From left: One57 and Extell Development President Gary Barnett; the Touraine and Toll Brothers CEO Bob Toll; and 737 Park Avenue and Harry Macklowe

In an effort to increase control and decrease costs, big condominium developers are increasingly using their own sales teams for new projects rather than hiring outside brokerages to market the units, according to the Wall Street Journal.

For example, Extell Development, which relied on the Corcoran Group to market most of the condos it built throughout the last decade, has hired its own sales staff for its massive One57 development.

“To be frank, there is an awful lot of money in sales commissions and we want to get a piece of that ourselves,” Extell Development President Gary Barnett said. [more]

From left: Steven Kantor of Cantor Fitzgerald, the interior of unit 82 at Trump World Tower and the exterior of the builidng

Steven Kantor, executive managing director of global financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, may be trading up at Trump World Tower at 845 United Nations Plaza. The executive appears to have purchased a 2,476-square-foot condominium unit at the tower for $5 million, according to public records filed with the city last week, just a few months after he listed another unit at the building.

Kantor’s new unit, #82, was initially listed with the Corcoran Group’s Robb Saar in July for $5.35 million, according to data from Streeteasy.com and went into contract at the end of October. The three-bedroom unit is larger than Kantor and wife Mindy’s current two-bedroom apartment in the building, #75D.  [more]

From left: Jerry Minsky, senior vice president at Prudential Douglas Elliman, and exterior and interior shots of 87 Cambridge Place

After only a week on the market, a 3,200-square-foot two-family townhouse in Clinton Hill is under contract for $2.16 million, the seller’s broker, Jerry Minsky, a senior vice president with Prudential Douglas Elliman, confirmed to The Real Deal, making the sale one of the most expensive residential deals on record for the Brooklyn neighborhood.

The sellers are Shelley Goldberg, a textile designer, and her husband, Tony Writer, founder of the market research firm Headspace. They signed a contract to sell the home, at 87 Cambridge Place, Oct. 15, Minsky said. [more]

Exterior and interior photos of Brewster Carriage House

The first phase of sales in the Brewster Carriage House, a six-story 19th century building in Nolita, began Wednesday night.

Five of the nine units in the building, at the corner of Broome and Mott streets, have hit the market. The available condominiums range from a 1,969-square-foot, one-bedroom, two and a half-bathroom second floor unit that is asking $2.85 million, to a 3,553-square-foot, two-bedroom, three-bathroom penthouse that is listed for $8 million, according to the website of exclusive marketers Prudential Douglas Elliman. Four more units, including a duplex with a private roof space, are being held back, the condo’s website shows. 1 Comment

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177 Franklin StreetThough the trend in Tribeca has been converting old commercial space into brand new condominiums, the buyer of 177 Franklin Street is taking the opposite approach. According to the Wall Street Journal, the parent company of clothing retailer Steven Alan paid $14.5 million for the 12,000-square-foot building intended for residential use, and will turn it into a store, below Steven Alan showrooms and offices.

Bedrock Brands, the Texas-based company that purchased the building, will use the retail space to relaunch its once-famous brand Shinola. Bedrock is owned by Tom Kartsotis, the founder of fashion brand Fossil. Maria Pashby, a senior vice president at the Corcoran Group, had been marketing the 120-year-old building as a single mansion. [more]

Realogy’s net revenue for the third quarter was $1.2 billion, an increase of 10 percent from third quarter of 2010, the company announced today, largely due to an increase in transaction volume at the company’s franchises, which include the Corcoran Group, Citi Habitats, Coldwell Banker and Sotheby’s International Realty.

“Despite difficult macro-economic issues, our third quarter produced 10 percent revenue growth before restructuring and other items,” said Richard Smith, Realogy’s president and CEO. “Given the macroeconomic headwinds facing the housing market, our operating performance has shown resilience. We believe we are substantially advantaged with our leaner, highly variable cost model, a capital structure that includes $2.1 billion of convertible debt and the continued support of our largest investors.” – Katherine Clarke [more]

From left: 240 Riverside Boulevard, Robin Roberts and the interior of her apartment

“Good Morning America” newscaster Robin Roberts is in contract to sell her Upper West Side condominium, according to a source and the listing page, and will close sometime next week. The 1,586-square-foot apartment, in the Heritage at Trump Place at 240 Riverside Boulevard, was listed for $2.595 million with Dennis Colwell, a broker at the Corcoran Group, and was bought for roughly that amount. Colwell’s web page confirms the listing is in contract.

Roberts, who has co-anchored the show since 2005 after a 15-year career at ESPN, purchased the apartment, between 71st and 72nd streets, in 2005 for $2.58 million, public records show. It wasn’t immediately clear why the asking price was so similar to her purchase price six years ago as Colwell did not respond to requests for comment. — Adam Fusfeld Comments

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From left: Corcoran’s Carrie Chiang and Sharon Baum, Harald Grant of Sotheby’s International Realty, Corcoran’s Susan Breitenbach and Brown Harris Stevens’ John Burger

[Updated at 5:30 p.m. and 12:00 p.m. on Sept. 12] Top-rated sales teams at Richard Smith’s Realogy empire include the Corcoran Group’s Carrie Chiang and Sharon Baum, both in Manhattan, according to a study by the Wall Street Journal and Real Trends, released yesterday.

Harald Grant of Sotheby’s International Realty in Southampton and Susan Breitenbach of Corcoran in Bridgehampton both ranked highly as individual sales agents.

Breitenbach recently cleaned up at Corcoran’s 2010 East End awards, taking the prize for top sales agent by volume as well as by number of units sold. In fact, based on annual 2010 sales volume, 39 percent of the nation’s top 1,000 real estate agents are affiliated with Smith’s Realogy brands, the study shows. – Katherine Clarke [more]

131 East 64th Street

After a brief hiatus, Jacksonville Jaguar founding president David Seldin’s Upper East Side townhouse returned to the market with a new broker and a new asking price, Mogulite reported. Previously listed by Corcoran Group brokers Leighton Candler and Christopher Infante for $22.9 million since October, the townhouse at 131 East 64th Street is now listed for $21.5 million by Jed Garfield, Francis O’Shea and Matthew Pravda of Leslie J. Garfield & Co. [more]

Gary Malin, president of Citi Habitats (seated), and Cliff Finn, managing director of new development marketing, at rental tower New York by Gehry

From the August issue: In the past, top-of-the-line, modern finishes just weren’t available in most New York City rentals. Not so in 2011. The economic conditions of the past few years have ushered in an era of new luxury rental buildings, catering to would-have-been condo buyers looking for high ceilings, European-designed appliances, and plush amenity packages that have traditionally only been available in apartments for sale.
For the major players in new development marketing, this shift toward rentals has been shaking up the field. Firms that have always excelled in leasing are now benefiting from an influx of new inventory that fits their niche, while some sales-focused companies are expanding their repertoire to include rentals.
This month, The Real Deal surveyed the city’s new development marketing firms to find out how they’ve adjusted to the changed landscape. [more]