Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Sex and the City townhouse details
We already knew that the Sex and the City house had sold, but we did not know for how much or to whom. One of those questions can be definitely answered now, the other may remain a mystery, at least until we work up the gumption to ring the doorbell.
The home at 64 Perry Street, listed for $9.65 million in early March with Sotheby’s brokers Joshua Wesoky and Steve Dawson, has sold for $9.85 million, according to city records.
Both the owners and the sellers have gone to great lengths to keep their identities hush-hush. The property is passing from 64 Perry LLC to MMKK Perry Street Realty LLC. We doubt that the new owner could be as famous as the building’s stoop, which played one of Carrie’s favorite spots for smoking and musing during the first three seasons of Sex and the City, but you never know.
The historic 5-bedroom home has been much in demand of late. After selling for $9 million—6 percent more than the list price—after only a few days on the market in Nov. 2011, the West Village townhouse was re-listed for $650,000 more this March, which it apparently had no problem fetching, and then some.
The house will offer its new owner ornate crown and ceiling moldings, herringbone wood floors and the six fireplaces with carved marble mantels. Besides Sex and the City, it’s also acted in Woody Allen’s Alice and has been home to fashion guru Tim Gunn, who lived in an upstairs apartment for 16 years, documentary filmmaker Wheaton Galentine and Harold Eliot Leeds, who designed the Paris Theater, the Caribe Hilton in San Juan and Martha Graham’s dance studio.
The home at 64 Perry Street, listed for $9.65 million in early March with Sotheby’s brokers Joshua Wesoky and Steve Dawson, has sold for $9.85 million, according to city records.
Both the owners and the sellers have gone to great lengths to keep their identities hush-hush. The property is passing from 64 Perry LLC to MMKK Perry Street Realty LLC. We doubt that the new owner could be as famous as the building’s stoop, which played one of Carrie’s favorite spots for smoking and musing during the first three seasons of Sex and the City, but you never know.
The historic 5-bedroom home has been much in demand of late. After selling for $9 million—6 percent more than the list price—after only a few days on the market in Nov. 2011, the West Village townhouse was re-listed for $650,000 more this March, which it apparently had no problem fetching, and then some.
The house will offer its new owner ornate crown and ceiling moldings, herringbone wood floors and the six fireplaces with carved marble mantels. Besides Sex and the City, it’s also acted in Woody Allen’s Alice and has been home to fashion guru Tim Gunn, who lived in an upstairs apartment for 16 years, documentary filmmaker Wheaton Galentine and Harold Eliot Leeds, who designed the Paris Theater, the Caribe Hilton in San Juan and Martha Graham’s dance studio.
Three Manhattan residential properties hit market for more than $20M each
Former home of Gloria Vanderbilt is available, while a hedge funder is selling a rare Beresford penthouse and 50-year owners of an UES townhouse finally list their home
April 24, 2012 02:00PMBy Katherine Clarke
From left: 39 East 72nd Street, the Beresford building at 211 Central Park West and 36 East 68th Street
Massey Knakal Realty Services' Guthrie Gavin and Gloria Vanderbilt
While the listing has been reconfigured into a multi-family set up, it still has the original details of the Vanderbilt mansion. The fireplace on the parlor floor still boasts a prominent “V,” according to the listing. The property currently houses four free-market tenants and has one vacant unit, according to Massey Knakal. The entire property could be vacant within 10 months of closing.
The 13,310-square-foot building could be transformed back into a single-family property said listing agent Gurthrie Garvin. It was at one time home to Vanderbilt’s mother, Gloria Vanderbilt Senior, and the artist lived there as a small child.
The building has been owned by Mangold Realty Partnership since 1995, according to public records. Owner Mark Mangold was not immediately available for comment.
