Andrew Heiberger

Broker-turned-developer Andrew Heiberger is getting back into the brokerage game.
The Citi Habitats founder and former CEO is in the process of starting a new rental and sales firm, he told The Real Deal, under the umbrella of his development firm, Buttonwood Real Estate. “I am in the process of finalizing a business model for a new residential real estate brokerage focusing on both sales and rentals,” said Heiberger, who founded Buttonwood after selling Citi Habitats to NRT, parent company of the Corcoran Group, in 2004, for a reported $49.6 million. He remained mum about further details, saying: “It would be premature to announce any further details at this time but we look forward to creating a resource that will better Manhattan’s rapidly evolving residential real estate business. [more]

From the October issue: Despite its prime waterfront location and its disproportionate amount
of cutting-edge “green” architecture, Battery Park City is getting
slammed by the downturn more than many other Manhattan neighborhoods. Stephen and Mary Lacoff, for instance, have been trying to sell their
1,158-square-foot two-bedroom at 2 South End Avenue for more than a
year now. Despite dropping the asking price from $1.385 million to
$999,000, they’ve received no offers. The apartment — which, like everything in Battery Park City, is in a
land-lease building — has some of the higher ground rents in the area,
contributing to common charges of $2,003 a month, or $1.74 a square
foot. “There has been some intermittent interest, but no offers,”
Stephen Lacoff said. “What I’m taking from that is there’s not a huge
demand.”