135 East 79th Street and 320 West 12th Street

It’s only February, but Manhattan’s luxury market has already had its biggest week of the year, a new report shows. Deals for 28 properties asking $4 million and above and totaling $230.3 million wrapped up in the week of Feb. 18, according to the weekly numbers provided by Oshlan Realty. The Upper East Side had more than half of the sales, including four at 135 East 79th Street, the report said. The 30-unit condo, which opened in October, is two-thirds in contract…. [more]

From left: Sabrina Kleier Morgenstern, Samantha Kleier Forbes, Michele Kleier and JP Forbes

Veteran Upper East Side brokers, including the Kleier family and Fox Residential chief Barbara Fox, gathered last night for the official opening of Brodsky Development’s 135 East 79th Street. While the event took place at an ad hoc sales center at 654 Madison Avenue built to resemble the building’s interiors, and not at the property itself, guests were suitably impressed by the detailed finishes on display and kept busy munching on tiny macaroni and cheese dishes and steak and arugula mini salads. See photos after the jump .

Two exterior renderings of 135 East 79th Street and architect William Sofield

From the December issue:  For most the past four decades, the entire block along 79th Street between Park and Lexington avenues has been blighted by the Hunter College School of Social Work. But the building, which was erected in 1972, was razed two years ago to make way for a luxury condominium: 135 East 79th Street. The main problem with the Hunter building was its woeful inadequacy to its context: amid the Upper East Side’s turn-of-the-century gentility of Georgian classicism, Art Deco and a few surviving townhouses, here was a sudden (and clamorous) barrage of 1970s Modernism. The building might have made a bit more sense in Midtown, but here on East 79th Street, it radiated a tremor of menace, even sleaze, in all directions. [more]

Daniel Brodsky and 135 East 79th Street

New details about the Brodsky Organization’s 135 East 79th Street come from a teaser site for the 19-story, 32-unit residential property — and it hints at the kinds of tenants that Brodsky envisions living there. According to Curbed, brokers and buyers are being asked about their unit-size preferences, with options ranging from two to five bedrooms. Prices are to range from $6.8 million to more than $20 million, Curbed said. [more]

From the January issue:Last month The Real Deal spoke with real estate professionals to learn which projects and players will be on their radar in the year ahead. After dozens of interviews, hours of research and many editorial meetings, we winnowed down a list of real estate players and projects to watch in 2012. We weren’t looking for the city’s top brokers, or the biggest firms or the most successful developments. Instead, we were looking for the most interesting newcomers who are already making a splash, or the veterans putting their expertise to use in a different way. We looked at the developments that have the power to change a neighborhood — or demonstrate the folly of hubris. We looked at the new alliances that will be tested in the coming year, and the investors who have money to plow into property in the upcoming months. [more]