Hedge funder lists Beresford penthouse for $22M
Brown Harris Stevens' John Burger and the interior of the Beresford penthouse
Beck and wife Cynthia bought the unit at the Emery Roth building at 211 Central Park West from Indian publishing magnate Nari Hira, who owns magazines such as Showtime, Savvy and Health. They’ve now listed the apartment with John Burger, a senior vice president at Brown Harris Stevens. They closed on the unit for $9 million less than the asking price of $28 million. Had it commanded the full $28 million, it would have been the most expensive apartment ever to sell in the building, according to an article in the New York Sun.
The nine-room penthouse has two terraces including a total of 90 feet fronting Central Park. The 26-foot living room has a wood-burning fireplace and features floor-to-ceiling windows and direct park views.
The 23-story Beresford building has long been home to celebrities, including Manhattan chef Marc Murphy and his wife, Pamela Schein Murphy, who paid $16.5 million for the co-op on the 15th floor of the 81st Street building last year. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld, tennis ace John McEnroe and film director Sidney Lumet have all lived in the building.
There are currently four active sales listings in the building, including a 14-room duplex combination of three apartments on the 16th and 17th floors, asking $29.75 million. The unit is owned by film executive Bob Weinstein and has been on the market for almost three years.
Beck was not immediately available for comment and Burger declined to comment.
$21M UES townhouse listed by 50-year owners
The interior of the 66th Street home
Situated among neighboring mansions designed by renowned architects Carrere & Hastings, Delano & Aldrich, John Duncan, the 22-foot-wide Neo-Grecian style house was designed and built in 1886 by Richard Buckley, a prolific 19th century architect and builder, according to the listing. It has six stories as well as a forecourt, rear courtyard, two terraces plus a rooftop with city views.
The building is listed with Fred Williams, senior vice president of Sotheby’s International Realty. Williams declined to comment on the listing.
Iager, who personally lived in one of the units in the building for 30 years, said the property had been “gently used” and is in immaculate condition.
“It’s been in the family for 50 years,” she said, “and it’s time to move on.”
Iager said she and her husband, both retired, will likely move to a condominium unit in the city once the sale is completed, “to live a more retiring life.”
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Make your apartment a "star"!!
As someone who has been approached by television shows and movie productions in the past, asking to use a particular apartment or development for a shoot - it isn't always as easy as it seems. One concern is annoying other residents in the building while crews set up lighting, have cables running everywhere, and are filming in the elevator while someone else is just trying to get to the office on time! I guess the people in this article are some of the lucky ones!
The Appraisal
Homes With Star Quality Are Now Hiring an Agent
Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times
An upstairs room in the brownstone owned by Merele Williams-Adkins and Terry Adkins, which has been rented out in the past year as a location for film and print advertising shoots.
By ELIZABETH A. HARRIS
Published: April 16, 2012
To step inside Merele Williams-Adkins’s deliciously restored Clinton Hill brownstone is to enter a world of 15-foot ceilings, white marble mantels and fabulous art. You feel as though you have sauntered into pages of an elegant furniture catalog, or onto the set of a quirky independent film. And in a sense, you have.
Dave Sanders for The New York Times
Andrea Raisfeld, a location agent, scouts an apartment on Carroll Street. "My specialty is really residential," she said.
Design Within Reach
Ms. Williams-Adkins's home as it was presented in a recent Design Within Reach catalog.
Ms. Williams-Adkins and her husband, Terry Adkins, have rented out their home several times in the past year as a location for film and print advertising shoots. Their brownstone can be seen in the movie “Friends With Kids,” the forthcoming “Bachelorette,” a Design Within Reach catalog and in another for West Elm, which has not yet been released.
And like all serious talent, the home is represented by an agent.
“My specialty is really residential,” said the agent, Andrea Raisfeld, the founder of Andrea Raisfeld Locations. “A talent agent has his or her stable of actors and actresses. My cast is houses and places.”
If a script calls for a desolate stretch of road where a villain can dump a gun, or a street corner that can be gussied up to look like it is 1955, a location scout can go out and find the perfect spot. But where their job gets tricky, scouts and agents say, is getting inside of people’s homes. (Excuse me, we’ve never met, but may I come in to photograph your bedroom and all of your belongings?) And that is where location agents come in.
