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]

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]

Following the release of first-quarter residential real estate reports across the country, experts from some of the top markets appeared on CNBC (see video above) to discuss the findings. In New York, Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Dolly Lenz took to the screen, noting that the Manhattan market is bucking the trend seen in the rest of the country, with prices at the high end “holding quite firm.” As evidence, Lenz referenced a recent story from The Real Deal, which revealed that the owner of a 5,600-square-foot 15 Central Park West spread had pulled his $55 million listing from the market in order to renovate, rather than dropping the price or accepting a lowball offer.

A floorplan for the $55 million combination spread, Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, who used to rent the lesser of the two units, and the exterior of 15 Central Park West

Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez has officially moved out of his blockbuster 15 Central Park West rental, but those hoping to snag his place are out of luck — at least until next year.

Leroy Schecter, the steel mogul who owns both A-Rod’s former unit and the one next door, and who has been trying to sell them for a combined $55 million since last March, pulled the listing from the market this week. Emily Beare, the Core broker in charge of marketing the 35th-floor condominiums on Schecter’s behalf, told The Real Deal that the owner is planning to physically combine the units in an attempt to generate higher offers. [more]

Alex Rodriguez and the Rushmore

Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez has inked a deal to buy a four-bedroom, full-floor spread at Extell Development’s Upper West Side condominium, the Rushmore. According to the Wall Street Journal, Rodriguez, who has been renting a $30,000-a-month condo at 15 Central Park West and has been spotted apartment and townhouse hunting all over town in recent months, will pay between $5.5 million and $6 million for his new digs. Given that a Rushmore apartment on a higher floor recently sold for more than that, the Journal suggested that it’s possible Rodriguez got a so-called “celebrity discount,” though he did pay more than the buyer of a similar apartment one year ago. [more]

Russian composer Igor Krutoy and his wife, Olga, have wrapped up an epic search for Manhattan trophy apartments with a contract signing for a Plaza Hotel condominium for upwards of $40 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. If the sale closes, it will be the second-priciest residential sale in the city since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, behind the Duke Semans Mansion, which sold for $44 million last year. (William Zeckendorf’s own penthouse atop 15 Central Park West is also reportedly in contract for $40 million). For their money, the Krutoys will get around 6,000 square feet with views of Central Park — a combination of at least two renovated units — that wasn’t officially on the market, brokers said. [more]

From the South Florida Web site: The New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez is reportedly close to contract on a $12 million house on North Bay Road in Miami, according to the New York Post. The third baseman, who calls a 2,367-square-foot apartment 15 Central Park West home for $30,000 per month while in the city, also toured a 30,000-square-foot $57 million waterfront mansion on posh Indian Creek Island during his South Florida house hunt. Victoria’s Secret model Adriana Lima and her husband, basketball player
Marko Jaric recently bought a $9 million pad on Indian Creek Island,
which is also home to Carl Icahn and Julio Iglesias.
Last year, A-Rod slashed $5 million off the listing price of his $14.9 million waterfront Coral Gables estate.

Developer Adam Gordon’s limestone townhouse at 26 West 76th Street has seen no shortage of celebrity interest, but it may ultimately end up in the hands of one of two high-finance New York families with children who have made offers on the $19.5 million listing, according to the Post. Also on the table is a bid to turn the 10,000-square-foot mansion into a new Kips Bay Decorator Show House. The 19th century home, with six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, two kitchens, a garden and a glass-enclosed penthouse studio, has been ogled by the likes of Matt Damon and Alex Rodriguez, and Gordon has already rejected a bid from reality show producers to have Victoria’s Secret models live in the space for a month during filming. Wendy Maitland and Reid Price of Brown Harris Stevens have the listing. [Post, 2nd item]

A penthouse apartment at 15 Central Park West changed hands yesterday,
but it seems it’s not the buyers or sellers who are moving so much as the paperwork. The buyer of the condo was DAAJJ, LLC, a partnership controlled by hedge fund manager and billionaire Dan Och. The seller was a trust in Och’s wife’s name. Och is hardly the building’s only high-profile resident. His neighbors include fellow financier Lloyd Blankfein, CEO Goldman Sachs and Yankee Alex Rodriguez. Wayne Gretzky also recently eyed a spot in the coveted property, where, despite the recession, prices have continued to increase. The Och’s also own a home in Scarsdale, which was purchased for $2.4 million in 2004. [Cityfile, 1st item]

An image of the unit that Lawrence Rich, a vice president at
Prudential Douglas Elliman (left), helped his client purchase (unit to left)
and a nearly identical-looking unit (right) listed by Bank of America exec
Brian Brille (click image for larger version)

A buyer with a love of Trump Park Avenue has closed on a $14
million apartment in the condominium, according to the buyer’s broker
Lawrence Rich, a vice president with Prudential Douglas Elliman. The
seller is likely Bank of America Asia-Pacific market President Brian
Brille. Before sealing the deal for corner condo unit 3A at 502 Park Avenue
yesterday, the buyer, listed as Faraya LLC, had made bids on other
high-profile apartments in the same building, including Yankee
Alex Rodriguez’s $10 million pad in February and Sheikh Abdul Aziz’s
$14 million residence in July, said Rich, who has been working with the
buyer from the get-go. When unit 3A, a 5,473-square-foot, four-bedroom,
six-and-a-half-bathroom apartment came on the market in early October,
Rich said he had this particular buyer in mind. [more]