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	<title>Observer &#187; Cheap Recliner King Buys Expensive Pied-à-Terre</title>
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		<title>Observer &#187; Cheap Recliner King Buys Expensive Pied-à-Terre</title>
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		<title>Cheap Recliner King Buys Expensive Pied-à-Terre</title>

		<comments>http://observer.com/2013/02/cheap-recliner-king-buys-expensive-pied-a-terre/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 06 Feb 2013 16:13:41 -0400</pubDate>
					<link>http://observer.com/2013/02/cheap-recliner-king-buys-expensive-pied-a-terre/</link>
			<dc:creator>Stephen Jacob Smith</dc:creator>
				
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://observer.com/?p=287076</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p><div class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><img alt="" src="http://img.streeteasy.com/nyc/image/10/31120910.jpg" width="300" height="450" /><p class="wp-caption-text">The turquoise says 1950s, but the mirrored TV screams 2007.</p></div></p>
<p>Michigan discount furniture magnate <strong>Archie Van Elslander</strong> just picked up a pad at <strong>The Mark</strong>, and something tells us he won't be furnishing it with items from Art Van Furniture, his Warren, Michigan-based company.</p>
<p>The Mark, perched on Madison Avenue at <strong>25 East 77th Street</strong>, has had a tough time selling since its pre-recession cond-op conversion, though the hotel has had no such problems of late. During Hurricane Sandy, it served as a temporary home to a handful of <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/real-estate/mark-hotel-uptown-celeb-enclave-article-1.1220326">notable downtown refugees</a>, including Anna Wintour, Marc Jacobs, Katie Holmes and Russell Crowe. <!--more--></p>
<p>Perhaps they were attracted by the Jacques Grange-designed interiors, or maybe by the custom-made Vladimir Kagan cowhide chairs—which we hope won't be sticking any weary occupants with exposed staples, a problem that some Art Van customers <a href="http://art-van-furniture.pissedconsumer.com/my-daughter-and-my-grandson-have-been-cut-by-exposed-staples-20100730191760.html">have complained of</a>. (A source familiar with the sofa honcho's wares also complained of a persistent, low-grade depression brought on by the bargain furnishings.)</p>
<p>Mr. Van Elslander picked up his new three-bedroom, 3.5-bath spread on the twelfth floor for just a hair under $7 million ask (that is, one of your hairs is worth $24,075), paying <strong>$6.97 million </strong>for the sponsor unit. Which sounds like a triumph for developer <strong>Alexico Group</strong>, but it's a sizable discount from $9 million—what the unit was listed for when it came on the market last March. Maybe the <strong>Alexico Group</strong> was tired of sitting on its units, which has closed on just a few units since the start of the recession? In any case, <strong>Lydia Sussek</strong> of Corcoran Sunshine apparently did a better job listing the unit than her rivals at Sotheby's managed with their much larger three-bedroom on the fifteenth floor, which sold in October for a miserly $10.6 million, nearly a third off its asking price of $15.75 million.</p>
<p>As for the $60 million penthouse, developer Izak Senbahar told the <em>New York Daily News</em> that he won't consider lowering the price. "It’s one of the most desirable addresses in the world," he said, explaining his steadfastness on the unit's pricing. "Plus, I'm very stubborn."</p>
<p>"The business plan from the get-go was to make the Mark an uptown mecca," Mr. Senbahar told the <em>Daily News</em>, and while that's worked out for the hotel component, the building's latest buyer is slightly less distinguished. Mr. Van Elslander is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/R36C0G0PRZY33F">rumored to be the inspiration</a> behind gym owner Mark Steel's self-published novel <i>Grosse Pointe Pimp</i>, which chronicles the couch kingpin's "alleged dalliance with a woman half his age while married to his wife of over 50 years."</p>
