Hey, we’re evolving here!
New Yorkers know that the only constant in local life is change — but in 2025, some of the most exciting new additions to the city are sounding comfortingly familiar.
Beloved institutions may come and go in the fast-paced Big Apple, but a spate of preservation-driven progress is lately warming the hearts of even the most jaded nostalgists.
Those whose job it is to monitor Gotham’s unstoppable growth say they welcome the recent wave of reinvention — while reminding that the trend shouldn’t come as a complete surprise.
“We’re continually growing and changing, but we also preserve a lot of what makes this city architecturally distinct and unique, from different periods over literally hundreds of years,” Moses Gates, author of the urban exploration bible “Hidden Cities,” told The Post.
Gates, also a vice president of the Regional Plan Association, pointed out that a city like New York has no choice but to move forward — and praised the many projects over the years that have helped historic structures find new relevance.
This fall, revisit these five freshly reimagined NYC landmarks that have found relevance in the present day — without turning their back on the past.
You can take it on The Arches
The neglected Manhattan-side undercarriage of the Brooklyn Bridge (aka The Arches) has been a haven for in-the-know amateur and pro skaters since the 1970s — who managed to turn a moribund multi-acre site into their personal playground.
Anointed by famed rail-riders the world over and even making an appearance in Tony Hawk’s eponymous Y2K video game, the unlikely sporting venue, known as Brooklyn Banks, shuttered indefinitely in 2010 due to bridge construction — re-emerging this year as part of the work-in-progress Gotham Park, a 9-acre respite planned for the long-overlooked site.
“The renovation unlocked a lot of different parts of the space that you can skateboard on and hang out on,” Steve Rodriguez, a long-time Brooklyn Banks skater and Gotham Park co-founder who spearheaded site-saving efforts, told The Post.
“There are these two huge arches that were shut forever that you couldn’t access, and those are now open. You’re truly in this space that is magical, majestic and welcoming.”
On Oct. 4, the skate maven will celebrate the iconic park’s rebirth with Back to the Banks, a homecoming event featuring a DJ and a trick contest featuring Jeff Pang — the first professional skateboarder from NYC — and other curb conquerors.
Rodriguez believes that the “space’s opening is a huge shot in the arm for skateboard culture” here. Recently, he confided, celebrated NJ asphalt assassin Quim Cardona visited the site — to celebrate his birthday.
“He’s a 47-year-old guy. Had two Thrasher covers,” said Rodriguez. “And out of all the places he could be, he wanted to go skate with his friends at the Brooklyn Banks.”
It’s never too late to skate, according to the pros — with local schools like Skateyogi and No Bad Weather offering adult lessons to New Yorkers looking to hone their kickflip skills.
She’s had work done
Progress and preservation intersect stylishly on Fifth Avenue at the Upper East Side’s grand dame Frick Collection — which reopened its doors to rave reviews this year following a $220 million renovation, ever so politely ushering the Gilded Age mansion into the 21st century.
This marked the museum’s first overhaul since it officially opened in 1935 — opening up the one-time palatial residence of industrialist Henry Clay Frick in a way visitors have never experienced before.
Now, art lovers and real estate coveters alike can access the storied mansion’s formerly off-limits second-floor rooms via a magnificent, “Gone With The Wind”-style staircase, leading to a string of intimate exhibition spaces — complementing a newly-expanded ground level and a new on-site cafe and eatery, the Westmoreland.
Axel Ruger, director of the Frick Collection, told The Post that the changes have allowed one of NYC’s most treasured museums to host large-scale special exhibitions that previously didn’t fit the space.
“We could do that … in the past, but they always had to take place in the collection galleries — and part of the collection had to go into storage,” he explained.
Coming up Oct. 2 and running through Jan. 5, the museum will mount “To the Holy Sepulcher: Treasures from the Terra Sancta Museum” — showcasing 40-plus rare objects from Jerusalem’s spiritual home of the Christian faith.
Timed tickets are required to enter the museum; adult admission is $30.
Meet me at the clock — again
One of NYC’s top hotels for generations, Midtown’s legendary Waldorf Astoria shuttered in 2017, promising an imminent return to former glory. Well, it took nearly a decade, but one of the world’s most recognized addresses is finally back.
