By Kim Velsey 7/12/12 11:00am

Manhattan Transfers

7 Photos

Another Audacious Ask

Embattled Italian Mogul Piofrancesco Borghetti Selling Off 15 CPW Spread

Apartment 32C is situated in one of the towers of 15 Central Park West—a lofty, three-bedroom perch from which to view the city, although perhaps not so lofty as the asking price of $27.7 million.

Italian business bigwig Piofrancesco Borghetti, who serves as chairman of the board at Marbert Holding AG and a handful of other powerful companies, bought the spread for just $9.8 million in 2008, according to city records. Read More

By Kim Velsey 7/10/12 7:20pm

Stratospheric Sales

Howard Marks $50 M. apartment and the Ritz's big hope.

Putting On the Ritz-Carlton: Has Its Moment In the Sun Finally Come?

Let’s face it: prices at the Ritz-Carlton, while resplendent, pale in comparison to the blindingly spectacular sales at buildings like 15 Central Park West and the Plaza. But with the $70 million Steve Wynn buy behind it and a new $50 million listing, The Wall Street Journal asks: is the Ritz ready to rise again?

It’s not as if the building has been doing shabbily or anything, but it hasn’t been the brightest star in the sky, The Journal notes. Built in 1930 as the Hotel St. Moritz, it’s lost some of the luster it once had and its debut on the luxury market was less than stellar. The condo conversion finished shortly after Sept. 11, and then the building got kind of eclipsed by the Time Warner Center and 15 Central Park West. Read More

By Matt Chaban 1:00pm

Starchitects

Who, me? (Philip Johnson Glass House)

Robert A.M. Stern Says He Is the One True Starchitect

Robert A.M. Stern, that dapper dean of old-school architects, sits down with The Times for one of its patented 30-Minute Interviews today.

There’s an interesting discussion of why 15 Central Park West is the bonanza that it is, and why Mr. Stern does not live there because of it (he likes the windows at the home he built for himself inside another project, The Chatham). But what really struck us was his song and dance about starchitects, and basically how the rest are pretenders. Read More

By Kim Velsey 6/04/12 7:47pm

Cheapskates

Who's paying to cut the grass?

New Yorkers Who Live By Central Park Stingy With Donations

New Yorkers who live on Central Park certainly reap the benefits of parkside abodes, especially when it comes to resale values, but they’re less than generous about giving back.

Only 17 percent of parkside denizens have donated to the Central Park Conservancy since 2010, according to a recent story in Crain’s by Michael Gross. And Mr. Gross, chronicler of luxury New York real estate and the author of consummate building biography 740 Park should know. Not only does Mr. Gross seem to have his eye on every move that uptown dwellers make, but he’s also a parkside resident himself. Read More

By Kim Velsey 5/28/12 1:50pm

Manhattan Transfers

8 Photos

15 CPW

Update: 15 CPW Sale Closes, Meridian CEO Makes Big Profit

The grand apartments at 15 Central Park West may appear to be the stars in the movie called New York City Real Estate, but really, the leading role is played by 15 CPW itself. At the limestone godhead, the normal rules of resale do not apply—this is the building where audacious asks are, apparently, always rewarded.

Take, for example, the latest triumph. Westside RE Properties LLC has purchased 37C, a three-bedroom tower apartment listed with Brown Harris Stevens broker Paula Del Nunzio for $23.35 million, not far below the $23.95 million ask. Read More

By Kim Velsey 5/18/12 3:10pm

Manhattan Transfers

The view from the fourth floor

Absolute Return! Hedge Fund Founder Mitchell Julis Wants $26 M. for 15 CPW Pad, a 152 Percent Profit

With super high-end properties selling like hot cakes, Mitchell Julis and wife Linda clearly thought it was time to get into the action, putting their fourth-floor spread at 15 Central Park West on the market for $26 million.

And while their three-bedroom, 3.5-bath condo may not wow the broken-hearted buyers who missed out on the $52.5 million pad at 740 Park Avenue or the $40 million co-op at 2 East 70th Street, it could certainly be a nice consolation prize. Luxury buyers appear so desperate to fork over their cash these days, what won’t they buy?

And who would be a better judge of when to buy and when to sell than Mr. Julis, the co-founder of Los Angeles-based hedge fund Canyon Capital Advisors? Read More

By Kim Velsey 4/30/12 6:48pm

Manhattan Transfers

Better than 15 CPW?

Cellular Communications Giant George Blumenthal Sells Co-op For $31.5 M.

Do you ever grow tired of looking out your window and seeing the same old sweeping views of the city? Apparently, Zachary Jared Schreiber and his wife Lori did. The couple is ditching their sprawling 33rd-floor apartment at 15 Central Park West for a sprawling 9th-floor apartment at 1030 Fifth Avenue.

Both apartments have views of the park, of course, but one is from the west side and the other is from the east, and the new one has 55-feet of Central Park footage, which we imagine would be a very refreshing shift. Plus those sunsets. Read More

By Kim Velsey 4/16/12 8:00am

Literary Stuff

The author and bird lover (Quinn deEskimo, flickr)

Jonathan Franzen’s Reluctant Reading

The first thing the Observer noticed about Jonathan Franzen was that he was wearing a name tag. It said “Jonathan Franzen.”

We asked him if he usually wore name tags to his readings.

“Everyone is wearing one but you,” Mr. Franzen pointed out. This was true. In what appeared to be an act of almost defiant social leveling, the organizers of last Thursday’s Semiperm House’s fifth anniversary celebration/Jonathan Franzen reading had given everyone a name tag. Read More

By Matt Chaban 3/21/12 2:00pm

Stratospheric Sales

scatterallonechart1200

Just What Does an $88 M. Sale Look Like?

While the Rybolovlev(a)s are fighting it out in court over the purchase of Sandy Weill’s $88 million penthouse at 15 Central Park West, Jonathan Miller, our favorite real estate appraiser, provides us a startling visualization of just how rarefied this sale was. He has plotted every sale between January 2003 and January 2012 in Manhattan. It looks like a funky piece of op-art, but it also amazes how far this sale is even beyond the other record setter’s like the $53 million sale of the Harkness Mansion. Mr. Miller calls this his “Tallest Chart in History of Manhattan Real Estate.” Read More

By Matt Chaban 3/16/12 1:20pm

Red Carpet Real Estate

She loves her bags and her bedrooms.

15 Central Park West, the Best Assisted Living Money Can Buy

While a lawsuit rages over whether or not the $88 million penthouse at 15 Central Park West is a dorm room or a oligarch’s hideaway, The Times got a tour of the best building everfrom one of its newest residents. (It feels like there should be a better name for them, perhaps courtesans? Limestoners? Gods?)

As The Observer reported in October, Barbara Baekgaard, co-creator of the gleefully colored Vera Bradley handbags, purchased a third floor condo for $17 million—she claims she was looking at a $28 million unit on the 28th floor but preferred being closer to the action of the street, which has to be a first. Read More