I have been in the real estate industry first as a licensed agent and as a broker since 1999. I have sold in every Manhattan neighborhood though do work a lot on the Upper west side where I live and upper Manhattan. I speak French,Portuguese, and Spanish.
NYC has proposed to build a protected bike lane on Amsterdam avenue from 72nd to 110th street. As someone who rides through that area, I think it’s a great idea. We already have a protected bike lane on Columbus avenue and of course safe biking in Central Park. Some local residents are concerned that a bike lane may contribute to even more congestion on Amsterdam avenue due to deliveries.
With several Citibike stations installed throughout the Upper west, a new bike lane would be a welcomed addition for many residents who use the service and cycle through.
A near record breaking 26.8″ fell in Central Park this weekend. Here are some photos from Central Park on Saturday(below) and Times Square(above) early Sunday morning. Subway service hopefully will be fully restored by Monday.
Stellar Management has closed on 752 west end avenue aka The Paris New York for $146 million. The Art Deco residential building built in the 1930s was a few years ago marketed as condos then the sponsor sold it to another party who has now conveyed it to Stellar. The building remains a rental building with about 200,000 sqft spread over 24 stories. Currently, there are 10 apartments for rent ranging from $3145 for a 480 sqft 1 bedroom/1 bath to $15,495 for a 3 bedroom/3.5 bath 2192 sqft 10th floor apartment.
The Paris New York was originally the Paris Hotel and is located on the corner of 97th street and WEA, close to Riverside Park.
Sunday’s NYT ask real estate column talks about a person who lives in a co-op where the apartment is too hot as a result of being on the ground floor and directly below the heating pipes of the building. As a result, even with all of the radiators off, the apartment is a sultry 80 degrees. What about if your apartment is on the other end of the extreme and is too cold? The article outlines the steps you can take to bring the temperature into a more reasonable range.
Several keyless entry systems are now catching on in NYC buildings. The app for these systems lets you use your smart phone to gain access to your apartment or common areas such as the gym or amenity spaces. The benefit is that you do not have to worry about giving keys to dog walkers, delivery people etc… and having to track the keys down. Also access to the buildings amenities can be added or subtracted with ease. In our building like many others, we use Building Link which allows you to go online and give/take away access easily. Also, we have finger scanners for storage and our gym which work quite well.
The only potential downside of the keyless system is that you will need to figure out what to do if your phone battery dies but according to the article many of the systems have a keypad and you can just enter your custom code anytime.
Today’s Huffington Post takes a look at the Jazz supper club “Smoke” on Broadway and 106th street on Manhattan’s upper west side. The author calls it Manhattan’s best and I would agree. It’s a neighborhood institution and wonderful that it exists on the upper west side.
As we celebrate the last few days of 2015 and face the uncertainties of the new year ahead, at least we can look back on 2015 as the year that several records were broken or even shattered in NYC real estate. We saw the most expensive residential sale in Manhattan’s history take place at Extell’s One57 on Manhattan’s Billionaire’s Row of West 57th street. $100.47 million dollar was the sale price of the two floors totaling just over 10,000 square feet. A few floors down two floors another apartment known as the Winter Garden with a 2500 square foot atrium also sold for over $90mm.
Co-ops, and townhouses also broke records including Woody Johnson the owner of the NY Jets’ sale of a co-op which sold for $77.5mm for a duplex at 834 Fifth avenue.
Will this pace continue? Will 2016 see more records? What is your opinion?
I was reading somewhere that during Halloween in a suburban area someone had set aside a phone that was to be used to call the person inside the house. The children didn’t call and when asked why they responded that they didn’t know how to dial.
I wonder how many of these scenes you will see in New York City in the coming years. This phone booth was found on West end avenue near 104th street on Manhattan’s Upper west side.
I had attended a event earlier this year through the French American Chamber of Commerce where the CTO for NYC had actually said that there was a plan to convert existing phones to wifi hot spots.
400 west 42nd street aka 577 9th avenue has plans that were filed a few months back for a new 28 story building rising to a height of 341 feet with 45 units. About two years ago, the plan was to built a hotel and condo but the original architect was scrapped and new plans were filed.
It is not clear for the plans filed with DOB if this building will be a condo or a rental. The building is located at the corner of 9th avenue and 42nd street sandwiched between the Orion at 350 W 42nd street and the MIMA tower which is a rental in the middle of Midtown west/Clinton block.
NYC developers who have used the EB-5 immigrant investor program to finance large scale luxury developments should be pleased that the program has been extended. The extension is expected to pass later this week and will give the program 10 more months. At which time, Congress and the real estate lobby can try to come to an agreement to change it. The current setup allows 10,000 visas a year to investors who put up at least $500,000 in job-creating businesses. Interestingly enough, having spoken to immigration attorneys this may not be the best program out there depending on an investor’s needs and desire to remain in control of their funds.
News about the NYC real estate residential and commercial markets provided and interpreted by an industry veteran licensed since 1999. Brian Silvestry of BSRG Inc. Licensed real estate broker