“If you go knock on doors, it could take all day to get into one place,” said Mitchell Brozinsky, a location scout and manager. “So sometimes a scout will call an agent, which narrows their search and makes it easier to get through the front door. If someone has screened you, the house people like you better.
“Truthfully, nobody likes to cold-scout houses.”
While these agents tend to have a bit of everything in their inventory a nice barn here, a classroom over there — their Web sites are filled mostly with houses and lofts, apartments and brownstones, all of them owned by people willing to let strangers stomp through the hallways and move around the furniture. In exchange, the owners receive a fee, which can range from $1,000 to $20,000 per day, depending on the project. The agent’s share varies, but a common arrangement is 25 percent of the homeowner’s fee. Most of the business comes directly from a shoot’s production team, and they are paid only when a deal is done.
“I do it mostly because it’s free money, and because I have two kids who go to Saint Ann’s School,” said Ms. Williams-Adkins, referring to the costly private school in Brooklyn Heights. Her husband, she said, is a fine arts professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and she is a real estate broker at the Corcoran Group.
“Selling houses, you never know what’s going to happen,” she said. “So you’ve got to think outside of the box.”
Outside of that box, their brownstone appears to be a hit. It has garnered four shoots in just about a year and is under consideration for another job right now.
Scouts and agents say this kind of repeat hosting is frequent, especially for print work, which tends to supply most of a location agent’s business. And the clients, they say, don’t seem to care whether a home has been shot before.
“It’s not a question I get that often,” said Dena Zemsky, the owner of On the Mark Locations. “One person goes in and shoots it one way. Somebody else shoots it another way. Often my homeowners say, ‘I didn’t even see my house, it was so close up.’ ”
One immaculate Brooklyn Heights brownstone that Ms. Raisfeld represents drips with both chandeliers and bookings. It has recently played host to shoots for Eileen Fisher, Oil of Olay, More Magazine, Lucky Magazine, Cetaphil, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, Bali Bras, Kmart, Chico’s and Huggies.
On Classon Avenue, meanwhile, a beat-up old loft with exposed I-beams and chipping paint served as the location for a College Humor video earlier this month, and was the location for a short film last week.
The film will introduce a new line of New Balance sports bras. The spandex in the apartment was abundant.
For the shoot, the production company, Homestead Films, called a location agent and scout named Debbie Regan and asked for an urban space that could be used to simulate several different apartments. That way, one actress could bound around in the bathroom and another in the kitchen, and the production company wouldn’t have to build multiple sets.
Corinna Falusi, executive creative director at StrawberryFrog, the advertising agency behind the film, said using an actual, lived-in apartment was not only cheaper than building sets, but it also looked better.
“It feels real,” Ms. Falusi said. “Otherwise you need to have a really good set designer going around putting little pieces of dust everywhere.”
In this loft there was dust aplenty, along with a treacherous-looking staircase leading down to the street and floors that appeared to have been attacked by angry woodpeckers. It was fabulously raw, wide open and airy, but also sort of a mess, in the way that many true lofts, recently used as commercial or industrial spaces, often are.
Nonetheless, certain strict, though vague, house rules were put in place for the crews: don’t go in the off-limits rooms; don’t open anything; try not to touch anything.
But at least no people were forced to take off their shoes. Agents said home shoots requiring everyone to wear little protective booties or go about in stocking feet were not uncommon.
“Don’t sit on the sofa, don’t look at the dog,” Ms. Falusi said, recounting other shoots. “You can have people with white leather sofas and, quote-unquote, ‘real art’ on the walls, and they don’t care. And then you have people who live in a garage and they’re picky about everything.”
A payment of several thousand dollars in exchange for, essentially, staying out of the way, can generally calm the nerves of even the most anxious homeowner — or at least suppress their fears long enough that they manage to say yes.
“It’s like ‘The Cat in the Hat,’ and you are the fish in the fishbowl,” a location scout, Ernie Liberati, said of the home-shoot process. “When Mommy leaves, the house turns upside down, things are flying and breaking. But by the time Mommy comes, everything is just where you left it.”
