By Stephen Jacob Smith 2/13 5:16pm

What's Old Is New Again

limestone

Real New Yorkers Like Limestone: 135 East 79th Street Draws a Local Crowd

Limestone and classicism have enjoyed something of a revival in new New York construction over the past few years, perhaps spurred by Robert A.M. Stern’s runaway success, 15 Central Park West. But where 15 CPW mixes classic features and materials with clean modernism—Stern’s post-modern influences are still visible in the building’s design, despite its Candela-like appearance—the Brodsky Organization’s 135 East 79th Street, with exteriors and interiors by designer-to-the-starts William Sofield, is all tradition.

It’s also attracting what passes for a very traditional clientele in today’s frothy, foreigner-fueled condo market—not only domestic buyers, but actual New Yorkers. Read More

By Guelda Voien 11/22/11 2:30pm

The Power Broker

From the Far West Side to... Scarsdale?

Winick Realty’s Far West Side Shepherd

Steven Baker built a life, and staked his career, on the Far West Side of Manhattan at a time when the High Line still languished as an abandoned freight track and nearly every block west of Ninth Avenue included a warehouse, garage or parking lot.

While other brokers followed dollar signs in Midtown and across Madison Avenue, Mr. Baker, then a young broker living in a Ninth Avenue bachelor pad, saw potential in the dusty warehouses and loading docks he walked past in the summer of 2000.

“I knew I wanted to control the neighborhood,” recalled the 40-year-old Mr. Baker, now a managing partner at Winick Realty, who has played a leading role in transforming the area. Read More

By Staff 1/12/06 12:18pm

Episcopalians Jeered in Chelsea

People in Chelsea aren’t happy about the General Theological Seminary’s plans to demolish its run-down Sherrill Hall to make way for a 17-story, mixed-use, income-producing building.

The plans were unveiled late last year as part of the seminary’s capital-improvement project. The upshot: The school’s endowment is beleaguered; operating expenses are climbing; and the school’s other Read More