LIC Sale Smashes Price Record

Long Island City seems to have broken through the $3 million price ceiling for 2 separate penthouse condos in The View.

The final sales numbers are not in yet, but here is how they were listed.

Penthouse 5:
2,260 sq. ft. plus a 210 sq. ft. terrace
$3.25 million

Penthouse A
2,107 sq. ft. plus a 1,147 sq. ft. terrace
$3.1 million

The previous price record for Long Island City had been $1.84 million for a 3 bedroom at the Arris Lofts in 2006.

The Plaza's Palm Court Shuts Down

The Plaza Hotel just can't catch a break. As part of a $400 million renovation, they decided to reinvent the famed Palm Court only to shut it down this week.

The chairs were too big, the menus were comically large and the over priced food was fair at best. No one who eats out should be surprised to hear that Elad Properties finally put the restaurant out of it's misery. We first saw it coming when you could get an 8pm resy at 7:59pm. The next hint came when they stopped serving dinner in August.

A spokesman says Elad that the closure is only temporary. Crains

This breakfast was $38. It's shocking that they lasted as long as they did.

McMahon's Dog Attacks Eviction Server

Ed & his wife (pictured) used an attack poodle to fend off a legal process server when he came knocking on their door. It is believed the he was there to serve a formal notice of eviction.

Countrywide almost foreclosed on the couple back in the summer but then Donald Trump swooped down from the sky and helped them to hang on for a few more months. It seems that Donald has gotten all of the press that he can out of this story so he’s stopped paying their mortgage.

The McMahon’s blame their troubles on their neighbor Britney Spears. They say that no one wants to buy their house because she lives next door….hmmmm, I don’t think I believe them.

TMZ

Real Estate Mogul Commits Suicide

The dead body of real estate mogal Steven L. Good was found in his Jaguar on Monday. The car was spotted in a parking lot of a wildlife preserve in Kane County, Illinois, just outside Chicago. Good once served as the president of the Chicago Association of Realtors.

Steven Good had "been involved in the sale of more than $4 billion of real estate, including commercial, office, retail, industrial, residential, and vacant land sites.

Good wrote a book, "Churches, Jails and Gold Mines: Mega-Deals From a Real Estate Maverick” with an afterword written by Donald Trump. The first chapter begins, "Our auction company is to the real estate business what Sotheby's and Christie's is the fine art and collectibles business."

WSJ

Matsui Buys in Trump Building - Again

Hideki Matsui has paid $10.5 million for a 3 bedroom, 2,675 sq. ft. penthouse in the Heritage at Trump Place on Riverside Boulevard.

The previous owners pocketed a cool $6.2 million profit after owning the place for just two and a half years. The Broadway power-house couple of Deborah & Rocco Landesman paid $4.3 million for the same unit in 2006. Godzilla forked over another $25K for a storage unit in the building. Look for Matsui to sell his current apartment soon. It is a 52nd-floor apartment at Trump World Tower which he bought for $3,157,900 in 2005.

Pictures of his condo are unavailable because the apartment was never officially listed anywhere.
If you are a big Yankees fan, then here is your chance to share an elevator ride, or two, with the future Hall-of-Fame slugger. A one bedroom unit is available for just under $1.4 million in the same building. Here are a few pictures of THAT apartment. If you buy it, please change the shower curtain.


See the full listing: Trump Sales

Rooms: Where the Porterhouse Ages

FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES:

The New York porterhouse has always found its truest home and fullest flower of expression in the enormous — and enormously crowded — meat box at Peter Luger Steak House, (178 Broadway, Williamsburg) where porterhouses have been dry-aged to perfection for more than 100 years.

A 2,000-square-foot industrial walk-in cooler, the meat box is larger than many city domiciles, and is equally congested, packed from floor to ceiling at any given time with 30,000 pounds of raw, aging meat.

Continue reading and get a panoramic look at the room: NYT

The Dinning Room Hasn't Changed Much Since 1887

Love Saved the Day

After 40-some years (and over 20 at its location on Second Avenue and 7th Street), Love Saves the Day will close on January 15th. The East Village will never be the same. We loved you and now we will miss you, too.

Katie Holmes on Apartment Buying Spree

Katie Holmes is singlehandedly propping up New York City’s economy, according to Page Six. Despite a dismal real estate market and poor retail sales, Katie’s been shopping her heart out. In fact from the way it’s described, it sounds like she doesn’t have any other hobbies. Except, perhaps, running from body thetans.

"As well as regularly frequenting the city’s best restaurants, Holmes is often photographed with her daughter Suri carrying purchases from some of New York’s most expensive shops. " Page Six estimates that, mainly due to her real estate purchases, she has spent more than $14 million since being in the city. “While ordinary city dwellers are cutting back, Mrs Cruise has been valiantly doing her bit to boost our economy,” according to the NYP. “We tally up a conservative estimate of her 24-week NYC spending spree, and crown her Manhattan’s Most Valued Shopper.” Holmes has reportedly spent a reported $13,987 on child care and taking Suri out over the last six months. The NYP goes on to speculate that she and Cruise have bought three new apartments in the building where he has owned his home since 1985.

Holmes, 30, and Cruise, 46, have been spending freely at restaurants such as Balthazar & Nobu and more than $17,000 on clothes for Holmes and Suri from shops like Hermes and Bonpoint.