150 East 72nd Street’s renovated lobby (source: Curbed)

Nearly two years ago, developer Harry Macklowe closed on a 34-unit rental apartment building at 150 East 72nd Street for $70 million, with the intention to convert the building into condominiums. Now the first of the building’s new units have officially hit the market, Curbed reported. So far, the listings range from $6.03 million to $13.5 million in the 100-year-old Lenox Hill building, originally designed by Schwartz & Gross in 1913 and most recently renovated by Handel Architects and Moed de Armas & Shannon Architects. [more]

From left: One57 and Extell Development President Gary Barnett; the Touraine and Toll Brothers CEO Bob Toll; and 737 Park Avenue and Harry Macklowe

In an effort to increase control and decrease costs, big condominium developers are increasingly using their own sales teams for new projects rather than hiring outside brokerages to market the units, according to the Wall Street Journal.

For example, Extell Development, which relied on the Corcoran Group to market most of the condos it built throughout the last decade, has hired its own sales staff for its massive One57 development.

“To be frank, there is an awful lot of money in sales commissions and we want to get a piece of that ourselves,” Extell Development President Gary Barnett said. … [more]

From left: Harry Macklowe, 737 Park Avenue and 150 East 72nd StreetDeveloper Harry Macklowe’s firm Macklowe Properties filed plans with Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office to convert rental buildings at 737 Park Avenue and 150 East 72nd Street into condominiums, Bloomberg News reported. If the offering plan is approved by July 2012, closings could begin at the Upper East Side properties by late 2012 or 2013.
“The expectation is that we probably will be out of the recession by then and the economy will be booming and it will just be the right time to start selling apartments,” said Stuart Saft, head of the real estate group at Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, who drafted the plans for Macklowe…. [more]

Developer Harry Macklowe closed this afternoon on the $70 million acquisition of a 34-unit rental apartment building at 150 East 72nd Street that his Macklowe
Properties expects to convert to condominiums.

Macklowe financed the Lenox Hill purchase and anticipated rehabilitation of the
72,000-square-foot, pre-war building through a total of $120 million in equity
and debt, according to a statement from Macklowe’s exclusive advisor on the
transaction, Howard Michaels, chairman of investment banking firm Carlton
Group…. [more]

Harry Macklowe has struck a deal to buy 737 Park Avenue for between $250 million and $255 million, sources tell Crain’s, and plans to convert the 108 rental units into condominiums. Macklowe’s interest in the property was widely reported, but details of the sale price and his intentions for the property are new. It’s the second building in the area that Macklowe has purchased in the hopes of doing a condo conversion, as last month Macklowe purchased a property at 150 East 72nd Street near Lexington Avenue for $70 million. Macklowe also bought 953-961 First Avenue with Prudential Douglas Elliman chairman Howard Lorber earlier this year. In purchasing 737 Park, 30 percent of which is comprised of rent stabilized units, Macklowe joined an undisclosed equity partner, according to Crain’s. … [more]

Developer Harry Macklowe is in the process of buying 150 East 72nd Street, a 34-unit rent-stabilized apartment building, for $70 million, according to the New York Post. The building, which sits on the corner of Lexington Avenue, is home to legendary broker Alice Mason, who has lived in her 2,043-square-foot, rent-stabilized unit for 48 years. Macklowe, who is hoping to transform the building into a condominium, has reportedly put a deposit down on the building, and is currently looking to raise $35.4 million from joint-venture equity partners, sources say. [Post]