The final unit left available at Palazzo Chupi, the condominium developed by artist Julian Schnabel, has sold, according to Curbed. The eighth- and ninth-floor, 4,000-square-foot duplex sold for $12 million in December, down $20 million from the original asking price of $32 million, to a buyer known as “Magellan 360 LLC.” The development, where Richard Gere owns a unit, has endured repeated price cuts, as it’s struggled to attract buyers for its few remaining units. The second to last unit to sell closed in September 2009, prior to which Schnabel sold off a late period Picasso to pay off Chupi-related debt.
Judi Desidiero, CEO and President of Town & Country, and an aerial view of 120 Meadow Lane, the priciest Hamptons sale in 2009
Pricey homes in the Hamptons “took a hiatus from the market this year,” according to Town & Country Real Estate’s 2009 list of the top 10 most expensive sales (see full report after jump). The top sale, a Southampton Village home at 120 Meadow Lane, which went for $25.99 million, would have ranked fifth on the 2008 list and would have just barely cracked the top 10 of the priciest 2007 sales, according to the Town & Country rankings, which takes its findings from all closings on the East End.
Judi Desidiero, CEO and President of Town & Country, said that the sales figures came as little surprise, particularly with the first half of the year showing an anemic level of activity on the East End.
“[The top 10 ranking] always reaffirms what you see in the pit,” Desidiero said. “It was an eye-opener. The high end was really taking a break.”
HELL'S KITCHEN—Did we speak too soon when we said Related's massive condo/rental tower at 440 West 42nd Street might end up matching the disavowed renderings of the project. A tipster writes: "I keeping a close eye on your coverage since that building's going to block my kick ass view. Attached is an aerial view of the construction. You can see it's not quite matching up to Related's 'leaked' plans." Still looks like the early stuff to us, with that setback above the stone-covered base. Are we seeing things? [CurbedWire Inbox]
HARLEM—Thanks to a wave of new development Frederick Douglass Boulevard has been called Harlem's Gold Coast, and every Gold Coast needs some fabulous, er, groceries. Enter the Best Yet Market, which one very enthusiastic tipster fills us in on: "You may want to check out the new Best Yet Market that opened Thursday afternoon on Fredrick Douglass and 118. Its a great grocery store and will mean all the folks in the new condos on Fred Douglass have a place to shop. Its large with 3 levels. Mezz level has coffee and desert bar with comfortable chairs and couches. It was already busy and folks are talking about it."
"On a 10 point scale, if Le Bon Marche in Paris is an 11, Whole Food Columbus Circle an 8.5, then this is a solid 7. Better than any Gristedes, C-Town in the city. Its better than the narrow and crowed Fairways which has good stuff but the crowds are a pain. It has a much bigger selection than Trader Joes - but more expensive. Price is the only draw back -- things were less expensive than Whole Paycheck but more expensive than Fairway or Trader Joes." [CurbedWire Inbox]
Kevin Ellerton, the CEO of Blackstone Properties, which has snagged a significant market share but also drawn ire from competitors.
From the February issue: At the ripe old age of 24, Kevin Ellerton is managing to become one of
the most powerful players in the Lower Manhattan rental game. To hear
his competitors talk, he's also one of the most loathed.
Ellerton is the CEO of Blackstone Properties, a company he started
less than two years ago with a high school friend, David Yomtobian.
(Ellerton's company has no relation to the powerful private equity firm
the Blackstone Group.)
By Ellerton's calculations, about half of all brokered rental deals
in the Financial District and Battery Park City are inked by Blackstone
agents. While executives at other Lower Manhattan firms say that number
might be closer to 40 percent, they grudgingly concede that Blackstone
has grabbed a formidable share of the rental market in a very short
period of time. [more]
No recreation-starved humans are allowed in Brooklyn Bridge Park's completed Pier 1 for God knows how long, but that didn't stop this flock of birds from recently chillaxin' in the park, no doubt getting off on their illicit adventure. Feathered fiends!
