By Kim Velsey 11/26/12 1:19pm

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

The billionaire's building.

Money and Manipulation: Documentary Takes On the Super-rich Residents of 740 Park

The opening shots of Park Avenue: Money, Power and The American Dream show the famed avenue in all its moneyed glory: idling Mercedes, impeccably coiffed society women and stern limestone facades with white-gloved doormen stationed outside like sentries. It is a vision so lofty that it is almost otherworldly—can the vast majority of Americans even conjure this up as the apex of the American dream, let alone attain it?

It’s a question that director Alex Gibney revisits repeatedly in his documentary about the growing gulf between the rich and poor and how that gulf has been widened by the political manipulations of the country’s wealthiest citizens. Read More

By Kim Velsey 6/01/12 2:09pm

Stratospheric Sales

9 Photos

Full-Floor on Fifth

Just As We Were Running Out, Another $50 M. Listing Hits the Market

Rejoice all ye house hunters looking in the $50 million and above range!

For a while, it seemed that all hope was lost, what with the disappearance of the Courtney Sale Ross mammoth at 740 Park, the Teddy Forstmann whopper at 2 East 70th Street and the $77.5 million Ritz-Carlton throne. But praise be, there’s a new $50 million co-op apartment on the market.

The owners of a floor-through apartment at the hoity-toity 944 Fifth Avenue (the staff members actually wear white gloves, reports The New York Times, who first wrote about the listing), have listed their six-bedroom apartment. The apartment is located on a high floor above the tree line. The listing doesn’t actually mention which high floor—how discreet!—but a little sleuthing reveals that the apartment is almost certainly on the eleventh floor. Read More

By Elise Knutsen 11/08/11 11:38am

Stratospheric Sales

8 Photos

The only place to live.

Glory, Glory 740 Park! Courtney Sale Ross Finally Lists Her $60 Million Behemoth

For those in the know—and with Scrooge McDuck quantities of money piled high in their private vaults—Courtney Sale Ross’ apartment at 740 Park has been sitting quietly on the market for the past several years. Abandoning the whispering tactic, the listing for Ms. Sale Ross’ home has hit the open with a resounding boom. It is still seeking the same $60 million it has been since 2008, changing times be damned.

The listing went public yesterday, and the thirty room duplex has our mouths watering. Kathy Sloane of Brown Harris Stevens, the broker representing Ms. Sale Ross, takes full advantage of the building’s pedigree in her listing. Read More