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It has been whispered about for months, but now it’s official: Vornado Realty Trust is offering up a palatial four-floor apartment at 220 Central Park South that is priced at a record-smashing $250 million.
The massive condominium will encompass floors 50 through 53 of the Robert A.M. Stern-designed limestone tower, and it will span some 23,000 square feet [...]. The asking price works out to nearly $11,000 per square foot.
— therealdeal.com
Previously on Archinect: This $250M mega penthouse might become New York's priciest home View full entry
A study commissioned by the developer indicated that total economic output of the companies projected to occupy Hudson Yards will contribute $18.9 billion to the city's gross domestic product. [...]
Many projections in the report are also contingent on a host of economic indicators in the city, including demand for Class A office space. Out of the 10.4 million square feet Related will have to lease up, so far it has locked in commitments from tenants for 4 million square feet.
— crainsnewyork.com
The Hudson Yards project previously in the Archinect news:Welcome to the Hudson Yards, c. 2019: the world's most ambitious "smart city" experimentBIG's concept for a spiraling-landscape tower in NYC's Hudson YardsA Plan to Build Skyscrapers That Barely Touch the Ground View full entry
An hour south from the bright lights of the Las Vegas strip, a tiny town in Nevada is up for sale.
Cal-Nev-Ari, Nev. (pronounced Cal-Nev-Air) is off a lonely stretch of Highway 95, surrounded by distant mountains and endless desert. The town isn't far from the California and Arizona borders [...].
If you can afford the $8 million asking price, you'll get the airstrip, the diner and the town's only casino. That includes a dozen old slot machines and a smokey bar. This place has character.
— npr.org
Related stories in the Archinect news: New Nevada solar plant can store heat from the sun for up to 10 hours – with molten saltFaraday Future holds groundbreaking ceremony for $1B Nevada factoryA look inside Tesla's growing Gigafactory: "It will blow your mind." View full entry
London’s red-hot housing market of late is by now an international legend, drip-feeding the media with tragicomic stories of insane pricing on a weekly basis—from the $710 cupboard to the one-bedroom flat on sale for $37 million. Now a new report out this week details some of the harmful social effects that this boom in housing costs has wrought. Unsurprisingly, they are many. — CityLab
This research, conducted by the think tank Centre for London, shows that the city's housing crisis is creating a massive gulf between the city's rich and poor. It's also creating an "inequality chasm" between London and the rest of the United Kingdom.The report identifies three major trends... View full entry
Buy-to-let landlords should face new limits on the amount they can borrow, the Bank of England has proposed.
It suggested that lenders should be much stricter when deciding whether or not to grant landlords a mortgage.
Instead of just taking their rental income into account, the Bank wants lenders to look at their wider financial situation as well.
If adopted, the new rules could reduce lending to landlords by up to 20% over the next three years.
— BBC
According to the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), the newly-proposed standards should "curtail inappropriate lending, and the potential for excessive credit losses."The new strictures would take into account the costs a landlord accrues in order to rent a property, tax liabilities associated... View full entry
Some New York City real estate agents have teamed up with their counterparts outside the five boroughs for organized seminars and “immersive tours” of the suburbs. The city agents get a cut of the commission if their clients decide to buy a house in the suburbs. The services, which reside somewhere between shrink session and sales pitch, intend to address the concerns of families unsure about leaving the city and guide them to suburbia, step by step. — nytimes.com
Related news from the 'burbs on Archinect:The strength of Chinese suburbiaHow one urban planner is helping revamp a Miami suburb "without gentrification"In Chicago, forming economically integrated suburbs is more complex than it looksRenzo Piano: the future of European architecture lies in the... View full entry
WeWork’s inspirational mottoes—"Do what you love," "Thank God it’s Monday," among many others—its evangelical faithful, and gatherings like the summit all have religious echoes..."Start imagining it a bit bigger," Neumann says about WeLive, stoking his idyllic view, "an entire building. And then instead of having just one building doing it, five buildings doing it. Then you’ll be able to imagine what a WeNeighborhood or a WeStreet would be." — Fast Company
This in-depth profile of WeWork founder and (pro-capitalist) visionary Adam Neumann is worth the read. Whether you like to freestyle your work and life or prefer the centuries-old model of deeded quiet, WeWork (and now, WeLive) is making a previously unsustainable model profitable. Is Neumann just... View full entry
New York collects about $60 million annually for allowing signs, ornamental lampposts, stand-alone clocks, benches, bollards, planters, permanent trash receptacles, delivery ramps and just about anything else imaginable on, over or under the city’s 12,000 miles of sidewalks. [...]
