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Matt Chaban

By Matt Chaban 1/17 1:40pm

Dizzying Designs

5 Photos

Commodore Foster

A Million Little Tiles: Foster + Partners Design Understated Showroom on Madison Square Park

Lord Norman Foster, the hyper-modern British Pritzker Prize winner, is having a moment in New York, with numerous projects underway across Manhattan. But his latest hews away from the slick techno-futurism for which Lord Foster is best known, instead embracing a city landmark at one of our most famous intersections.

Last July, Spansh tile maker Porcelanosa, one of that nation’s largest producers of tiles and ceramics, purchased 202 Fifth Avenue for $40 million. Better known as the Commodore Criterion Building, the six-story granite structure once housed the Commodore Manufacturing Corp. and Criterion Bell & Specialty Co., two Brooklyn-based Christmas ornament makers (hence the building’s best known feature, a troupe of carolers permanently affixed to the second-story facade). Now, the 18,000-square-foot building will house Porcelanosa’s U.S. flagship, with interiors designed by Foster + Partners. Read More

By Matt Chaban 1/17 9:32am

Elsewhere

On the Market: Looking at “Average” Downtown Apts.; Bed-Stuy Landmarking and Gentrification; Duchovny’s $9 M. Mansion

What an absolutely average ($1.463 M.) Manhattan apartment looks like. [Curbed]
Sopranos creator David Chase buys Kelly Rippa’s $24 M. penthouse. [NY Post]
Two Trees begins public review for BAM building. [BK Paper]
David Duchovny and Tea Leoni’s lovely maisonette yours for $9.25 M. [Curbed]
Would adding a Bed-Stuy historic district abet gentrification? [NY Times]
It would indeed be very costly to slow down subway cars entering the station. [Streetsblog]
Cosmos soccer team launch rival stadium bid in Nassau County. [Journal]
Digging into the gentrification in Crown Heights. [Narratively]
Sandy is slamming property values in hard-hit parts of Brooklyn and Queens. [NY Post]
Ditto Jersey. [Journal]
Instagram’s growing popularity with real estate brokers. [Real Deal] Read More

By Matt Chaban 1/16 4:48pm

Under Development

Affordable or not affordable, that is the question. (Durst/Fetner)

Councilwoman Brewer Lays Out BIG Demands for Durst’s 57th Street Pyramid

Tomorrow, Durst/Fetner will go before the Zoning and Franchise Subcommittee of the City Council, one of the final stops in the months-long public approval process for the developer’s angular apartment building at the western edge of 57th Street. Councilwoman Gale Brewer has sent a letter to the developer outlining her demands ahead of the hearing. They largely follow concerns she has had from the start, namely the affordability of the project, community space and an enticing streetscape for the project. Read More

By Matt Chaban 1/16 12:48pm

Under Development

If you build it, they will come. Promise. (Edward Reed/Flickr)

Midtown East and Manhattan West: Bloomberg, Zucotti Defend Rezoning at Megaproject Groundbreaking

One of the big debates that has been raging around the rezoning of Midtown East is how it might impact development already underway around the city, much of it funded in part by the public sector, and thus taxpayers. Should these projects fail, Joe Public could lose out on his investment.

The World Trade Center and Hudson Yards have been two focal points, but Manhattan West, which broke ground yesterday, ought to be considered, too. While the project’s backers bragged at the groundbreaking about building without public subsidy, they are still competing for the same anchor tenants as their rivals further east. Furthermore, the $2 billion the city contributed to the construction of the 7 train nearby is to be paid back through property taxes on the new projects. No new development, no bond proceeds, big trouble for the city.

Still, Mayor Bloomberg is standing by the decision to fast-track the Midtown rezoning and ensure it gets completed this year. Read More

By Matt Chaban 1/16 9:46am

Elsewhere

On the Market: Our Gentrification Housing Crisis; Model’s Mocked House Gets Last Laugh; Taxes Jump

Blame zoning for New York’s gentrification crisis. [Atl Cities]
Port Authority begins installation of 1 WTC spire. [NY1]
BWAH! Model’s house everyone mocked sells for $2.5 M. ask. [Brownstoner]
Developers face off for office tenants on the Far West Side. [NY Times]
Joe Sitt on why he’s spending a million bucks to lobby for better airports. [WNYC]
Property taxes are rising faster than property values in NYC. [Journal, Post]
A wild plan to dam the Hudson in 1934, connect Manhattan and Jersey. [Curbed]
Sandy aid bill approved. [NY Times]
Downtown gives Sandy the finger, much of real estate keeps on trucking. [Crain's]
Another Sandy castaway: Steve’s Key Lime Pies moving in Red Hook. [BK Paper]
Meanwhile, Chelsea galleries bounce back. Some don’t. [CapitalNY] Read More

By Matt Chaban 1/15 5:21pm

Developing Situations

10 Photos

Manhattan West Ho

Manhattan West on the Rise: Brookfield Breaks Ground on 60-Story Twin Towers

For the second time in as many months, Mayor Michael Bloomberg trekked out the Far West Side for a groundbreaking on a major new development built over a set of railroad tracks. While Brookfield’s Manhattan West is not quite as big as The Related Company’s Hudson Yards, in its size and scale and heft and sheer exclamation of the arrival of this once derelict corner of the city, the project measures up pound for pound. Some 5.4 million square feet of offices and housing and shopping on not much more than one city block.

