Bloomberg’s Vertical NYC | Gentrifying into Shelters | Town Houses in Dumbo

Cube Lease released this video of the growth of Midtown Manhattan over 165 years.

1. New York, the vertical city, kept rising under Bloomberg. “Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office less than four months after the city’s tallest two buildings collapsed in the Sept. 11 attacks. He will leave, in December, as construction of the tallest tower on the continent - 1 World Trade Center - nears completion at the same location. In between, more than 214,000 housing units have been built, and seven of the 20 tallest skyscrapers in the city went up.” [WNYC – 07/08/13]
2. Amid housing scarcity, NYC buyers are going home empty-handed. “The number of homes for sale in and around New York City has fallen far behind demand, with inventory of apartments in Manhattan reaching the lowest levels in at least 13 years. With so few properties on the market, and so many buyers eager to lock in historically low interest rates before they climb any further, many “for sale” signs planted in a window or on the Web are greeted by a tidal wave of desperate buyers and frantic offers. And almost as quickly as they appear, those listings are gone.” [New York Times – 07/08/13]
3. Rising above the rails at Hudson Yards. “Land-hungry New York City developers have been creating enormously valuable property out of thin air for more than a century by building concrete platforms over rusty rail yards.Now Related Cos., with the help of media behemoth Time Warner Inc., is poised to take this classic form of real-estate alchemy to a new level.” [Wall Street Journal – 07/07/13]
4. Why low-income residents may care more about their neighborhoods. “Because of the run-down and sometimes violent nature of poor urban neighborhoods, we often assume that the people who live there don’t care that much about where they live….An interesting study, published recently in the journal Race and Social Problems, adds a surprising wrinkle to what we know about these places.” [Atlantic Cities – 07/08/13]
5. Gentrifying into the shelters. “Those unburdened by skepticism about gentrification argue that it is an ample elevator, lifting up everyone: with renovations come the need for those to lay the subway tiles; with enotecas come the need for those to serve the verdicchio. And yet how often does the waitress pouring the wine in a marginal neighborhood look like someone rescued from grim financial despair rather than a slightly younger, and often more fashionable, version of the person drinking it?.” [New York TImes – 07/06/13]
6. In Dumbo, town houses in a warehouse zone. “A group of town houses hidden behind a unified facade of concrete and glass in formerly industrial Dumbo has some calling the edifice a future landmark - and others saying it’s reminiscent of a 1970s-era office building…The project will create town houses in a neighborhood better known for converted loft spaces, but will do so in a way that allows the homes to blend in with the area’s industrial aesthetic. ” [New York Times – 07/05/13]
7. In the District, affordable housing plan hasn’t delivered. “The New Communities Initiative was going to infuse prosperity into this troubled area, 10 blocks from the Capitol. It would serve as a template for remaking other violent neighborhoods in the District, a commitment to those who felt a changing city was leaving them behind.By the end of this year,180 units were to have been built for former Temple Courts tenants. So far, the plan hasn’t delivered one.” [Washington Post – 07/07/13]
8. Investigation exposes harassment of LA minorities living in subsidized housing. “The US Department of Justice has accused Los Angeles County officials of harassing and intimidating black and Latino residents in subsidized housing. Guest host Celeste Headlee learns more about the Justice Department’s two year-long investigation, and its demand that local authorities pay more than $12 million in damages to affected residents.” [NPR – 07/03/13]
9. Historic tax credit heralded as sparking the redevelopment of downtown St. Louis. “St. Louis attorney Jerry Schlichter recalls a time when the building that became the Renaissance Grand Hotel was a lot less grand.Plans to renovate came and went over the years, with little success.What changed the tide, he said, was the state’s historic preservation tax credit, an incentive Schlichter help craft to rehab older buildings around the state.” [St Louis Beacon – 07/08/13]
10. 165 years of Midtown Manhattan development in a minute. “If you’re a New York City history buff you probably know that a long time ago the buildings in Midtown were not very tall, but over the years buildings of increasing heights were constructed and now there are lots of very tall buildings. But what you probably didn’t know was how cool it would be to watch a virtual animation of all those buildings going up.” [Curbed NY – 07/08/13]