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Real Estate

The zoning, development rights, construction, and economics shaping New York's buildings and skyline.

How Olympia DUMBO Turned Zoning Limits Into a Sail

How Olympia DUMBO Turned Zoning Limits Into a Sail

At the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, an awkward former parking lot became a sculpted condominium tower. Its curves reveal a negotiation between waterfront history, zoning and gravity.

ModernHaus SoHo and the Value of Leaving Space

ModernHaus SoHo and the Value of Leaving Space

At this SoHo hotel, lifting the guestroom tower created something a solid building could not: a layered landscape of gardens, gathering places, and elevated views.

Why HL23 Leans Over the High Line

Why HL23 Leans Over the High Line

At West 23rd Street, a narrow Manhattan lot became a test of zoning, geometry, and structural steel. The result is a condominium that grows wider as it rises.

New York’s Skybridges Have Always Been About More Than Shortcuts

New York’s Skybridges Have Always Been About More Than Shortcuts

From hospital laundries to a swimming pool above Manhattan, New York’s elevated passages reveal who gets connected and what happens to the street below.

The School Deal That Gave 35XV Its Shape

The School Deal That Gave 35XV Its Shape

Above Xavier High School, a glass condominium tower stretches beyond its base. Its unusual silhouette records a bargain between education, real estate, and New York zoning.

The Building That Made Room for the Sun

The Building That Made Room for the Sun

At 40 Tenth Avenue, Studio Gang carved a glass office building around the sun’s path, preserving light and river views for the High Line.

The Water That Steadies One Madison

The Water That Steadies One Madison

One Madison’s projecting glass apartments make a spectacle of Manhattan’s skyline. Hidden concrete walls and three rooftop water tanks make the slender tower comfortable to inhabit.

Starrett-Lehigh: The Freight Terminal That Became a Fashion Address

Starrett-Lehigh: The Freight Terminal That Became a Fashion Address

Railcars arrived by water, and trucks rode upstairs. Inside Starrett-Lehigh, the machinery of Manhattan’s industrial waterfront helped shape an unlikely second act.

Waterline Square and the Architecture of Sunlight

Waterline Square and the Architecture of Sunlight

Behind Waterline Square’s angled glass towers lies a question that shaped years of debate: how do you build a neighborhood without leaving its park in shadow?

The San Remo: Room for Sunlight, No Guarantee for Stars

The San Remo: Room for Sunlight, No Guarantee for Stars

The San Remo’s twin towers turned housing rules into a Manhattan landmark. Decades later, Madonna discovered that buying into the building presented another kind of design problem.

100 Norfolk Street: The Building That Gets Bigger as It Rises

100 Norfolk Street: The Building That Gets Bigger as It Rises

On Manhattan’s Lower East Side, a condominium turns a height limit into an architectural puzzle, using air rights and exposed steel trusses to expand above its neighbors.

At 200 Eleventh Avenue, the Garage Comes Upstairs

At 200 Eleventh Avenue, the Garage Comes Upstairs

A Chelsea tower lets residents ride an elevator with their cars and park beside their apartments. Making that convenience possible took an unusual arrangement of concrete, ventilation, and living space.