Overall revenue from sidewalk-permit fees has risen by about 50 percent in the past decade, the bulk of it from utility companies for pipes and transformers below ground.
— nytimes.com
Related on Archinect:Not all sidewalks are created equal in D.C.Rise in cycling expands NYC's real estate marketProtected bike lanes strengthen city economy, report findsWhy Los Angeles is struggling to fix thousands of miles of sidewalksPeople-streets link small L.A. neighborhood and $325MM... View full entry
It's hard to remember that just a few decades ago it was difficult, if not impossible, for a woman alone to take out a mortgage. Federal legislation changed that.
And yet, it's still surprising to learn how dominant single women have become in the housing market today: Their share is second only to married couples, and twice that of single men.
— npr.org
Related stories in the Archinect news:Millennials, not forming enough householdsA look at the growing influence of immigrants on the American housing marketLooking to buy a home in SF? Good luck View full entry
“I give it two years, max [...] It will be US business interests that finally push congress into lifting the embargo – they’re all going crazy being shut out of this market.” American architects and developers are already queuing up to be first in line, ready to pounce on investment opportunities when the embargo drops. Frank Gehry sailed into Havana in December, aboard a streamlined yacht he designed for himself, here to “offer his expertise to Cuba” according to a government statement. — theguardian.com
“You know that Cuba is at the centre of attention of many people,” Gehry told the gathered crowd. “And in the immediate future it will attract many investors – particularly the tourism sector. But I am sure that you know to be careful with those projects.”Related stories in the Archinect... View full entry
As an architectural historian, Ms. Clark, 30, has studied buildings throughout New York City in pursuit of her doctorate. [...]
Working for JDS, Ms. Clark felt she could have more than a theoretical effect on architectural history. “I think real estate in many ways is the story of New York, how the city grows and changes,” she said. [...]
As soon as JDS considers acquiring a property, Ms. Clark heads to the archives ... to start developing a case for or against the project.
— nytimes.com
More from the world of architectural history and New York real estate:Rupert Murdoch suddenly pulls out of 2 World Trade Center dealThe challenges and opportunities of updating Midtown NY’s aging office towersArchitectural historian discovers Chartres Cathedral has started faking itThe Digital... View full entry
Rupert Murdoch has dropped his plans to relocate 21st Century Fox and News Corp. to 2 World Trade Center.
In a statement issued Friday afternoon, World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein declared himself “disappointed” by the news. [...]
In June, the two media companies signed a letter of intent with Silverstein to occupy 1.5 million square feet for 30 years at a 2 World Trade Center designed by architect Bjarke Ingels.
— capitalnewyork.com
2 WTC previously in the Archinect news:2 World Trade Center receives $9M rent assistance from Port Authority to expedite projectBjarke Ingels and the challenges of designing Two World Trade Center2 World Trade Center Could Be the Most Expensive Office Tower in the World View full entry
"Concerned about illicit money flowing into luxury real estate, the Treasury Department said Wednesday that it would begin identifying and tracking secret buyers of high-end properties."
"The initiative is part of a broader federal effort to increase the focus on money laundering in real estate."
— The New York Times
The project’s makeup is evidently still undergoing changes, as the developers have waffled between either hotel or office options in the base of the buildings...
Given the sky-high prices developers can obtain for office space in Meatpacking and surrounding blocks, office may indeed make more sense than hotel...
In any case, the buildings will become the most prominent in the neighborhood by a significant margin. The two towers will stand 28 and 38 floors apiece...
— newyorkyimby.com
Previously: REVEALED: Bjarke Ingels’ Brand New High Line Towers View full entry
According to celebrity gossip juggernaut TMZ, the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles is soon to go up for sale and the owner — Playboy Enterprises and not Hugh Hefner — hopes for a brazenly quixotic and international publicity assuring sale price “somewhere north of $200 million.”
[...] should someone sign on the dotted line they will be required to accept a lifetime tenancy by Mister Hefner, now 89 years old and married since 2012 to 29-year-old former Playmate of the Month Crystal Harris.
— variety.com
Better call the carpet cleaner first.Related stories in the Archinect news:Un-haunting a house: the art of selling a building with a grisly pastLos Angeles to declare homelessness in the city an 'emergency' and pledge $100 millionLow-income housing in Los Angeles: A look at the past, present and... View full entry