The Chelsea Modern, at 447 West 18th Street, and Robert Gladstone, CEO of Madison Equities

Real estate developer Madison Equities is facing a lawsuit from boutique advisory firm Hodes Weill & Associates for allegedly defaulting on a $12.1 million loan to refinance the Chelsea Modern condominium.

The suit, filed Monday in New York State Supreme Court, alleges Madison Equities, led by Robert Gladstone, took out the loan from Hodes Weill in February 2011 in order to refinance the 12-story property’s mortgage and buy out the other investors in the property. [more]

Kelly Mack, 36, is president of Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group.
Specializing in the planning, design, marketing, and sales of luxury
residential developments, the company has generated over $9 billion in
sales since she became president in 2006. Mack earned her MBA at New
York University before joining Corcoran Sunshine, where she became
executive vice president in 2004. Last year, Mack was named the
first-ever Distinguished Young Alumna by New York University.

Which amenities are popular in new buildings today, and how has that
changed over the past year?
Amenities still create value — that
hasn’t changed. The strength of sales at a building like the Rushmore,
one of the most amenitized buildings in Manhattan, demonstrates that new
development buyers still want the complete package. That being said,
are there other developers who are scaling back on amenities during
predevelopment? Some are. 

Compiled by Candace Taylor.… [more]

Actor and West Village resident Paul Rudd reportedly looked at two penthouses in the Chelsea Modern, on 18th Street near 10th Avenue. Calvin Klein designer Italo Zucchelli also considered the building, looking at a 3,838-square-foot, $9 million duplex penthouse, the Daily News reported. In a recent Webcast, The Real Deal talked to brokers at the Chelsea Modern about how they are using the High Line’s hype to market the building’s units…. [more]

The first section of the High Line opened last month, and brokers at residential projects in the area say sales traffic has increased as people rush to the West Side to see the elevated park. The Real Deal’s Jovana Rizzo toured the High Line last week and talked to the brokers at Chelsea Modern, 520 West Chelsea and 456 West 19th Street about how they are using the new park’s hype to market their buildings and why it is a draw for buyers. Click on the video to watch the Webcast.

An unsuspecting pedestrian might well believe, as he walked down 18th
Street between 9th and 10th avenues, that 459 and 447 West 18th Street
is comprised of one building. To the west this composite reads as a
sturdy affair of masonry and metal cladding and to the east, a stunning
glass curtain wall in various shades of blue. On closer
inspection, however, it becomes clear that these are two entirely
different developments. Surely the recently completed buildings are
jarringly divergent from a stylistic perspective, but that very
incongruity is so much a part of contemporary taste that it looks, in
the present instance, like a daring post-modern conceit. more

459 West 18th Street (left) and Chelsea Modern

… [more]