The Plaza--Manhattan's other new fabulously amazing condo--has had its fair share of Russian buyers, but Mr. Guzik is the first first Russian-American that we know of to close on a condo at 15 Central Park West.

Mr. Holtz signed the contract for Unit 14K in August 2005, just a few months after he sold his 66th-floor, three-bedroom condo in yet another star-studded building, the Park Imperial, to P. Diddy for almost $4 million. Mr. Holtz had lived in the Park Imperial for only two years when he decided to move to a second-floor glass-enclosed apartment at Perry Street Tower. He now owns three condos in that building in addition to his new purchase at the Robert A.M. Stern-designed 15 Central Park West.

Another Goldman partner, Ashok Varadhan, purchased a $16.03 million condo at the Zeckendorf brothers' famed buidling just two days earlier.

He and wife Jill Sutton are the latest celebrity buyers to officially close on one of the 202 condos. Former Citigroup head Sanford Weil purchased a $42 million penthouse at Fifteen back in July, and celebrities such as Denzel Washington, Norman Lear, and NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon are closing on condos there, too.

According to a New York Times story in March 2000, Mr. Cantor had recently retired from active management of money-management firm Neuberger Berman Inc. He served as vice chairman once retired. Ms. Cantor, according to the Times, is a psychiatrist.

City records filed this week show that Sultan Ahmed Al-Qassimi, who apparently belongs to the ruling family of Sharjah--Dubai's neighboring emirate--spent $4.95 million late last month on a low-floor apartment at the Robert A.M. Stern-designed Fifteen Central Park West. (Tune into this week's Manhattan Transfers column to read about a haute broker who bought a place one flight up.)

But across the park, that was overshadowed by a mystery buyer named CPW EXODUS REALTY, LLC, whose October deed for a $16.6 million apartment purchase was filed in city records four minutes later than Mr. Al-Qassimi's.

That corporation bought a 13-room duplex penthouse at 279 Central Park West from LendingTree guru John Lebda. Mr. Lebda evidently knows his real estate: City records show he paid just $10.9 million last May for the penthouse, which means he made a gorgeous profit.

He took out a $7.63 million mortgage for his old duplex, perhaps through his Web site, but reportedly paid cash for his new place. That mortgage market is really slumping.

The Plaza’s most expensive condos have sold for $6,400 a square foot, said Elizabeth Stribling, whose Stribling Marketing Associates is the exclusive sales agent for the building owned by Elad Properties. That's roughly $100 greater than the highest per-foot price attained at Fifteen Central Park West, developed by William and Arthur Lie Zeckendorf. That price is $6,288, according to Terra Holdings, the holding company where the Zeckendorf brothers are co-chairmen.

Sales have closed on 50 percent of the Plaza’s condos, Ms. Stribling told The Observer in an interview to be published next Wednesday, and two have sold for at least $50 million.

Ms. Stribling, sitting last Thursday in the private lobby for Plaza condo owners, would not say who the $50 million buyers were (The New York Times has speculated that one is developer Harry Macklowe) but she did rattle off other impressive sales numbers.

“We’ve had three individual buyers buy apartments for between $40 million and $50 million,” Ms. Stribling said, “one between $30 million and $40 million; and four between $20 million and $30 million."

Fifteen Central Park West has claimed its own hefty prices. The family of ex-Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill bought Penthouse 20 there for $42.405 million, the third-highest official apartment sale ever in New York City. (The top is one of those Plaza sales, a $51.5 million purchase by a still-unknown buyer; and the second is Rupert Murdoch’s $44 million buy in 834 Fifth Avenue.) Plus, hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb has reportedly purchased another Fifteen Central Park West penthouse for $45 million, though that deal has yet to close.

Both Mr. and Ms. Estey, of Bedford, NY, have raised funds for Yale (Mr. Estey is a '78 alum). And when he donated money to a Republican congressional candidate last year, Mr. Estey listed his occupation as a managing director at Lehman Brothers. We couldn't find a record of him at the firm now, though.

As The New York Times noted late last year, the store marks another sign of Columbus Circle's transformation:

The store, of course, will front on Broadway and not on Central Park West. The building's condo owners--including Denzel Washington, Sandy Weill and Norman Lear, as well as 15CPW's developers, William and Arthur Zeckendorf--will not have to mix with the shoppers below.

The Observer's Chris Shott will have more on the opening on Friday.