Those Upper West Side condo plans sure are dropping like flies, aren't they? OK, maybe not, but following Extell's abandonment of condo conversion plans at the 86-unit rental building at 10 West 65th Street comes word of another UWS building sale involving a local real estate heavyweight run by a kooky character. Kent Swig had planned on dropping a pair of condo additions on top of 201 West 92nd Street and 200 West 93rd Street (right), adjoining rental properties that Swig Equities had picked up for a combined $54 million. That was before the controversy, and before Swig decided to put the whole thing on the market. Now, The Real Deal reports that the 134-unit rental complex has finally sold, for $61 million (previous asking prices were $90 million and then $72 million). The buyer, 92nd Street Equities, reportedly plans to continue operating the buildings as rental properties, though there are those 125,000 square feet of very tempting air rights...
· Swig sells UWS rental buildings [TRD]
· Take a Swig of the UWS [Curbed]

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Because all those numbers made us dizzy, we need something to cleanse the palate. Like, say, reader-submitted photos of a wild turkey navigating the Ramble in Central Park yesterday. Ha ha, look at that bird!

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LONG ISLAND CITY—A shade under two mil in LIC? It happened, writes a tipster: "Everybody makes such a big deal about the Arris. A few weeks ago, an apartment (OK the penthouse) in former Development Du Jour The Badge Building (right) quietly closed for $1,925,000. It closed, it's on record. Just sayin." Indeed. Mercy. [CurbedWire Inbox]

UPPER WEST SIDE—Extell's Riverside South development just keeps on growing! Already home to the Avery and the Rushmore, Riverside South will soon be graced with two new towers on West 62nd Street and West 63rd Street. The announcement came in a press release regarding Extell's securing of a $613 million construction loan for the project, the largest construction loan in the U.S. this year (what credit crunch?). There will be a 38-story condo/rental tower, and a 23-story rental building. Completion is expected in 2010. It had been previously reported that the condo one would be called The Aldyn. [CurbedWire Inbox]

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Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

There are currently two 10-room apartments in the legendary Dakota building up for sale, which has the Times' Josh Barbanel wondering: shouldn't all the richies going nuts over 15 Central Park West be lining up to buy in the real thing? If 15 CPW is an imitation of buildings like the Dakota, and 15 CPW is currently the ultimate trophy home, then what is the Dakota? It's art, says Brown Harris Stevens' John Burger, and whether or not you agree with him, the pair of on-the-market co-ops at 1 West 72nd Street are certainly priced like masterpieces. Burger's listing is the pricier of the two, at $24 million. The sixth-floor apartment has four bedrooms, four wood-burning fireplaces, a 16-foot-long gallery and a huge corner living room. In the same line but two floors lower is a similar apartment priced at $18.5 million. The reason we spotlighted the latter in the gallery above is because it definitely has the pricier apartment beat in terms of "Dakotaness," meaning what we would expect from a sprawling home in the iconic 1880s building where Rosemary's Baby was filmed. Try that pedigree on for size, 15 CPW!
· Listing: 1 West 72nd Street [Warburg]
· Listing: 1 West 72nd Street [BHS]
· New Is Nifty, Old Is Gold [NYT]

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1) If actor Ralph Fiennes is going to buy a pied-a-terre in Manhattan, it has to be something classy sounding. And something about the Gansevoort, the condo loft building dangerously close to MePa at 321 West 13th Street, just sounds very dignified and British, doesn't it? He paid $2 million for a 1,220sqft apartment currently configured as a 1BR (with a big curtain, right), getting a 4.8% discount of the listing price. We're not really into the bathroom placement, but he was in Strange Days so all is forgiven. [The Real Deal]

2) The Hasselbecks, and by that we of course mean The View co-host Elisabeth and NFL journeyman Tim, bought a four-bedroom apartment in the Ariel West on the UWS for over $3 million, but what became of their smaller, older place on West 79th Street? They made a quick buck off of it, selling for $1.6 million after purchasing it for under $1 million in 2005. [Gimme Shelter]

3) He doesn't think twice about making important decisions, so when author Malcolm Gladwell laid his eyes on a fourth-floor apartment in an old townhouse at 23 Bank Street, he jumped on it, even though he already has a third-floor apartment in an old townhouse on nearby Bethune Street. His latest acquisition cost him $1.5 million. [The Real Estate]

