By Janet Allon 5/07 5:00pm

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Hamptons a Go Go

NYO spotlights the Hamptons, where real estate sometimes follows Manhattan trends, but has its own particular flavor as you move through the towns of the South Fork. 

You might think that, less than a year after a cataclysmic coastal weather event like Superstorm Sandy, home buyers would be a little gun shy about purchasing properties near the ocean. But you would be—in the case of the Hamptons, according to the experts we consulted—wrong. The fact is that the Hamptons, unlike some communities in Long Island closer to Manhattan, largely escaped the wrath of Sandy, although some low-lying properties, like Jane Lauder’s cottage by the sea, were flattened. But by and large, the East End was spared and is drawing buyers who might have considered beach communities elsewhere. “Superstorm Sandy is attracting new people to the Hamptons,” says Ernie Cervi, Corcoran’s Executive Managing Director in Bridgehampton. “Where beach communities were devastated by the storm, those in search of a world-class beach resort are test-driving the Hamptons.” Read More

By Stephen Jacob Smith 2/12 1:16pm

Manhattan Transfers

Captain Pete Dawkins keeps on winning—a headline obviously written before his 1988 Senate at the hands of Frank Lautenberg

Vietnam Vet Pete Dawkins Makes Peace with the Village

Heisman trophy winner, Rhodes scholar, youngest ever brigadier general in the United States Army, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate—not traits that one typically associates with Greenwich Village. But that didn’t stop Pete Dawkins and wife Judi from picking up a one-bedroom loft at 74 Fifth Avenue.

The fifth floor co-op in the 12-story, 1910 building—just a block from Union Square Park, a place with nary a hippie in a sight these days—was listed by Michael Johnson and Hayim Nommaz at Corcoran, and eventually sold for $1.57 million, a bit under the $1.59 million ask. Sellers Greg and Vivian Cioffi have owned the unit since at least 1997, according to city records. Read More

By Kim Velsey 6/08/12 5:00pm

Manhattan Transfers

5 Photos

A sale that hits close to home

Cutting Out the Middleman: Corcoran Broker Thomas Wexler Sells Own Townhouse

Thomas Wexler won’t be paying any commission on the $8.2 million sale of his townhouse at 135 East 91st Street. As they used to say about the Hair Club for Men, Mr. Wexler is not only a client, he’s the broker, too, a senior vice-president at Corcoran, no less, one who happens to specialize in townhouses.

And specialize he does: Mr. Wexler made a nice chunk of change on the Carnegie Hill five-bedroom, flipping it for more than twice the $4 million he paid in 2007. Yet being a specialist can come with its risks, too: Mr. Wexler had the audacity to list the home only a year after he purchased it for $12.5 million.

It looks like he had to wait for another gaga market to come along in order to sell it. Read More

By Kim Velsey 5/03/12 1:41pm

Manhattan Transfers

11 Photos

FSG Prez's New Pad

FSG President Jonathan Galassi Books It to Johnson & Johnson Heiress’ $1.7 M. Village Co-op

Thank goodness the eighth-floor apartment at 35 West Ninth Street is full of custom built-ins—the new owner will need a lot of shelf space for his sizable book collection.

Jonathan Galassi, publisher and president of Farrar, Straus and Giroux is leaving behind the bookish borough of Brooklyn for this sunny, Greenwich Village co-op. Read More

By Kim Velsey 4/17/12 10:10am

Manhattan Transfers

Park views from the terrace

Nature-Loving Couple Pays $9.5 Million for Views of Land and Sea at 875 Fifth

The 19th floor co-op apartment at 875 Fifth Avenue boasts stunning views of Central Park from the both its spacious terrace and the Fifth Avenue facing windows that run the entire length of the 1941 Emery Roth building.

The views should suit the new owner Lois R. Zaro, who purchased the apartment for $9.5 million, according to city records, and her husband Andrew, the president and CEO of Calvary Investments. The philanthropic couple is well-known for loving both nature and natural resources. Read More

By Elise Knutsen 2/27/12 2:25pm

Manhattan Transfers

Owen Laster

Lit Agent’s Tome-Heavy Home Sells At Sutton Place

Named by The New York Times as “one of the most powerful literary agents of his generation,” Owen Laster was an old-guard bookworm who spent his entire career at William Morris. Having worked with such literary luminaries as James A. Michener and Gore Vidal, Laster was a fixture in the book world for decades until he retired in 2006. Not surprisingly, the New Jersey native lived in a book-crammed co-op on Sutton Place, which his estate just sold. Read More

By Elise Knutsen 11/02/11 10:08am

Manhattan Transfers

Josephine de la Baume at her wedding (photo from Harper's Bazar)

Mark Ronson's Wife Sells Coddington's Old Place in the Village

The penthouse at 131 West 11th Street has long attracted cosmopolitan and artistic types. Owned by Vogue editor Grace Coddington for over two decades, the residence has most recently been occupied by DJ Mark Ronson’s new wife Josephine de la Baume, a French actress/model/belle jeune. Jet-setting debutantes and voguettes probably won’t be frequenting the place any longer, however, as it has been sold… to a young couple in finance—the vanilla of New York real estate. Read More

By Elise Knutsen 10/25/11 2:57pm

Manhattan Transfers

51 Midwood Street (Photo from StreetEasy)

Recent Record Set in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens

Prospect-Lefferts Gardens is pretty much the final frontier of Brooklyn gentrification. It has gorgeous turn-of-the century homes, but it’s always been on the wrong side of the park. The neighborhood experienced a boom in the pre-Lehman flush days, but property prices have dropped in recent years. It looks like things are on the up and up for PLG, however, as a recent sale came though last week for $1.57 million—the second largest sale the historic neighborhood has seen, and the biggest in almost five years. The deal, which was first reported by Brownstoner,  charts the neighborhoods meteoric rise. Read More

By Elise Knutsen 9/12/11 5:19pm

Manhattan Transfers

6 Photos

30 East 70th Street

Social Butterflies Flit into $5.1 M. Half of Broadway Producers UES Duplex

Florence Swinsky is going to need a fleet of moving vans. Ms. Swinsky, the widow of Tony-award winning Broadway producer Morton Swinsky who was behind major productions including Jersey Boys, The Addams Family, Chicago and Spamalot, has just sold the apartment she shared with her late husband at 33 East 70th Street. Literally every inch of their apartment is filled with works of art, large and small. Read More