15 Central Park West and Ravi Singh, a Credit Suisse Group executive

The seventh-floor apartment at 15 Central Park West owned by Credit Suisse executive Ravi Singh sold for $25 million, or $2.5 million above its most recent asking price.
Singh, a managing director at Credit Suisse Group, sold it to a buyer identified as CPW Park Views on Dec. 15 after going into contract in November, property records posted today show.
The sale price comes to $5,478 per square foot. Broker Nancy Candib of Brown Harris Stevens declined to comment on the sale. While Singh did not obtain the high price he first sought in September 2008, when he listed the 4,563-square-foot unit for $32 million, the unidentified condominium unit buyer paid more than the most recent listing price of $22.5 million.
Singh bought the four-bedroom unit in March 2008 for $15.87 million. TRD [more]

Boutique investment banks are expanding or popping up anew to fill a void in capital created by the real estate crash that left property owners and investors without many options for the impending $1.5 trillion in real estate loans expected to mature over the next five years. Firms like Moelis, Cantor Fitzgerald and Broadpoint Gleacher Securities Group are carving out a niche in helping their clients find a way out of bad debt by restructuring loans, finding capital and selling off assets. Newcomers to the market say their lack of “baggage” of the kind plaguing big institutions like Credit Suisse and others who were intimately involved in subprime lending, coupled with their small size, will prove advantageous. Many of the boutique firms are staffed with ex-Lehmanites, former Wachovia bankers, or other refugees of past main players, though, and these new firms are quickly expanding. Moelis has hired 100 new staffers over the past year, many of whom will help with its new real estate services, and brokerage CB Richard Ellis recently expanded its investment banking business, based in London, to America. [Crain’s]