rezoning proposals, but the Daily News' Jotham Sederstrom reports that the City Council might shoot down the controversial 47-block Coney Island reshuffling. At a subcommittee hearing yesterday, Economic Development Corp. President Seth Pinsky finally had to fess up that using eminent domain to seize land from holdout Coney landlords (coughJoeSittcough) is a possibility, and Sederstrom writes, "some City Council members strongly indicated they would vote against the zoning plan this month when it goes before the full Council." [NYDN; previously]]]>
And now, something to distract from all the bad market report news—sex! According to a new survey of unknown origin (our favorite type of survey!), New Yorkers said they had sex 80 times a year, below the national average of 84 and way below Houston, which topped the list at 101 times. Hmm, did the survey-takers ignore the Urban Ass House? Lack of uglies-bumping aside, 73% of New Yorkers said they were satisfied with their love lives. [NYP]]]>
The Big Four have unleashed their second quarter Manhattan real estate market reports on the world, and when combined they make for one big maelstrom of misery, followed by what appears to be a bit of calm waters. The numbers differ, but Prudential Douglas Elliman (in a report prepped by Curbed graph guru Jonathan Miller), Corcoran (with PropertyShark's Bill Staniford on board) and Halstead/Brown Harris Stevens (making in-house abacus operator Greg Heym work overtime) all report big losses in average and median Manhattan sales prices over last year, and epic falls in the number of sales—we're talking sales cut in half. But there are signs of life: green shoots, if you will. The reports all point to sales activity picking up at the tail end of the quarter (the usual spring bump or a sign the market has bottomed?), and Corcoran's Pam Liebman says in the brokerage's report that once all Q2 closings reach public record, sales could be up over 15% from last quarter. While inventory is up around 10% over last year, it's down from last quarter, and co-ops (representing 47.5% of all apartment sales in the quarter, according to Elliman) are performing feats of strength. To the numbers!]]>
Average sale price
PROSPECT HEIGHTS—We do love ourselves some Sterling Green, the eco-themed new condo building at 580 Sterling Place whose design was foolishly put in all our hands at one time. Developer Seth Brown writes in with an update: "Construction is finally complete, the units are all cleaned up, and we’re working on getting our signoffs. We've had a lot of interest in the project since we started marketing at the end of February, and right now four units are in contract, and we’ve accepted offers on two more (the penthouses). We should have only have 2 of 8 units left by the end of this week – 1B, which is a 1071 square foot garden duplex with a 20 x 30 foot backyard ($479,000), and 3A, a spacious alcove studio with a balcony, which is $299,000." Power to the people! Here's the website. [CurbedWire Inbox]
Why didn't the developers of the Elan Park Slope arrange some sort of McDonald's delivery service as a buyers' perk? That's what we're wondering after checking out Brownstoner's update on the tall 1st Street building, which has the Golden Arches right next door. After all, the biggest hassle with snaring the elusive Mickey D's breakfast is getting there by the draconian early-morning deadline, so imagine having some griddle cakes and Egg McMuffins waiting as soon as you wake up. That might help some of those 32 units move! [Brownstoner; previously]]]>
We assumed that Extell's crazy World Product Centre plan was sent to the scrap heap along with all the other 60-story skyscrapers that have yet to break ground, but the Wall Street Journal's Developments blog tells us we assumed wrong! The office tower (for high-tech medical professionals only!) on the site of the old Copacabana near Hudson Yards has signed on 11 interested parties and excavation is scheduled for November, with a 2013 completion date eyed. [Developments; previously]]]>
On-the-rise real estate celebs Bob and Cortney Novogratz are back, this time with hubby Bob showing New York's Jhoanna Robledo around the couple's 400 West Street townhouse, on the market for $25 million. There's no fenced-in basketball dome this time around, but there is a court complete with skylight, scoreboard and a drop-down movie screen. Also cool: The automatic glass garage door thingy leading out to the private backyard. [NYM; previously]]]>
The internal combustion giveaway is making a comeback! First we had Stuyvesant Town offering the gratis use of a Mini Cooper for one year to the existing tenant that refers the most new renters, and now deep in the Prospect Heights/Crown Heights DMZ comes word of a hybrid of an offer from the gang at 727 Prospect Place, aka The Sinclair. Submit a full-price offer on one of four new one-bedroom condos (priced at $379,000 and $389,000) between now and July 5 and snag your Earth-loving self a free Toyota Prius. "This is no joke," say the listings, and we do love it when it a giveaway carries that disclaimer. A bit of a short shelf life on the offer, but it's not like you were planning on spending the holiday weekend doing something other than pouring over paperwork, right? Just make sure your buddies don't yell "shotgun!" too loud.
Because we can never get enough Case-Shiller in our lives, we turn the microphone over to professional brainiac Barry Ritholtz, who throws a bucket of cold water on those celebrating the index's latest numbers as evidence the nationwide market has already hit bottom. That was yesterday, and today's lesson includes an updated 100-year Case-Shiller Index graph and predictions on where it's headed. Hint: It ain't pretty. Meanwhile, tomorrow the second-quarter Manhattan market reports hit the streets. Get pumped! [The Big Picture]]]>
100 Varick Street, you little tease! It was way back in 2007 when we got a look at what you had planned for the pocket of Hudson Square surrounding the mouth of the Holland Tunnel. Replacing some historic homes would be 10 stories of modern, glassy living, but apparently that's no longer the case. The Observer reveals the new plans for 100 Varick, a 26-story hotel covered in "amorphous thin film glass" that will harness solar energy to generate some of the building's electricity. Check out the handy rendering that helps explain the concept to those of us who flunked Environmental Science. Oooh, sun beams! The design comes from green-loving architect Anthony Morali of MStudio, and according to the developer the hotel is still six months out from getting the necessary approvals. A hotel makes a bit more sense for the location, but we hate to see a good rendering go to waste. One last time, please join us for a glimpse at the 100 Varick Street not to be:]]>
For those not yet tired of critical assessments of car-free Broadway in Times Square, here's one from the Times' Susan Dominus, who writes that the downmarket look of the plaza is "a little unworthy of New York." Go on, Suze: "The city may be reeling from recession, but the huge orange plastic containers and tatty hardware-store chairs give the sense that it's already letting itself go, like some Lehman Brothers wife who has not just forsaken her golden highlights, but given up on grooming altogether. Surely someone at Ikea could have helped the city ease this transition — maybe some witty, oversize umbrellas (sure, weighed down), or at least chairs that do not look like they are lonely for the company of pink flamingos." [NYT]]]>
Lincoln Center just got schooled: Crain's reports that the City Council voted to approve Fordham's controversial 25-year campus expansion on its superblock near the cultural capital, and now the plan just needs Mayor Bloomberg's go-ahead. The first phase of the plan includes a new law school (right), student center, dormitory and public plaza along Columbus Avenue. We can honestly say we didn't see this one coming. Go Rams! [Crain's]]]>