The penthouse triplex at 1 Main Street in Dumbo

The now somewhat famous Clock Tower triplex penthouse by developer
David Walentas at 1 Main Street in Dumbo has been chosen as Esquire
magazine’s bachelor pad, the magazine said today. The unit will be
host to various celebrity and charity events throughout the fall and the magazine’s annual design showcase. This will
be the first time the bachelor pad has come to Brooklyn.

“The Esquire Apartment concept was conceived in New York in 2003,”
noted Jack Essig, senior vice president, group publishing director and chief revenue officer of Esquire. “Although we create our house every other year in Los
Angeles, this is the first time we’ve taken our New York project to a
location outside of Manhattan. We really challenge ourselves every
year to find a new prime neighborhood and a building that represents
the essence of the magazine.” — Katherine Clarke [more]

The penthouse triplex at 1 Main Street in Dumbo

David Walentas’ famous Clock Tower triplex in Dumbo has been pulled from the rental market less than a week after making headlines as the priciest apartment up for lease in Brooklyn.

The 7,000-square-foot spread, which is still listed for sale for $23.5 million, had been asking $50,000 per month. The Post reported yesterday that listing broker and “Selling New York” star Michele Kleier, of Gumley Haft Kleier, was seeking a renter to sign a two-year lease with an option to buy, but she confirmed to The Real Deal this morning that time has already run out for that opportunity. She declined to comment further on her reasoning, but once again, if you want views of the New York Harbor and Brooklyn Bridge through those 14-foot glass-faced clocks, you’re going to have to buy them. [more]

Brooklyn-based real estate development firm Two-Trees Management has provided a 6,440-square-foot space at a highly subsidized rate for a new city-sponsored business incubator to support the development of technology start-ups in Dumbo, the city said today. The incubator, located at 20 Jay Street — one block from Brooklyn Bridge Park — is designed to accommodate technology entrepreneurs in New York City over the next three years.

Seth Pinsky, president of New York City Economic Development Corp., announced the plan this morning during an Internet Week NY panel on the city’s “Digital Corridors.” EDC has provided a $250,000 grant for the incubator as part of a major Bloomberg administration effort to encourage entrepreneurship. TRD [more]

For months, brokers have been describing the Manhattan luxury rental market as white-hot, and here’s further evidence: the 222-unit first phase of Two Trees Management’s new Mercedes House, which hit the market less than three weeks ago, is already 50 percent spoken for.

The 29-story building at 555 West 53rd Street, named after the 330,000-square-foot Mercedes-Benz showroom at its base, was designed by starchitect Enrique Norten and is priced from $2,200 per month.

Among the draws: floor-to-ceiling windows, views of the Hudson River, on-site parking and amenity menu that includes a health club, boxing ring, golf simulator, basketball and volleyball courts and both indoor and outdoor swimming pools. TRD [more]

David Tepper and a view of the Sagaponack mansion he plans to demolishThis season’s hottest Hamptons real estate trend? Multi-million-dollar teardowns. According to the Post, some of New York’s most deep-pocketed buyers are planning demolitions of some of the East End’s priciest mansions. One such buyer is hedge fund manager David Tepper, who last May picked up a $43.5 million Sagaponack estate from Joanne Dougherty, the ex-wife of former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, in the Hamptons’ priciest sale of 2010. He’s rented out the home for the summer to billionaire Henry Silverman for $900,000, after which he plans to raze it. David Walentas is also giving his East End mansion one last hurrah before leveling the property. [more]

Two Trees Management has signed a deal with the city’s School Construction Authority to build a 300-seat middle school within its planned Dock Street residential tower, moving ahead a project that’s drawn criticism from the likes of actress Helen Hunt, historian David McCullough and director Ken Burns. According to the Brooklyn Paper, Two Trees, which is run by father-and-son development team David and Jed Walentas, has agreed to pony up the construction costs for the middle school. The facility will be on the Dock Street side of their future 17-story building and is slated for completion in time for the 2014 school year. 1 Comment

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The Clocktower triplex at 1 Main Street in Dumbo

After a nine-month hiatus from the market, David Walentas’ Clocktower building triplex in Dumbo is coming back online with a slashed asking price and a new set of brokers. According to the Post, Walentas has tapped the Kleier klan, of “Selling New York” fame, to market the 7,000-square-foot pad for $23.5 million. Sabrina Kleier Morgenstern, one-third of the Gumley Haft Kleier trio that also includes her mother, Michele Kleier, and sister, Samantha Kleier Forbes, confirmed to the The Real Deal that her family is putting the listing on the market later today and plans to hold a launch party next month to spread the word. The 1 Main Street condominium, which originally hit the market for $25 million in 2009, is still potentially Brooklyn’s priciest ever by a landslide, even after the price chop. [more]

In a sign that the credit markets are loosening, two developers have secured $135 million of state-backed construction loans, Crain’s reported. Two Trees Management has closed on a $77 million loan to finance its Clinton Park residential and commercial project at 770 Eleventh Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen, the Brooklyn-based company’s first development in Manhattan, and its largest, at 1.2 million square feet. Landlords Savanna and Monday Properties closed a $58 million loan from private investor PCCP to fund a renovation at 386 Park Avenue South, a 20-story art deco office building in Midtown South. [more]

David Walentas and his Bridgehampton estate

Two Trees Farm, the 115-acre Bridgehampton estate that belongs to Dumbo developer David Walentas, is now on the market for $55 million, a 42 percent price cut off its original asking price of $95 million. The estate, currently the home of the annual Mercedes-Benz Polo Challenge, is being eyed by two “finance hotshots from the city,” according to the Post. A smaller, 73-acre portion of the estate is also available for $20 million, which includes Walentas’ renovated 17th-century farmhouse, a caretaker’s home, pool, tennis court and equestrian facility. The Corcoran Group’s Tim Davis has the listing. [Post]
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David Walentas

Dumbo development kingpins David and Jed Walentas are on track to restart their stalled, 73-room hotel project in Williamsburg if the city approves the designation of $15 million in federal stimulus funding towards the “shovel-ready” project today, according to the Brooklyn Paper. The boutique hotel, on Wythe Avenue and North 11th Street, would be borne of a renovation of a five-story former textile factory. In 2008, the city rejected the Walentases’ $3.6 million plan for the building, which would have doubled its height. But today, their Two Trees Management is among three developers awaiting a decision from the city about who will receive funding, and how much. It wouldn’t be the only new luxury hotel in the transforming Northside area of Williamsburg, once filled with factories and row houses, as another is slated to open next year. Two Trees says the project will create 75 construction jobs and 195 permanent jobs, though the city pegs the estimate as significantly lower. [Brooklyn Paper]

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