Fulton Transit Station (Finally) Set To Open Monday, 11/10 at 5PM.

After more than a decade of planning, the 10-line, 300,000+ daily passenger station is set to open its doors.  The station is set to open just days after One World Trade welcomed its first 175 Conde Nast employees this past Monday.

Things are really starting to take shape in the forever developing Financial District.  I cannot wait to see the neighborhood change over the next year.  Finally, long delayed projects will begin pumping new and creative life into the suit and tie dominated area.  The creative rebirth of Lower Manhattan is upon us!

(Photos via Curbed)

 

 

The Next Brooklyn?

The largest population shift since the rise of suburbia has begun!  Americans, young (especially young…) and old alike are moving back into cities at higher rates.  Whether it’s New York, Los Angeles, or even Kansas City, the city is the place to be.  The repopulation of America’s urban core has led to massive gentrification on a scale never seen before.

Brooklyn Baby!  This borough is the poster child for urban redevelopment.  The rise of neighborhoods like Williamsburg, Bushwick, DUMBO, and so many more, have quickly transformed desolate and often abandoned city blocks into reinvented breeding grounds for the creative class.  While Brooklyn was the first, it certainly will not be the last urban neighborhood to rise from the ashes.

The Real Deal published a great article looking into this phenomenon and asks what’s next.  Whether it’s “Brooklyn by the Bay,” Center City, Philadelphia, or a growing list of other cities, this article helps explain the real estate shifts occuring in this country, and gives great insight in to what is to come.  Take a look at the full article here.

Urban Outfitters Williamsburg Opens Friday – Hipsters Flee

The Gothamist just reported on the ongoing gentrification of Williamsburg.  Urban Outfitters plans to open its newest store this Friday, just steps from the Bedford L train.  The national chain has been on a big push across many developing areas of New York City, opening a massive store in the Financial District just a few weeks back.  

Urban is just of many chain retailers making the jump across the East River.  This particular UO will be part of the space ninety 8, a new and Williamsburg’s first urban mall.  Sephora, J.Crew. Gant, Whole Foods, have all moved into the area in the last year alone.  WIlliamsburg has now been called Times Square for hipsters, among other titles.  It won’t be long before the strollers move in and the hipsters move out.  

Brooklyn Set To Welcome Its First Sephora

Downtown Brooklyn is seeing a steady stream of name brand retailers infiltrate the very granola neighborhood.  Sephora set their eyes on the area a few months ago when the cosmetic chain announce they will be setting up their first Brooklyn shop some time this year.  That day has finally come.  The store announced it will be handing out a handful of goodies to the first 100+ customers who make it to the opening this Friday.  

 

This store, along with Whole Foods, JCrew, Urban Outfitters, (and even Mamouns) now see Manhattan’s ugly stepsister as a lucrative investment/growth opportunity.  It appears that soon, there will absolutely no reason for Brooklynites to commute to Manhattan for the modern luxuries they have become so accustomed to.

 

Check out the complete details via Racked.com

GENTRIFICATION: Harlem Welcomes Three Story Red Lobster

 

Red Lobster is planning another New York City location in Harlem, next door to the historic Apollo Theater.  The chain already has restaurants in highly trafficked areas such as Times Square and Atlantic Terminal.  Signage is already up along the quickly gentrification 125th Street corridor.   Plans call for a THREE story restaurant set to open November 11th of this year.   Red Lobster is just one of many large retailers taking over the formerly downtrodden neighborhood.  

Revamping the 125th Street corridor has been a leading force in the drastic changes seen in Harlem.  For the first time in almost a century, the neighborhood is no longer primarily black.  The New York Times reported the decline of black culture in the neighborhood as a steady stream of young professional move in.  Rents have risen seen more than a 10% increase in housing prices over the past year alone (MNS).   As other neighborhoods continue their upward climb, Harlem is becoming more attractive.  

The neighborhood will continue to develop and shows promise for those looking to invest.  I highly recommend my clients look into Harlem.  “Central Park North” as I will announce in an upcoming article for the Huffington Post, will take a deeper look into the changes taking place.  Landlords are seeing higher rates of return in this neighborhood than in any other in Manhattan.  If you are looking to buy, check out the changes happening here.

 

(Photo: New York Daily News)

TF Cornerstone’s Pepsi Project

TF Cornerstone’s latest  project is progressing nicely along the East River.  The 41-story building is part of a larger 2,000+ unit project featuring both sales and rentals.  The latest rendering you see below will have 820 studio, through three-bedroom apartments  “Studios start at $2,125/month, one-bedrooms at $2,645/month, two-bedrooms at $3,875/month, and three-bedrooms at$5,390/month” (Curbed)

Gantry Plaza State Park houses the iconic Pepsi sign you see in the rendering.  The recently expanded park was once a Pepsi factory.  I highly suggest heading out to the park for amazing views of the city, or to check out the sign itself.  The picture you see below was taken from TF Cornerstone’s website.  With views like that, it is easy to see how the project is commanding those prices.

Take a look at the rooftop amenity spaces in the rendering below.

Standard East Village Renovations Sneak Peak

A.P.C. Bond Street

Signage is officially up at the soon to be A.P.C. store. Located on Bond (right off of Bowery), the high end French retailer will be joining the likes of Oak, Intermix, and a plethora of new condo developments. If you haven’t been down on The Bowery in the past year- stop, drop, and go. The area has done nothing but explode with high end real estate, not to mention some amazing people watching too.

30 Orchard Street

30 Orchard Street is a new addition to the Lower East Side. The luxury high-rise condominium tower was opened in 2010 and commands $1,500+ per square foot. My apartment looks directly at the thin tower that rises up well past the lower 6-story skyline of the Lower East Side. The building looks like a modern, luxury, walk-up, that is anything but. Full time doorman, floor to ceiling windows, and tasteful units are perfect for the artistically inclined, trendy, upwardly mobile resident moving down to the LES.

Luxury Gentrification Heads To Alphabet City

As if the New York real estate market was not spiraling out of control in just about every neighborhood….the once dangerous and dilapidated corner of Avenue B (yes Avenue B!) between 5th and 6th will now be transformed into a luxury/doorman building complete with a landscaped roof deck, yoga and fitness center, and one bedrooms starting at $3,600/month!

 

For better or for worse, the neighborhood is changing quickly.  Property values are on the rise and it appears the once tranquil and quieter part of the East Village is transforming into an upwardly mobile enclave for those recent college grads not quiet ready to make the jump to Murray Hill.

 

The building is being developed by Magnum Management, part of the Jared Kushner enterprise.  His company made news last year upon the purchase of millions of dollars worth of property in the area.  They have been gut-renovating buildings from the inside out and jacking up rents along the way.

 

Take a look at the building’s website here: Bloom62