“With today’s groundbreaking, we’re taking a major step forward in the transformation and rebirth of the Far West Side of Manhattan,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said from the podium at the corner of 33rd Street and Ninth Avenue. Read More

By Matt Chaban 1/15 9:38am

Elsewhere

On the Market: Art Spiegelman’s New Soho Loft; 2012′s Biggest Deal Was BK Mall; Are Central Park Views Worth It?

Joe Lhota kinda announces for mayor. [NY Times, Journal]
And yet the MTA is still struggling here and there to recover from Sandy. [Daily News]
Meanwhile, grocery magnate Catsimitidis is ready to run with his own $1 M. [NY Post]
Looking at some of the apartment buildings Ada Louise decried decades ago. [NY Times]
Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly buy $1.7 M. Soho loft. [Real Deal]
Are Central Park views really worth more? [Real Deal]
What’s a glassy 51 Astor look like? [Curbed]
The biggest NYC sale of the year is not Midtown tower but Brooklyn mall. [Crain's]
Subway union urges conductors to slow down trains into stations. [News, Times]
Brookfield’s Manhattan West is only the latest piece in West 30s boom. [NY Post]
The Hotel Chelsea has been hit with another stop work order. [Curbed] Read More

By Matt Chaban 1/14 10:13am

Elsewhere

On the Market: Whither Javits, Post-Casino?; Rapid Repairs Not Rapid Enough; Carroll Garden’s $4 M. Record

Miss Brooklyn named this year’s Miss America. [NY Times, BK Paper]
Michael Gross catalog’s the city’s most sought after buildings today. [Daily Beast]
The Green Goblin’s penthouse from first Spiderman movie is for sale . [Curbed]
Piano, Libeskind and Williams & Tsien on building their own homes. [Journal]
What’s happening to the Javits Center, now that Cuomo abandoned it? [Crain's]
Steve Cuozzo thinks city needs to get the lead out with Midtown rezoning. [NY Post]
And yet many landlords still find Grand Central appealing. [Crain's]
City’s Rapid Repair program needs its own fixes, stranding thousands. [Daily News]
Carroll Gardens notches highest sale ever for $4 M. brownstone. [Brownstoner]
Speaker Quinn poo poos bike lanes as dinner conversation. [WNYC]
New Astor Place office building fits in and stands out. [Journal]
Architects design very fancy stray cat homes. [Curbed] Read More

By Matt Chaban 1/14 7:30am

Street Fighters Too

9 Photos

Where in the world is Long Island City?

Lost City of New York: New Sleek DOT Signs Help Pedestrians Find Their Way

Ever get lost in the city before? Of course not! You’re a real New Yorker.

But according to the city’s Department of Transportation, one out of 10 of us gets lost every week based on department surveys. “And those one the ones who would admit it to us,” Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan told The Observer. The department also found that one in three New Yorkers couldn’t say which was was north and one in four out-of-towners could not say which of the five boroughs they were in when asked.

To help with this confusion, the city will begin installing 150 wayfinding signs in four city neighborhoods starting in March. Midtown, Chinatown, Long Island City and Prospect Heights and Western Crown Heights will all be getting the new signs, which include major local landmarks and destination, all streets and estimated walking times, since the focus is on helping pedestrians get around town. Read More

By Matt Chaban 1/11 6:23pm

Best Laid Plans

Don't block my landmark, bro. (Getty)

East Midtown Hold Up: Maloney, State Pols Ask City Hall to Slow Down Rezoning

Add a few more names to the growing list of people concerned about the speed with which the city is executing the Midtown East Rezoning—ones that carry some serious political clout. In addition to the community boards, a few civic groups and local Councilman Dan Garodnick (who’s vote will be crucial to get the rezoning through the City Council), four new Midtown reps have just sent a letter to the mayor saying the rezoning needs more time to be perfected.

“Because this rezoning is so important, it is critical that it is done correctly the first time and is responsive to the concerns of the area’s current stakeholders even as it lays the groundwork for the area’s future,” Congresswoman Caroline Maloney, Assemblyman Dan Qart and state senators Liz Krueger and Brad Hoylman write. They ask the Department of City Planning to withdraw the plan currently in the works, which is expected to be certified in the coming weeks, “in order to permit sufficient time for community input.” Read More