HAPPY NEW YEAR!
The new year is a time for all to reflect on the year that has passed and also look forward to the year to come. Rather than make new resolutions (that most break within 6-7 weeks), we should all remember to be kind, and be thankful. Our time is limited, and we should enjoy it while it lasts! Happy New Year and we hope this year brings you all prosperity, good health, and happiness!
CORNELIA STREET CAFE
The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. The West Village is a destination for shopping, nightlife, & restaurants and has amazing NYC real estate. With colonial brownstones, towering trees, and stylish residence, the west village is the go-to place in NYC for rentals and apartment sales.
Cornelia Street Cafe is one of the oldest restaurants many residents of NYC associate with the West Village. Located at 29 Cornelia St., between Bleecker and West Fourth streets, Cornelia Street Cafe is an iconic space in NYC’s literary, music, and art worlds. (Not to mention, some beautiful NYC apartments for rent. and sale.
Now, after over four decades in West Village, they have announced they are closing in January. Cornelia Street Café opened in 1977, merely had a toaster oven, a cappuccino machine, and a refrigerator display case. Over the years the restaurant expanded with two kitchens, two bars, three dining rooms, and a fireplace. It added breakfast, lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch menus. It has been a gathering place for writers, poets, artists, composers, storytellers, playwrights, and musicians throughout the past four decades, hosting readings and serving as a place for creatives to workshop new material. According to a New York Times story from 2002, singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega rose to fame here, and Eve Ensler
first read The Vagina Monologues publicly at the cafe in 1993.
As rent continues to rise in the West Village Cornelia Street Café has struggled to keep their doors open. According to the times the rent for the restaurant and the basement performance space is $33,000 a month, which is 77 times what the rent was when it opened 40 years ago. (NYC real estate is crazy, right?)
West Village Art Haven Cornelia Street Cafe Will Close After 41 Years.
PIER 55
We are doing it again; we are making our island of Manhattan bigger! Diller Island, a new park and performing arts venue is being built on pilings over the Hudson River, along the West Side of Manhattan. Known more formally as Pier 55, it is expected to open in spring 2021. I love NYC.
Pier 55 has already drawn attention in the press for its ridiculous price tag — currently $250 million — that is being footed by the entertainment mogul Barry Diller and his wife, the fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg. (Two people that have had some amazing NYC real estate over the years.)
For a while we weren't sure if it was going to happen but it is back on track, and after seven years of planning the park has begun to take shape over the water, just west of the Meatpacking District.
The park will also serve as a performing arts center, with a 700-seat amphitheater for music, dance and theater productions developed by the playwright George C. Wolfe and the producers Scott Rudin and Stephen Daldry, among others enlisted by Mr. Diller.
For the park’s design, Mr. Diller hired the renowned British designer Thomas Heatherwick. The design plan is meant to look like Champagne-glass-shaped pots sprouting from pilings sunk into the riverbed. Visually, the park will seem to rest on the 132 pots, as if nestled on an uneven bed of tulips.
DEAL OF THE MONTH : 37 BRIDGE STREET, 3C
A Dumbo loft lover's dream! We love this NYC neighborhood. Awarded the design award of excellence by the Society of American Registered Architects, the Kirkman Lofts condominiums are a blend of industrial warehouse cool, old world craftsmanship, and sleek contemporary design. Sensitively incorporating the original steel silos of the soap factory days, the Kirkman Lofts is a luxurious and architecturally significant building that features soaring ceilings and stunning Manhattan views. One of the reasons I love being an NYC broker.
Brenda’s client's parents came in from California to watch her pup while she was attending a wedding out of town. Since she is a very hard working attorney, they offered to preview apartments for her and help narrow down the search for her. They contacted Brenda on our real estate team at Douglas Elliman and she spent three days with them showing them apartments in various neighborhoods of Manhattan. Once they left, the client and Brenda viewed the top choice but she asked for her to show her some real estate options in Vinegar Hill. (Her parents didn’t view any apartments in Brooklyn). So off they went, they spent several Sundays checking out different apartment options in Brooklyn and specifically Vinegar Hill. Brenda knew 3C at 37 Bridge Street was going to be a special apartment from the moment we walked into Kirkman Lofts. The client grinned from ear to ear, after the showing and after the sellers broker had left, Brenda knew it was the perfect NYC apartment for her. the building is a converted warehouse for Kirkman & Son Soap company and was built in 1915. When it was converted, the architects retained much of the unique touches (original Silos are still in place and are used as entrance points for the apartments) that remind you that this was a factory that has been given new life. It is an incredibly well done real estate conversion. My client never stopped smiling while viewing the apartment, building amenities, and rooftop deck.
This NYC building’s amenities include; package and delivery storage, bike & private storage, and fitness room, video doorman, common terrace on the 5th floor and common roof terrace sharing majestic views of the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges, East River Harbor, and Manhattan skyline views.
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