By Janet Allon 5/07 5:00pm

NYOREALESTATE

Diane Ramirez.

Hot Town

It’s Springtime in New York again—that short slice of heaven squeezed between the long cold winter and the long hot summer—and the real estate market appears to be sprouting green shoots in celebration.  For real this time. The kind of growth that the professionals seem to think can really last. That’s certainly the take that Diane Ramirez, president and co-founder of Halstead Property, shared in a recent interview. And she has some solid evidence to back that up, unmistakable trends she has spotted that indicate a kind of vigor in the market that is sustainable. The market, she posits, has become unfrozen, people are feeling less stuck, and rather than sitting tight with what they’ve got, they’re upsizing, downsizing, and just generally moving on with their lives. “That,” she insightfully says, “is what real estate is all about.” Read More

By Stephen Jacob Smith 3/27 3:34pm

Manhattan Transfers

We hope Mr. Willis has a more pleasurable stay at the El Dorado than he had at Nakatomi Plaza.

Bruce Willis Pays $8.8 M. for U2 Bassist Adam Clayton’s El Dorado Pad

Last time Bruce Willis tangled with a tower, his Die Hard character escaped from the clutches of a German terrorist group with only his trusty Beretta sidearm. We hope his stay at El Dorado at 300 Central Park West, where he just picked up a co-op apartment, is less eventful.

The four-bedroom spread was rumored to be in contract for $8 million, according to New York Post, but as in The Sixth Sense, there’s a twist at the end of this purchase: Mr. Willis and wife Emma ended up paying $8.85 million for the fourth-floor unit, according to city records—a bit over the asking price of $8.695 million. (Even celebrities, it seems, can’t buy a co-op without listing their name on the need! Or maybe they just wanted the tax abatement?) Read More

By Stephen Jacob Smith 3/15 2:00pm

Manhattan Transfers

The unit has a beautiful professional chef-designed kitchen to admire while you wait for your Seamless order to arrive.

Josie’s Chef Serves Up $3.3 M. Upper West Side Combo Platter

Josephina, the Lincoln Center standby, stopped serving its pre-theater dinners in 2011, leaving owner Louis Lanza with only one Upper West Side location—Josie’s West. And now it appears that Mr. Lanza is downsizing his neighborhood housing as well.

Mr. Lanza has sold his penthouse spread at The Fitzgerald for $3.32 million, city records show.

But he’s not moving out just yet. Mr. Lanza owned quite a cut of real estate at 201 West 74th Street—not only the three-unit penthouse combo, but also another, separate unit in the building. Some were passed down to Mr. Lanza by his parents, and some he purchased himself. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with knowing what you like. Read More

By Laura Kusisto 10/29/10 2:30pm

lease beat

Halstead Moves Flagship to 59th and Park

499 Park Avenue

A group of residential brokers hardly needs schooling on the importance of location. Now Halstead will move its flagship office to a prime spot at Park Avenue and 59th Street.

Access to public transportation was a key consideration, according to an internal memo sent to staffers.

In addition to the more utilitarian Read More

By Molly Fischer 7/23/09 5:55pm

The Flotsam and Jetsam of Harlem’s Condo Market Post-Lehman

“This was a real estate office, but it’s turned into my junk collection,” explained Leonard Heyward, a Harlem native and licensed broker.

Heyward Real Estate (“Your Bridge to Elegance,” says the front window) occupies the walk-in-closet-sized storefront of 115 Edgecombe Avenue. Next door, at 117, the Hamilton Lofts development was hosting a tour of Read More