Photo of the new WTC and lower Manhattan (via Gateway apartments in Battery Park City)
Starting today, five regions of New York State have met the CDC guidelines to start the first of four phases of reopening businesses. New York City continues to see a decline in hospitalizations and deaths, but does not yet have the required beds and contact tracers to reopen at this point. It and the remaining regions will remain on PAUSE until at least May 28; while we’re waiting, we look at the ways the city could look different on the outside and beneath the surface.
In this article:
Checking in on an innovative 1.5-acre playground coming to Battery Park
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The Battery Conservancy (TBC) has begun work on an innovative children's playscape that will triple the size of a pre-existing playground in Battery Park. Situated near the popular SeaGlass Carousel, the 1.5-acre 'Battery Playscape' will be open to all but is a direct response to the growing number of families who have relocated to the Financial District. The design by BKSK Architects and Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners incorporates sustainable features and is inspired by climate, sea, and wind. Its 40,000 square feet of gardens will give children an introduction to a world of nature, including providing education on plants, bugs, birds, and butterflies. Components of the playscape include a Jewel Box Puppet Theater, a jungle-gym-like playhouse, and Adventure Bluffs, a hillside flush with vegetation, stairs, and slides.More here.
Construction at The Battery Playscape as of May 2020
New rendering of 175-unit condo tower underway in Morningside Heights
Credit: Robert A.M. Stern Architects
Construction has begun on a new condominium tower at
80-100 Claremont Avenue within the Union Theological Seminary's Morningside Heights campus. The 42-floor, the 466-foot-tall project will have 175 residences and is to accompany a $125M rehabilitation of the 119-year-old school.
Robert A.M. Stern Architects and
SLCE are the designers and Lend Lease and L+M are the co-developers of the tower.
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Featured Rental Listing: Bed-stuy one-bedroom with private balcony and garden for $2,750/mo
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From the listing: Just one flight up, 223 Pulaski Street, Residence 2B is a well designed and peaceful one bedroom, one bath home with two outdoor spaces in the form of a balcony and private garden. The unit is a plant lover's dream with over-sized floor to ceiling windows allowing for tons of natural light to flood in throughout the day.
The majestic garden is already planted with a large variety of perennials including Hydrangea, anemones, peonies, lilac, echinacea, kale, geranium and more. Over 200 bulbs planted for you to experience various blooms from April until the first frost! Full listing here.
The majestic garden is already planted with a large variety of perennials including Hydrangea, anemones, peonies, lilac, echinacea, kale, geranium and more. Over 200 bulbs planted for you to experience various blooms from April until the first frost! Full listing here.
COOKFOX-designed condo in the Ladies' Mile will be known as Flatiron House
Flatiron House (via Anbau NYC)
Facade detail
West 24th Street elevation
Just west of Madison Square Park and Eataly, Flatiron House
at 39 West 23rd Street will offer 44 residences in the heart of the Flatiron District, just off Madison Square Park. The building topped out several months ago and is now receiving an elegant glass and terra cotta facade refined by Boston Valley Terra Cotta. Upper floors will have wide-angle views over the Ladies' Mile and units will have floor-to-ceiling windows fronted by planted balconies and ornate railings. Amenities are to include a landscaped interior courtyard, fitness center, limited on-site parking, and a game room.
Flatiron House at 39 West 23rd Street in May 2020
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The sweeping view south over lower Manhattan
The cities we want to see
Bedford-Stuyvesant (CityRealty)
At the height of the pandemic and accompanying New York City shutdown, many of the wealthiest residents fled to their second homes thinking they’d be safer in the country than in a densely populated city. However, this is a misconception: Dr. Mary T. Bassett, former New York City Health Commissioner, points out that cities with the highest population densities, New York among them, were not among the hardest hit by the virus. Rather, she blames overcrowded households, policies that deter people from taking sick days or seeking medical attention, and unaffordable housing prices as factors that led to the spread of contagion.
