Massive rooftop garden on top of the Post Office building

People will surprise you in the best way, and sometimes buildings will too, evidently. At the top of the Post Office building, covering an entire city block between 9th and 10th Avenues from 29th to 30th Streets, is a massive two-acre garden which spans the entire roof of the building. You can see a wide shot of it here (hold your phone landscape rather than portrait) and walk-through style videos of it here and here.

The building is called Morgan North, and the USPS continues to use the bottom four floors for post office things. It’s not clear to us who currently occupies the upper floors; once upon a time it was a Japanese advertising firm called Dentsu, but it looks like Dentsu may have never moved in and then tried to sublease their space post-Covid. It may be nobody on the top floors, which is why sources tell us that they rarely if ever see anyone wandering the garden.

We are going to reach out to some individuals to see if we can take a walk up here. It reminds us of none other High Line, our namesake, in which an old train line was converted into the best walk in the city (thanks, Ethan Hawke).

It’s not a dress; it’s a different sky

Our eyes caught on this vibrant mural on 18th Street and 10th Avenue, which debuted a few weeks ago and is perched right above a High Line staircase. Called “Time for a New Sky II,” this isn’t quite what you thought at first glance, if what you thought is that it shows a human in a yellow bellowing dress set up against a vibrant summer sky.

Rather it shows an individual trying, in vain or not, to pull an artificial almost dusk-toned sky over the natural one behind him. From the High Line’s description:

In Time for a New Sky II, a solitary figure stands atop a painted scenic sky backdrop, attempting to pull this artificial scene over the actual sky above him, as if ushering in the dusk. Reflecting Mitchell’s ongoing interest in bodily suspension and one’s relationship to the sky, this dreamlike work captures a tension between the natural and the constructed, mirroring the High Line’s own identity as an invented landscape suspended above the city. With the monumental New York skyline visible behind it, Time for a New Sky II is, ultimately, a work about self-possession and possibility: the whole sky gathered in one figure’s hands.

The artist is Brooklyn resident Tyler Mitchell. It will be in our neighborhood through this September (summer always goes so fast…).

Summer rooftop series: Miru right above City Winery is breezy

You really should wander up to Miru, the dreamy rooftop sushi place right above City Winery in Chelsea Piers. Here’s the review in Time Out, and we can confirm that it is perhaps the most spacious, airy inside rooftop in the city. As a major bonus, it is surrounded by Pier 57 rooftop park, which offers a bird’s eye view of Little Island and panoramic views of the west side.

Miru is a little funny to get to, but you can do it. Walk in the doors right near City Winery, past the first set of restaurants in Pier 57 market, and then up the elevator on the right (you’ll see a “Miru” sign). The chord it strikes is minimalist, clean, and industrial (which we like as Chelsea residents), with the smooth concrete floor below, exposed pipes above, and origami-style wooden fish hanging from the ceiling. This place is perfect for a drink in the middle of a walk on the Hudson, dinner parties, family gatherings (and really also craft workshops, Twister game nights, yoga classes, relay races, home gyms—when I say open and spacious, I really do mean it…). And while the dreamy city view is like the A-list face that grabs your attention, the sushi is the personality that keeps you around. Try the kani roll, which is a snow crab, “crab paste,” and chives combination; or the can’t-ever-miss toro roll, made with tuna and scallions. The block-approved move is to go for drinks (trust us on the green tea-infused Matcha Muse) until you’re relaxed enough to pay attention only to the summer breeze off the Hudson and the glimmering nightscape of downtown Manhattan.

Recommend.

Mamdani tax thing hits our neighborhood

A couple neighbors have written in about that Mamdani tax thing, in which NYC published a list of approximately 960k properties containing “at least one unit [which] may be subject” to a new tax on expensive pied-à-terres, a fancy French word for secondary homes, in the city. The purpose of the list is to “tax the rich,” and if you look at a bar chart of the properties on the list, you might notice that our neighborhood (“Chelsea / W. Village” on the graph) is rather…represented.

In conjunction with the list, Mamdani also sent out about 17k notifications in the mail to property owners essentially stating that NYC has reason to believe that their property exceeds $1m in value and is a pied-à-terre—and asking the owner to submit proof to the contrary so that they are not subject to the tax.

This is a tricky issue, but we say we are serious and ridiculous in roughly equal measure and there’s been a lot of ridiculousness lately, and so let’s gather a few serious thoughts for the block:

1. Mamdani is the city’s democratically elected chief executive who ran on a platform of wealth redistribution. Good on him for carrying out the will of the people and actually doing what he said he was going to do when running for office.

2. We’ve got a rather inescapable wealth inequality problem in this country, city, and even neighborhood—and while this lowly block association doesn’t even pretend to have the answers to that problem, a tax system that (i) taxes your paycheck quite a bit, but (ii) taxes property like houses and stock not so much (even as they seriously appreciate in value) turns out to be rather regressive.

