He calls it like it is. And buys condos in the Aldyn.

We wonder... when Citigroup's chief economist was looking for a condo, did he ask his broker: "Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go?"

And did the broker reply: "that depends a good deal on where you want to get to."

That's the Carroll quote that Willem Buiter started his attention-grabbing paper Alice in Euroland with. Why not his house hunt?

We're still waiting to hear back from Mr. Buiter so we can ask him ourselves, but when it came to negotiating a price, everyone's favorite economist provocateur did not disappoint. Mr. Willem and wife Anne (who also has an economics PhD) finagled a $100,000 discount on his four-bedroom, 4.5-bath condo at 60 Riverside Boulevard.

Symbolic? The Aldyn faces West, away from Europe.

City records show that the Buiters paid $4.35 for the 2,505-square foot sponsor unit in Extell's Aldyn, a deal brokered by Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group.

Naturally, Citigroup's chief economist eschewed the established enclaves around Central Park for something a little more iconoclastic—the far West Side.

As he told The Wall Street Journal, "I like saying things that drive people around the bend."

You know what else Mr. Buiter likes (besides researching monetary unions)? Glass-walled great rooms with Brazilian cherry floors, marble chef blocks and teak-wrapped master baths with Zuma deep soaking tubs. Also: custom-crackle porcelain tile, views of the George Washington bridge and condo towers with rock climbing walls and bowling alleys.

Mr. Buiter's blunt pronouncements on the Eurozone have given him something of a cult-like following in the finance world. Will his acolytes join him on the banks of the Hudson River?

kvelsey@observer.com

Top this. (One57.com)

It seems like only yesterday we were standing on the 67th floor of Extell Development's One57, but these towers have a tendency to move fast, and now Gary Barnett has surmounted those final 20-odd floors, bringing his 90-story, record-setting tower to it final height or 1,005 feet over Manhattan.

That record setting price helped Mr. Barnett achieve a record sale on the penthouse, now taking shape, that sold for more than $90 million.

“ONE57 has set the standard for this new era of luxury development in New York City, and this milestone solidifies its impact,” Mr. Barnett said in a release.

Slideshow: How does New York's tallest apartment building look? >>

It will still be a year before the project is finished and the billionaires can begin to move in, but at least now we can stop gawking, wondering when the tower might top out. At least we'll try and stop gawking.

Now when is 432 Park going to get moving, so we have something else to keep an ever-watchful eye on.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

One57

Intrigue is afoot tonight as real estate sleuths are likely curious to find out who has paid at least $90 million for a 10,923-square-foot penthouse on the upper floors of One57. According to a report in the New York Times the buyer's home country and name won't be revealed, and neither will the precise amount paid for the unit, which is located on the 89th and 90th floors of One57. Whoever they are, they've topped the $88 million paid earlier this year by a trust for Ekaterina Rybolovleva, the daughter of billionaire Russian Dmitry Rybolovlev. Every square foot of the residence is apparently worth a new-ish, gently-used car:

The One57 penthouse, which features 23-foot ceilings in a grand salon, traded for about $8,000 per square foot, Mr. Barnett said. He called the purchase by the Rybolovlevs, agreed to late last year, “not a good deal,” saying the market for superluxury properties in New York should be closer to $10,000 per square foot.

The Rybolovlevs paid over $13,000 per square foot.

Though the $90 million price tag sets a record,  Extell Development Company president Gary Barnett reported that his company nearly sold another unit for in excess of $100 million earlier in 2012. Sadly, that deal fell through. But the plucky developer is unbowed, telling the Times that he is "hopeful" Extell will eventually sell a property at One57 or one of its other buildings for more than $100 million. The top penthouse had been asking $115 million most recently.

Of the anonymous buyers Mr. Barnett would only say they were a "very nice family" and would reside in the penthouse. He denied that the buyers were from "... the former Soviet Union" at all.

The new skyline, come 2020? 432 Park is at left, One57 is just right of One Bryant Park, and 225 West 57th Street is just to the right of that, then 15 Penn Plaza and, on the farthest right, Hudson Yards. (sbarn/Skyscraper Page)

The site, from 58th Street. (Skyscraper Page)

One57 looms in the distance—imagine something even taller.