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Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

When we read in amNY that a 10-foot Lego version of Trump Dubai was to be unveiled in Columbus Circle today, we knew we had to dispatch roving shutterbug Will Femia to the scene. Donald Trump! Dubai! Ridiculous spectacles! Three of our greatest passions! Unfortunately, Will had just missed the unveiling event, but he got plenty of shots of the plastic masterpiece. Trump Dubai, or the Trump International Hotel & Tower Dubai, is a partnership with Dubai megadeveloper Nakheel, and the 62-story building will be built on the "trunk" of Nakheel's palm-shaped set of islands just off the coast. The model will be on display until Tuesday, and if you wanted to cheat in the corresponding "guess how many Lego pieces" contest, check out the photo Will shot where the weight of the sculpture is revealed, and then pop into a deli and weigh one Lego piece on their scale. Or don't, because cheaters never win.
· NYC artist builds Lego model of Trump Dubai tower [amNY]
· Trump Dubai [Official Site]

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1) The leading concrete testing company in the New York area, Testwell Laboratories, is under investigation for failing to perform some tests and falsifying others on some major construction projects, including the Freedom Tower and the new Yankee Stadium. The Yankees and the Port Authority both say the concrete used for their projects is sound and poses no safety threat, but yikes! Investigators took 200 boxes of documents and computers from a pair of Testwell offices, as well as from a trailer at Yankee Stadium. ['Company Hired to Test Concrete Faces Scrutiny']

2) The condo conversion of the Apthorp is a go, and when the 163 apartments in the Astor-built complex at Broadway and West 79th Street (right) hit the market, they will average about $3,000/sqft, more than the initial offering at 15 Central Park West. The average apartment price will be about $6.5 million, and current Apthorp tenants are not getting any insider deals, though they do have an early crack at any apartment in the building they want. Sales open to the general public in the fall. It's Manhattan's second-most-expensive condo conversion, behind Manhattan House. [Big Deal/Condos at Pedigree Prices]

3) Rumors of Hoboken's demise have been greatly exaggerated: "Average sales prices are still increasing for downtown condominiums in Hoboken, although most asking prices are open to negotiation these days, as several developers acknowledged in interviews. Developers say that their new buildings are still selling out, if somewhat slower than in the past." Take that, supposed down market! ['Hoboken Weathers the Market']

4) If you want to know how the rest of the country lives, look to Staten Island, where income and homeownership figures are similar to those icky other places. And in Staten Island, foreclosures are a "grimly familiar tale." ['Fighting Foreclosure on Staten Island']

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1) A second penthouse at 15 Central Park West has hit the market, joining Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald's duplex on the 18th and 19th floors of the "House" building (which officially doesn't have a listing price but is said to commanding at least $90 million). A penthouse on the 40th floor of the "Tower," a 5,270-square-foot four bedroom apartment that also includes a ground-level 1,100-square-foot space for the help, is now asking $80 million, after closing in April for "just" $21.9 million. The owner is London-based investor Amit Ben-Haim, who made his money from selling off a medical device company he founded. According to brokers, the apartments are "already attracting interest from a stream of billionaires and their representatives," so call these penthouses the anti-Pierre. [Big Deal/Josh Barbanel]

2) Mount Sinai Medical Center's 31-story black Annenberg Building at 99th Street off Fifth Avenue is often said to be a blight, but would the East Harlem locals rather have that than an even taller condo building that could come about as a result of Mount Sinai selling off the development rights to fund a new 11-story SOM-designed medical building nearby? Critics are worried that the Durst Organization's 564-foot-tall proposed tower would leave part of Central Park in the shadows. And there's also the sensitive affordable housing topic. The city has yet to approve the deal. [The City/Gregory Beyer]

3) The rent-stabilized tenants of 220 Central Park—the 30 or so left in the building—are still fighting the demolition of their 20-story building, and they won a recent court battle which at least buys them some time. The Clarett Group and Vornado are trying to get everyone out so they can build a 41-story glass condo on the site, and the other tenants have all moved or been bought out. The holdouts, which include Corcoran's Leighton Candler, reportedly turned down an offer of $1 million per apartment to vacate. [Big Deal/Josh Barbanel]

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