The living room is surprisingly old-fashioned for the 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.

Mr. Himmel, who first listed the 2,416-square-foot apartment in 2010, has finally sold the space for $13.8 million, according to city records. The buyer is the mysterious Columbus Skyline LLC., which is registered to 10 East 39th Street, Suite 1110.

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

One thing is for certain: the buyer is sure to be getting a choice pad. All sellers generally claim that their apartment is one of the finest in the building, but we're pretty sure Mr. Himmel wrangled one of the best spots at 25 Columbus Circle. Although it wasn't enough to get the most recent $15.25 million asking price, a discount from the 2011 listing price of $18.37 million but not so far from the 2010 list price of $15 million.

Amazing park views, a paneled 27-by-20 great room and a "magical cherry paneled library with bar and en suite bath" are nice, after all, but not, apparently, magical enough for the asking price.  Perhaps Sotheby's listing brokers Elizabeth Sample and Brenda Powers should have elaborated a little more on what was so magical.

It's unclear what, if anything, Mr. Himmel paid for the unit. City records show a deed transfer between him and the company for $0. Maybe the condo was a project bonus? Alas, said records do not reveal where Mr. Himmel is going next. Maybe he has his eye on one of Related's still Hudson Yards skyscrapers? Only time will tell.

kvelsey@observer.com

But one investor tied to Mr. Rothstein has already put his eight-room New York condo on the market. A Time Warner Center duplex that belongs to Doug Von Allmen was just listed for $18.45 million.

Mr. Von Allmen is a venture capitalist who founded a massive beauty supply distributor (which makes him something of a cosmetics magnate, just like his neighbor Sandie Tillotson, who has asked $80 million for her Time Warner penthouse.) He is the type who got two new yachts--the 197-foot Linda Lou and 157-foot Lady Linda--in a single autumn. When the Rothstein scandal broke, he went public as an investor. "The amount of money was substantial. It was an amount I wish I'd given to charity instead of that investment. It won't change my lifestyle that much, but it was a nice sum," Mr. Von Allmen said. "I will still eat out at a restaurant every night, this is just something I need to get through."

According to the duplex's listing, his Time Warner apartment has a 45.5-foot living room, a formal dining room with "vistas to the Atlantic Ocean," a marble chef's kitchen with a wine refrigerator, a private elevator, five marble bathrooms (plus a guest powder room), and a master suite with his-and-hers walk-in closets (plus his-and-hers bathrooms).

"Hopefully, everybody affected by this will still have a good life," he said in another interview. "They may not have as many toys."

Mr. Von Allmen's brokers are Elizabeth Lee Sample and Brenda Powers, the powerful agents who listed Tyco CFO Mark Swartz's Ritz-Carlton duplex for $28 million. "Everything is questionable when you deal with that much money," Ms. Powers said in a joint interview last year. "From a moral point of view, yes, it is questionable; but from the business point of view, it isn't questionable, it's business."

mabelson@observer.com

Ms. Sample: That’s correct. There probably will be some additional purchases that go along with that … for staff.

Ms. Powers: They had an hour and a half to spend with us, they were like, ‘pick out the best.’… One is facing Fifth Avenue, and one is facing Park Avenue.

That was a record-breaking contract price, but only for about a few seconds—before developer Harry Macklowe paid around $60 million for a Plaza sprawl. Was your buyer upset?

Ms. Sample: You know what? He doesn’t really believe that Macklowe paid $60, to be honest with you.

Have you been approached by new owners at the Plaza to put their places up for sale for nine digits? The rumor is that some people want to flip for as much as $100 million.

Ms. Sample: One hundred to $110 … and we were offered $150 million for the two apartments at the Plaza that we haven’t closed on yet! And do you know what our guy said? He said, ‘I wouldn’t sell it for $300 million.’

That’s crazy! He hasn’t even seen the apartment yet because the renovations aren’t ready. How does he know he won’t want to sell?

Ms. Sample: Look, if someone is worth $5 billion, they don’t care.

But isn’t it crazy for people to be so wealthy?

Ms. Powers: Good for them.

Ms. Sample: Good for them. That’s the democratic way. I’m not a communist. If you work hard, and it’s legitimate, why shouldn’t you?

I reported that you just sold a $15.85 million apartment at the Time Warner Center, and that the seller, whom you represented, was known as ‘the psychic hot-line king,’ the man behind the fraudulent Miss Cleo.

Ms. Powers: I had no idea.

Ms. Sample: No, we didn’t.

Do you look into the backgrounds of the people you work for?

Ms. Powers: Not always. I mean we look at the company, the biography, but not into every single detail.

Ms. Sample: Well, what psychic hot line would ever be legitimate, quite honestly? I’m sorry, that would be my answer to that.

Not to nitpick, but in 2004 you listed Tyco CFO Mark Swartz’s Ritz-Carlton duplex for $28 million, after Tyco’s downfall.