3. Mamdani kind of botched the roll-out here. The list of 960k properties is just a list of all the units in NYC where the owners pay a property tax for the unit (which is true for essentially every unit that is owned and not rented out long-term). In other words, the list excludes renter-occupied apartments (which is why apartments in 507 West Chelsea, Ava High Line, Abington House won’t be on the list)—but virtually every other unit in NYC will be on the list. So the list itself does not by any stretch contain only the lavish pied-à-terres, and publishing it with a message that it contains properties which “may be subject” to the new tax is rather confusing by Mamdani.

4. We understand that some neighbors have received notices wrongly indicating that their home is a pied-à-terre. I’m sure that is a bit unnerving and as far as I can tell, the city hasn’t been a model of clarity in disclosing how it identified the 17k alleged pied-à-terres that received notices (which is less than 2% of the total 960k property tax roll). It seems to be a function (among other things) of the value of the property and whether you’ve declared the property your “primary residence” (so that you can get a primary residence abatement) on property tax forms.

5. T‍he list itself is an absolute mess if you know anything about property values in New York. I’m not entirely sure whose fault this is, but the city is using some seriously antiquated methodology in appraising the “fair market value”—which forms the basis for the new tax—of the properties on this list. Suffice to say that penthouse apartments in some of the swankiest buildings in our neighborhood are worth far, far more than low 7 digit-dollar values, and this list suggests otherwise over and over again. Odd. ‍

Feel free of course to write in with a perspective.

Brick loft building across from Ava High Line (on 28th St) repossessed by JPMorgan

Across from Ava High Line on 28th Street between 10th & 11th is a commercial loft building that predates the towers most of you are probably living in right now. The address is 548 West 28th Street, and our sister publication Bloomberg reported in December 2025 that its owner, Mariner’s Gate LLC, was late on approximately $50 million in debt and had entered into bankruptcy to halt foreclosure by its lender, JPMorgan. Based on the bankruptcy case docket, in May 2026, the owner ended up selling the property back to JPMorgan for $38 million. So: John Piermont Morgan is in a sense your neighbor now.

Probably not for long. The next step here is for JPMorgan to try to sell the property to the highest bidder, and it looks like that process has been under way for a few months now. We are going to contact Mariner’s Gate and the sales agent to see if we can figure out more about who the potential buyers are—and will keep the block updated.

Update 8/7/28—we were able to find comment from the owner of Mariner’s Gate (named Jim Pastreich) from this Crain’s article:

The cumulative effects of Covid-19 on the commercial real estate market have been awful. Unfortunately this included us too,” Pastreich said. “I personally have been with this building for over 27 years and have seen this wonderful NYC Landmark go from taxi garages, industrial and storage spaces to galleries and a range of eclectically creative tenants. It is a great building that it has been my pleasure to work with and a really sad day for me, my associates and our wonderful staff.

Jim, thanks for being a longtime member of our block.

“The Mallory” opening at Terminal Warehouse (on 11th Avenue) this fall

If you know, you know; and if you know, you know we are big fans of Terminal Warehouse, the historic brick building covering a full city block from 27th to 28th Streets, between 11th and 12th Avenues. As first reported by our sister publication the NY Post, the second of two tenants in the redeveloped warehouse is Equinox, which we have covered rather extensively, and the first is Convene Hospitality Group, which designs event and office spaces. This fall, Convene is bringing to the warehouse an events space called “The Mallory,” which will host events like galas, award ceremonies, and Eyes Wide Shut-style parties. (Ed note: Don’t believe literally everything you read on the internet). Anyway, we like this development.

And we like it for a couple different reasons. First, the history and bones of this building are extremely cool. In a world not that long ago where trains ran up and down 10th and 11th Avenues and killed so many people that the two avenues were collectively called “Death Avenue,” Terminal Warehouse was a train stopping place (otherwise known as a “terminal”) that stored all sorts of goods dropped off by the trains (otherwise known as a “warehouse”), including perishable goods that had to be kept cold (which is why it says “COLD STORAGE” in large old-school black capital letters on the front). Second, Convene has put some serious respect on the name of the architect who designed the building in the 1890s, George Mallory. Third, and most importantly, we are ‘Yes In My Backyard’ types around here and love to see development not just in Hudson Yards, the Midtown of sorts of the west side, but in the residential spaces and ‘suburbs’ if you will around Hudson Yards. That is especially true when the developers, and here, even the tenants, make an effort to check and embrace boxes one and two.

We’ve reached out to the President and CEO of Convene for comment here, including on the estimated timeline and the events that might be thrown in the new space. Will update here if we get a response.

Update 8/7/2026 - we got a response from the President and CEO—along with some renderings of the space which we’ve added above!

The Mallory at Terminal Warehouse is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to serve the experiential events industry in New York -- and do it better than anyone else in the market. It's an honor to be given the space to breathe new life into a historic site. We can’t wait to be part of its future.

