A rolling stone gathers no moss, but can a $17.5 million townhouse gather a buyer?

When Jann and Jane Wenner split in 1995, the coupled stayed married,  putting off the legal wrangling that would inevitably arise when they split their publishing empire. Mr. Wenner borrowed $7,500 from his own family and from the family of his wife to found Rolling Stone, and once it grew into an empire worth hundreds of millions of dollars and includes Men's Journal and Us Weekly, it would be understandable if the vagaries of divorce just didn't seem worth it.

Until, that is, 2011. Mr. Wenner had been living with his partner, Matt Nye, a former Calvin Klein model 19 years his junior with whom he's raising three kids, and Ms. Wenner finally wanted out. (There was speculation that the divorce was finalized because Mr. Wenner and Mr. Nye wanted to formally marry each other, but despite the legalization of gay marriage in New York, that never came to pass.) There was a little acrimony in the divorce, including a lawsuit filed by Ms. Wenner's Amagansett groundskeeper, but things seem to have gone as smoothly as a divorce can be expected to go and Jane Wenner got to keep the couple's Upper West Side townhouse, at 37 West 70th Street.

Now, after three years of holding onto the property, Ms. Wenner wants to cash out. Though she acquired Mr. Wenner's stake in the home in 2010 for a bit more than $4 million, now she wants much, much more: $17.95 million. At nearly $2,500 per square foot for the 7,200-square foot home, the asking price is nearly double the Upper West Side townhouse average.

Once owned by Perry Ellis, the 20-foot-wide, five-story townhouse dates back to 1891, when it was designed by architect Gilbert A. Schellenger, who built townhouses from Harlem to Crown Heights. It was most recently renovated by American designer Ward Bennett—a distinction that no new homes will be able to claim, given that he passed away in 2003.

"The bathrooms are outfitted with the Art Deco treasures of the London Savoy Hotel," reads the listing—Wolf Jakubowski of Brown Harris Stevens has the exclusive. The home has five bedrooms, but where it really shines are the fireplaces: it lays claim to a whopping ten, nine of which are wood (or back issues of the glossy magazine) burning.

For $23 million, you'll no longer have to gaze longingly at the limestone loggia perched atop 10 Gracie Square.

Not often do penthouses at Manhattan’s “Good Buildings” (as per Tom Wolfe, according to whom there are only 42) come on the market, but today is one of those rare days: the south penthouse at 10 Gracie Square was just listed for $23 million.

The white-glove building sits in the rarefied hinterlands of the far East Side, overlooking Carl Schurz Park, and once had a yacht mooring onto the East River, sadly disfigured by the FDR (which is decked over beneath the ritziest buildings—a coincidence, we’re sure). Moreover, the penthouse occupant gets an up-close view of the building’s rooftop fixture, which is rumored to be, along with that on top of 1040 Fifth Avenue, the inspiration for 15 Central Park West’s crown.

The penthouse's current owner is financier Yves de Balmann, who is represented by Brown Harris Stevens broker John Burger.

The ten-room duplex co-op sits right next to Gloria Vanderbilt's old digs (her second choice, after she was rebuffed by the board at River House next door—she says because she was dating a black man, the board says because she would draw unwanted attention), where she raised Anderson Cooper in between acid trips ("After a while," wrote The Telegraph, "the therapist removed her blindfold. To her surprise, everything in the penthouse room at 10 Gracie Square looked entirely normal").

But it was also the site of a more tragic event, when her oldest son, Carter, committed suicide by jumping from the terrace, with Ms. Vanderbilt recalling twenty years later, "He let go, and there was a moment when I thought I was going to jump over after him."

Other bold-faced names to reside at 10 Gracie Square include Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, wife to the Kuomintang leader who was pushed out of mainland China by Communist forces and ended his life as a Taiwanese dictator, as well as Eric Rudin of the eponymous dynastic development firm, who picked up a $12 million triplex in the building in 2011.

Spill all the wine/spaghetti sauce/blood/ketchup you want!

Harold Prince may be best known for directing and producing Broadway musicals, but his real métier, it turns out, is real estate. According to city records, the 21-time Tony winner has bought or sold no less than seven different properties in Manhattan north of 59th Street over the past decade. (For the most part, not a West Side Story—only three units were on the West Side, and two of those were in 222 Central Park South.)

And his latest attempt is far from modest: just yesterday he and wife Judy relisted their townhouse at 48 East 74th Street for $21 million. If they can get anywhere near the ask, it'll be a windfall for the couple, as they bought the home in 2009 for $12.5 million. (Although it was the previous owner, who bought the house in 2002 for just $3.6 million, who made off the best.)

