Alex Rodriguez and his Riverside Boulevard apartment, and Katy Perry and her Tribeca penthouse

It was a big week for celebrities trying to sell their New York City pads. The New York Post reported that singer Katy Perry and Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez each recently found buyers for their multimillion dollar Manhattan apartments. Alex Rodriguez sold his 3,585-square-foot, full-floor apartment on the 35th floor of the Rushmore, at 80 Riverside Boulevard on the Upper West Side, for $6.6 million. [more]

Giants co-owner Steve Tisch and 502 Park Avenue, #PH23

New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch is moving in to Donny Deutsch’s old apartment. The New York Post reported the Super Bowl winner is renting Penthouse 23 in Trump Park Avenue, at 502 Park Avenue, for about $60,000 per month. [more]

The Rushmore, Alex Rodriguez and Modlin Group President Adam Modlin

Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez has sold his Rushmore condominium for a significant profit just 10 months after buying it last March, the Wall Street Journal reported. Rodriguez put the unit on the market in October with Modlin Group President Adam Modlin for $8 million, seven months after he purchased it for $5.5 million.  [more]

From left: Justin Timberlake, his new home in the Soho Mews, and his old building, the Pearline Soap Factory

Six months after vacating his Tribeca condominium unit for a Soho penthouse, musician and actor Justin Timberlake finally unloaded his former home, Curbed reported. The 3,000-square-foot full-floor apartment in the Pearline Soap Factory at 414 Washington Street near Vestry Street– which Timberlake purchased for $4.689 million in 2008 — was asking $4.995 million. Adam Modlin, head of the Modlin Group, had the listing, which originally asked $5.25 million. Timberlake now resides in the Charles Gwathmey-designed Soho Mews at 311 West Broadway near Canal Street, where he bought a unit for $6.57 million in December. [Curbed] Comments

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The Real Deal has ranked the top listing agents of the week base [more]

Adam Modlin

Interviewing celebrity real estate broker Adam Modlin is a bit like a Cold War-era rendezvous with a double agent. You pick a day and time, and move your assets — reporter and photographer — into the general area. Then you wait for a phone call to reveal the exact coordinates of your meeting. After several last-minute delays, an e-mail directs you to a dark hotel bar, and you find Modlin in a corner booth, sipping a designer sparkling water. “Sit down,” says Modlin, whose stylish threads would suit Daniel Craig’s 007 — matching gray vest, pants, and tie from the new Tom Ford collection, black loafers with a gold bit, Rolex watch, Chrome Hearts glasses.

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From the May issue: New York’s small residential firms got even smaller in the last year, as many agents fled the business in a difficult market. But despite the loss of manpower, several leading boutique firms saw the dollar volume of their listings rise as more high-end properties returned to the market in an increasingly healthy economy. Meanwhile, two New York boutique firms — long-established firm Gumley Haft Kleier and five-year-old Core — starred in the HGTV cable television program “Selling New York.” Core CEO Shaun Osher said he viewed the program as an important tool for showing off the company’s properties and garnering new clients. Since the show went on the air, he said, the company, which ranked No. 2 on The Real Deal’s annual list of boutique firms, with $251.8 million in active Manhattan listings, has “had a lot of calls” from prospective clients.

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The price of a duplex penthouse at Trump Park Avenue, listed for $51 million until it went off the market last month, is now back on the market — for $20 million less. Broker Adam Modlin is now listing the apartment for $31 million, about $5,000 per square foot. The apartment was one of the 10 properties in the city listed for over $45 million in late 2008. Modlin told the Observer that he and Trump agreed the price cut is “appropriate for today’s market.”