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
New Coffee and Cocktails Hot Spot coming to FiDi
Can't wait for this! New rumor has it opening in mid June. So glad I made the move to FiDi a few years ago. It just keeps getting better...
Earlier this week news leaked that Handsome Coffee Roasters, a new LA outfit, is going to open in the forthcoming Financial District restaurant and cocktail den Demi Monde, and today reps offer details on the rest of the operation.
The front, street-level section of Demi Monde will indeed function as a coffee shop during the day, serving nearby locals and office workers. At night the bulk of the space, located via a winding staircase to a subterranean level, will open and will provide, press materials promise, "an underground nightlife experience like no other." The space will have a 200 person capacity with seating for 120 and will be divided into a series of connected rooms. There will be a sunken lounge filled with tables, a carpeted VIP area, a bar, a DJ booth, and "places out of the action to sit or mingle." On the menu: serious cocktails—co-owners include bar man Alex Day and Death & Co's David Kaplan after all—a wine list with a focus on sparkling wine, and share plates from Vandaag alum Phillip Kirschen-Clark.
Earlier this week news leaked that Handsome Coffee Roasters, a new LA outfit, is going to open in the forthcoming Financial District restaurant and cocktail den Demi Monde, and today reps offer details on the rest of the operation.
The front, street-level section of Demi Monde will indeed function as a coffee shop during the day, serving nearby locals and office workers. At night the bulk of the space, located via a winding staircase to a subterranean level, will open and will provide, press materials promise, "an underground nightlife experience like no other." The space will have a 200 person capacity with seating for 120 and will be divided into a series of connected rooms. There will be a sunken lounge filled with tables, a carpeted VIP area, a bar, a DJ booth, and "places out of the action to sit or mingle." On the menu: serious cocktails—co-owners include bar man Alex Day and Death & Co's David Kaplan after all—a wine list with a focus on sparkling wine, and share plates from Vandaag alum Phillip Kirschen-Clark.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Best Brunch Places in the City according to Eater
Allswell
124 Bedford AveBrooklyn, NY 11211(347) 799-2743
The brand-new Williamsburg restaurant from Spotted Pig alum Nate Smith might serve the best new brunch in town. The menu changes every week, but you'll usually find …dishes like the biscuits and gravy, the gruyere frittata with greens, the apple rhubarb French toast, and the incredible fried chicken sandwich. Smith has a gift for reinterpreting comfort food dishes so that they taste fresh and new, and there's a lot of variety on the menu here. The corner space also has a great vibe during the early afternoon. Follow the restaurant on Twitter for daily menu updates. (Krieger)
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N 40° 43.10768W 73° 57.22071
Edi & The Wolf
102 Avenue CNew York, NY 10009(212) 598-1040
Edi & the Wolf is any easy contender for most fun new restaurant in NYC. It's got a kooky but comfortable dining room, a friendly staff, awesome music and a menu of … solid Austrian fare. On the weekends, they offer a $14 brunch deal where you get your choice of beverage, pastry, and entree, including things like Kaiserschmarrn (caramelized pancake bits), scrambled eggs, or a pork belly BLT. (photo)
N 40° 43.26093W 73° 58.43946
Isa
348 Wythe AveBrooklyn, NY 11211(347) 689-3594
There is no fixed menu at Taavo Somer’s rustic new Williamsburg hit, but brunch is available every Saturday and Sunday from 11 AM to 3:30 PM. Past menus have …included dishes like roast pork with egg, a Caesar salad, duck leg with yolk and sweet potatoes, and boudin noir with eggs and toast. Also: there's arts and crafts for the kiddies. (Krieger)
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N 40° 42.51281W 73° 57.55029
The Cannibal
113 E 29th StNew York, NY 10016
