But is it not Harry Macklowe?
As I’ve just said to you, I’m really not going to comment on who our buyers are.
Have there been any other $50 million ones?
We’ve had two sales in excess of $50 million. We’ve had three individual buyers buy apartments for between $40 and $50 million; one between $30 and $40 million; and four between $20 and $30 million.
What’s been the least expensive buy so far?
When we began our sales, we sold a big brush of apartments, one-bedrooms for $1.5, $1.6 million. Interestingly enough, we are selling our condo-hotel condominiums in the newly created Hotel Plaza. And there the point of entry is in the $1.6, $1.7 million level.
Stribling is also marketing the new condos in One Hanson Place in Williamsburg and at One Brooklyn Bridge Park. Who is the typical buyer of luxury housing in Brooklyn right now?
I would say that, as you know, Brooklyn is a hot borough; and I think that the typical buyer is a young person who wants perhaps a little more sizzle in their steak for their purchase price. I think that Brooklyn is a fun community. It’s not, of course, as expensive as Tribeca, but it gives you the ambiance of downtown—whether it’s Greenwich Village as compared to Brooklyn Heights, whether it’s perhaps a more trendy Lower Manhattan as perhaps you might find in the Williamsburg section and so on.
So, you have a variety of neighborhoods in Brooklyn that are both family-oriented and singles-oriented and artistic-oriented.
Are there a lot of Manhattan buyers?
Yes, definitely. And I think who’s coming to One Hanson and to One Brooklyn Bridge Park, especially, are very up-and-coming young professionals.
You actually bought two penthouse condos in One Brooklyn Bridge, correct?
Correct.
And did you ever think you’d leave your fashionable townhouse on the Upper East Side for Brooklyn?
Well, I’m a longtime fan of Brooklyn. I’ve been going out to Brooklyn Academy of Music for 20 years. I’m a cook, so I’ve gone out to many of the different neighborhoods of Brooklyn searching for ingredients. I’ve always loved Brooklyn Heights. What got me to this building, One Brooklyn Bridge Park, was, I thought, when I left my townhouse to buy a condominium, I wanted to be high in the sky and I wanted to have fabulous views. And Manhattan will be at my feet.
Have you bought in the Plaza?
Well, the Plaza is for many, many extremely affluent buyers, and I am but a real estate broker. And I’m moving to Brooklyn.
Do you know the sales price per square foot in the Plaza right now?
We have reached almost $6,400. That’s the highest.
You’re kidding me.
No, I’m not kidding. I never kid.
