By Kim Velsey 8/28/12 5:25pm

Manhattan Transfers

11 Photos

Fort Greene townhouse sells for $3.1 M.

Fort Greene Townhouse Fetches $3.1 M., Narrowly Missing Neighborhood Record

It has been a summer of stunning performances, victories and defeats, and titles won, lost and held. And no, we’re not talking about the Olympics, but the Brooklyn brownstone market.

In Fort Greene, this summer saw two record-high townhouse sales, with 152 Lafayette Avenue, a four-story Greek revival home coming in a close second to the five-story Fort Greene Park-facing 181 Washington Park, which closed this spring for $3.28 million—setting a record for the neighborhood. 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 Matt Chaban 5/18/12 4:38pm

Stratospheric Sales

Are these $90 million views? (Extell)

Billionaires, Act Fast! Turns Out One57 Is 50 Percent Sold Out

If only Gary “The Best” Barnett were editing The Times, the Gray Lady wouldn’t have buried the lede.

“I think the story got a little carried away,” Mr. Barnett told The Observer by phone this afternoon. He was referring to a report in today’s Times that Extell, Mr. Barnett’s development company, had sold the penthouse at his 1,005-foot One57 luxury tower for somewhere in the neighborhood of $90 million to $100 million.

We asked how—and why—the sale had been kept under wraps for a few of months now, even as the price was raised from $98 million to $115 million in the face of the sale of Sandy Weill’s $88 million spread at 15 Central Park West. “We wanted to tie the two together,” he said, “the penthouse announcement and the fact that we’re 50 percent sold. We thought 50 percent would be the big news, but shows what we know.”

As though he doesn’t know exactly what he is doing.

Still, Mr. Barnett has a point: The Times totally ignored (downplayed) the 50-percent-sold news, not mentioning it only once. (See Correction below.) Read More