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.

Dark Days for Boro Real Estate

Park Slope, Brooklyn

In the last four years, Brooklyn suffered a stunning 52.7% drop in the sale of homes. In the last year alone, sales dropeed by 37.5%. The numbers in Queens are just as bad with a 48.4% drop in house sales during the same period. Sales are down 34.8% in just the past 12 months. NYDN

The $220 Million Car Lot in Manhattan

The New Dealership

Mercedes-Benz is in the midst of constructing what must be the most expensive car dealership in United States history. Mercedes-Benz is outsold by Lexus and BMW in most of the United States, but not in Manhattan. Now Mercedes-Benz is building an enormous and luxurious new dealership on Eleventh Ave between 53rd & 54th Streets.

The price tag has been set at $220 million of which about $190 million is expected to be covered by the sale of the real estate of their existing dealership on 41st Street. The new building will be one of the largest Mercedes-Benz dealerships in the country and is set to open in 2011. The problem with the existing showroom is it’s placement at the mouth of the Lincoln Tunnel. It was pretty inside but the traffic was sometimes a mess.

The existing property is expected to sell for $190 million

Jersey City Condo Hits the Market

Crystal Point, a 269-unit, 42-story condominium building on Jersey City’s waterfront has opened their sales office. The sales team seemed happily surprised that they have sold 20 units in the first 3 weeks on the market. I would expect for things to really slow down after that first little burst of interest. Those 20 buyers had 2 years to watch the building go up.

While the building was designed with young singles in mind, it turns out that it's couples & families in their 30s & 40s who are actually making offers.

The building features one-, two- and three-bedroom condos, ranging in size from 800 to 1,817 sq. ft. Homes range in price from $435,000 to $1.85 million for a penthouse. We hear that it is a nice building but I can't understand why they don't put up ANY pictures of it on their web site. What are they hiding?

Photo of the Day: NYC Chimney

Photo taken from NEW YORK CITY DAILY PHOTO

The building is located on 3rd Avenue between 13th and 14th Street.

Heather Mills Burns Through Cash

Heather Mills, the want-to-be Porn Star (not office safe!), spent most of this spring fighting in a bitter divorce settlement with Sir Paul McCartney. In the end, she took his money to buy an 1,808 sq. ft., full floor condo in the West Village for $4.9 million.

It's been reported that she's blown an estimated total of $20 million in just the past 7 months alone, including a pool she's having installed for $2 million at her East Sussex home. Then there's the $1 million staff service, another $1 million of vegan food to people in the South Bronx and all of a sudden it adds up to real money.

The details of the West Village sale have just become public. It gives us a special insite into her business acumen. The four-room unit in the Richard Meier-designed building (173 Perry Street) had been listed for $4.2 million but she seemingly tricked them into taking a different amount ($4.9 million). Ha-ha, the jokes on them!

Here is another unit in the building that just sold for about the same price:

or if you'd rather be her neighbor and pop over to her place and borrow a cup of sugar then just call Susan Green at Brown Harris Stevens. She is currently representing this 2 bedroom on the second floor for $3 million.

Where I Want to Live Today: LES

Hip-hop brunch joints sit peacefully cheek by jowl with slick-floored fishmongers. Million dollar lofts peer down at one-buck-dumpling shops. And a 25-block zone once occupied mainly by Chinese meat markets and the odd yarmulke emporium has become one of the most intriguing neighborhood in Manhattan. NYM

We particularly love this Penthouse Duplex Loft listed with Nest Seekers for $2.8 milion.

Residents of the penthouse have direct access to two semi-private roof decks! Amazing views of the entire city including the Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge and the Financial District!

Victorian Brooklyn

Victorian houses in Flatbush are of particular interest to historians because in many respects, they were part of the first suburb. With the newly built Brooklyn Rapid Transit rail line, the farmland of of Flatbush became a prime location in the early 20th century for commuter living.

NY Times

Bush Vetos Obama Move-in Date

President Elect Barack Obama wanted to move into The Blair House today so that his girls could start school on time at the begining of the session. As we all know; President Bush said "no".

For the past 112 years, The Blair house has been where incoming Presidents stay, usually for the five days before the Inauguration. The Bush Administration said that it had booked other guests for private events. I guess that the current President forgot the date of the Inauguration and it caught him by surprise.

The Bush administration added further insult by refusing to answer any questions relating to the identity of the other guests or about the nature of the pre-booked “private events.”

The Obama's found another place to stay for the next two weeks - more about that in another post.

A look inside The Blair House:

Flipper Looses $1,000,000 at The Plaza

Two new condos at the Plaza Hotel have just been listed for less money than the original purchase price. The first is a 1,212 sq. ft. one bedroom on the 15th floor. In July 2007 it sold for $5.873 million. Today it is back on the market for a mere $4.9 million. That is a loss of almost $1 million per bedroom! Don’t expect the fireplace to work at this bargain basement price. It is for decoration only.

The listing is being handled by Halstead. Here is a closer look:



The second unit being sold at a loss is a 2,841 sq. ft. 3 bedroom on the 17th floor. In this case, the price drop is almost trivial. It’s been listed at $14.5 million, down from $14.674 million in May 2008. The condo is owned by a charitable arm of NY Presbyterian Hospital. It was donated to them last spring.

You can see more details at Warburg. In the meantime, here are a few photos.