Category : Residential

While Columbia and New York University fight out the details of their respective expansion plans, their diminutive East Village cousin, The New School, is well on its way to a 16 percent increase in its academic and residential space. The four-year college broke ground in December 2010 on its University Center, a 16-story mixed use residential and academic building scheduled to open in the fall of 2013 on Fifth Avenue between 13th and 14th streets. Work by Tishman Construction is on schedule, according to the university, and when completed, the building will feature some of the most advanced environmental sustainability and efficiency systems in the city.

By Al Barbarino Manhattan rents nudged closer to their all-time high last month with the average rent hitting $3,376, according to Citi Habitats. The firm’s monthly rental market report for February 2012 put the average Manhattan apartment rented up 5% from a year ago and a mere $18 dollars off the market peak of $3,394 during Mary 2007.

City planners need to go back to the black-board and come up with a plan to build more schools to keep pace with luxury condo development. That's the view of at least one economist who says even new schools coming online are classed as overcrowded the day they open. “Not only has stroller traffic increased, but school enrollment has soared and overcrowding has ensued, particularly in neighborhoods where new development is heavily concentrated,” said Barbara Byrne Denham, chief economist at real estate services firm Eastern Consolidated.

The Manhattan apartments of Huguette M. Clark, the copper heiress who died in May, 2011 at the age of 104, are officially on the market with a $55 million price tag. Interior images have yet to be released of the apartments at 907 Fifth Avenue Mary Rutherfurd and Leslie Coleman of Brown Harris Stevens are representing the properties, which overlook Central Park’s model boat pond, with international marketing services provided by Christie’s International Real Estate. 907 Fifth Avenue is a limestone clad, Italian palazzo-style co-operative on 72nd Street designed by architect J.E.R. Carpenter in 1915. Two of Mrs. Clark’s apartments make up the entire eighth floor; the third occupies half of the 12th floor.