These disparate causes have one common factor: a wealth gap between the city’s ultra-affluent and its poor that yawns wider every day. Cities’ infrastructure, schools, and transportation have suffered for it over the past several decades, and the pandemic has made the divide impossible to ignore. However, for every problem she cites, Dr. Bassett is able to propose a solution. Not only would these create a healthier environment, but they would also contribute to a robust city that would allow for greater opportunity and innovation for all. This is no time to give in to despair, but to work towards the kind of cities that can “supply the keys for unlocking human potential,” as The New York Times puts it.
These disparate causes have one common factor: a wealth gap between the city’s ultra-affluent and its poor that yawns wider every day. Cities’ infrastructure, schools, and transportation have suffered for it over the past several decades, and the pandemic has made the divide impossible to ignore. However, for every problem she cites, Dr. Bassett is able to propose a solution. Not only would these create a healthier environment, but they would also contribute to a robust city that would allow for greater opportunity and innovation for all. This is no time to give in to despair, but to work towards the kind of cities that can “supply the keys for unlocking human potential,” as The New York Times puts it.
Finally, the divided sections of Brooklyn Bridge Park will be connected...pending Landmarks' approval
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On Tuesday, May 19, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (“Landmarks”) will hear a proposal to alter and expand Brooklyn Bridge Park, so as to make the most of space freed up by the demolition of the Purchase Building under the Brooklyn Bridge. Preservationists and architecture enthusiasts all over New York lamented the loss of the Modernist building dated back to the 1930’s, but the Brooklyn Bridge Development Corporation says its absence improves the flow of the park and views of the East River and Manhattan skyline. The Landmarks presentation was prepared by Michael van Valkenburgh Associates, the landscape architect that transformed the once-obsolete waterfront into a thriving park.
With 12 more miles of open streets added, city officials mull the possibility of permanently pedestrian-friendly New York streets
As New York City opens 12 more miles of streets to foot and bike traffic to allow for proper social distancing, urban planners and city officials alike are wondering why the streets have to open up again to cars at all. City Council Speaker Corey Johnson has been a vocal proponent of putting pedestrians first long before the first case was reported. Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg has spoken enthusiastically about reimagining New York streets with an emphasis on walking and biking, and is open to the possibility of sidewalks and streets for restaurant space. Moreover, an editorial in The New York Times points out that Paris’ beloved parks and wide boulevards emerged in the wake of a cholera outbreak, and does not find it inconceivable that New York could experience a similar transformation.
World's most beautiful skyscraper, Chrysler Building, to get observation deck pending Landmarks' approval
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After RFR Realty bought the Chrysler Building for $150 million last spring, developer Aby Rosen announced grand plans for it that included the possibility of turning it into a hotel, a food hall, retail space, a series of restaurants inspired by the building’s original Cloud Club, and a new observation deck. Some of these ideas sounded grandiose at best, but there is precedent: In the 1940's, Chrysler Building housed a 71st-story observation deck in the 1940’s, which allowed visitors to enjoy 360-degree views for only 50 cents.
It remains to be seen how the coronavirus pandemic, accompanying lockdown, and economic downturn will affect many of RFR Realty's plans for the Chrysler Building, but the observation deck is still underway: On Tuesday, May 19, immediately after the Brooklyn Bridge Park hearing (see above), Landmarks will hear a proposal to install glass windscreens on the Chrysler Building’s 61st-story north and south terraces. The developer also seeks to install new sliding doors to allow for wheelchair access, and to replace double-hung windows on the 62nd floor with single light hinged windows. According to a presentation prepared by RFR Realty and Gensler, the casual observer has to squint to see the windscreens in mockups showing views of the Chrysler Building in all directions. The windscreens at Rockefeller Center are cited as an example.
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Would you like to tour any of these properties?
Just complete the info below.
Or call us at (212) 755-5544
Would you like to tour any of these properties?
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