By Kim Velsey 5/16 3:12pm

Red Carpet Real Estate

The exact same staircase used in Apple stores.

Sinatra’s Storied Penthouse Snagged By Chinese Scion

Frank Sinatra’s old duplex at 530 East 72nd Street finally got under someone’s skin. And this despite a “meticulous” renovation in recent years that included the installation of the exact same staircase as the one in the Apple stores and some other rather hideous unique design choices.

The New York Post reports that the “glittering grotto in the sky”—as Andy Warhol once referred to the Sinatra-era party pad—is in contract to the daughter of a Chinese technology tycoon. Maybe she found the Apple staircase homey? Read More

By Kim Velsey 10/18/12 6:26pm

Skyscraper Living

Beautiful and sad in her tower high above the city.

Billionaires Rush in: Is One57 Running Out of Apartments?

Talk about money burning a hole in your pocket. Millionaires and billionaires apparently have quite a conflagration in their pants when it comes to One57, that shining spire rising in the sky. The still-being-built building, which has done more than $1 billion in sales, apparently racked up $300 million just this summer, according to The New York Post. Which is basically the equivalent of a penthouse (the priciest is in contract for more than $90 million) and three or four lesser units (say a few $17 million spreads on lower floors). Read More

By Kim Velsey 8/15/12 7:19pm

Stratospheric Sales

cityspire

Does Anyone Really Think That the CitySpire Penthouse Can Fetch $100 M.?

There are ambitious asks and there are downright ridiculous ones. Long Island real estate developer Steve Klar’s $100 million reach for the CitySpire penthouse not only falls solidly in the latter category, it’s almost archetypal. So much so that not even Prudential Douglas Elliman chairman Howard Lorber—whose brokerage has the listing—seems like he has much of an inclination to justify it. Read More

By Matt Chaban 7/13/12 6:46pm

Stratospheric Sales

Play it again, Jack. (StreetEasy)

A Record Deal! David Geffen Reportedly Buying Fifth Avenue Penthouse for $54 M., Most Ever for Co-op

Here’s one for the record books—or rather, a couple of them, given the people involved.

According to Page Six, David Geffen has just purchased Denise Rich‘s sprawling 12,000-square-foot penthouse at 785 Fifth Avenue for $54 million. That would, by $1.5 million, beat out Courtney Sale Ross’ long-suffering duplex at 740 Park for the new record for a co-op sale in the city were it to be true, a record that was set only two months ago. Read More

By Kim Velsey 6/13/12 3:22pm

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

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Did Steve Wynn Buy His $70 M. Ritz-Carlton Duplex for a Hometown Advantage in Casino Competition?

It appears that casino kingpin Steve Wynn did indeed buy   Christopher Jeffries’ dazzling duplex at 50 Central Park South with more in mind than great closet space and Central Park Views.

It looks like he may be angling for a little resident respect when he vies for one of the state’s new casino licenses. And we thought he was still smarting over the loss of his old place at the Plaza! Read More

By Matt Chaban 3/30/12 1:31pm

Manhattan Transfers

Living large. (City Realty)

The Latest Rushmore Celeb? Mati Bracha Buys $5 M. Penthouse

In February of last year, Ilan Bracha, the developer and star broker now heading up Keller Williams NY told The Observer, “We’ll be No. 1 in five years,” He was referring to his firm, but the Bracha family has now taken the top spot elsewhere—at Gary Barnett’s hugely successful Rushmore condominiums at the Riverside South development.

Mati Bracha, Ilan’s wife, just paid $5.28 million for penthouse 3A, according to city records. It was not immediately clear if Mr. Bracha would be moving in. Read More

By Matt Chaban 3/21/12 10:00pm

Manhattan Transfers

8 Photos

Tribeca's Jeckyll and Hyde

Tribeca Whopper: First Unit, $6.45 M. Penthouse Combo, Closes at 77 Reade Street

77 Reade Street could be called the Jekel and Hyde of Tribeca. One half of the new condo development is an 1852 cast-iron and brick loft building, of the vintage that have been converted into sprawling homes for decades now. The other side is all sleek limestone and hard edges, a nod to the past that is very much rooted in the present, the work of well-regarded New York firm BKSK.

The development came on the market last June, and its first unit has just closed, a combination of two penthouses for $6.54 million. The two duplex units, one of them a two-bedroom, the other a three, straddle both the original building and its centuries-younger sibling, giving this new home a split personality. Read More

By Elise Knutsen 2/22/12 10:28am

Manhattan Transfers

Toby Gad

Hitmaker Toby Gad Rocks Out of UWS Penthouse

The stars he works with live in multimillion dollar homes all over the world, yet songwriter Tobias “Toby” Gad doesn’t have it too bad himself. Mr. Gad, who has written such timeless classics as Beyonce’s “If I Were A Boy” and Fergie’s “Big Girls Don’t Cry” has just sold his New York digs for $1.9 million, city records show. Read More

By Elise Knutsen 1/20/12 5:28pm

Manhattan Transfers

HL23

Pierre Lagrange, Out and About in Chelsea

While he may be headed for one of Britain’s largest divorce settlements, moneyman Pierre Lagrange seems to be doing just fine on this side of the pond. The former Goldman Sachs trader has just purchased the penthouse at new Chelsea hotspot HL23.

Mr. Lagrange, who paid $11.29 million for the pad, made headlines last fall when, after separating from his wife, he came out. He has since been linked to fashion designer Roubi L’Roubi. Read More

By Elise Knutsen 1/20/12 3:27pm

Manhattan Transfers

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That's a whole lot of terrace.

The Frick’s Sick $6 M. Penthouse

In terms of real estate, the Frick Collection occupies one of New York’s most enviable residences. The museum, housed in Henry Clay Frick’s former mansion at 1 East 70th Street, represents a largely bygone era when New York’s industry titans lived like kings in lordly city estates. Unbeknownst to most, however, the Frick Collection was, until very recently, in possession of another abode: a Park Avenue penthouse.

While the apartment cannot be compared to the Frick’s primary homestead, it is a substantial home nonetheless. The two-bedroom, two-bath penthouse sits atop 1112 Park Avenue, a pre-war co-op at the corner of 90th Street—making it just two blocks from The Guggenheim, it so happens. Read More