When Gary Barnett builds, he wants everything to be "the best," as the Extell exec made clear in our recent profile. Bigger is not always better, but it certainly does not hurt, especially in Manhattan. That is part of the appeal of Mr. Barnett's One57—not only will the views be dead-center on Central Park, a fact Mr. Barnett keenly brags about, but there are also the bragging rights of having the tallest residential tower in the Western Hemisphere. At 1,005 feet, it beats Frank Gehry's 8 Spruce Street by more than 100 feet.

But this is New York, and the record will never hold for long, as competitors like the MoMA tower and 432 Park start to rise. But Mr. Barnett has an ace up his sleeve just down the block, a large development site on Broadway running between 57th and 58th streets. The lot, site of the former B.F. Goodrich Building is nearly twice as large as One57's, and more importantly the tower could be many hundred feet taller, as well, as Mr. Barnett continues to assemble air rights and properties, one of his favorite parts of the business.

For this stratospheric project he also turned to several top-shelf designers, none of whom Extell has ever worked with before.

As reported in our profile, Swiss starchitects Herzog & de Meuron won an invited competition to design a tower that could rise to 1,250 feet or more:

And, according to sources outside the developer, Mr. Barnett has tapped another Pritzker firm, Herzog & de Meuron, of 40 Bond fame, to build a 1,250-foot residential tower at Broadway and 57th Street. Yes, One57 was not enough. When it stops being the best, this project, and so many others, will be ready to carry on the legacy. When asked about the project, Mr. Barnett did not deny it, though he noted that, “Nothing has been settled, not the height, not the architect.” So be it. Perhaps now that Harry Macklowe’s 432 Park is climbing toward 1,395 feet, maybe Mr. Barnett wants to build a 1,400-foot tower.

What there was not room to say was the rest of the impressive firms under consideration: Herzog & de Meuron beat out fellow European Pritzker winners Norman Foster, Richard Rogers and Jean Nouvel and local favorites SHoP, according to our sources. The tower, as specified in the competition brief called for a multi-story base of offices with residences and a hotel on top, a top-of-the-line mixed use tower.

As Mr. Barnett made clear, any of this could change, but it shows a continued commitment to high-end design at the very least. When asked about how he chooses his designers—without making mention of this project in particular—Mr. Barnett gave some insight into how this little competition might have been put together.

"We like to work with the firms we know, we know they can do the work," Mr. Barnett said walking down 57th Street between the One57 site and the showroom just across Fifth Avenue. "But sometimes we want to give somebody else a chance, we've seen their work and we figure, why not give them a shot."

Mr. Barnett said that quality design "probably pays for itself" but sometimes he does wonder if it is worth it. "I sometimes question our commitment to design," he said. "These architects, the good ones, they can be difficult sometimes, but the product is definitely better. I look at the guys putting up just total crap, and I wonder if they don't make the same return."

Still, Mr. Barnett stressed that since he prefers the creative aspect of development above, or at least in equal measure to, the money, that probably helps explain his continued interest in what his buildings look like. "It's just more interesting this way, and it certainly helps with the marketing," he said.

Not every project warrants a starchitect, though. "We're not going to use them every time, like on an 80/20 project, or some of the hotels, the margins are just too tight, and it doesn't make sense," Mr. Barnett said. He cites The Observer's complaints about one such project as an example of unreasonable expectations.

So when will this mystery tower rise on Broadway? Mr. Barnett would not say. He certainly has his hands full with four full-scale projects currently in the works. And while Morton Williams has opened a new store at 141 West 57th Street, it has yet to vacate 225 West 57th, the final piece of Mr. Barnett's colossal puzzle. But as 432 Park begins to rise and One57 continues to sell units at record prices, it seems like only a matter of time before something is underway off of Columbus Circle.