This isn't the first time Mr. and Mrs. Prince (herself of a theater pedigree—her father, Saul Chaplin, was a composer and musical director) have tried to sell the forty-foot Upper East Side townhouse. Back in November they listed the property with Fox Residential Group for $22 million, but they're clearly hoping that Paula Del Nunzio at Brown Harris Stevens and a small price cut will do the trick. (This would not be the first time a perfectly lovely residence has suffered from the Princes' theatrical decorating decisions.)

The townhouse's neo-Georgian façade may not be as elaborate as its neighbors, but it has enough interior features to make up for it. With a four-story atrium and elevator to, the house includes a roomy 7,375 square feet—and that's just above ground. The basement, which includes a gym and staff suite, holds another 2,000 square feet. (Future buyers: if you're looking for staff, you know where to find us!)

Whether or not they get their $21 million ask, the couple will likely not go hungry—less than two years ago they sold their duplex co-op at 834 Fifth Avenue for nearly $25 million.

We're sure the Beinarts can make this room feel more UWS.

There's something to be said for embracing stereotypes. At least as far as political pundit, intellectual and Open Zion editor Peter Beinart is concerned.

Sure, Mr. Beinart and his wife Diana might have found the perfect co-op in the Village or a trendy loft in Tribeca. If they wanted to follow the herd, or at least scions of The New York Times, they would have snapped up a place in Brooklyn.

But the Beinarts—who just purchased a classic six complete with great light and river views at 755 West End Avenue—are apparently in love with the Upper West Side.

And why not? It's a beautiful (and classic!) neighborhood for an intellectual wunderkind and his brood. The couple appear to be keeping things local, as city records notes they are moving just around the corner, haveing calledthe Rutherford at 360 Riverside Drive home. So there won't be any unpleasant surprises when they find that all the bookstores and independent coffee shops have been replaced by bank branches and Starbucks in the past 30 years.

The Bienarts dropped $1.9 million on the two-bedroom, two-bath co-op listed with Brown Harris Stevens brokers Gail Gros and David Everson. One of those is a sybaritic bath with stone tiled shower and Italian fittings—whatever that means. The apartment was most recently asking $2 million, a little under what sellers Marietta and Patrizio Tognozzi seem to have paid for the 15th-floor co-op in 2007.

The Beinarts will enjoy beamed ceilings, an eat-in chef's kitchen "enhanced by lacquered cabinets," river views from five of the six rooms and a maid's room that has been "seamlessly converted into an efficient office complete with built-in cabinetry and washer dryer," according to the listing. Beamed ceilings and hardwood floors are de rigeur, as much as the Persian carpets, artfully-arranged bookshelves and slightly-mussed sofa cushions.

kvelsey@observer.com

Too much of a hassle? (Getty)

Did the co-op board at 907 Fifth Avenue  really hate the idea of making a full-floor apartment out of Huguette Clark's two 8th-floor residences? Or do they just hate children?

Following our report yesterday that Clark's mega-apartment sale fell through, reportedly because the board didn't like the bidder's plans to combine the units, the New York Post IDs the reason as too many kids. That's a new one.

The rebuffed buyer, rumored to be Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, reportedly made a $31.5 million bid, which was $500,000 over the combined ask for the two apartments, listed at $19 million and $12 million, with Brown Harris Stevens brokers Mary Rutherfurd and Leslie Coleman.

Mr. Hamad's 15 kids, two wives and and small army of staffers were simply too much for the co-op board, claims the Post. But it's not like the crew would have been cramped in a 22-room floor-through apartment—which, if combined, would have been quite possibly the biggest of its kind of the park. And we're talking 40-foot rooms next to other 40-foot rooms, none of two-bedroom, possible three-bedroom conversion business you see with the starter-millionaire properties.

Maybe the board were just afraid the family plus entourage would hog the elevator? Or it seemed too much of a shift from the childless Clark, who hadn't lived there in decades anyway?

“It was just too complicated,’’ a source told the Post.

Clark, who died in May 2011 at age 104, owned the penthouse at 907 Fifth Avenue, which is currently in contract (reportedly for close to the $24 million ask) and the two 8th-floor apartments.

Mr. Hamad has reportedly been searching for a New York City pad for more than a year. Given that he seems to have plenty of money to spare, we'd recommend Millennium Partners founding partner Christopher M. Jeffries' $77.5 million pad at the Ritz. Not only is the apartment already renovated in high style, but Mr. Hamad won't have to deal with any pesky co-op boards.

kvelsey@observer.com

How will the buyer handle the challenge of arranging furniture in this massive living room?

