The Real Deal Reports that the state is moving forward with plans to sell the Bayview Correctional Facility in Chelsea to developers. State officials expressed hopes to find a project that will stimulate job growth in the community, despite interest from developers who want to turn the 108,000 square feet of space into luxury condominiums, and Community Board 4’s hopes to convert the former medium-security prison into affordable housing units. The facility, which is next door to a Jean Nouvel–designed …
by Riccardo Ravasini 
At a new condo at 515 East 72nd Street, apartments sold briskly. There were more than 70 closings between summer 2012 and summer 2013 — about half the building’s 142 one-bedrooms.
One of the reasons, aside from a positive market trend, seemed to be major milestones in the construction of the Second Avenue Subway, a little more than two blocks away. The milestones included some of the last subterranean blasts for the first phase of the project, from 63rd to …
by Riccardo Ravasini 
While Brooklyn has rapidly gentrified in the last decade and become the trendiest of the outer boroughs; it looks like Queens has been growing in popularity as well.
With the recent opening in Astoria of Kaufman Studio’s outdoor film set, the ever-popular MoMA outpost PS1, the extension of the 7 line, buzzed-about restaurants and new residential towers springing up, Queens is certainly having a moment. Plus, there’s the Museum of the Moving Image, the Paper Factory, which is a brand …
by Riccardo Ravasini Over the recent years, Harlem has quietly become one of Manhattan’s hottest neighborhoods.
Rent prices for Harlem apartments have gone up over the last year as home hunters found an abundance of inventory going for relatively reasonable rates, especially during the economic crisis when good values were hard to come by.
A report by the real estate group MNS found that average rent prices in Harlem went up 9.4 percent from $2,191 last year to $2,397 in January, the biggest …
by Riccardo Ravasini Developer Adam Gordon made his fortune converting old properties into self-storage units.
Now he’s going back to his roots in a move to capitalize on the boom in luxury property prices.
The Real Deal reports that Gordon plans to convert an existing 11-story storage building at 305 East 61st Street into a high-end personal and art storage facility tailored to Upper East Side residents in luxury buildings like 432 Park Avenue and One57, and to art galleries on the 57th …
by Riccardo Ravasini The Standard Hotel in the Meatpacking district could sell for more than $400 million, or around $1.2 million per room — the highest price for a hotel since the financial crisis struck in 2008.
A group led by Steve Kantor is in talks, along with other bidders, to buy the 18-story hotel.
The hotel was developed and managed by hotelier Andre Balazs’s company. Balazs sold his majority stake in the Standard Hotel brand last year, putting the property on the …
by Riccardo Ravasini