Clockwise: Huguette Clark, her Santa Barbara estate, her Connecticut home and 907 Fifth Avenue

It seems fitting that the late copper heiress Huguette Clark — a woman who lived her life behind a veil of secrecy and intrigue — has left behind a series of unanswered questions that are now gripping some of America’s most affluent communities following her death last month. Near the top of that list is the question about the 104-year old’s vast real estate holdings, namely, are any of her properties going to hit the market soon and who will be in the running to snatch one up?

The combined value of her real estate assets could be as high as a quarter of a billion dollars if estimates of her $100 million estate on the Pacific Coast in Santa Barbara, the $24 million country house in Connecticut and the $100 million co-op, the largest apartment on Fifth Avenue overlooking Central Park, at 907 Fifth Avenue, are accurate.
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After months of anticipation, famed auction house Christie’s International is set to open its new 235,000-square-foot Red Hook warehouse in June, according to the Wall Street Journal. Christie’s 50-year, $30 million lease, which it signed in September 2008, was one of the borough’s largest that year. While the warehouse was set to open in January this year, Christie’s, which has spent approximately $30 million to ready the space, delayed the opening for unknown reasons. [more]

Abigail Disney, Walt Disney’s grandniece, has sold her pair of 300 West End Avenue co-ops for a combined $7.2 million, but not before a string of hefty price cuts. Disney purchased the two semi-combined, nine-room units from singer Harry Belafonte for $10.75 million in 2006. They hit the market again in April 2008 for $13.45 million. The price was cut to $11.95 million, and then to $10.95 million before finally selling last month to two separate buyers. Amy Gold and Brett Gorvy, deputy chairmen at Christie’s, purchased the B-line apartment for $3.45 million, and the A-line apartment sold for $3.75 million. Dolly Lenz of Prudential Douglas Elliman had the listing. Comments

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Scott Spector, a principal with the Spector Group, an architecture and design firm based in Woodbury, NY, sat down with the New York Times to discuss surviving the downturn, defining his firm’s style and his favorite project. The firm is currently designing the new Christie’s auction house building in Red Hook, a high-profile retrofit project. But it’s the firm’s work with the Nasdaq Stock Market, a relatively less-glitzy outdoor signage project, that is Spector’s favorite current undertaking. “We’ve had Nasdaq as a client for eight years, and we have done everything,” Spector said. “We’ll change a light bulb for these guys.”

Christie’s 250,000-square-foot warehouse at 62 Imlay Street in Red Hook, which was the largest Brooklyn lease of the year when it was signed in June, is now slated to open in January. The warehouse will store paintings by Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso and other artists, and security measures will include video cameras, biometric readers and motion-activated sensors. The warehouse’s proximity to a cruise ship port makes it convenient for potential Christie’s clients, said Joe Stasko, international managing director for Christie’s Fine Art Storage Services. [more]

Manhattan-based auctioneer Christie’s has signed a lease for a six-story,
235,000-square-foot waterfront warehouse in Red Hook for an
unspecified price, the largest commercial deal in Brooklyn this year. Commercial brokers estimate the rent for the space, at 62 Imlay Street, at around $8 to
$10 per square foot. Christie’s, which has been
performing well since the economic downturn, said the space fits their
needs. “The location was selected for its convenient location and
adequate space for Christie’s storage requirements,” the company said. [Crain's] and [Brownstoner]