RE:CAP
A roundup of real estate-related happenings last month Compiled by Ann Imperatore
LUXE These Elliman #humblebrags all over social media: “Our ad in today’s “#courtside at NY Post is so big, the Knicks! Loved I can’t capture seeing that Elliman it on camera blue at MSG. “ #EllimanGlobal” — Dottie Herman — Ashley Murphy
“Introducing Douglas Elliman Celebrity Row at MSG #goknicks.” — Nicole Oge
Despite six price increases, 56 Leonard’s PH has been on the market for 582+ days. Pricing: You are doing it wrong.
Herzog & de Meuron’s 56 Leonard looks like a bizarro game of Jenga … in a good way.
Because, hey, at least it has windows, unlike 33 Thomas Street .
Elie Tahari purchases a $25M “twin set” — two units — at 15 CPW. Just in time for sweater weather.
ONLY IN NY: Urban Compass’ Leonard Steinberg has a dozen 20-foot trees hauled up to 7 Harrison Street’s PH to create a “forest” with a whopping multi-million dollar price tag. The terrace had to be reinforced to support the weight, and the roofline adjusted by three feet, in order to create a big enough gap for the trees to be planted, and to make the penthouse and terrace floors level with each other. Clearly this is all for the birds.
The Empire State Building tries to class the joint up with the grand opening of a 2,800 sq. ft. street-level upscale eatery — the STATE Grill and Bar — but loses us at calling the building’s recent transformation an “Urban Campus environment.”
Luxury bubble ready to burst? Industry heavyweights lean toward “yes.” Honchos Bruce Beal of Related Companies and Robert Toll of Toll Brothers spoke at the Urban Land Institute’s fall conference, likely to set off imminent partying like its 2008.
MDNLY’s Luis Ortiz charges guests $135 to attend his “Boom Your Business” cocktail event. For those who wanted to sit in the first row — and share “boom” private time with Ortiz — a table ran $3,000.
…and his first point of business is to terminate the firm’s president and COO Jeff Appel, whose hiring Heigberger had formerly described as a “once-in-a-decade opportunity.” Apparently so was his firing.
Town’s Andrew Heiberger is back in the saddle, heading up Town as CEO after much legal conflict with Joe Sitt…
Or you could just move to the 46-story Atelier tower, on W. 42nd St. between 11th and 12th Aves., which plans to install a skating rink on the terrace.
KWNYC’s Catherine Andrusenko just rented 100 UN Plaza’s Unit 3G — a unique rental with a private pool in the unit for $8k/mo … just in time for winter ice skating parties, when it freezes over.
They’re baaaack … Just in time for Halloween, Century 21 announces its third iteration and fourth name (Michael Myers much?) by re-establishing itself (with different owners) in NYC after the franchise shuttered its doors in 2011. They quietly launched early this year, and will soon open their second office. Karim Rashid’s East Harlem HAP building gets a new color scheme after much opposition. No word on if Rainbow Brite will buy the first unit.
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FAIL
There’s nothing luxury real estate big wigs love more than a dancing gorilla ... except booze. And when it stopped flowing during REBNY’s Annual Deal of the Year awards ceremony, some attendees were beating their chests (somewhat like the King Kong that made an appearance at the party) griping about being thirsty as well as hungry … feeling dinner should have been served prior to the presentations.
Because math is hard and rezoning is a developer’s BFF, Lalezarian Properties puts 100-102 Charlton Street on the market for a combined $50 million, roughly four years after paying a mere $4 million for them.
Elsewhere on Charlton Street, Gary Barnett’s Extell Development is planning to construct a 22-story rental building at 68 Charlton Street, giving the neighborhood its first affordable housing.
Cushman’s Bruce Mosler uses “AmEx points to acquire a Canon camera and to buy a telephoto lens,” eventually creating recently published “My Montauk,” his pictorial homage to the area, for charity.
NYU School of Professional Studies Schack Institute of RE held its 21st “Evening of Monopoly” to raise money to support scholarships and career development and academic programs. No word on who got to be the thimble.
We were confused whether Tom Ferry’s recent BluePrint real estate event was a three-day juice cleanse or three-day sales seminar. TurnStyle — but that name though! — will open at the Columbus Circle subway station in late 2015. It will include a Magnolia Bakery, Ignazio’s Pizza, Gelato Ti Amo, Vegan Divas and Dylan’s Candy Store, and is expected to attract 80,000 daily visitors.
The Donald — his manties in a twist over Vicki Ward’s new book called “The Liar’s Ball,” about Fifth Avenue’s famed General Motors Building — keeps his Twitter fingers strong, taking to the site to air his grievances, saying it was “poorly written & very boring.”
LOW RENT 124 November 2014 www.TheRealDeal.com
100 real estate folks sleep on the street in Times Square to raise money for Covenant House to support homeless youth, collecting $220,000.