NYC Architecture and Development

Empty NYC.

First, let me say hi to everyone and I hope these trying times find you in good health and halfway decent spirits.

These Greenwich Village shots are all from Sunday, March 22nd. I'm usually in the Village working 4 days a week, but now it's the case where this is the one and only time I've gone in to work in over two and a half weeks, otherwise heeding the warnings and laying low in my Brooklyn apartment.

It was a nice and sunny albeit cool March day, and by that point in time the message to #flattenthecurve had gotten out and most everyone was being sensitive to the situation. Overall I would say there was only about 20% of the normal traffic--both pedestrian and vehicular--out and about.

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This is Macdougal Street, otherwise known as the Bourbon Street of NYC. It is packed with bars, restaurants and comedy clubs, and on a normal day this narrow street would be loaded with people and vehicles

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6th Avenue is ALWAYS loaded with traffic. This is weird to see

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This isn't the busiest stretch by any means, but usually there would be at least 10 people in view from this perspective

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Never seen these lifts empty

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Six foot spacing to get into Trader Joe's

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Prince Street in Soho is usually teeming with activity

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And back on Macdougal Street in the middle of the comedy club zone. Literally no shows going on

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Another street that's usually bustling at all time of day and night

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Here's hoping everyone stays safe!
 
^ Though you didn't include Caffè Reggio in your MacDougal Street shots, I really enjoyed your pictures of the Village and environs. Burrito Loco (in the last image) was my favorite Mexican restaurant in the city decades ago.
 
I had to go down to the southern end of Chelsea last week and was shocked a how many people were out walking around. Those pictures are astounding how many people are still wandering around in public, too close to other people.

By contrast, this is what Hudson Yards (my neighborhood) look like, completely deserted except for the occasional walk of the dog or sporadic run to an open grocery or drug store. I took the following shots in the middle of the afternoon, normally a super busy time.

Facing north up West End and east along West 30th (Mercado Little Spain is in the distance on 30th) - this is normally a zoo, with the High Line crossing West End:

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10th Ave facing South, with the Hudson Yards mall across the street. Aside from the mall, the Vessel, and the High Line, on either side of the mall are 3 supertall office buildings and 2 supertall condo buildings. Along 30th Street, there are 3 ~35 story apartment buildings. Another area that is usually packed.

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West End and West 23rd Street, facing north up West End:

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Wonder what NYC real estate will be like in 12-18mos... I've been wanting to get the hell out of Boston for awhile now.
 
meddlepal said:
Absolutely, but even a small dip suddenly makes it more attractive.
Click to expand...

It’s never going to be cheap but prices were already trending downward and that’s not going to change anytime soon. Even now I’d say that you can get more or at least the same bang for your buck in New York as in Boston.
 
The NYC real estate market for all the hype has been a bit slow with the glut of high-end condos on the market, coupled with the overall red-hot surge post-recession. It has been mediocre for the past couple of years according to friends of mine at top brokerages.

Prices will probably come down a bit, but if you are open to different areas (Hoboken and JC, NJ) or parts of Queens and Brooklyn, you can pay less in rent or buy an apartment for at or less than Boston prices. Boston, on the other hand is getting super expensive - for rent or buying. If your timing is flexible, fall is a good time to look.

meddlepal said:
Wonder what NYC real estate will be like in 12-18mos... I've been wanting to get the hell out of Boston for awhile now.
Click to expand...
 
^ Things sure have changed since this scene from Dreams Don't Die (1982), filmed just a few blocks from the park in your first image.
 
^ Jeez Louise. Every time I see some structure that's clearly of the 1980s-90s postmodern variety, I can only think of the decimation that was there beforehand. And there's a LOT of construction from that era in my nabe.
 
The only way this is 6 foot spacing is if all these people are 15 feet tall. This is why I'll be avoiding stores for the rest of the month.

kz1000ps said:
Six foot spacing to get into Trader Joe's

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Click to expand...
 
^ It's a telephoto shot... it really compresses down the distance. Trust me, I waited in that line and in person it FELT like waayyyy more than 6 feet.

EDIT: just found a cellphone shot

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kz1000ps said:
^ Jeez Louise. Every time I see some structure that's clearly of the 1980s-90s postmodern variety, I can only think of the decimation that was there beforehand. And there's a LOT of construction from that era in my nabe.
Click to expand...
In the '70s and '80s, Bushwick was Brooklyn's version of Morrisania and Longwood in the Bronx.
 
^ I'm aware. My immediate area is close to Ridgewood (near the Myrtle-Wyckoff station) and seems to have been spared most destruction, as the blocks around me are all intact with their original 1910s two- or three-story apartment buildings... it's rather charming. But walk even a couple blocks south or east and the post-1980s construction is all over the place.
 
Meh, that 1982 Brooklyn footage is amateur hour compared to the South Bronx. Look up "Fort Apache South Bronx". :)

My family lived for almost a century in a "nice" part of the Bronx and even that was graffiti up to the eyeballs, trash in the streets, burned-out cars, and my favorite, the "squeegee men" who would run-up to our car at the stop sign off of the Major Deegan and start washing our windows for money.
 
Getting back to architecture....

Next time any of you are in NYC, I recommend checking out the burgeoning NoMad skyline. Once part of the low lying landscape between midtown and downtown, now it is reaching upward.

It started about 15 years ago with Sky House (the reddish tower in the background), and then the Eventi Hotel and more recently Portzamparc's Prizm Tower (to the left of the crane on the right).
Just completed is Rafa Vinoly's tower on 5th Ave (the glass and terra cotta striped tower in the middle).
Almost done on the left is Madison House, 850 feet tall and only has 199 units, so only a couple of units per floor. I like how I can see through the building in the morning.
Also going up is the Virgin Hotel (center, shiny and silvery with the crane poking out the top) as well as several somewhat "smaller" buildings. It is like a mini Hudson Yards it is so busy.

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In a move that surprises no one, NYC is yet again turning to its classical roots and turning out yet another gem on the upper east side, yet again proving that as far as quality architecture in the states and even more so masonry... Nyc is in a league of its own.

Other cities are just finally starting to get glass towers now while Nyc already has been chock full of them and moved on to the next era of greatness and iconic structures and materials 5 years ago.

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