
The Eight Top Upstate New York Hotels to Escape to This Summer
Then a few years ago, pioneers like vintage-feeling hotel the Maker arrived in Hudson, followed by Wildflower Farms, Auberge Resorts Collection 's first New York property, in Gardiner. They offered visitors a place for stylish stays at rates often exceeding $1,000 per night—proof that New Yorkers weren't just looking for a relaxed Hamptons alternative. These travelers wanted stylish stays with boutique bath products and serious food and beverage options, and they were willing to pay for it.

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Business Journals
4 hours ago
- Business Journals
JPMorgan subsidiary buys Midtown Manhattan apartment high-rise for $244M
Story Highlights JPMorgan subsidiary acquires Riverbank tower for $243.5 million. Barings sold 44-story apartment building after 30-year ownership. Property features 418 units and 18,000 square feet of retail space. A JPMorgan Chase & Co. subsidiary has paid nearly $244 million to acquire the Riverbank apartment high-rise in Midtown West. Real estate investment manager Barings sold the recently renovated 44-story building at 560 W. 43rd St. to J.P. Morgan Investment Management Inc. for $243.5 million, according to New York City property records made available Friday. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events 'Barings has been proud to provide Class A housing to New Yorkers over the last 30 years at this property and to deliver meaningful value to our investors through this transaction," said Mark Freeman, managing director at Barings, in a statement. Affiliates of Barings' parent company, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., had owned the site near Hell's Kitchen since 1991, records show. Initially built in the 1980s, amenities at the 418-unit property now include a swimming pool, gym, sauna, outdoor terrace, grilling stations, residential lounge, media room and coworking space. The building also has 18,000 square feet of retail space, which is fully occupied by a nail salon, liquor store and coffee shop, as well as below-grade parking garage. JLL's Jeffrey Julien, Rob Hinckley, Andrew Scandalios, Steven Rutman and Devon Warren represented Barings in the sale of the property. The firm's Kelly Gaines, Geoff Goldstein and Michael Shmuely also arranged $128 million in acquisition financing with Freddie Mac on behalf of JPMorgan. JLL took note of the site's proximity to Hudson Yards, the city's most expensive office submarket by more than $26 per square foot, according to Avison Young. "The location puts the building's primarily young and well-educated residents right next to one of the city's most vibrant business hubs," JLL said in the statement. JPMorgan Investment Management Inc. declined to comment on the acquisition. Sign up for the Business Journal's free daily newsletter to receive the latest business news impacting New York.


New York Post
a day ago
- New York Post
Zohran Mamdani's NYC grocery stores scheme draws fresh scrutiny as video of empty, city-owned Missouri market goes viral
He could be biting off more than he can chew. A viral video showing a desolate publicly-funded grocery store in Missouri has drawn fresh scrutiny on socialist mayoral contender Zohran Mamdani's signature proposal to bring city-owned markets to the Big Apple. The eerie footage showed virtually bare shelves inside the Kansas City, Miss. store, with local outlet KSHB 41 reporting this week that a rancid odor also wafted inside the shop. Advertisement 6 A viral video shows the poor conditions inside the city-owned Sun Fresh Market grocery store in Kansas City. KSHB 6 Empty shelves seen inside Sun Fresh Market. KSHB The lack of produce and other goods came despite the store being in a city-owned building and receiving millions of taxpayer dollars since opening in 2018, the report said. Advertisement 'I can tell you today right now it's damn near dead,' one outraged local told the outlet. Many viewed the video as prophetic for New York City, with one X user posting, 'Watch this, Mamdani supporters.' Mamdani helped clinch the Democratic mayoral nomination by running a campaign focused on affordability, including a promise to create a network of city-owned grocery stores to the Big Apple. 'It's like a public option for produce,' he said in one of his slick TikTok videos. 'We will redirect city funds from corporate supermarkets to city-owned grocery stores whose mission is to lower prices, not price gouging. Advertisement 'These stores will operate without a profit motive, or having to pay property taxes or rent, and will pass on those savings to you. They'll partner with small businesses and nearby farms and sell at wholesale prices.' 6 Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has proposed opening city-owned grocery stores. Zohran Mamdani / TikTok The proposal inspired an explosion of handwringing among some New Yorkers, with some warning of Soviet-style groceries and billionaire John Catsimatidis threatening to close his Gristedes grocery chain. 'We can't compete with Mamdani opening city-run supermarkets for free,' Catsimatidis has told The Post. Advertisement But Mamdani's plan is largely vague on details, such as whether the city itself will actually run the stores or hand off operations to a private or nonprofit partner. He has interchangeably used the terms 'city-owned' and 'city-run' to describe the stores during his campaign. 6 A local TV station also reported a rancid smell in the Kansas City store. KSHB Mamdani said he envisions the initiative as a pilot program that's more of an experiment. 'That would be one store in each borough – five stores across New York City,' he said on 'The Bulwark' podcast. 'It would cost $65 million,' he said before the podcast host Tim Miller interrupted to jokingly call them 'five communist stores.' 'It might be an interesting test case to see how poorly it does compared to its neighbors,' Miller said. 6 Sun Fresh Market has recieved millions of dollars in taxpayer funds since opening in 2018, according to the report. KSHB Advertisement Mamdani contended that he was more interested in testing a potential practical policy than pushing an ideological agenda. 'No matter how you think about the idea, I do think that there should be room for reasonable policy experimentation in our cities and in our country, where we actually test out our ideas,' he said. 'And if they work, they work. And if they don't work, c'est la vie, then the idea was wrong.' The Queens assemblyman has pointed toward the government-owned grocery store in St. Paul, Kansas, a community of roughly 600 people, as a success story. Advertisement Brittain Ladd, a supply chain logistics and retail consultant, said government-run grocery stores in New York City could break even, but they could only offer a limited number of basic products and would need to be operated by grocery 'experts.' 6 The report noted a lack of fresh produce available in the city-owned grocery store. KSHB 'The program will fail if people who don't have expertise set it up,' Ladd said. 'These would be very specialized grocery stores. This would not look like a grocery store. It would be a very bare bones operation,' Ladd said. Advertisement 'It would be to really just provide the things that people need the most.' Nevin Cohen, director for the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute, said Mamdani's proposal isn't so far-fetched, noting the city has six public retail markets, such as Jamaica Market, with a history going back to Mayor Fiorello La Guardia in the 1930s. 'They still operate in neighborhoods all across the city, and there, the Economic Development Corporation of New York City owns and manages the building and sets the rents so that there is a mix of neighborhood-serving vendors with rents that are affordable so they can provide low cost food,' Cohen said. Advertisement Cohen envisioned a public-private model would prevail if Mamdani wins in November and moves forward with the experiment, adding he didn't think city-owned grocery stores would impact existing businesses. 'In New York City, with 1,000 supermarkets, I don't think it's likely that the five public markets that Mamdani has been talking about would in any way undermine existing food retailers,' he said.