During brunch, Resto spinoff The Cannibal serves a number of fresh pastries as well as things like a grilled cheese sandwich with bacon and pork belly, soft scrambled …egg sandwiches, and a pig's head Cubano. This is the perfect food to eat after a rough night, and if you want a little hair of the dog, the bar boasts a next-level selection of craft beer. (There are also several lighter options if you want something healthy). (Krieger) [link]
N 40° 44.37600W 73° 58.57543
Kutsher's Tribeca
186 Franklin StNew York, NY 10013212 431 0606
For brunch, the popular new Catskills import from Jeffrey Chodorow serves things like challah French toast, pastrami-smoked salmon, and the Leo sandwich, which is made …with scrambled eggs, Nova Scotia lox and onions. (Krieger)
N 40° 43.10110W 74° 0.34689
Betel
51 Grove StNew York, NY 10014(212) 352-0460
This hip West Village Thai restaurant just kicked of brunch, with a menu that includes a banh mi burger, spiced French toast, corn fritters, pork belly with poached …eggs, and a classic Australian breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, tomatoes, and onions. Also: bottomless brunch cocktails for one hour. (Krieger)
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N 40° 43.59066W 74° 0.13377
La Promenade des Anglais
461 W 23rd StNew York, NY 10011(212) 255-7400
The brunch menu at Alain Allegretti's casual new French restaurant has a lot of variety. In addition to pancakes and egg dishes, you can order charcuterie plates, …salads, soups, or small plates like brandade crostini and squash blossoms. If you want a serious entree, consider the chicken paillard, hanger steak, or the whole branzino a la plancha.
(photo)
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N 40° 44.51291W 74° 0.13100
The Good Fork
391 Van Brunt StBrooklyn, NY 11231(718) 643-6636
This four-year-old Red Hook neighborhood favorite launched brunch not too long ago. The menu features a little something for everyone: huevos rancheros, bibimbap, fried … chicken & waffles, crab cakes, and a smoked berkshire ham steak with eggs. The Good Fork has a full bar and specialty brunch drinks like a "Beergharita." Brunch is served every Saturday and Sunday from 10 AM - 3 PM. (Photo: Elliot Black/NY Mag)
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N 40° 40.33196W 74° 0.51141
North End Grill
104 North End AveNew York, NY 10282(646) 747-1600
This Battery Park City newcomer from the one and only Danny Meyer has brunch every Saturday and Sunday from 11 AM to 2 PM. Brunch specialties include: chorizo tacos …with cheesy scrambled eggs and salsa, a Nova Scotia lobster omelet, and a bacon-shrimp burger.
(Krieger) [link]
(Krieger) [link]
N 40° 42.53312W 74° 0.57430
Miss Lily's
132 W Houston StNew York, NY 10012(646) 588-5375
Paul Salmon and Serge Becker's new Jamaican restaurant has a cool dining room, an attractive clientele, and some delicious things to eat at brunch. You can get coconut …pancakes, jerk pork hash, a curry lobster roll, or a full Jamaican breakfast with ackee, salt fish, fruit, dumplings and plantains.
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N 40° 43.39867W 74° 0.4780
Bowery Diner
241 BoweryNew York, NY 10002(212) 388-0052
Mathieu Palombino’s new hot spot offers slightly refined takes on typical diner breakfast fare during its weekend brunch (Saturday and Sunday, 7 AM to 5 PM), like … a shitake omelet, peanut butter and jam donuts, and a Colombian breakfast special. If you're hungover, get the chicken and waffles. (Krieger)
N 40° 43.21122W 73° 59.34702
Betto
138 N 8th StBrooklyn, NY 11211718-384-1904
On the weekend, Jason Denton's chic new Italian restaurant serves a brunch menu with things like chocolate chip pancakes, truffled egg toast, and ricotta fritters. This … is a cool choice if you like to have a drink with the first meal of the day (they offer a daily Negroni special, and there are plenty of great wines to choose from), and a good option to remember if you encounter long lines at other popular brunch places like Egg or Marlow & Sons. (photo)
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N 40° 43.8090W 73° 57.28828
Caffe Storico
170 Central Park WestNew York, NY 10024(212) 485-9211
Located in the New York Historical Society, the Italian-influenced restaurant from Stephen Starr offers various eggs, pastas, and panini for brunch, including oxtail …agnolotti, a smoked salmon and goat cheese frittata, and a shrimp salad panino. A great option before hitting the museum, or after taking a stroll through the park.
