Manhattan Transfers

Impeccable and impeccably dull, all at the same time.

Bank of East Asia Exec David Li Bails Out of Time Warner Tower for $18.8 M.

Time Warner is not the only big fish cashing out on Columbus Circle. The Lincoln Square mega-development is also losing David Kwok Po Li, the CEO and chairman of Bank of East Asia and former Hong Kong politician, who has just sold his 72nd-floor condo. (Related honcho Kenneth Himmel also cleared out late last year.)

Nor is he the only one who stands to profit from the decision. While Time Warner is contemplating how much it could make by clearing out of its headquarters, a process that might well set off a bidding war, Mr. Li did very, very well, doubling his money in under a decade. Read More

Manhattan Transfers

Ditto the bedroom. Maybe sleek glass just wasn't Mr. Himmel's speed.

Related Honcho Kenneth Himmel Sells Spread In Company’s Prized Time Warner Center

Can we really blame Kenneth A. Himmel for wanting to put the Time Warner Center behind him? The President and CEO of Related Urban spent years overseeing the skyscraper’s construction, then he moved into a three-bedroom condo on the 67th floor.

“Developing Time Warner Center was like climbing the mountain of mountains,” Mr. Himmel declares on Related’s website. We guess he also tired of climbing that same mountain day after day, even if it was in a super-sleek high-speed elevator. After more than a decade, the bloom was off the rose. Read More