<p>Mr. Van Elslander is also known around the Detroit area for his <a href="http://raywert.blogspot.com/2006/01/art-van-doing-more-with-christmas.html">elaborate Christmas light arrangements</a> at his home in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., as well as at <a href="http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/19980963/art-van-says-store-decked-out-with-over-a-million-holiday-lights">Art Van stores</a> throughout the region. And while the Mark's cond-op structure means he has a bit more leeway in what he does with his unit than in a classic co-op, we suspect the board would not look too kindly upon a similar display on East 77th Street.</p>
]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><div class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><img alt="" src="http://img.streeteasy.com/nyc/image/10/31120910.jpg" width="300" height="450" /><p class="wp-caption-text">The turquoise says 1950s, but the mirrored TV screams 2007.</p></div></p>
<p>Michigan discount furniture magnate <strong>Archie Van Elslander</strong> just picked up a pad at <strong>The Mark</strong>, and something tells us he won't be furnishing it with items from Art Van Furniture, his Warren, Michigan-based company.</p>
<p>The Mark, perched on Madison Avenue at <strong>25 East 77th Street</strong>, has had a tough time selling since its pre-recession cond-op conversion, though the hotel has had no such problems of late. During Hurricane Sandy, it served as a temporary home to a handful of <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/real-estate/mark-hotel-uptown-celeb-enclave-article-1.1220326">notable downtown refugees</a>, including Anna Wintour, Marc Jacobs, Katie Holmes and Russell Crowe. <!--more--></p>
<p>Perhaps they were attracted by the Jacques Grange-designed interiors, or maybe by the custom-made Vladimir Kagan cowhide chairs—which we hope won't be sticking any weary occupants with exposed staples, a problem that some Art Van customers <a href="http://art-van-furniture.pissedconsumer.com/my-daughter-and-my-grandson-have-been-cut-by-exposed-staples-20100730191760.html">have complained of</a>. (A source familiar with the sofa honcho's wares also complained of a persistent, low-grade depression brought on by the bargain furnishings.)</p>
<p>Mr. Van Elslander picked up his new three-bedroom, 3.5-bath spread on the twelfth floor for just a hair under $7 million ask (that is, one of your hairs is worth $24,075), paying <strong>$6.97 million </strong>for the sponsor unit. Which sounds like a triumph for developer <strong>Alexico Group</strong>, but it's a sizable discount from $9 million—what the unit was listed for when it came on the market last March. Maybe the <strong>Alexico Group</strong> was tired of sitting on its units, which has closed on just a few units since the start of the recession? In any case, <strong>Lydia Sussek</strong> of Corcoran Sunshine apparently did a better job listing the unit than her rivals at Sotheby's managed with their much larger three-bedroom on the fifteenth floor, which sold in October for a miserly $10.6 million, nearly a third off its asking price of $15.75 million.</p>
<p>As for the $60 million penthouse, developer Izak Senbahar told the <em>New York Daily News</em> that he won't consider lowering the price. "It’s one of the most desirable addresses in the world," he said, explaining his steadfastness on the unit's pricing. "Plus, I'm very stubborn."</p>
<p>"The business plan from the get-go was to make the Mark an uptown mecca," Mr. Senbahar told the <em>Daily News</em>, and while that's worked out for the hotel component, the building's latest buyer is slightly less distinguished. Mr. Van Elslander is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/R36C0G0PRZY33F">rumored to be the inspiration</a> behind gym owner Mark Steel's self-published novel <i>Grosse Pointe Pimp</i>, which chronicles the couch kingpin's "alleged dalliance with a woman half his age while married to his wife of over 50 years."</p>
<p>Mr. Van Elslander is also known around the Detroit area for his <a href="http://raywert.blogspot.com/2006/01/art-van-doing-more-with-christmas.html">elaborate Christmas light arrangements</a> at his home in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., as well as at <a href="http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/19980963/art-van-says-store-decked-out-with-over-a-million-holiday-lights">Art Van stores</a> throughout the region. And while the Mark's cond-op structure means he has a bit more leeway in what he does with his unit than in a classic co-op, we suspect the board would not look too kindly upon a similar display on East 77th Street.</p>
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