From left: Brooke Astor and 298 Scarborough Road in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.

The 64.5 acre Westchester County estate of Brooke Astor, known as Holly Hill, has sold for $6.45 million, according to a press release from Coldwell Banker Residential in Westchester, who represented the buyer.

The new owner intends to live in the circa-1927 stone mansion at 298 Scarborough Road, in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., according to Tracy Isaacs of Coldwell, who represented the buyer. Isaacs described the buyer as “a family from the Westchester area who intend to restore it and live in it.” Officials and residents in the Westchester town 30 miles north of New York City were pleased that the sale was not to a developer intent on carving up the ample land.

The estate went on the market three years ago and was first listed at $12.9 million, as was previously reported. – Guelda Voien [more]

From the February issue: The New York City real estate world has closely followed as brokerages here have downsized and shuttered offices. But just north of the city, in Westchester, the real estate industry has quietly seen a shift of its own. Indeed, some say the brokerage world there has been irrevocably altered during the downturn as some firms have announced closures, and others have set up shop or merged with larger corporate entities, poaching agents along the way. The biggest shake-up, of course, was Sotheby’s International Realty’s October decision to terminate its presence in the county altogether. Sotheby’s sold four of its offices — its three “golden triangle” offices in Scarsdale, Rye and Larchmont, as well as one in Chappaqua — to an affiliate, William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty. In addition, it shut down a fifth office in Katonah, farther north in Westchester. That follows Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty, which has seven offices in Westchester with roughly 340 agents, joining the Realogy umbrella at the end of April.  [more]