1) Architect Page Goolrick busts out her Sketch Pad, combining the two top floors of an East Village tenement building and slapping a glass penthouse onto a roof with views of the Williamsburg Bridge to put a slice of Paris in the land of banks. [Sketch Pad/Tracie Rozhon]
2) In this round of Lenox vs Lenox Grand, A couple looking for more outdoor space and a longer commute to work sells their 2 bedroom Co-op on Central Park West and 68th Street and is movin on up to the 3 bedroom, 1900 sq. ft. penthouse at the Lenox for a cool $1.4 million. [The Hunt/Joyce Cohen]
3) With a youthful confidence and a willingness to use some creative financing, young buyers are active in today's market and in turn helping keep real estate prices stable in New York City. These whipper snappers come prepared with notebooks full of comps and developer info and tend to stay away from more restrictive coop buildings, preferring condos with more lenient financing rules. Besides, as one youthful Brooklyn buyer put it, “I really think that real estate will not go down, at the very least, it will stay the same." [Young Buyers, Prepared and Fearless/Christine Haughney]
4) The Archstone Clinton on Tenth Avenue and 52nd Street gets ready for a February opening in Hells Kitchen. The two 24 story towers have over 600 luxury rentals, mixing studios with One and Two bedroom units. The building has some unique features, like text messaging residents when their laundry is finished. Nice. The building sits just outside the Clinton Historic District, which developer Daniel Doern translates to “There’s not going to be another building between us and Midtown, ever.” [Posting/Jeff Vandam]
5) After the stadium fell through, the Far West Side begins its second attempt at redevelopment. Developers are betting big on new residential projects like Lake Related, the Atelier, and Hudson Mews. Development is keyed by the extension of the 7 subway line, Javits expansion and hopefully, the removal of the High Line, which we though was being turned into a park. Oh yeah, the Hudson Yards is there too, with no development plan in place. [Far West Side Development/Charles F. Bagli]