1) While not all of the 21 recently shuttered Catholic Churches are on the market, some have been sold and are being transformed into residential properties. The properties include Rhapsody on Fifth, a site on 127th Street that is being converted into 22 heavenly condos and another and another on East 17th that is the future home of 13 divine units. [Posting/C.J. Hughes]
2) Rapidly rising rents have forced renters to run screaming to open houses and sales offices, ready to finally give up the rental lifestyle and buy an apartment. Case in point, Candice Spielman, who decided to buy a studio in the Cocoa Exchange building after latest price increase in her 150 sq ft studio pushed her over the edge. Rising rents? We thought the fact Spielman “can’t sit down on a couch” in the space would have been enough. [When Renters Reach the Breaking Point/Christine Haughney]
3) There are always those New Yorker's who can't move from renter to buyer, like this pre-hipster Williamsburg resident who after having her rent raised to $1200, decides to liquidate her life and head to the Midwest, vowing never to return until she can take Manhattan by storm. [New York Observed/Abigail A. Frankfurt]
4) Kamran T. Elghanayan and his company, Rockrose Development, has always been willing to buck the trend and go it their own way in the New York real estate market. After starting in the then unglamorous West Village and then helping lead the FiDi residential transformation, the Rockrose boys are at it again, this time in Hudson Yards and Long Island City. But don't look at them to build and run, as Mr. Elghanayan says, “We rarely sell. We build everything. We hold everything. We love the buildings.” [Square Feet/Alison Gregor]