By Stephen Jacob Smith 4/29 4:16pm

Manhattan Transfers

The hallowed halls in which The Observer was born.

Salmon Sells: New York Observer’s Old Upper East Side Home Finds a Buyer

The most expensive home in the five boroughs to go into contract last week (according to the Olshan report), is an address quite familiar to The Observer: 54 East 64th Street, this salmon-colored paper’s Upper East Side home before Arthur Carter sold the paper to Jared Kushner.

“Four floors, a giant alimentary center-hall staircase, caked moldings, brass chandeliers, glass-fronted oak cupboards, The New York Observer sometimes felt like a Henry James society home or a 70′s swinger pad, with reporters stacked and stuffed in its confines like Hong Kong tailors,” longtime editor Peter Kaplan described the mansion. “Our legal reporter set up his computer in the fourth-floor closet, near the tuxedo that was used by whomever had to go out to a formal evening.” Read More

By Stephen Jacob Smith 4/01 3:46pm

Manhattan Transfers

The Chloë Sevigny lookalike has gotten a lot of press, but brokers remain unimpressed. (Photo courtesy Gawker.)

Janna Bullock Tries To Double Her Rubles at 14 East 82nd Street

Janna Bullock, the Russian mansion flipper who washed up on the shores of Brighton Beach after the collapse of the Soviet Union, did not have much luck with 12 East 82nd Street, but she’s clearly hoping for better fortune with 14 East 82nd Street. She recently listed the property for $25 million, selecting Nikki Field and Patricia Wheatley of Sotheby’s International Realty as the home’s listing agents (Ms. Field and Ms. Wheatley also sold 12 East 82nd).

Ms. Bullock picked up Nos. 12 and 14 in 2006, paying $14 million for the former and $12.2 million for the latter. She intended to combine the two homes into a massive 43-foot wide property, Richard Steinberg at Warburg Realty told The Observer (Ms. Bullock had promised him the listing, he said, only to give it to Ms. Field), but could never get the combo plan past the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Read More

By Kim Velsey 2/08 11:51am

Manhattan Transfers

They're not exactly giving it away at $15 million either. (NYT)

A Missing Rear Wall Does Merit a Discount: Hollow Shell Of a Townhouse Closes for $15 M.

It turns out that the townhouse at 12 East 82nd Street did not, in fact, sell for anything close to its $19 million asking price. An in-progress gut renovation and a missing rear wall proved daunting, even in this giddy trophy market.

When The Observer first learned that the five-story brick federal townhouse was in contract early this January, we were taken aback. We have, after all, seen a lot of bold asking prices and Janna Bullock, the Russian developer selling the place, is famously fearless when it comes to defending her real estate investments and her honor. But $19 million beggared belief. Assuming that the would-be owners had likely knocked the price down, we called Sotheby’s broker Nikki Field, who has the listing with colleague Patricia Wheatley. Read More

By Kim Velsey 1/09 11:37am

Manhattan Transfers

But the back is a mess. (NYT)

Hollow Shell of a Townhouse In Contract for Close to $19 M. Ask

You know that the luxury real estate market has reached a fever pitch when gutted townhouses with only three walls start selling for $19 million. True, it is the back wall that’s missing from 12 East 82nd Street, but backless townhouses don’t have the same allure as backless gowns.

The five-story brick federal townhouse is in contract for close to the $19 million ask, confirmed Sotheby’s broker Nikki Field, who has the listing with colleague Patricia Wheatley.

Russian developer Janna Bullock, the owner of the townhouse and its next-door neighbor, is not known for her timidity—last year she mounted an art exhibit at 14 East 82nd to strike back at all the nasty rumors that have been circulating about her in the Russian press. But it takes a certain kind of chutzpah to ask mint-condition prices for an empty shell. (A chutzpah, we might add, that has been amply rewarded.) Read More

By Max Abelson 6/17/08 11:22pm

Brokers Bicker! Much Ado Over $35 M. Upper East Side Manse

The 13,137-square-foot limestone mansion at 9 East 67th Street will never again have dramatics as grand as that episode a few years ago, when a convicted sex offender living in California quibbled with his siblings over the family property. After a judge stepped in, the comely, slightly-mysterious, Russian real estate investor Janna Bullock (pictured) finally Read More

By Staff 3/01/06 11:54am

Showhouse Flipper Strikes Again


Flip this!

Recently, it seemed that almost every townhouse on the block of East 67th Street between Fifth and Madison avenues was up for grabs.

Last month (yes, now that we’ve moved down to the Flatiron District we don’t get up there as often as we should), The Real Estate strolled the tony Read More

By Michael Calderone 2/13/06 12:00am

Damon’s Home Base

Before Johnny Damon heads down to Tampa in two weeks for spring training, the formerly scraggly centerfielder needs to take care of his Manhattan living arrangements.

But instead of moving into a ritzy building where other Yankees dwell, the $52 million man is looking to join the beautiful people in celebrity-packed One Beacon Court. Read More