By Stephen Jacob Smith 4/04 6:17pm

Manhattan Transfers

Apparently pink crown moldings were in style in 1929.

Micro-lender Buys Macro Spread at the Beresford

As chief of executive officer of Grameen America, a micro-lender founded by Nobel Peace Price winner Muhammad Yunus, and a partner at prepaid debit card company NetSpend, Stephen Vogel knows a thing or two about the “unbanked”—the 60 million Americans without bank accounts. Thankfully, Mr. Vogel and his wife, Laurie, are not among them: the couple dropped $6.6 million on a unit at the Beresford at 211 Central Park West, according to city records.

The eighth floor unit, which the Vogels bought from Donald and Leila McCollum, was poised to enter the sparsely-populated ranks of New York City co-ops to be foreclosed on, according to The Real Deal. Fortunately, the couple’s attorney finally convinced lender JPMorgan Chase to let them save face by selling it themselves and paying back the $1 million lien. Read More

By Kim Velsey 12/18/12 6:45pm

Manhattan Transfers

Holbrooke and Marton.

Richard Holbrooke and Kati Marton’s Beresford Spread Sells for a Deeply Discounted $11 M.

Kati Marton had already moved on from the spacious four-bedroom, four-bath co-op that she and the late diplomat Richard Holbrooke once shared at the Beresford. Now she’s finally sold it, city records show, for the bargain price of $11 million.

But the famed journalist was clearly eager to make a deal. After listing the eighth-floor apartment at 211 Central Park West for $14.7 million in August of 2011, she reduced the price to $13.5 million only a month later, whipping through a series of sharp price cuts in the following months. Read More

By Kim Velsey 8/13/12 8:00pm

Red Carpet Real Estate

The Browns at home.

What Will Become Of Helen Gurley Brown’s Beloved Beresford Tower Penthouse?

When Helen Gurley Brown died this Monday, she left behind a legacy of sexual liberation, generations of bereaved Cosmopolitan fans and a four-floor penthouse in one of the Beresford’s Southwest towers.

The fate of the tower apartment, which Brown and husband David Brown bought in the 1970s from director Mike Nichols, remains unknown. But its high place in Brown’s affections was no secret—it ranked right up there with sex, ambition and her husband. When asked by Vanity Fair where she would most like to live, Brown replied:

“Exactly where I am living—the Beresford Apartments, on Central Park West and 81st Street. We have the top four floors of a tower apartment. I’m slightly prejudiced, but I think it’s the best apartment in New York.” Read More