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Real Estate

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

Hudson Landing Would Build 1,127 Homes Above Manhattan’s Coal-Tar Legacy

Hudson Landing Would Build 1,127 Homes Above Manhattan’s Coal-Tar Legacy

A parking lot opposite the Intrepid Museum could become a two-tower housing complex. First, its buried history as part of a manufactured-gas plant must be addressed.

520 Fifth Avenue: The Supertall Wearing a Terracotta Disguise

520 Fifth Avenue: The Supertall Wearing a Terracotta Disguise

At 520 Fifth Avenue, an aluminum curtain wall borrows the texture and glow of fired clay, allowing a 1,000-foot tower to speak in the architectural language of old Midtown.

Equitable Building: The Skyscraper That Made New York Step Back

Equitable Building: The Skyscraper That Made New York Step Back

The Equitable Building’s enormous shadow was legal, but the backlash helped produce the zoning rules behind New York’s wedding-cake skyline.

Worldwide Plaza: The Tower That Dressed for an Older New York

Worldwide Plaza: The Tower That Dressed for an Older New York

Its brick walls and copper crown helped lure corporate Manhattan west in the 1980s. Nearly four decades later, the same landmark is caught in a very modern office-market crisis.

The Hess Triangle: New York’s Tiny Monument to Property and Spite

The Hess Triangle: New York’s Tiny Monument to Property and Spite

A sidewalk mosaic in Greenwich Village preserves the memory of a parcel the city missed, along with a family’s refusal to surrender it.

350 Park Avenue: Unbuilding a Tower for Citadel's Supertall

350 Park Avenue: Unbuilding a Tower for Citadel's Supertall

350 Park Avenue is being cleared for a planned 1,414-foot office tower shaped by air rights, all-electric systems, trading floors, and Midtown's view economy.

The $238 Million Apartment Tower That Treated Buyers Like Applicants

The $238 Million Apartment Tower That Treated Buyers Like Applicants

220 Central Park South sold the most expensive home in America by combining Central Park frontage, pencil-tower engineering, and extreme buyer control.

The Tower That Invented Billionaires' Row, Then Exposed Its Risk

The Tower That Invented Billionaires' Row, Then Exposed Its Risk

One57 proved that Central Park views could sell for nine figures. It also showed what happens when a luxury tower becomes a speculative market.

Why the Chrysler Building Got So Cheap

Why the Chrysler Building Got So Cheap

One of New York's most famous skyscrapers became a bargain because the most valuable part of the property was never really for sale.

The Tiny Holdouts Rockefeller Center Had to Build Around

The Tiny Holdouts Rockefeller Center Had to Build Around

Rockefeller Center looks like a master plan, but two small buildings on Sixth Avenue show where the plan lost.

Billionaires' Row Was Built for Absence

Billionaires' Row Was Built for Absence

The strange emptiness of Billionaires' Row is not just about unsold apartments. It is about towers designed as assets first and homes second.