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 Joseph Alexiou 10/09/09 4:51pm

Your Brokers on the Ballyhooed Manhattan Market Reports

“I glance at them,” said John Burger, a top co-op broker at Brown Harris Stevens, “but Manhattan is really eight different markets, and none of them really address the nuances.”

Mr. Burger was talking about the third-quarter Manhattan housing reports from various brokerages that came out last week, and he didn’t have much good Read More

By Max Abelson 10/06/09 6:52pm

Tough Field

Location: What was your childhood like?
Ms. Field: Very Middle America; perfect; ideal; Donna Reed … My mother wore the apron; president of  the PTA; had a baking day, had a shopping day; Ashtabula, Ohio.


You were a Pan Am flight attendant in the late ’70s, when you married. Where did you meet your Read More