1) Boy wizard (man wizard?) Daniel Radcliffe created quite the stir when he scooped up an apartment in Jean Nouvel's 40 Mercer in Soho for $4.3 million, even though his people said he never planned on living there. But now that Harry Potter has bought a 2,450-square-foot 3BR home at 1 Morton Square—home to the Olsen twins, Will Arnett and Amy Poehler and others—will the superfans start sleeping on the sidewalks of the West Village to get a glimpse? Above, a photo gallery from the since-removed $4.9 million Stribling listing. [Big Deal/Josh Barbanel]
2) Heiresses and models usually wind up in hipper locales than 57th Street, but in the case of Lydia Hearst, she's sticking close to the family business. The 23-year-old bought a $1.49 million condo on a high floor at Sheffield57, right next door to Sir Norman Foster's Hearst headquarters/DNA strain. Hopefully she's not a light sleeper. [The Real Estate/Max Abelson]
1) The Blackstone Group managing director who bought the last three remaining apartments in the Trump World Tower near the UN for $34.3 million has gone back to the ATM. Chinh E. Chu wants more, so he is purchasing 1,200-square-feet of roof space for an additional $5 million. Things that are terrifying: private roof decks 70 floors the street. [Big Deal/Josh Barbanel]
2) The rising costs of real estate taxes, insurance, payroll, fuel, water and sewers mean that the old standard of $1 in maintenance fees for every square foot of living space is long gone. Over the past five years, Manhattan co-op maintenance fees are up 30%, and condo fees are up 38%. ['Maintenance Fees: Up, Up, Up'/Teri Karush Rogers]
3) The historic and lovely strip of rowhouses in Bed-Stuy on Agate Court are now being messed with because of a developer's shenanigans in the backyard. Will a landmarking come to the rescue? [Streetscapes/Christopher Gray]
4)Roosevelt Islanders are actually trying to have a say in matters regarding their silly little island. Democracy-loving hippies! [The City/Alex Mindlin]
5) After flirting with East Williamsburg and Bushwick but experiencing disappointment in what $400,000 will get you, a couple of green real estate rookies decide to head to the land of shattered dreams: Jersey City. Said one gentleman of his first trip to JC, "People were actually smiling and saying hi. A lady asked if I was lost and needed help. It seemed so sweet." [The Hunt/Joyce Cohen]
DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN—An amateur graph guru, not to be confused with ourgraph guru, submits the above piece of eye candy and writes: "I got a little bored at work, and started playing with Property Shark (and Excel). Fun site. In looking at the 110 Livingston numbers—I'm figuring its a big and prominent Brooklyn building where the stats would be meaningful—I noticed a pretty significant downward trend in average price-per-square-foot sales. I left out penthouse numbers knowing that one sale there could swing the numbers far in one direction or the other. I also charted average square feet per apartment to see if that had an effect, but the numbers have been pretty stable in the last few months of the decline. The trend is pretty clearly down for the average apartment... going from $825/850 in the summer to $600/650 now. There might be other factors at work, but WOW, is that a big fall." [CurbedWire Inbox]
LONG ISLAND CITY—I'm not completely sure about this but it seems a bunch of units of 44-27 Purves were recently put back in the market with higher than original asking prices. See here. A few units at the Badge Building look to be sold by flippers as well. Flippers out in force in LIC? [CurbedWire Inbox]
UPPER EAST SIDE—The WindowGate scandal at the Lucida is a controversy that refuses to die. Actually, there's no real controversy, but "WindowGate" just sounded catchy. The latest: "Photos of another 'broken window' at the Lucida (or perhaps the same one) reveal that the curtainwall windows themselves are not broken, it's the (probably temporary) protective coating on the windows! When the coating breaks off, you can see the window underneath is actually extremely reflective. I imagine when the rest of the protective panels come off after completion, the building is going to be a giant mirror for the ugly Petco building across the street." Delightful. [CurbedWire Inbox]
UPPER WEST SIDE—Following up on our reader report on closings at Extell's Avery in the developer's wacky Riverside South community comes official word that, indeed, closings are in full swing and folks are moving in. The Avery is 90% sold, we're told. [CurbedWire Inbox]
It looks like the latest wave of PriceChops at the much-derided River Ridge condos on the Lower East Side worked, or at least got the ball rolling. StreetEasy shows that three units recently went into contract, creating a sigh of relief amongst all developers planning on tearing down old chicken slaughterhouses located in the shadows of big bridges to make way for quasi-luxury condos. We had speculated that any new construction in Manhattan can fall only so low before it gets snapped up, and at least now we know that threshold is right around the $1,000-per-square-foot mark. Adjust prices accordingly, svp.
