There is a certain jadedness that sets in surfing this much house porn. Every fabulous co-op in Gotham has amenities, and countertops of certain gradients, and there is always a fourth or fifth bedroom tucked away somewhere that’s more sizable in itself than the majority of studio apartments in the city. And tomorrow and tomorrow Read More
While it may not have a book written about it, 778 Park Avenue is just as grand at its sister down the block. John Hess, James Robinson and William Lauder all call Rosario Candela’s red-brick wonder home, and of course Brooke Astor and the Buckleys used to. (Vera Wang was here, too, before trading up Read More
If the computer’s don’t kill us, the taxes will.
The city’s Department of Finance began using a new formula along with new computational software last year to calculate taxes for the city’s vast swathes of co-operative housing stock last year. It resulted in huge new assessments for hundreds of buildings, according to The Journal, driving Read More
For decades, Brooke Astor’s duplex at 778 Park was the pinnacle of New York City living. This had much to do with the society queen and her courtiers, who hosted lavish parties there, but also with the 16-room home, boasting six terraces and a renowned red-lacquered library. That was before the wallpaper began to peel Read More
Second-quarter housing numbers for Manhattan dropped this morning, and we caught up with appraisal ace Jonathan Miller, CEO and president of Miller Samuel and author of Prudential Douglas Elliman’s report. Guess what? There’s a shift in the market—and a good one, if you’re a condo developer or a condo seller.
While the number of overall Read More
Every year for at least a decade, Sylvia Shapiro had decorated the Christmas tree in the lobby of her co-op building on the corner of East 9th Street and University Place. A person who cares strongly about visual aesthetics and crafting—not typical for a type-A Manhattan litigator, but most don’t have a “past life designing Read More
Governor Paterson has a gift for Mayor Bloomberg in his proposed budget: more than $50 million a year from the under-tapped resource that is the city’s co-op housing market.
In the governor’s cross hairs are loans for co-ops, which have long been free of taxation while taxes on equivalent condos and houses Read More
As the magazine industry dies a very slow death, its leaders continue to buy up lovely little Manhattan homes. Condé Nast heir Samuel I. Newhouse IV just bought a $2.5 million Tribeca loft (with “a sensual zen-like” master bedroom), while Vice magazine co-founder Suroosh Alvi paid a tad less for an East Village Read More
Back in April 2008, Abigail Disney, the mogul’s grandniece, put her two 300 West End Avenue apartments on the market for a combined $13,445,000. It was an ambitious thing to do, considering that a year and a half earlier she’d paid the singer Harry Belafonte just $10.75 million for them.
The pair of nine-room co-ops, Read More
Earlier this year, ex-Morgan Stanley vice chairman Bruce D. Fiedorek quietly wanted around $45 million for his enormous fifth-floor sprawl at the enormously fancy co-op 998 Fifth Avenue.
For one reason or another, Mr. Fiedorek was not quite ready to publicly list the apartment, or talk about it: “I have no reason to discuss Read More
