By Kim Velsey 11/15/12 11:17am

Stratospheric Sales

The grand salon.

David Geffen Snaps Up Denise Rich’s Fifth Avenue Penthouse for $54 M.

Apparently, Dreamworks co-founder David Geffen doesn’t take the  biblical commandment “thou shalt not covet they neighbor’s house” very seriously. He’s gone ahead and purchased the 20-room duplex penthouseat 785 Fifth Avenue from his upstairs neighbor Denise Rich for a record-setting $54 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. The previous co-op record was set this spring, when Oaktree Capital Chief Howard Marks purchased the Courtney Sale Ross apartment at 740 Park for $52.5 million.

Ms. Rich listed the crazy spread for $65 million in January with Corcoran brokers Noble Black, Chazz Levi and Bonnie Pfeifer Evans, who claim that at 12,000-square-feet it is the largest apartment ever offered on Fifth Avenue (although measuring square footage in co-ops is a notoriously imprecise process).  And while Ms. Rich didn’t get full ask, she got more than anyone else ever has before. And we thought that maybe the trophy hunting season was over! How many pseudo trophy listings will Ms. Rich’s enviable sale spawn? Read More

By Matt Chaban 7/13/12 6:46pm

Stratospheric Sales

Play it again, Jack. (StreetEasy)

A Record Deal! David Geffen Reportedly Buying Fifth Avenue Penthouse for $54 M., Most Ever for Co-op

Here’s one for the record books—or rather, a couple of them, given the people involved.

According to Page Six, David Geffen has just purchased Denise Rich‘s sprawling 12,000-square-foot penthouse at 785 Fifth Avenue for $54 million. That would, by $1.5 million, beat out Courtney Sale Ross’ long-suffering duplex at 740 Park for the new record for a co-op sale in the city were it to be true, a record that was set only two months ago. Read More

By Elise Knutsen 1/27/12 5:38pm

Stratospheric Sales

9 Photos

Good news: when you spend $65 million, you get free gym membership. Hey- David Barton adds up!

Holy Park! Denise Rich’s 20-Room Penthouse Asking Record $65 M.

While some say co-ops have seen their day and are now fading from the forefront of the luxury market, don’t count the standard blue-blood abodes out yet! Songwriter Denise Rich has put her co-op on the market for the staggering price of $65 million, The Post reports, making it the most expensive co-op on the market.

Evidently, the 20-room spread at 785 Fifth Avenue is too big for Ms. Rich, who lives in the apartment alone. With seven full bedrooms and 11 baths, we’re inclined to believe her. Read More

By NYO Staff 7/07/03 12:00am

Thank You, Kate

The Mondel Chocolates shop, on the corner of 114th Street and Broadway, runs roughly the length of its one long, dual-bulbed fluorescent light fixture, which casts a glare over countless handwritten signs listing the infrequently changed prices for Mondel chocolates, and on a sepia-toned list on the wall in the back corner of the cramped Read More

By NYO Staff 9/23/02 12:00am

Secretary Scribe Is Hell on Heels

When Erin Cressida Wilson walks the red carpet at Secretary ‘s Sept. 18 premiere at Clearview’s Chelsea West theater, she’ll be wearing “simple” Hermès pants and an Armani shirt with “witchy, slutty shoes that counteract the conservatism of the rest.”

That kind of contrast is part of what appealed to the Duke University writing professor Read More