New York Post
a day ago
- New York Post
This is the most expensive cup of coffee in NYC — but many think the price is a sick cup of Joe-k
You must be joe-king. The Big Apple's most expensive cup of coffee is being brewed by a UK company in the heart of Manhattan — but opinions are far from blended on whether the caffeine is worth the pricetag. WatchHouse is hawking its 8-oz cup of La Negrita pourover at a jaw-dropping $28, a figure they justify based on the years-long process it takes to get the beanwater in front of their coffee-obsessed customers. 7 The La Negrita coffee at WatchHouse costs $28, making it the most expensive in the Big Apple. Matthew McDermott Time Out New York called the coffee drink — which comes on a platter alongside a green tea palate cleanser — a '$28 investment poured in a glass vessel.' La Negrita is the priciest cup on the shop's Rarities pourover menu, which includes five others ranging from $14 to $28, and even briefly peddled a $58 limited edition option. At the time, the UK-based shop was hawking as many as 400 cups per month across its two Manhattan locations. At that price, a WatchHouse barista making $18.92 per hour would need to spend 90 minutes crafting La Negritas before they could afford their own — but the intensive labor it takes to make each cup is exactly what makes it close so much. 7 The La Negrita comes on a serving tray with a small green tea palate cleanser. Matthew McDermott 7 It could take as long as five years to grow the rare beans and turn them into beanwater. Matthew McDermott 'This takes quite a bit of equipment and a lot of labor, and also a strong understanding of science and what's happening during fermentation to get the profile that you want,' explained coffee lead Sachi Patel. The La Negrita drink is produced from the 'rare and so difficult to produce' Gesha bean, which takes up to five years before it can be plucked and shipped to a UK roastery. 'After the coffee is roasted, our senior coffee team in the UK will do quite a bit of recipe testing to find out the best water temperature and brewing method to brew the coffee at and then that will be communicated with all of head baristas at each location, who will make sure that the coffee is tasting the way we want it to,' said Patel, adding that the perfected beans are then finally fermented for 36 hours before being bottled for preservation. 7 Harrison Huang said the coffee and experience was well worth the $28 price. Katherine Donlevy/NY Post 7 WatchHouse offers six coffees from is Rarities menu, ranging in price from $14 to $28. Matthew McDermott The lengthy history is communicated to the customer during service, much like at a wine tasting — which could be an integral part of the price. The Post conducted a blind taste test with New Yorkers on the street in which they were asked to guess the price. Most loved the taste, but were appalled to learn the $28 price tag. 'That's pretty heinous,' Graham O'Donnell said, even though he admitted the coffee was delicious. 7 'At $28 I'm going to see my Bodega man, put some weight at the bottom. We'd just be chilling and then I'd buy another cup,' said Jared Hunter. Matthew McDermott Similarly, Jared Hunter gawked at the cost, saying, 'At $28, I'm going to see my Bodega man, put some weight at the bottom. We'd just be chilling and then I'd buy another cup.' Mohammad Ishmail estimates he hawks about 500 cups of $2 coffee at his breakfast cart just around the corner from WatchHouse's 5th Avenue location, describing his clientele as mostly construction and blue-collar workers. 'Coffee is coffee. That's what matters. At 5 o'clock in the morning, I have one and that's good for me,' said Ishmail, who has been running his truck since 2010. 7 The Post conducted a blind taste test with New Yorkers on the street in which they were asked to guess the cost of an 8 oz cup. Matthew McDermott WatchHouse's Rarities line certainly has a loyal cult following; however, with coffee lovers like Sarah Allmon, who emphasized the experience wasn't for the average Dunkin' enthusiast. 'This is their bread and butter. They're willing to go the extra mile to get a really good pour-over. I think if you're someone that's really chasing that specialty coffee or seeing what is the unique option out there, I think that the rarities would definitely pull your interest,' Allmon, 31, of the Upper East Side said, rating WatchHouse as one of the top 5 of the nearly 100 coffee shops she's ever visited in the Big Apple. Harrison Huang — who described himself as a 'really big coffee person' — agreed, telling The Post he stopped by WatchHouse as part of a self-conducted tour of several other high-end coffee shops during his trip to the Big Apple. 'For me, the most interesting part is to try different coffee beans and how the coffee shop is using their technique to kind of display — that's a fun way to look at it, too,' explained Harrison Huang, 31, of Los Angeles, who was sipping on a $14 Pepe Jijon, his second cup of the his trip to WatchHouse after trying a $23 Abu Lot. 'I'm not always looking at the coffee bean, but also the machine they're using and how they are approaching this plane … the whole environment is what I'm looking for.'