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A site in Queens home to the United African Society of Newtown, the first community of free African Americans founded in New York State, is currently being marketed by real estate entity Cushman & Wakefield for $13.8 million as a development opportunity. What's left of the 1828 community... View full entry
The City Council voted to close a zoning loophole that has allowed developers to boost building heights with excessive mechanical spaces—but it’s only the first step in addressing the issue, say lawmakers. — Curbed NY
The zoning amendment will limit the city's notoriously over-sized mechanical spaces to 25-feet in height before additional space begins to eat into a project's allowable buildable area. New York City lawmakers are pushing to close other loopholes, as well, including rules impacting the use... View full entry
A joint venture led by global architecture and infrastructure firm AECOM has been awarded a $107.4 million contract by the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) for the development of four new correctional facilities set to replace the existing Rikers Island jail complex. AECOM... View full entry
"We're going to ban the classic glass and steel skyscrapers, which are incredibly inefficient," Bill de Blasio said on "Morning Joe." As the New York City mayor lays out plans for a municipal Green New Deal, he is looking to target one of the biggest sources of emissions in the city: buildings. De... View full entry
Topping out at 720 feet this week, Extell Development Company's Brooklyn Point is on its way to becoming the NYC borough's tallest building. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox with custom interiors by Katherine Newman, the 68-story tower will be located at 138 Willoughby Street and within City... View full entry
Last month, Amazon announced that it was canceling its controversial plan to build a second North American headquarters in New York City's Long Island City neighborhood. For residents and activists concerned about gentrification and overcrowding, the decision to abandon the plan was seen as a... View full entry
Known for his interdisciplinary, experimental works, New York-based artist, designer, and activist Sebastian Errazuriz created a 20-foot public artwork called “blu Marble” that will show a livestream of planet Earth from outer space. The installation will be on display at 159 Ludlow Street in... View full entry
A state lawmaker is gunning for more aggressive restrictions on the vast mechanical voids developers often abuse to boost their buildings’ heights as a “more robust” solution to the de Blasio administration’s recent zoning amendment. [...]
Current zoning exempts mechanical voids from a building’s floor-area ratio (FAR)—a given property’s square footage—and puts no height limits on those spaces.
— Curbed NY
"Luxury developers often exploit this loophole in residential towers to hike up the price for apartments on higher floors," explains Curbed NY one reasoning behind the newly introduced bill by New York State Assembly member Linda Rosenthal. View full entry
New Public Hydrant uses design to overcome public misperceptions of the city’s hydrant water. The design prototypes bring attention to possibilities for improvement of overlooked, local water infrastructures on the one hand, while simultaneously engaging what it means to drink locally...How might publics reimagine these small-scale urban elements to serve in day-to-day situations, rather than solely in the case of emergency? — Urban Omnibus
Inspired by the NY Department of Environmental Protection’s Water on the Go initiative, Tei Carpenter and Christopher Woebken created the New Public Hydrant project, which explores how New York City's fire hydrants can be augmented to provide public access to the city's drinking water supply... View full entry
One of 2019's most anticipated buildings, the Shed, has announced it will launch its opening season on April 5th, 2019. The new art center—designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro with Rockwell Group in a collaborating role—will offer interdisciplinary programming, hosting exhibitions, lectures... View full entry
Last week, the final piece of the third and highest apex of Jean Nouvel’s first residential skyscraper was anchored and installed over Midtown. 53 West 53rd Street now stands 1,050 feet tall, and is currently the 7th-tallest skyscraper under construction in New York City. — New York YIMBY
If the introduction of 432 Park Avenue, the 1,300-foot-tall Rafael Viñoly and SLCE Architects-designed apartment tower wasn't a jarring enough addition to the New York skyline, the completion of a controversial second building will soon normalize the movement towards ultra-tall residential... View full entry
Skyline Tower, the Hill West Architects-designed, 778-foot-tall tower became the first in Queens to pass $1 billion in total sell out. Plus, the property sits across from One Court Square, where Amazon is leasing one million square feet of office space before moving to its new HQ2 complex on the waterfront. Now, there are new renderings of Skyline Tower, showing off the interiors, views, and new subway entrance at the future tallest tower in Queens. — 6sqft
According to the United States’ General Accounting Office, receiverships in housing authorities generally result from “longstanding, severe, and persistent management problems that led to deterioration of housing stock.” NYCHA, who took the public advocate’s top spot for the city’s worst landlord in 2018, faces mounting repair costs in excess of $25 billion and has exhibited failures eliminating mold and lead paint, among a laundry list of other nightmarish woes for its tenants. — Curbed NY
Mayor Bill De Blasio and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have until the 31st of January to agree on how to run the agency. If that does not happen and Ben Carson declares New York City Housing Authority in substantial default, NYCHA which oversees housing for over 400,000 New... View full entry
Now, with 2018 in our collective rear view, it’s time [to] look at what 2019 will bring. Rent stabilization will take center stage in June when the city’s laws are up for renewal, megaprojects throughout the five boroughs will make giant strides, the city’s new tallest residential tower will top out at 1,550 feet, and so much more. — Curbed NY
From the city's new tallest residential building topping out, the dreaded L train shutdown, to Amazon’s HQ2 development in Long Island City, here's a preview of what's to come for New York City's urban landscape in 2019. View full entry
For years, suburbia has offered these companies acres of disposable, cheap, anonymous office parks: mostly one- or two-story concrete structures surrounded by loads of surface parking. These sites minimized costs, maximized security and allowed companies to scale up, contract or split into different units quickly — at the same time they promoted sprawl and traffic jams and transformed once-quaint bedroom communities south of San Francisco into phenomenally expensive places to live. — The New York Times
Even though Amazon's search for its new headquarters' locations has ended all the talks and negotiations about the company's potential impact on the cities it will settle in — New York and Crystal City, Virginia—have only begun. In ways, the choice comes as no surprise as tech platforms... View full entry
