NYC’s Sauna Wars Are Heating Up—and Everything Else You Need to Know About This Week

• In New York City, sleek bathhouses are popping up block by block from the Flatiron District to Williamsburg, competing for members with a a menu of hot-cold rituals. But beyond the rival steam rooms and sound baths, the bigger question is whether this trend can evolve into a true culture of communal sweating, like in Japan or Northern Europe. (Vanity Fair)

• Miami’s Li’l Abner mobile home park—once a rare pocket of a kind of affordable homeownership—has been wiped off the map as developers cash in on the land, evicting hundreds of low-income families with nowhere else to go. Now, "affordable" apartments priced upward of $2,634 a month have been built in its place, and it’s not the only one. (Newsweek)

• Zohran Mamdani has officially moved into Gracie Mansion, and the former Astoria renter has promised to be a "custodian of this beautiful home." His first design priority as such? To install bidets in the historic mayoral residence’s bathrooms. He also plans to do some repainting, and wants to bring in a cat. (Architectural Digest)

• David Bowie’s childhood home in South London is being restored and will reopen by 2027 as a public heritage site and creative hub, turning the modest house where he grew up into a place for young people to attend workshops focused on art, self-expression, and confidence-building. (Design Boom)

• Compass has acquired rival Anywhere Real Estate in a $1.6 billion deal, creating the world’s largest brokerage and taking control of subsidiaries like Century 21, Coldwell Banker, and Sotheby’s under one shared network. Here’s how the merger cements Compass’s rapid rise, but also could put more pressure on an already rocky housing market. (The New York Times)

Top photo by Adrian Gaut