Ryan Simonetti, President and CEO of Convene Hospitality Group (CHG)

La Bergamote is the French café experience, but today

One of our chief criticisms of Paris is that it is in France.  For this reason you might think you can’t do the following today: wander over to a café with the black-and-white tile floors, marble-cut tables, and vintage lighting; post up at a table outside by yourself (or with one of your quieter friends; don’t be an American about it); angle your chair towards the passersby; order an espresso and an almond croissant; and quietly make up stories about or hopefully even judge the more stylish couples who walk by you.  I am here to tell you today that you can do this today.  You can do it at La Bergamote, on 20th Street & 9th Avenue. 

This place calls itself a “pâtisserie,” French for bakery, but that is a little like calling the Titanic a “big boat” or the Mona Lisa a “picture of a woman.”  Yes there is the pastry case; yes you should get the lemon tart or éclair; no we don’t care about your figure.  But the actual block-approved move is to sit down by yourself early in the day and get the lemon ricotta pancakes, which may very well be the best pancakes in the city, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, and made with a zesty lemon batter replete with blueberries and ricotta cheese strewn on top.  Or go for lunch and get the French onion soup, which has a deeper and richer taste than you’re used to, and the cheeseburger with bacon, which is juicier than you’re used to (still don’t care about your figure).  Or go for dinner and get the hanger steak au poivre (which they serve of course with fries) or the bouillabaisse, which is their Thursday-special seafood stew medley with scallops, shrimp, and toast to soak it all up on the side.  You really cannot go wrong here.

While we say the official move is to go alone, people-watch, and really bask in all your senses; this place is also perfect with a friend or a small group.  A little on the pricier side, but guys, it’s French and you can’ t put a price on something feeling right. Highly recommend. 

Be the zebra (building), soft opening on 29th Street this fall

In a world full of horses, be the zebra. Painting recently finished on the facade of The Zebra Building, an art gallery and event space on 29th Street between 10th & 11th Avenues that is slated to soft open in October. The outside design is based on “the anatomically accurate pattern of “an individual Grévy’s zebra, an endangered species native to East Africa with fewer than 3,000 remaining in the wild.” We’ve reached out to the building’s owner, named Conor, and will give the block updates as we have them.

Really love that the art galleries which mark the area a few streets below us are coming up further north.

“OGIO” filming on 11th Avenue between 28th & 29th Street

We spotted this film shoot flyer on 11th Avenue between 28th and 29th Streets. The project name is “OGIO,” which is like a backpack brand—and then the flyer gives the name of a “John Perez” along with a phone number. The number is linked to a “location scouting” company called John Perez Locations, Inc.; location scouting is essentially where a filmmaker or photographer scopes out a new location for potential filming, and John Perez appears to maintain a library of potential filming locations. So this may be less of a film shoot than a potential film shoot. We’ve reached out to John for more information.

Update 8/2/26: We talked to Matt, the person running the shoot, and it is in fact for OGIO the backpack/apparel brand. It’s for a business-to-business ad—meaning the photos/videos will be used in like pitch decks or something. Filming will be on Monday, so look out for those backpack models and let us/Matt know if you think your back is broad enough to frame the goods.

New staircases to the High Line on 20th & 26th Streets should be complete in September 2026

Here’s a question that makes no sense outside our neighborhood and a bit more sense inside our neighborhood: When are they going to be done with that staircase to the park? And the answer, with respect to the new staircases that we’re getting up to the High Line on 20th Street and 26th, is late September 2026. In the construction world that is not too far off the original targeted opening of the Spring 2026. We thank High Line officials and Sally Greenspan, President of the 100 West 19th/20th Street Block Association, for getting us this update!

Law & Order: SVU filming this Friday (7/31/26)

You can make really anything dramatic by adding the signature Law & Order “clang-clang” to it, including 24th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues. This Friday, the 28th Season of Law & Order: SVU is filming right in the middle of Chelsea, and if you’re a person who can bring “realism, emotional depth, and strong on-camera presence to powerful, story driven roles,” you might consider just wandering over to 24th Street and demanding a cameo with Ice-T on the longest-running primetime drama on American television. (Ed note: The writer of this post has limited to no acting experience, and so reader discretion remains advised). Season 28 premiers on October 8.

The loneliness epidemic goes all the way down (to the dogs)

Guys, the dogs are swiping now. The dogs. Spotted on a lamp post on 26th & 10th, it’s for an app called Dog Date Afternoon (Instagram here), which has been covered in our sister publication the NYPost. Now in all (ok, some) seriousness, the app is ostensibly for dogs to make new dog friends, but it’s really for dog owners to make new dog owner friends, because unlike dogs, it is actually insane to go up to a random human you don’t know and just start acting incredibly excited to see them. Instead, at the absolute most, you can approach the human you might like from the side, hide every ounce of your excitement, and try some inane comment in order to trigger a lifelong bond like “that’s a really nice dog you have there” or “I’ve heard there’s a block association on this block.” Ed. note: Our success rate in using these pickup lines in the wild is 0/0. User discretion advised.