Courtney Sale Ross may not be getting the full $60 million ask for her deluxe duplex apartment at 740 Park Avenue, but the sale will still set a record at $52 million, the highest price ever paid for a co-op.

While last week brought rumors that a buyer with deep-pockets had fallen in love with the sprawling apartment, The Journal reports that the feeling is mutual, and the famously picky co-op board has given the nod of approval, culminating in the signing of a $52 million contract.

What's more, the mysterious buyer is required to pay cash for the record-breaking purchase, according to The Journal.

Ms. Sale Ross and her late husband, TimeWarner CEO Steve Ross, combined two enormous units to create the 30-room residence at the most prestigious of Park Avenue address (paying a total of about $8 million for the apartments in the 1980s). The apartment has it all: Central Park views, two libraries, seven working fireplaces, both a formal and informal dining room, and six terraces. It has been listed with Brown Harris Stevens broker Kathy Sloane since November, but was secretly listed for the last few years at a reported $75 million.

The co-op listing was yanked down this week, but you can still peek inside the glorious residence>>.

When it comes to the world of ultra high-end apartments, buyers don't always get what they want (although considering the $88 million sale of the Weill penthouse at 15 Central Park West, $60 million wasn't necessarily a bad try), but they generally get more than they need.

kvelsey@observer.com

Not your typical New York apartment

It's not only the bright, shiny and new buildings like 15 Central Park West and One57 that are topping the $50 million mark these days. Rumor has it that the massive 740 Park Avenue home of Courtney Sale Ross has found a buyer willing to pay the $60 million asking price

Gadabout Michael Gross, the author of the consummate book on the consummate building, reports that he's heard from a reliable source that the unit, a deluxe duplex, has gone into contract for the full asking price.

Officially listed by Brown, Harris Stevens broker Kathy Sloane since November (although quietly on the market for the last few years) the 30-room co-op apartment is a sprawling and opulent even by the standards of the famous Rosario Candela-designed building. Ms. Sale Ross and her late husband, TimeWarner CEO Steve Ross, combined two already palatial units to form the residence. The space boasts Central Park views, two libraries, seven working fireplaces, both a formal and informal dining room, and six terraces. (It almost seems like an afterthought to add that there are eight bedrooms and ten baths.)

After a long spell of secret listings and price reductions, apartments at the esteemed building are apparently selling well again. This November, video game magnate Gregory Fischbach and his wife Linda sold their apartment (reportedly listed for $29 million) for $27 million.

No word on the buyer of the Ross residence, but perhaps he or she was prodded to action by the bidding war over Teddy Forstmann's penthouse on East 70th Street, which entered into contract for $40 million last week, marking the latest ultra high-end sales seemingly kicked off by the $88 million sale of the Weill penthouse at 15 Central Park West this December.

If you're considering listing your $70 million apartment, now is the time.

kvelsey@observer.com

The 3-bedroom, 3-bath apartment, listed for $29.6 million with Brown Harris Stevens broker John Burger, features not only shuttered windows, hard-carved mahogany woodwork and pocket doors (swoon), but neighbors like Lauren Bacall, Yoko Ono and Roberta Flack (double swoon), who gather in the courtyard for an annual fall potluck, to which Ms. Ono is known to bring a platter of sushi (we've fainted).

Of course, all has not been well between the historic building's neighbors of late. The racial discrimination suit filed against the co-op by resident Alphonse Fletcher Jr., a well-known black investor and former president of the building's board, is still wending its way through the courts. (Mr. Fletcher, who was blocked from buying an adjacent apartment in the building for his mother, alleged that the board had discriminated against him and other minorities).

And in February of last year, Dutch courts moved to block the sale of a Dutch investor Jan-Dirk Paarlberg's first-floor apartment after he was convicted of fraud in connection with a $23.5 million extortion scheme.

The New York Post speculates that Mr. Fletcher's lawsuit may have something to do with the building's most recent vacancy. The Post reports that the seller of the beautiful six-floor space is none other than Bruce Barnes, president of the co-op board.

The Post quotes an email that Mr. Barnes allegedly sent out yesterday, giving his desire to downsize and spend more time out of the city as the reason for selling the apartment.

“As of this afternoon, I have listed my Dakota apartment for sale . . . For seventeen years, I have loved the Dakota as both a building and a community, but my apartment is very large for two people, and several of the rooms are rarely used."

And while it's hard to imagine anyone wanting to move out of this apartment, downsizing seems like the most reasonable explanation. After all, a lawsuit would be a good reason to cede a seat on the board, but it's hardly to leave the building.