Ms. Sample: We cannot discuss that. … We were hired by the corporation after the indictments. So that’s the answer to that question.

Is your attitude here that it’s about the real estate, not the people? Or do you worry about where your clients’ money comes from?

Ms. Sample: Yes, we do, absolutely. … We’ve had governments that are not in favorable standing with the United States, shall we say, that we’ve been contacted by. … When I first started in the business, I was almost kidnapped by a guy that was wanted by Interpol … for arms smuggling.

Ms. Powers: Everything is questionable when you deal with that much money. We’ve dealt in the past with huge casino owners; now, that alone is questionable.

But you still sell an apartment for them, or help them buy one, right?

Ms. Powers: It all depends. Like you were saying, there’s maybe a moral approach to real estate, or a business approach. From a moral point of view, yes, it is questionable; but from the business point of view, it isn’t questionable, it’s business.

You have the most expensive listing in the history of New York City, the financier Martin Zweig’s triplex penthouse at the Pierre. It’s been on the market for years for $70 million.

Ms. Sample: We sold it to him in 1998, to Martin … for significantly less than we’re asking.

How much longer will he give you the co-op listing for?

Ms. Powers: As long as it takes.

Ms. Sample: If it was a condominium, I’d probably have it priced at two or three hundred million dollars, and I’d probably get it. … Co-ops like to have [buyers’] assets in the United States. For the most part, if their assets are not here, it’s very difficult to get them into a co-op.

Have you tried to get Martin to lower the price?

Ms. Sample: We’ve had offers way over the asking price. Eighty-five million! … The offers were real; it was, ‘Is it an appropriate person type of person for that building?’

What would ‘inappropriate’ mean?

Ms. Powers: A bachelor.

Ms. Sample: No, be careful, we can get into trouble. Someone who’s going to get into wild parties … someone that’s going to bring a lot of paparazzi.

Have either of you seen any homophobia in co-op boards?

Ms. Powers: I’ve never seen it.

Ms. Sample: I think there’s more of a phobia against movie stars.

When co-op boards would say they didn’t want ‘entertainers,’ it was code for Jews.

Ms. Sample: Yeah, but that’s not the case today. You have all different kinds of celebrities; they’re not all Jewish, for God sakes!

Have you seen homophobia or any racism among fellow brokers?

Ms. Sample: Homophobia? I would say no. They’re barking up the wrong tree with someone like Brenda or I. Racism? Comments are tossed around, more so when I began 20 years ago. I think people are really …

Ms. Powers: Open now.

Ms. Sample: … Well, and I think much more careful now with the litigation that takes place.

Brenda, on your Web site, you describe Elizabeth as your mentor. What’s that part of your decade-plus relationship like?

Ms. Powers: I hooked up with Elizabeth and started talking real estate. I was working for Ian Schrager at the Royalton … and she said, ‘Why don’t you work with me—for me?’ She had a brilliant way of making me fall in love with real estate, she had me read all the publications.

Ms. Sample: I had her reading Crain’s back in the day.

Now you no longer work for her, you work with. Since when do you split commissions?

Ms. Sample: Six
months into working with me. She was very good.

Brenda, you speak five languages, so are you the one that deals with the foreign buyers?

Ms. Powers: It depends.

Ms. Sample: I do pretty well with Russians. I don’t know why.

Ms. Powers: Because you’re blond and blue-eyed!

You’re both blond.

Ms. Powers: Elizabeth has a way and a style that’s very appealing to businessmen or men, because you have five or 10 minutes with someone, to sell the asset.

Ms. Sample: I’m pretty direct.

Ms. Powers: She’s direct. You have a very economical and mathematical approach.

How would you describe Brenda’s style?

Ms. Sample: Very compassionate; more understanding; is willing to take more time with someone. I do my thing and then I move on, and many times she’ll hang out and entertain.

Ms. Powers: That’s my background, my father was a diplomat for Switzerland. … You have to, some days, socialize—especially with Europeans. Like we have to go meet Jocelyn tonight, it’s a big to-do.

Jocelyn Wildenstein [the socialite famous for her feline plastic surgery]?

Ms. Sample: Brenda, please!

Ms. Powers: O.K., you don’t want to say. We can’t just meet over coffee, you have to go, it’s an art—you have to go out for Japanese.

Ms. Sample: And I want to go work out, get my nails done. I want to have a life besides just working and entertaining people. I want to go to the gym, I want to steam.

What do you fight about?

Ms. Powers: We were asked to go to a beautiful development in Bora Bora, but it’s hard to leave.

Ms. Sample: I would rather go someplace that’s closer than Bora Bora. We’re being asked to go for business, and I would like to go on vacation for pleasure.

Ms. Powers: But it’s one of the most beautiful places in the world—so if you could combine pleasure and work …

Ms. Sample: We’ll probably be in Bora Bora.