From left to right: David Greczek and Ammanda Espinal, on-site sales agents for Azure; Karen Mansour, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Prudential Douglas Elliman;
John Caiazzo, vice president of the DeMatteis Organization; and Doug MacLaury, senior vice president of the Mattone Group (standing). Right: Azure at 333 East 91st Street.
From the July issue: A luxury apartment building towering 34 boxy stories above low-rise Yorkville shops, Azure has always been nondescript by design, and yet theatrically imposing in reality.
Launched in 2007, the project was aimed at Manhattan’s growing population of families. Marketing materials emphasized child-oriented neighborhood amenities and focused on the customizable, three-, four- and five-bedroom units on offer. Azure was not meant to excite comment; however, time and again, it has failed.
In May 2008, five months after Azure’s initial sales launch, a 200-foot crane collapsed at the site of the project, killing two construction workers, forcing a temporary shutdown of then-agent Nancy Packes’ marketing efforts, and sealing the building’s fate as headline fodder in the still ongoing legal saga that followed. (Crane owner James Lomma is currently awaiting trial on manslaughter charges after a judge turned down his bid to have the case dismissed.) [more]