One57

Well, that didn't take long. One57, that prime slab of midtown real estate, is already attracting top foreign-dollar, The Post reports. Apparently both Chinese and Russian tycoons are in contract to buy eight figure units in thee building, which comes as little surprise. Extell, the developers behind One57, have been unabashedly courting foreign buyers for months.

One Chinese buyer has signed on to buy four separate condos in the building, each worth more than $20 million. Unless he has a very odd sense of feng shui, preferring four separate living spaces to one giant home for practically the same price, it seems likely that the units will be used for investment of business purposes.

Separately, a Russian oil magnate (in all likelihood another post-USSR oligarch of dubious repute) is buying a $28 million place in the building.

All we can say is Thank god for the post co-op luxury market! Heaven knows these fellows would have a tough time passing the passing the boards.

The prize for that eye-popping price tag is a six-bedroom apartment covering 10,923 square feet at One57, a tower under construction by Extell Development Co., on West 57th Street opposite Carnegie Hall. The $110 million figure is nearly 12% above an earlier asking price for the unit, according to documents filed with the New York state attorney general.

It's no secret that Extell has been  courting foreign buyers for One57, and they were evidently encouraged by the recent Russian investment at 15CPW.

While the nine-figure price may seem outrageous, the price point isn't totally off point. At the current ask, the condo is priced at $10,070-per-square-foot, a number that while high, is definitely not unheard of.

Still, judging by the strange hooded shape of the building, it doesn't seem like the penthouse will have much, if any, terrace space, a feature that typically increases property value significantly. Then again, as the tallest residential building in the city, that might not be the best idea, either.

eknutsen@observer.com

Riverside South and One57. Which can we expect for Broadway? (Extell)

Gary Barnett continues to bulldoze his way across the city. Just last week, his Extell Development unveiled plans for a new tower at Riverside South; found a partner for a stalled 50-story hotel near Times Square; and secured $700 million in financing from Abu Dhabi toward One57, the condo-hotel tower on West 57th Street that will be the tallest, and likely most expensive, when it is completed. As if that were not enough, the developer has begun work just down the block on another of its long-simmering projects.

At the corner of Broadway and 57th Street, Extell has plans for yet another soaring tower; it will be either commercial or residential, an official decision has not been made. That has not kept the developer from moving ahead with demolition of some of the buildings it owns on the site, a controversial task since Extell fought off an effort by the Landmarks Preservation Commission to preserve two of the structures in 2009.

Extell assembled the T-shaped plot last decade and then took out a $256 million mortgage on it, leading to quite a bit of consternation when the commission unexpectedly decided 1780 Broadway and 225 West 57th Street were worth saving. Once owned by B.F. Goodrich, they are part of a stretch of Jazz Age dealerships known as Automobile Row. In the end, the commission brooked a contentious deal to save 1780 Broadway while allowing 225 West 57th Street to be torn down.

The site, like so many others at the moment, had lain fallow through the downturn but has now reawakened. Between February and June of this year, Extell filed a series of demolition permits for various buildings on 57th and 58th streets, which the Department of Buildings approved last month. One of those buildings is now coming down, with others to follow. "We're doing salvage work on the interiors of 217 and 221 West 57th and then start this week to take down the three-story 217 floor by floor," an Extell spokesman said in an email last week.

The spokesman would not disclose whether the project had financing, but that has not stopped Extell before. Demolition commenced years before construction started on either the One57 site or the International Gem Tower in the Diamond District, and both began construction using only Extell's equity. As shown at One57, this strategy allowed the developer to act faster because Mr. Barnett did not need to wait for the wrecking ball, and his construction progress helped attract investors, a particularly challenging prospect during the current economic malaise.

Extell also declined to discuss an architect or designs for the 57th and Broadway project, which brings the story back to Riverside South.

For years, Mr. Barnett was known for developing rather pedestrian buildings in line with the man he replaced on that redoubt overlooking the Hudson, Donald Trump. More recently, he has striven for greater architectural ambition, hiring SOM for the International Gem Tower and KPF for the aborted World Commerce Centre. Meanwhile, notable firms such as Lucian LeGrange and FXFowle have been designing some of his residential projects.