· Curbed PriceChopper: River Ridge Washed Up? [Curbed]
· Peer Deep into the Soul of LES Quasi-Luxury [Curbed]
· River Ridge [Official Site]
1) With the Clay Aikenrumors still flying, the purchaser of the $2.995 million Arris Lofts apartment in Long Island City is revealed to be ... DJ Danny Tenaglia! Meh. That's somewhat less exciting, although we guess parties in the building now have default entertainment. [liQcity]
2) That Tony award for Frost/Nixon must have led to a windfall of cashola, because Frank Langella just traded up at 336 Central Park West. His new co-op cost him $2.1 million. [Big Time Listings]
3) Recent closings at the Upper East Village's A Building include a $1.35 million condo purchased by Heather Marks. The same Heather Marks as Canadian supermodel Heather Marks? Perhaps! That rooftop pool just got a lot more interesting.
4) Think you're a trailblazer for moving into a $3,700-per-month 1BR rental down in the FiDi? Wacky composer Philip Glass lived down by the Fulton Fish Market in the 60s, and he paid $30 a month for his apartment. But all of his friends paid $25, and thought he was a total sell out for paying so much. [Page Six]
The double-wide townhouse at 14-16 East 67th Street is best known as the Bob Guccione Mansion, though Brown Harris Stevens would appreciate it if you referred to it solely as the Milbank Mansion. That's because Guccione lost possession of the house several years back, and when you're trying to sell something for $99 million, it helps if the "Caligula" connections aren't so obvious. But after years of rotating asking prices and on-and-off listings, Braden Keil reports that the massive townhouse has a buyer—hedge-fund manager Philip Falcone, who owns a townhouse on the very same block. No word yet on the price, but it will no doubt smash the current townhouse record of $53 million paid by J. Christopher Flowers (he's in The Killers, right?) for the Harkness Mansion on East 75th Street. Congrats, Phil, and you might want to invest in some chlorine.
· 'Penthouse' Pad [Gimme Shelter/Braden Keil]
· Real Estate Porn Drops the Porn Part [Curbed]
· Listing: East 67th Street Townhouse [Brown Harris Stevens]
The Observer's Max Abelson files two luxury development sales reports today, both regarding somewhat troubled projects: Trump Soho and 995 Fifth Avenue (f/k/a The Stanhope). That GMail advertising campaign must be working wonders, because according to Trump Soho sales director Rodrigo Niño, 53% of the units have sold. And here's something not surprising for a condo-hotel where buyers can only live in their suites for 120 days a year: 70% of the buyers are from outside the U.S., and of the 30% of domestic sales, one-third is New Yorkers. The first buyer to be named is Zlatan Ibrahimović, the Swedish soccer star currently playing with Inter Milan, which should keep him out of the hotel for long enough periods of time.
Meanwhile, after a bad run that saw zero sales, the two model apartments unveiled at 995 Fifth Avenue seem to have boosted interest. Now only five of the 26 $10-million-and-up units remain unsold. Three have already closed, but the bulk of the buys will be revealed next month when the co-op opens. The $47.5 million five-bedroom penthouse is still dangling out there, for those who prize short commutes to the Met and, uh, have $47.5 million.
· G-o-o-o-a-l! Inter Milan Soccer Star First Known Buyer in Trump SoHo [Manhattan Transfers]
· At Old Stanhope, Sales—Finally [Manhattan Transfers]
1)Cameron Diaz is used to picking up Britney Spears' sloppy seconds, so it's no surprise that she's looking in the Silk Building (above the old Tower Records on Fourth Street), a building Brit has some experience with. Word is she's checked out this two-bedroom condo priced at $1.699 million in the former celebrity stronghold. Meanwhile, Page Six reports that the penthouse at the Chelsea Club on West 19th Street that Cam has peeped a few times may get snapped up by Grey's Anatomy starlet Ellen Pompeo. Drama! [Intelligencer/S. Jho Ro; Page Six]
2) Well compensated sportsman Alex Rodriguez has been looking for a trophy property for what feels like an eternity, but he keeps adding bits and pieces to his real estate empire. He already owns in Trump Park Avenue, and now he's added two multimillion-dollar apartments in the Hudson Tea complex. In Hoboken. To be fair, that's where Eli Manning lives, so maybe he just wants to be near a winner? [Gatecrasher/Ben Widdicombe]
3) Although it puts the very title of this weekly column in doubt, we feel compelled to include this because we're huge Judge Dredd fans. The ex-wife of Armand Assante sold her two-bedroom co-op at 118 Riverside Drive for $2.45 million. [Manhattan Transfers/Max Abelson]
4) Those foolish celebrities who dare choose Los Angeles over New York are taking some hits when it comes to home sales. Avril Lavigne, Wilmer Valderrama and Ed McMahon have all had dates with the chopper. [Braden Keil/Gimme Shelter]
1) The Blackstone Group managing director who bought the last three remaining apartments in the Trump World Tower near the UN for $34.3 million has gone back to the ATM. Chinh E. Chu wants more, so he is purchasing 1,200-square-feet of roof space for an additional $5 million. Things that are terrifying: private roof decks 70 floors the street. [
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