The Park Avenue palace is truly grand once more, with a newly-burnished lobby worthy of the Art Deco icon — alongside new amenities including a 20,000-square-foot Guerlain spa and cocktails in the refurbished Peacock Alley bar dreamed up by Jeff Bell of downtown’s Please Don’t Tell fame.
Much of the buzz is on the property’s two gorgeous new restaurants — Japanese kaiseki spot Yoshoku and Lex Yard, a deluxe, two-tiered brasserie helmed by Gramercy Tavern executive chef and partner Michael Anthony.
And yes, there’s a Waldorf salad ($26) — but don’t expect the mayo-heavy mix of oddball ingredients you’ll recall from the olden days.
By contrast, Anthony’s version builds on the 1896 original’s holy trinity — celery, apples and grapes — by using locavore versions of the ingredients, adding romaine lettuce and replacing the mayonnaise with a refreshing lemon aioli.
A smattering of toasted sunflower seeds, grated cheddar cheese and candied walnuts also helps elevate the roughage.
Like the hotel itself, however, the salad will evolve to reflect the times.
“Rather than create one stroke of genius, I decided that the salad would be [seasonal],” Anthony told The Post — noting the classic dish will “discreetly change” along with the rest of the menu, at pertinent points throughout the year.
The Deuce goes wild
Erected in the early 1990s by Coca-Cola magnate Asa Griggs Candler, Times Square’s handsome Candler Building has been in the wrong place at the wrong time for nearly all of its life — stuck on that notorious block of West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues known for decades as The Deuce.
Even after the porn-and-crime-plagued strip received its controversial refit at the turn of last century, the Candler has continued to go under-appreciated — a McDonald’s that occupied the lower levels from 2002 until the pandemic era is long gone, while vacant upper floors were most recently used as emergency migrant housing.
Now, for the first time in more than five years, there’s new life at street level in the landmarked structure — in the form of a 200,000-square-foot portal to the future known fittingly as tm:rw.
Described as a state-of-the-art tech emporium by co-founders Nathalie Bernce and Jacov Nachtailer of Smartech Retail Group, the modern-day World’s Fair features immersive, interactive experiences on a rotating basis — from gaming to gadgets to virtual reality.
Calling to mind James Bond’s gadget-testing lab but without the strict security clearances, civilians can try a professional-grade racing simulator, find quiet in a soundproof sanctuary powered by Alexa, test out next-generation wearable gadgets — or even check out a machine said to make gelato in 30 seconds and with 40% less sugar.
All the while, the tm:rw team monitors how customers interact with products, which helps the creators refine design — before debuting at scale.
The project is about “the joy of discovery,” Bernce told The Post. “It’s not about rows of products or transactional shopping. It’s about creating an environment where innovation feels human — where you can touch, feel, and experience what’s next.”
Admission is free, with in-store upcharges for some attractions.
Lord be reappraised
Lord & Taylor isn’t coming back to Fifth Avenue, probably ever, but there’s plenty of life left in the near-200-year-old Italian Renaissance department store building, which lately had become a relatively boring office building.
This fall, however, the formerly elite address will welcome the city’s hottest new dining deck — named Dorothy Shaver Hall, after the former store’s one-time president, celebrated as the first American woman to own a multimillion-dollar business.
Construction is wrapping up on the 35,000-square-foot complex, which project director Sean Dillon promised would celebrate local favorites like Brooklyn’s F&F Pizza, Tompkins Square Bagels, Taqueria Al Pastor and more.
“You’re not going to find a super corporate brand in the hall … We’ve got an authentic New York [spread],” Dillon told The Post of the 11 inaugural vendors.
With a design more akin to a fine-dining restaurant, the project will also feature a wine bar with its own cheese conveyor belt — think all-you-can-eat conveyor belt sushi, but for cheese — and a new omakase restaurant from B.K. Park of the Michelin-starred Mako in Chicago.
Park told The Post that while he’s still finalizing the menu, diners can expect his eclectic brand of cooking that fuses traditional Japanese raw bar offerings with Western influences and other eclectic elements.
He even teased a unique combo of bone broth and “creamy” fish sperm — often called “male fish eggs” in Japan.
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