Even as the land sales market has improved in Manhattan overall, the number of developers actively trying to put together sites remains just a handful, far fewer than during the boom. One of the city’s leading professionals in the business, Dov Hertz, an executive vice president at Gary Barnett’s Extell Development, spoke with Insights from The Real Deal about the current number of deals he believed are underway in Manhattan, and about the time someone backed out of a deal to sell air rights.

Hertz leads the acquisitions arm of Extell, one of the most prolific residential developers in the city. He has led or had a hand in Extell’s major assemblages, including two projects still under development, the 34-story International Gem Tower at 50 West 47th Street and the 74-story Carnegie57, at 157 West 57th Street, spanning the mid-block between Sixth and Seventh avenues and 57th and 58th streets. He has also put together sites for completed residential towers, including the 110-unit Lucida, at 151 East 85th Street; the Ariel East and West; and the 22-unit 535 West End Avenue.

In addition, Robert Knakal, chairman of investment brokerage Massey Knakal Realty Services, weighs in on how many sites are being assembled now, and where they are located. [more]

Top row, from left: Joy Browne, the kitchen at her apartment at 21 South End Avenue, and the kitchen at 146 Central Park West.
Bottom row, from left: Howard Michaels with his listings: an exterior and interior shot of the Lucida at 151 East 85th Street, and the Stanhope at 995 Fifth Avenue.

Radio psychologist Dr. Joy Browne has two things in common with the fictional Frasier Crane. One, she answers callers’ on-air questions about life and love. And two, she has a fabulous apartment. Now Browne’s 2,600-square-foot riverfront duplex at the Regatta condominium in Battery Park City is on the market with L.G. Fairmont Group’s Derek Lee for $3.4 million, or $18,000 per month to rent. In addition, Howard Michaels, the chairman and CEO of international real estate investment banking firm the Carlton Group, last week put his 5,200-square-foot Lucida spread on the market with Corcoran’s Carrie Chiang for $11 million, along with his Stanhope apartment, which is priced at $11.5 million. Also, a 6,000-square-foot apartment is up for grabs at the San Remo, the iconic twin-towered co-op which Bono, Rita Hayworth and Steven Spielberg have called home. Unit #6E6F at 146 Central Park West hit the market over this past weekend for $24.75 million with Bellmarc’s Dan Fishman. Click here for more.

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From left: Vornado’s Steven Roth, the Lucida and Extell’s Gary Barnett

Vornado Realty Trust purchased 150,000 square feet of retail space in the Lucida condominium on the Upper East Side from developer Gary Barnett earlier this month for about $190 million, Crain’s reported. The space, at 151 East 85th Street, includes storefronts leased to Barnes & Noble, Sephora and H&M. The deal also includes 24 rental units in the building, which extends from 85th to 86th streets. There are currently 14 condo units for sale in the 20-story, 110-unit building, with asking prices ranging from $2.5 million to $10 million, according to Streeteasy.com. Earlier this month, the company acquired a 9.9 percent stake in J.C. Penney, and recently hired three new senior executives and began closing on a $1 billion investment fund. [Crain's]
 

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Though brokers typically get their commissions at closing, developers hoping to attract buyers to unfinished properties have advanced brokers part of their commissions when the sales contracts were signed. But since then, many of these deals have fallen through, and developers have been battling to get their money back, according to the New York Times. Gary Barnett of Extell Development, for one, is fighting to get back the more than $1 million he paid to various brokers who found buyers at his Lucida condominium project at 151 East 85th Street. If a deal fell through, brokers were obligated to return the commission in most cases. But until recently, they never had to worry that buyers would want to back out before closing. For the most part, developers and brokers were able to get buyers to close and when they didn’t, they have reached deals. Barnett said brokerages have paid him back in most cases. But he said the experience has taught him a lesson. “We’re not going to do that anymore,” he said, referring to advanced commissions. [NYT]

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Extell Development is suing several New York City residential firms for advanced payments their agents received on sales that ultimately fell through at the Lucida condominium, according to Crain’s. Although it is not immediately clear which brokerages were named in the suit, court filings show that Brown Harris Stevens is among the firms targeted — Extell is suing BHS for a $48,480 advanced commission on the sale of a $3.2 million condo, where the buyer backed out after signing the contract. While an Extell spokesperson said that the developer is owed the payment back because “commissions are only earned when a unit closes,” Hall Wilkie, president of BHS, said his agents are protected by their contract. “[Extell] paid these commissions and our agreement didn’t say it was refundable,” Wilkie said. Currently, 75 of the 110 units at the Lucida, located at 151 East 85th Street near the corner of Lexington Avenue, have been sold, according to StreetEasy.com. [Crain's]

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Earlier this week, The Real Deal
checked out Penthouse A at the Lucida, the new LEED-certified
condominium by Extell Development at 151 East 85th Street. Gumley Haft
Kleier head honcho Michele Kleier, who has the exclusive listing on the
$8.95 million duplex, was hosting a party for brokers there that
evening while filming for HGTV’s second season of realty reality show “Selling New York”
(see photos from the event above). Kleier and her daughters, Sabrina
Kleier Morgenstern and Samantha Kleier Forbes, along with brokers from
Core (who were not in attendance at the party), star in the show, which
Morgenstern said is tentatively [more]

The Lucida at 151 East 85th Street, Gary Barnett

A state Supreme Court judge ruled against residential broker Sloane Square NYC after the firm’s clients failed to close on two apartments at the Lucida condominium on the Upper East Side and the developer demanded a refund of the commission.
New York State Supreme Court Judge James Yates awarded a judgment in favor of Extell Development, which advanced half of the 3 percent commission payments up front and then demanded the money back after the buyers failed to close.
“Defendant was to receive a 3 percent commission for certain qualifying sales and defendant expressly acknowledged and agreed that it shall not be deemed to have earned a brokerage commission unless title closes and the agreed upon purchase price is paid or the prescribed consideration is delivered to or accepted by sponsor at closing,” Yates wrote in his Feb. 23 decision.
Extell President Gary Barnett said the decision was fair and reasonable given that the contract called for commissions to be paid for a completed sale.
“It kind of speaks for itself,” he told The Real Deal. [more]

Teplitzky is a managing director and head of the Jacky Teplitzky team at Prudential Douglas Elliman, which was Elliman’s top performing group in 2008.

What’s the last deal you closed?
I just closed at the Lucida at 151 East 85th Street at $6,784,610.

Where are the best sales deals right now?
The Upper East Side. There is more inventory, more conversions and new construction.

Compiled by Lauren Elkies [more]

The Lucida at 151 East 85th Street, Gary Barnett

An Extell Development affiliate is suing a small residential brokerage firm for breach of contract for allegedly keeping nearly $200,000 in commissions at the Upper East Side condominium tower Lucida, even though the sales were never finalized, Meanwhile, in the Financial District, the international architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill claims its landlord, a partnership between real estate private equity firm Capstone Equities and investor the Carlyle Group, has stiffed it on more than $1 million in tenant improvement work at its Financial District office, a recent lawsuit says. Also in the Financial District, a stalled condo conversion project has created one more headache for the German lender Deutsche Bank that provided equity financing for the site at 45 John Street. [more]