Familiar interiors for the A.M. Stern fans.

It appears we underestimated the appeal of a key to Gramercy Park. Although we expect there's probably more than access to a gated garden that's driving sales at 18 Gramercy Park, the new condo conversion from the Zeckendorf/Robert A.M. Stern team. The 16-unit building had six units, all of them listed for more than $14.5 million, go into contract last week, according to Olshan Realty's Luxury Market report (although the units most likely went into contract sometime over the past month).

The most expensive unit, a duplex penthouse listed for $42 million, went into contract earlier this month, reportedly for the full $42 million ask to Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander. And while $42 million might look like a steal compared to the prices paid at 15 Central Park West, the Zeckendorf's other collaboration with A.M. Stern, it's an impressive get. A downtown record, in fact.

It's not Central Park, but you do get your very own key.

So what of these other units? Well, they're all floor throughs, but that's no surprise given that the building has 14 of them, plus the penthouse and a maisonette. A look at streeteasy reveals seven units in contract, including the 14th floor and 12th floors (listed for $17.7 million and $17.4 million respectively), a $16.5 million four-bedroom on the ninth floor, a $15.4 million four-bedroom on the second, a fifth-floor residence listed for $15 million and a fourth-floor spread asking $14.8 million. As many units were listed for the first time as already in contract at the end of last week, we're guessing that 18 Gramercy Park has been selling these beauties since early they first came on the market on September 4. Or maybe they really did just have the best week in all history.

So is there anything left for those with key lust and more than $10 million to burn? A floor-through on the 15th is asking $18.75 million, although that's $900,000 more than it was asking a week ago. Apparently cheered by the successful sales of the other units, the Zeckendorfs upped the ask from $17.8 million. The sixth and third floor units are also still available, and a few units—the 15th, the maisonette have yet to make their appearance on the market (although that doesn't mean that they're not there). Not all the units show up on streeteasy; we hear that the developers are not holding any units back. (The maisonette, the least expensive unit at $9.25 million, has yet to be snapped up, to our knowledge at least).

The units, or more precisely, the only unit that's shown in the renderings, looks lovely. We guess they would have to be to bring so many eager buyers. And while a conversion doesn't always stir the same excitement as new construction, at least the Parkside Evangeline, the former hotel that occupied the building for years, has a nice ring to it. Better sounding, at least, than the former St. Vincent's Hospital (although that hasn't seemed to slow sales either).

kvelsey@observer.com

The chairman of the Capo Group lives in one of his own luxury condos in Miami Beach, just 48 miles east of one the biggest and most controversial projects in his portfolio, the $850 million Bimini Bay Resort and Casino in the Bahamas. On second thought, maybe he was trying to put a little distance between himself and the Capo Group's adversaries living on the 9.5 million-square-mile island.

Encompassing one-tenth of Bimini, the massive complex houses a 250 room-Conrad Hotel, almost 500 condos, an 18-hole golf course, a 550-slip marina, a 10,000-square-foot casino, and a Starbucks on an area that was once occupied by marshes and sand.

Environmentalists claim that the development is an "ongoing ecological disaster,” which will destroy the wetlands, fish nursery, and mangrove estuary on Bimini. Mr. Capo has promised it will create jobs for the 1,700 inhabitants of the island.

But apparently two trophy apartments is no longer enough. A company called the Alko Group paid a little over $22 million for one of the six penthouses in the building, in its third condo purchase there in less than six months, city records show.

The Alko Group started small, buying a 1,034-square-foot, sixth-floor condo in November for $1.925 and a $600,000 suite in March. Today, the deed for the jewel in Alko's 15 CPW portfolio appeared on city records. A man named Andrey M. Kaydin took out a $12 million mortgage on all three properties on April 29.

Plus the Kalsis bought an $860,000 "suite" downstairs.

In December, Morgan Stanley posted its first quarterly loss in the firm's 72-year history and wrote down $9.4 billion in assets linked to subprime mortgage-backed securities. Morgan CEO John J. Mack must have borne the brunt of the blame--he only took home $800,000 in 2007 compared to $40 million the previous year.

Mr. Kalsi's bonus package must have been a bit weightier.

There are no other Morgan Stanley folks living in 15 CPW that we know of, though William Kourakos, who defected from the firm in the 1990's, lives on the 11th floor.

Mr. Betesh has paid $5.6 million for a 28th-floor condo at 15 Central Park West, city records show. He probably won't run into to too many people wearing his clothing at the building, but you never know since Dr. Jay's opened a midtown branch in 1997.

It seems he's finally gotten a buddy. Deutsche's Head of Trading for Emerging Market Debt, Kay Haigh, paid $5.3 million for a 24th-floor unit, city records show. The Deutsche duo is not enough to rival Goldman's seven-man stronghold, but it's a start.

The first and only woman to gain entry into the 15-member boys club that is the Lehman Brothers’ executive board has now penetrated one of the city’s most exclusive buildings. Erin M. Callan, the recently appointed Lehman CFO, paid $6.5 million for a 31^st-floor condo at 15 Central Park West, city records show.

She will have plenty of colleagues in the building. The co-chief of Lehman Real Estate Partners Raymond Mikulich bought a $17.9 million apartment on the 15^th floor; Arthur Estey and his wife Evelyne have a $16.9 million four-bedroom unit on the seventh floor (one of the largest non-penthouse units at 15 CPW); and the head of European fixed-income sales at the UK office, David Bizer, has a $5 million apartment on the 4^th floor.

Though Ms. Callan brings the total number Lehman folks at 15 CPW to four, they are still lagging behind Goldman Sachs with at least 7 bankers who’ve bought in the buildings. A few more from each bank and they might have enough people to form rival softball teams—co-ed of course.

Kyle Blackmon paid $2.6 million for a 25th-floor condo, city records show. A 6% commission on a $42.4 million deal works out to just over $2.5 million, which means Mr. Blackmon might have paid for this condo with his work for the Weills.

The president of New England department store chain Kids Town, Joseph Sutton, has purchased a $2.6 million pad on the 14th floor at 15 Central Park West, city records show, backed by a $1.8 million mortgage.

The Observer's Max Abelson reported that the Blankfeins closed on a 16th-floor duplex condo in the building back in January when the extent of the subprime mortgage crisis' impact on Wall Street was finally becoming clear. The couple signed the contract for the yet-to-be built apartment two days before Mr. Blankfein was promoted to CEO at Goldman in May 2006, at the height of the Manhattan real estate market.

Since then, the national market has tanked and New York's is stagnant. But while other Wall Street banking firms are writing down their balance sheets as quickly as they once did year-end bonus checks, Goldman Sachs, with Mr. Blankfein at the helm, has remained largely unscathed.

Mr. Blankfein took home $68.5 million in total compensation for last year— a record for an investment bank chief executive--as his counterparts at the rest of the banks with heavy mortgage-related losses resigned in ignominy, often without so golden a parachute. Goldman Sachs posted $3.2 billion in profit in its fourth quarter alone, far surpassing its peers, prompting the board to award $26.8 million in cash and $41 million in stock and options to Mr. Blankfein last year, a 27.2 percent jump from the record bonus of $53.4 million he received in 2006.

Not that we feel particular sympathy with the banks that betted big on the subprime mortgage market, but one would think the economic downturn might prompt token gestures of austerity within the financial industries. The staff apartment Laura Blankfein has purchased costs over $100,000 more than her husband's base salary at Goldman.