By Daniel Geiger 1/03/12 3:00pm

power broker

Baxter, Richard NEW 6 31 11

Richard Baxter Dishes on the Drama Behind the Deals at Casa Lever

It was lunchtime at Casa Lever, the high-end restaurant in the iconic Lever House, and Richard Baxter was on his BlackBerry negotiating.

It was a busy year for Mr. Baxter and his colleagues at Jones Lang LaSalle. His four-man team comprised some of the city’s most prominent brokers of large-scale commercial office buildings, and as the Manhattan sales market’s post-recessionary thaw continues, Mr. Baxter estimated that the group had tallied an impressive $1.3 billion in deals this year.

Three days before Christmas, however, it wasn’t one particular skyscraper Mr. Baxter was bargaining over from his plum seat at Casa Lever. In a year-end rush, his group had loose ends to tie up, deals to close and transactions still in the works. And so, on this particular Thursday amid a bustling lunch crowd, Mr. Baxter was not negotiating with a buyer or a building owner, but rather one of his own assistants, whom he was asking to stay late to receive critical documents and to help get the team through the rest of the day. Read More

By Matt Chaban 6/27/11 11:23am

Checking in

In need of a wall-to-Walldorf renovation. (Getty)

Waldorf-Astoria Getting a Ritzy Spritz

The Waldorf-Astoria has lost some of its Jazz Age luster, growing rumpled and maybe even a little racist in old age. The hotel was purchased four years ago by Blackstone for $572 million, part of a $26 billion deal to buy up the Hilton chain. Now the monolithic investment outfit is prepared to spruce up the Walfdorf-Astoria, the Post reports.

According to the tab, Blackstone plans to spend “hundreds of millions of dollars” renovating the hotel, once home to mobsters Bugsy Siegel and Lucky Luciano and jazz singer Cole Porter, as well as the eponymous salad. Read More

By Max Abelson 10/23/06 12:00am

Waksal’s Secret Stairway

A triplex penthouse that once belonged to incarcerated ImClone co-founder Sam Waksal has been sold to A.J. Agarwal, a senior managing director of the mighty Blackstone Group.

According to the deed, he paid $7 million for the 5,800-square-foot apartment, $495,000 less than the latest asking price.

Marvin and Susan Numeroff, who bought the Read More