Perhaps no architect has benefited more than Christian de Portzamparc, the French Pritzker Prize winner who had built nothing in the city besides the LVMH headquarters a decade ago, with few buildings to his name elsewhere. Now, Mr. Barnett has become his biggest patron, tapping Mr. de Portzamparc not only for One57 but also for Riverside Center, the five-tower complex that is the final piece of the Riverside South puzzle. Extell won a tough rezoning fight for the project last year.

Now that Mr. Barnett has turned to Goldstein Hill & West Architects, a firm best known for working with Costas Kondylis on some of the city's blander buildings, for the final Riverside South tower that is not a piece of Mr. de Portzamparc's plan, it raises the question of what sort of designs New Yorkers can expect at 57th Street and Broadway. Will it be another Pritzker-worthy prize, or has Extell returned to more pedestrian fare?

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

Today, The New York Times reports on Gary Barnett's long-fallow hole on West 57th Street, across from Carnegie Hall, which, now that he has some big Middle Eastern backers, he is turning into the city's tallest, and perhaps most expensive, condo project. The price for its development is being tagged at $1.3 billion.

According to The Times, "The tower, designed by the French architect Christian de Portzamparc, will rise 1,005 feet above 57th Street east of Seventh Avenue, feature striking views of Central Park and house what Mr. Barnett hopes will be 136 of the most expensive and luxurious apartments in the city. A 210-room Park Hyatt hotel is to occupy the first 20 floors, hotel analysts say."

More here.

drubinstein@observer.com

Extell Development's planned 2,500-apartment development on the westernmost portion of the Upper West Side is slated to start the city's seven-month rezoning process Monday. This sets into motion debate over the future of the last parcel of the larger Riverside South development, a giant array of apartment buildings along the West Side Highway first planned and developed by Donald Trump in the 1980s. Extell has named this parcel Riverside Center.

The proposed development, which calls for a set of residential towers surrounding public open space, has been hotly debated by the surrounding community for more than three years, since Extell began working to change the zoning (which was designed for a world headquarters for NBC). The development firm spent an extremely long period with its rezoning application pending with the Department of City Planning, as it went through the arduous environmental review process.

Now, the approval is given a distinct timeline, and it needs O.K.'s from the City Planning Commission and the City Council. 

"This is a great first step for us," said George Arzt, a spokesman for Extell, "and we're thankful to City Planning."

First stop for Extell is Community Board 7, which has about two months to give a non-binding recommendation on the project. Many on the board, along with many West Side activists, have criticized the project for its bulk and the request for additional density beyond a framework agreed upon in the 1990s. Extell has said it is open to negotiation and has offered some carrots already, such as a new school. 

Just what that fate will be is  unclear to many involved, a rare twist with a commission where decisions almost always seem predetermined.

Tuesday morning, the LPC is slated to vote on whether to landmark the two buildings, a move that Extell says would force it to scrap the giant mixed-use tower it has planned for the site. In recent months, the company has mounted an aggressive defense against the commission--which typically designates every building it votes to consider--enlisting unions and four powerful elected officials to push back at the designations. (Much more on this in a feature from a few weeks back.)

The result was a compromise to designate one of the two buildings--the main headquarters of B.F. Goodrich, located on Broadway--allowing it to destroy the other, located on 57^th Street. Preservationists contend this is not enough, saying that if one of the buildings is landmark quality so is the other, and the commission should not bend to political pressure. Extell counters that landmarking both buildings would ruin its prime development site, and force the cancellation of what it says is a $1.5 billion tower.

Extell has told others involved in the discussions that the company believes the commission's chair, Robert Tierney, is leaning in support of the compromise. [Clarified]. Preservationists involved in the process also claim they have some of the votes on the 11-member commission.

Should the commission landmark both buildings, Extell would still have another at bat as the City Council has the power to veto any landmark designation (though it's incredibly rare for the Council to take such a vote). Giant skyscrapers don't usually play well with the populist crowd, and Council members could easily be painted as ignoring preservation concerns at the request of a developer.

ebrown@observer.com