N 40° 46.44864W 73° 58.26615
Tertulia
359 6th AveNew York, NY 10012(646) 559-9909
Chef Seamus Mullen has a hit on his hands with Tertulia. People love the food and the rustic, lodge-like vibe of the dining room. It's an especially good brunch pick …if you're with friends and want to try a lot of things. The Spanish small plates on offer include a tortilla Española, soft scrambled eggs with ruby shrimp, fried eggs with potatoes and homemade face bacon, and a Sobrassada sausage flatbread. If you want something sweet, you can order churros with dark chocolate. (photo)
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N 40° 43.56046W 74° 0.2829
B & B
25 W Houston StNew York, NY 10012(212) 334-7320
The brunch menu at chef Josh Capon's hip new Soho Winepub has a little something for everyone. You can get a traditional scramble, but also things like a …chorizo-stuffed burrito, a short rib hash, and a smoked salmon and egg pizza. And if you're really hungry, the usual selection of burgers, fried chicken and tacos are also available.
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N 40° 43.32577W 73° 59.53051
Sunday, April 1, 2012
A selection of unique starter apartments in NYC.
Thanks to Curbed for this! Email me if you would like me to assist you with in finding your first apartment!
Five of New York City's Quirkiest Starter Apartments
The trouble with starter apartments is that they're usually just lacking in that "wow" factor, the sort of features that would drive someone to give up renting for a reason other than wealth creation. Those apartments are out there, though—they just require some digging, and sometimes, some compromise on practicality. This recently-renovated studio in West Chelsea's landmarkLondon Terrace doesn't seem to compromise on anything except the murphy bed, which is stashed away during the day behind closet doors. Thanks to a separate dressing room, the living area isn't cluttered with storage, making for a better entertaining space than most apartments its size and price, $375K.The location, near the High Line and amid some of the city's more expensive new construction, is prime, and while maintenance is on the high side, at $1,100 per month, at least that includes access to the building's stunning original swimming pool.
↑ Manhattan-based buyers in the sub-$500K range would be hard pressed to find much in the way of outdoor space, but this one-bedroom Battery Park condo runs just $439K and includes a 10' by 23' private terrace. While that space looks to be sectioned off from a larger public area and doesn't enjoy much in the way of views, there's still plenty of space for grilling and outdoor dining and a potted hedge provides some privacy.
↑ This near-East Village loft provides the feel of a classic artist's garrett with a mezzanine bedroom and an updated kitchen. Granted the space looks a bit cramped and the views are nothing to rave about, but the prime location just south of Union Square helps explain the $550K price tag. Storage is also at a premium, but the low maintenance of $756 per month should leave a little left over for a storage unit if need be.
↑ This next place isn't much to look at, in fact, it's one of the worst looking studios we've come across at this price. But, and this is a big caveat, it sits on Gramercy Park North, meaning it's currently the cheapest way to score a coveted key to the private park. Spending $425K to walk between some flower beds—and not walk your dog, mind you—seems a little unhinged, but it sure beats dropping multi-millions for the same privilege elsewhere in the neighborhood. Plus, the price for this studio used to be much lower. In 2011, it was asking just $299K, so maybe the sellers are ready to negotiate the current ask.
↑ Located in the up-and-coming Brooklyn neighborhood of Fort Greene, this small one-bedroom might not impress buyers with a bargain basement asking price, but the stately building and architecturally-interesting bay window are big draws, as is the maintenance bill, at just $410 per month. There's also a private storage unit in the basement, so buyers don't have to worry about cramming all their stuff into the co-op's 485 square feet. The ceilings also seem tall enough to accommodate a loft bed, should the buyer want to cram a guest into their$319K purchase.
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