By Stephen Jacob Smith 5/16 2:40pm

Manhattan Transfers

Good luck.

$100 M. CitySpire Listing: The Most Expensive For Sale By Owner in History?

Long Island real estate scion Steven Klar was obviously not having much luck offloading his massive, octagonal condo at CitySpire Center with Douglas Elliman. The much-maligned “trophy” vanished from the market in January, when Mr. Klar  dumped the brokerage—a win for Elliman?—and decided to lick his wounds for a few months and/or get fired up for another try.

At $100 million, more than any home in New York City has ever sold for, the price was widely mocked. Why, people asked, would Mr. Klar think he could best One57′s penthouses, which have reportedly entered into contract for more than $90 million, in a late ’80s building and a unit that he bought for only $4.5 million in the early ’90s (and hasn’t renovated since)? Read More

By Kim Velsey 10/24/12 5:53pm

Stratospheric Sales

One57

Is One57 a Bummer Or a Boon for Nearby Condo Towers?

It has been, thus far, a year of almost incandescent hopes for the Manhattan luxury market. The $88 million sale at 15 CPW, the $70 million sale at the Ritz Carlton and rising like a beacon to the south, the unfinished One57 tower, with a penthouse in contract for more than $90 million.

Indeed, the market has burned so brightly for the owners of trophy and would-be and could-possibly-be trophy properties that it may even have blinded a few to the realities of the real estate market—while it could be described as magical, it is not magic. Is One57 a rising tide that will lift all boats (yachts?) or an ultra-luxury development that most other buildings breaking the skyline can’t compete with in finishes or prices? Or even worse: a view-blocker, shadow-caster and general reminder that places like the Time Warner Center and the Trump International are not as new as they once were? Read More

By Kim Velsey 8/15/12 7:19pm

Stratospheric Sales

cityspire

Does Anyone Really Think That the CitySpire Penthouse Can Fetch $100 M.?

There are ambitious asks and there are downright ridiculous ones. Long Island real estate developer Steve Klar’s $100 million reach for the CitySpire penthouse not only falls solidly in the latter category, it’s almost archetypal. So much so that not even Prudential Douglas Elliman chairman Howard Lorber—whose brokerage has the listing—seems like he has much of an inclination to justify it. Read More

By Kim Velsey 8/08/12 12:56pm

Stratospheric Sales

More, more, more!

Steel Magnate Wants $95 M., Five Times What He Paid in 2008, for Tearing Down a Wall at 15 CPW

So many of 15 Central Park West’s residents have flipped their apartments for such massive sums that it sometimes seems like the whole building is cheating at tiddlywinks with the New York real estate market. Especially after the $88 million sale of Sandy Weill’s apartment, residents might be forgiven when they list their apartments for prices that seem somewhat deluded. Still, Leroy Schecter’s bid to make $40 million for tearing down a wall seems straight-up delusional. Read More

By Kim Velsey 7/27/12 7:16pm

Stratospheric Sales

15 Photos

The highest, high-end condo on the market (literally).

Live Like Zeus: CitySpire Penthouse Would Like Record $100 M., Please

Evidently emboldened by the $88 million sale of the Sandy Weill penthouse at 15 Central Park West and the $90 million penthouse that’s in contract at One57, Long Island real estate developer Steven Klar is angling to get $100 million for his 8,000-square-foot triplex penthouse at CitySpire.

The octagonal condo on the 73rd, 74th and 75th floors of the mixed-use midtown tower at 150 West 56th Street is certainly “one-of-a-kind,” as the Prudential Douglas Elliman listing boasts, but the question remains whether it can best the prices claimed by the premiere units in newer, lovelier buildings. The listing was first reported by The New York Times. Read More