· Birds Love Brooklyn [Vimeo]
· Brooklyn Bridge Park coverage [Curbed]
1. What it takes to make a successful startup condo neighborhood[Harlem Bespoke] 2. Stuy Town neighbors rally around imperiled HSBC bank branch [EV Grieve] 3. Paterson reportedly going “paranoid” in wake of Aqueduct decision criticism [Post] 4. Community board denies approval for Magnolia sidewalk café permit renewal [Westside Independent] 5. Women assaulted by serial rapist paid $1M restitution by condo that allegedly turned blind eye to crime spree [NYDN] 6.Apollo Management CEO drops $14M on Sagaponack home [Newsday] 7. Residents at a LeFrak rent-stabilized building may be charged $65 more per month for elevator installation [NYDN] 8. Downtown Brooklyn post office and courthouse renovation expected to extend through 2013 [McBrooklyn] 9. Construction worker falls to death from scaffolding at West 129th Street [CBS] 10. The Nolitan Hotel expected to open in May [Hotel Chatter] 11. Horizon Media signs 15-year lease for 115,000 square feet at One Hudson Square[Crain’s] 12. Large-scale White Plains Hospital emergency room expansion nears completion [CBS] 13.MBA’s mortgage woes over 10-story Washington, D.C. headquarters solved, but group stays quiet on solution [WSJ] 14. Buying a foreclosure can have hidden extra costs, experts say [CNNMoney] 15. Pay-for-payments pilot program pitched to help stem flow of strategic defaults[WSJ]
Been some time since Yorkville's Isis adorably topped out with a bunch of local first graders on hand. Close observers will remember this FXFowle-designed tower at 77th Street and Second Avenue as the UES development that temporarily halted sales when the market entered its tailspin, but what's up since? Well, construction is zipping along, and the 19-story building is looking a lot darker than initially rendered. Things are brighter inside, as seen in photos of the model apartments posted on the project's website (some interior shots in the gallery above). As for sales, StreetEasy shows only one unit in contract, but we're hoping that's just because the in-house sales team has been slow to update the records. Why do we care? Because developer Alchemy Properties likes to do things against the grain, including fessing up to price cuts instead of trying to hide their shame.
On the Isis website, there are two columns on the availability page dedicated to pricing: purchase price and revised purchase price. We're all for sharing this info with curious consumers, but it remains to be seen if further PriceChopping will result in revised revised purchase price breakdowns. Here's a look at the menu:
From left: Richard LeFrak, Karen LeFrak, Michael Bronson, chief of roint replacement at Mount Sinai, Rick Friedberg, Francine LeFrak, Peter May, Evan Flatow, chairman of the Department of Orthopaedics at Mount Sinai
Mount Sinai Medical Center recently celebrated its new Joint Replacement Center at 5 East 98th Street, where construction was completed in the second week of December. The 5,000-square-foot space, which takes up half of the building’s seventh floor, was formerly occupied by the Department of Ophthalmology, now located in the Annenberg Pavilion at 1468 Madison Avenue. Also unveiled at last month’s reception was the new Samuel and Ethel LeFrak Center for Patient Education, housed within the joint replacement unit. The LeFrak family donated an undisclosed amount to create its eponymous center, complete with HDTV monitors to display post-surgical information and videos, and was on hand at the reception to celebrate the new space. TRD
Aqueduct Entertainment Group, which emerged late last month as the surprise -- and controversial -- winner of a drawn-out bidding process to develop the Queens racino, is moving to smooth things over with the public by cutting ties with Darryl Greene, the partner who pleaded guilty to stealing $500,000 from city agencies in the 1990s. AEG will absorb the 0.6 percent stake in the project that was to be otherwise held by Greene and his firm, the Darman Group, and will not seek other investors to replace him. Upon offering the project to AEG, State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver had said everyone affiliated with the bid would need to pass a Division of Lottery criminal background check. Greene is also the former business partner of Senate President Malcolm Smith, who chose AEG for the project alongside Silver and Governor Paterson. Rumors have been circulating in recent weeks that Smith’s pick was personally and financially motivated, but in a statement today, AEG attempted to put an end to them. “We can unequivocally state that Senator Smith nor any government official involved in this process will ever be employed by Aqueduct Entertainment Group or any of its partners, investors or affiliates,” Jeff Levine, CEO of Levine Builders, a partner in the bid, said in a statement.
Aqueduct Entertainment Group, which emerged late last month as the surprise -- and controversial -- winner of a drawn-out bidding process to develop the Queens racino, is moving to smooth things over with the public by cutting ties with Darryl Greene, the partner who pleaded guilty to stealing $500,000 from city agencies in the 1990s. AEG will absorb the 0.6 percent stake in the project that was to be otherwise held by Greene and his firm, the Darman Group, and will not seek other investors to replace him. Upon offering the project to AEG, State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver had said everyone affiliated with the bid would need to pass a Division of Lottery criminal background check. Greene is also the former business partner of Senate President Malcolm Smith, who chose AEG for the project alongside Silver and Governor Paterson. Rumors have been circulating in recent weeks that Smith’s pick was personally and financially motivated, but in a statement today, AEG attempted to put an end to them. “We can unequivocally state that Senator Smith nor any government official involved in this process will ever be employed by Aqueduct Entertainment Group or any of its partners, investors or affiliates,” Jeff Levine, CEO of Levine Builders, a partner in the bid, said in a statement.
The Upper West Side's Community Board 7 is taking aim at a real neighborhood menace: cupcake addicts. The Magnolia Bakery on Columbus Avenue is so popular that the enclosed sidewalk café area is being used to line up tweekers waiting to order. Since the board approved the café area under the condition that it contain tables and chairs, "The cafe thus violates every reasonable spatial requirement for a cafe (despite being attractively designed and well managed)." CB7 voted against renewing Magnolia's café license, threatening to force customers to wait in the cold. [Westside Independent]
We're drawn to any listing in the Upper West Side's legendary Dakota, but apparently the same cannot be said for everyone. At least not when it comes to apartment #54, which has been entertaining the PriceChopper repeatedly since hitting the market in mid-December. At first, the 3BR, 2.5BA was asking $7.5 million. But by the end of January, it was asking $6.25 million, and now it's down to $5.999 million, 20 percent less than the initial price. The Dakota has a history of famous occupants, so which boldfaced names have occupied #54? According to the listing, it belonged to model/actress Ruth Ford, a girlfriend of William Faulkner's. Not only that, but "'West Side Story' was hatched in her living room, where a chance encounter between composer Stephen Sondheim and librettist Arthur Laurents led to their collaboration with Leonard Bernstein, another Dakota neighbor." It's got history, connections, and just the right amount of mindblowing wallpaper, so what's the problem? Maybe the monthly maintenance of $5,088.
The dollar volume of office condominium sales in Manhattan slipped by nearly a third last year to its lowest level since 2005, a report released today by condo developer Time Equities shows.
The value of condos sold fell to $158 million in 2009, the weakest year since 2005 when just $49 million sold, the report, which covers 2009 sales data, shows. The volume in 2008 was $233 million.
The total amount of square feet sold fell by 42 percent to barely 220,000 last year from over 379,000 in 2008. As of the end of 2009 there were 8.2 million square feet of commercial condos in 76 buildings, Time Equities data show.
The report's author Michael Rudder, director of sales and leasing for Time Equities, said the decline was representative of the broader sales market.
The drop, however, was not as steep as the overall 72 percent fall in Manhattan building sales volume last year as reported last month by commercial sales firm Massey Knakal Realty Services.
From left: Natavia Lowery and Thomas Giovanni, a member of Lowery's legal team
More drama unfolded today in the trial of Natavia Lowery, the former assistant of the late Prudential Douglas Elliman broker Linda Stein, whom she is accused of murdering. Lowery had requested a change of counsel, according to the New York Times, on the grounds that her current legal team, Thomas Giovanni, John Christie and Wilfredo Sta. Ana of the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, was “not pursuing a theory or strategy of defense that [she] believe[s] is adequate.” State Supreme Court of Manhattan Judge Richard Carruthers denied the request, after which Lowery’s supporters, including her mother and stepfather, began shouting in protest. Despite Lowery’s complaints, the assistant district attorney on the case, Joan Illuzzi-Orbon, said that the defendant was just trying to buy time. “This is nothing more than gamesmanship on the part of an unhappy defendant who sees the writing on the wall,” Illuzzi-Orbon said. Lowery is accused of allegedly bludgeoning to death super-broker Stein in the Elliman agent's apartment on Oct. 30, 2007.
It's a busy winter for the West Village's favorite off-pink fun house. Artist Julian Schnabel's Palazzo Chupi at 360 West 11th Street has been hit with a partial stop work order for scaffolding that doesn't adhere to safety standards. Meanwhile, banking exec William J.B. Brady—a Palazzo Chupi buyer two times over!—has begun renovating the penthouse he bought in October for $10.5 million (down a wee bit from the original $32 million asking price). But that's all nothing when it comes to mind-blowing Chupi news. It appears the last lingering unsold apartment in the 12-story, five-unit building—the nearly 4,000-square-foot duplex on the eighth and ninth floors (above) that also once sported a $32 million price tag—sold for $12 million in December, when rumors were flying that a buyer was circling the Chupiriffic pad. So, it's all over? What a two-year ride it's been!
The deed was filed in January, and sadly the buyer is cloaked behind a corporate entity called Magellan 360 LLC. An attorney did all the Johnny Hancocking on the paperwork. Lame! Julian Schnabel's unbridled drive to build his neighbor-enraging nod to Venice, Turkey, Stanford White, Addison Mizner and 10,000 other influences did a real number on his finances and art collection, so how'd the building make out? Here's how the units fared in the end:
1) The full-floor unit bought by Brady for $15.5 million in September 2007, making him the first Palazzo Chupi buyer. He's still holding onto it. 2) The full-floor unit bought for $12 million by Schnabel's buddy Richard Gere, though he never moved in. Gere tried flipping it for $18 million, but he ended up unloading it for $11 million to an unknown buyer late last year. 3) We'd always operated under the assumption that #3 is Schnabel's place, but the $12 million duplex is listed as #3. Wacky number games are nothing new at the Chu. 4) Apparently Schnabel's duplex, though we think he may have given over an entire floor to his swingin' son Vito. Father of the year? 5) The triplex penthouse on floors 10-12 mercifully purchased by Brady last year for $10.5 million. Renovations now underway.
All in all, not bad if you look at the actual sales and not the ridiculous parade of asking prices, though who knows how much Schnabel spent on those marble tubs, terra-cotta kitchen tiles and cast iron columns. The website set up for Chupi's duplex and triplex by broker Peter McCuen is still online, so stock up on Palazzo porn while you still can!
· Palazzo Chupi coverage [Curbed]
Conan O'Brien and the Majestic at 115 Central Park West
While Conan O’Brien’s short-lived “Tonight Show” career may be over, the rusty-tressed comedian doesn’t appear to be making a return to New York City any time soon. O’Brien’s penthouse apartment at the Majestic co-op at 115 Central Park West on the corner of 72nd Street is reportedly being placed on the market, quietly, for $35 million. The south-facing 17th- and 18th-floor duplex includes three separate terraces and park views.
The criminal case against former businessman and alleged fraudster Adam Hochfelder, who is the target of a 58-charge 2008 indictment, just got even more grandiose. Hochfelder, who already stands accused of stealing more than $17 million from lenders, business partners and even his own family, now faces a second indictment from the Manhattan district attorney, this time for stealing $2.5 million from investors for the supposed purchase of the Sagamore Hotel and Peaks Resort. The second indictment contends that Hochfelder never intended to use the money he acquired from investors to purchase the Lake George and Telluride, Colo. properties, but rather used it to repay other creditors and go on spending sprees. All told, this second indictment includes 31 individual charges, including one count of first-degree grand larceny and 12 separate counts of identity theft. TRD
Gothamist reports that someone was just spotted scaling the Manhattan Bridge (on the Brooklyn side). We guess trying to make it up the New York Times building is now officially overdone. No word yet on whether the climber has made it to the top. [Gothamist]
A month after cutting the ribbon, the SOM-designed Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world's tallest building, is closed to the public. The observation deck has been beset by electrical problems, the Daily News reports, but it's unclear whether the rest of the 2,717-foot building has been affected. The good news: people who've been shelling out the $27 each to go up to the observation deck—reopening date unknown—can get refunds. [NYDN; previously]
The Upper West Side's Community Board 7 is taking aim at a real neighborhood menace: cupcake addicts. The Magnolia Bakery on Columbus Avenue is so popular that the enclosed sidewalk café area is being used to line up tweekers waiting to order. Since the board approved the café area under the condition that it contain tables and chairs, "The cafe thus violates every reasonable spatial requirement for a cafe (despite being attractively designed and well managed)." CB7 voted against renewing Magnolia's café license, threatening to force customers to wait in the cold. [Westside Independent]
Curious about the looong renovation of 17 Prospect Park West—the $8.5 million mansion sold by Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany to a Google exec and family—blog Fucked in Park Slope looked up the new owners on Facebook and, well, asked them about it. And they responded! Twice! Changes include replacing the kitchen ("had an 80s vibe"), combining rooms and restoring the facade. Much is being preserved, like a dumbwaiter. "The inside is still in a rough state, but things should begin to pull together in a few months." [FiPS]
Months after Norah Jones and the Cobble Hill Association went head-to-head over the singer's plans to add windows to the blank side wall of her recently-ish purchased Amity Street townhouse, Brownstoner reports that Jones has actually begun adding the windows. Last we heard, Jones had agreed to reduce the number of windows she was adding to the townhouse wall from 10 to seven, which still didn't quite satisfy the neighborhood group. Looks like they're stuck with at least one window. ['Stoner; previously]