The Spofford Juvenile Center was a particularly painful landmark in the Hunts Point community in the Bronx when it was built in 1957... [Majora Carter] envisions the Spofford site combining mixed-income housing, open space and economic development that would appeal to the neighborhood’s existing demographics. Carter is a supporter of affordable housing, but thinks that if it’s built in isolation, you still haven’t solved the problems of employment and a lack of amenities. — nextcity.org

Perhaps no part of Manhattan has changed as dramatically since the 1980s as the Meatpacking District. Located on the Lower West Side, the district has gone from a blue-collar warehouse district with a seedy side into a hyper-luxurious, bustling neighborhood.

From the High Line to the expensive shops and restaurants along the old cobblestone streets, everything looks quite different from when Brian Rose first brought his camera to the Meatpacking District. — citylab.com

A triplex penthouse at Zeckendorf Development Co.’s tower under construction on Manhattan’s Upper East Side will be offered for sale at $130 million, making it New York’s most expensive apartment listing.

The 12,394-square-foot (1,151-square-meter) property will span the top three floors at 520 Park Ave., where sales will begin the first quarter of next year, Arthur Zeckendorf said in an interview today. — bloomberg.com

There are some deft variations on the design themes of the two older sections, and they show some gentle wit, a quality that was absent in 2009 and 2011, when these earlier portions, which run from Little West 12th Street to West 30th Street, were completed.

Now, for example, you can actually walk on old train tracks, rather than look wistfully at the remnants of the tracks poking up amid the plantings. — vanityfair.com

“For 10 or so of these important properties to come on the market at the same time, that matters a lot,” - Gregory J. Heym, an executive vice president and the chief economist for Halstead Property and Brown Harris Stevens — NYT

Charles Chawalko, a recent graduate of Parsons’ Design & Urban Ecologies program, is a resident of Southbridge Towers, a 1,651-unit development that remains in the program. But as he explains below, his cooperative is in the midst of a decision over whether it will join the majority of Mitchell-Lama buildings and leave. To residents of Southbridge Towers, the vote over whether to opt out of Mitchell-Lama transcends the citywide conversation on affordable housing [...]. — urbanomnibus.net

Hot off the purchase of $85 million in air rights, and with a new construction loan of $860 million in tow, developer Hines is back on track to bring the Jean Nouvel-designed MoMA residential tower to fruition. Hines just closed on two deals to buy more than 240,000 square feet of development rights from MoMA and the St. Thomas Episcopal Church for $85.3 million. — 6sqft

"In the late 1920s, Le Corbusier created a plan for Paris," Ford says. "Its most celebrated portion was called 'Towers in the Park.' [...]

Think unremarkable, high-rise apartment buildings. Think low-income housing projects. [...]

"Many of hip-hop's most prominent artists were born, raised, and perfected their crafts in those very same housing projects. Hip-hop was a result of the economical, political, and sociological deprivations instituted by the housing projects across America." — metrotimes.com