Mr. Burger told the Observer that the seller was a "philanthropist and private investor" who had lived in the apartment for the past 17 years, but would not reveal his identity. Public records list Mr. Barnes address in the building, technically 1 West 72nd Street.

Regardless of why he's departing, the apartment is sure to attract many suitors (Mr. Burger told us his phone has been ringing off the hook since the listing went up).

Besides the park views and beautiful architecture, the buyer will be able to enjoy a 24-foot library adjacent to a 29-foot living room (both facing the park) as well as a bathroom with honed onyx and an open shower with five vintage shower heads.

"It's one of the biggest apartments in the building and we haven't seen an apartment like this above the tree-line in a long time," Mr. Burger said. (The last big, park-facing apartment on the market was Leonard Bernstein's old place, purchased by Milstein heir Philip Milstein and wife Cheryl for $20.5 million in 2008—a record-breaking  price for the building. But even that one didn't clear the tree-line, Mr. Bruger noted).

Of course, when it comes to the Dakota, apartments do not always go to the highest bidder. Aspiring residents must make it past the building's board, which has famously rejected the likes of Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith.

kvelsey@observer.com

Opulent much?

Paul Fribourg is the CEO of Continental Grain and a director of Estee Lauder, Burger King and the Loews Corporation. Clearly, the man has gobs of money sitting around, but that didn't mean he was going to spend $45 million on a co-op at 998 Fifth Avenue.

In fact, it didn't look like anyone was going to spend $45 million, or even $34 million, on the Gold Coast home of Morgan Stanley ex-vice chair Bruce Fiedorek. Just months after rival Lehman Brothers collapses, Mr. Fiedorek was quietly shopping around his sprawling 5-bedroom, 5-bathroom apartment for $45 million, perhaps embarrassed to make such an ostentatious move public. When the home officially came on the market a few months later, in October 2009, the asking price was a more modest $34 million.

In the interim, the home bounced around between two different brokerages over the impossibly long span of three years (it spent a full year off the market, during which Mr. Fiedorek ostensibly re-evaluated the steep asking price before putting it back on the market for exactly the same price).

Mr. Fribourg, who gained notoriety several years ago for an alleged affair with ex-CNN anchor Paula Zahn, just paid a cool $27.2 million for the palatial pad, according to city records. The apartment was listed with Sotheby's brokers Meredyth Smith and Serena Boardman.

Mr. Fribourg clearly has a head for business, so it's not surprising that he was able to knock almost $7 million off the price tag for the place. It's also not surprising that he'd like it—the residence appears to be the kind of uber-luxurious home befitting a captain of industry. It has a marble bath, a dramatic reception room adjoining "an immense living room with beautiful large French windows with balustrades overlooking Fifth Avenue," and a room that could either be used for "staff" or "exercise," the listing helpfully offers.

The building itself is among the more prestigious of Fifth Avenue co-ops, built in 1910 by McKim, Meade and White to ridiculously luxurious specifications with the purpose of attracting the kind of old money that was hesitant to leave their town houses to live in a—pearl clutch—shared building. In the end, they were persuaded, perhaps by features like jewelry safes built into the walls of each apartment.

And the appeal is still there. Real estate scion Jordan Panzer just bought a duplex downstairs for $16 million earlier this year, and Matt Bronfman, the Seagrams heir, bought a second-floor spread for $18 million in 2007. For those still looking for a place in this titanic price range, two units are on the market, one for $20 million, another for $22 million.

kvelsey@observer.com

Christopher Jeffries, a founding partner at Millenium Partners, just listed his duplex condo at the Ritz-Carlton for $77.5 million, according to The Times, making it the most expensive apartment on the market—there is still a certain $90 million townhouse kicking around out there. Mr. Jeffries helped redevelop the old St. Moritz Hotel into the Ritz, and he took two floors for his own, including one that was the grand ballroom.

The jaw-dropping price for the home on the 30th and 31st floors is actually quite a deal. According to the Brown Harris Stevens listing, the home measures 10,882 square feet, which adds up to only $7,122 per square foot. That is $3,000 per less than either Mr. Weill asked or Mr. Barnett wants. Still, that size, along with the park and city views, leads the broker, Kyle Blackmon, to tell The Times that this is "an irreplaceable trophy asset."

Sounds familiar? Why he is the broker who earned a record-setting commission for selling Mr. Weill's place, of course.

More jaw-dropping? Mr. Jeffries only paid $20 million for the place in 2002, according to The Times. So while Mr. Weill managed to do well for himself, he merely doubled his money. Mr. Jeffries is hoping to quadruple his.

High-profile properties on the park are not always a sure thing, though. Who could forget the penthouses at the Plaza or 1 Central Park West, after all?

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC