Clockwise from top left: Magnum Real Estate Group President Benjamin Shaoul, Arman (inset), a rendering of 482 Greenwich Street, and Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Leonard SteinbergFor all the unconventional partnerships in real estate, perhaps the most unlikely is an artist and a developer conspiring to build a nine-story condominium at the corner of Greenwich and Canal streets in Tribeca, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The lot at 482 Greenwich Street was owned by the artist Arman, who made a career out of critiquing consumerism by turning the every day items that comprised the city’s grit into an usual structures. Now, his wife has partnered with Magnum Real Estate Group to turn it into a luxurious nine-story, eight-unit, Karl Fischer-designed condo.

Arman purchased the land in the early 1980s along with a five-story loft building into which he moved, predating the artistic community’s shift from Soho. [more]

From the December issue: In a case closely watched by the residential brokerage community, New York State’s highest court will soon rule in a legal battle between Prudential Douglas Elliman and the dissatisfied sellers of a Park Avenue co-op.

The 2009 lawsuit, Douglas Elliman LLC vs. Tretter, was filed after the clients refused to pay their broker’s $70,000 commission, arguing that she was also working for the apartment’s buyers without telling them.

In May, the state Supreme Court’s appellate division ruled that the fee must be paid. The sellers, Franklin and Sheila Tretter, are now contesting that decision to the New York State Court of Appeals. The court could rule at any time, affirming the decision in Elliman’s favor, finding for the Tretters, or sending the matter to trial.

However the case plays out, real estate observers said the Tretters’ claim — that their broker was not wholly on their side — should serve as a warning to real estate agents to make certain that buyers and sellers understand who they represent. [more]

Clockwise from top left: Faith Hope Consolo, chair of the retail division at Prudential Douglas Elliman, 382 West Broadway (credit: PropertyShark) and Joseph Aquino, vice president at Prudential Douglas Elliman

Eighty-five year-old spa line Erno Laszlo is being relaunched and will open its first new spa in decades at 382 West Broadway in Soho.

The New York Post reported the company, headed by British entrepreneur Charles Denton and his RBS Equity Finance, inked a 128-month netlease for the entire 10,000-square-foot, two-story building between Broome and Spring streets in Soho, for about $1.5 million per year.

The new spa is expected to open next year in the building, which is owned by Kamran Hakim, who is said to own $1 billion worth of city real estate, and Henry Hay, a lead investor in Centaur Properties. [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]

From left: John Gomes, executive vice president of Prudential Douglas Elliman, Ross Morgan of Little Red House and Fredrik Eklund, managing director of Prudential Douglas Elliman; Fredrik Eklund, Ryan Serhant, senior vice president and managing director of Nest Seekers International, and Michael Lorber of Prudential Douglas Elliman

While a new condominium launch usually generates talk about the future of the development and the surrounding neighborhood, Brewster Carriage House developer Ross Morgan was stuck on the building’s ancient past, at a broker party Tuesday for the launch of sales at 374 Broome Street.


Morgan, head of development firm Little Red House and a child of one of Britain’s biggest construction magnates, hadn’t the slightest clue that the building he bought in late 2005 for his first New York City development was so rich in history until halfway through the gut renovation process.

That’s when said he came across an item on page three of a Google search that linked the building with the Brewster Carriage company. Comments

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Fredrik Eklund and his firm’s first Stockholm officeFrom the Novermber issue: Prudential Douglas Elliman managing director Fredrik Eklund wants to take on the world — literally. In addition to his work in New York City with Elliman, Swedish-born Eklund also owns a two-year-old real estate firm in Stockholm, which opened its second office in the city last month. And Eklund told The Real Deal he will soon launch a new firm in London. Called Eklund London New York, the new firm will be an offshoot of the 26-agent Swedish company. Eklund said he has two London staffers so far, and he is now looking for office space. He eventually hopes to have around 30 agents, he said, to tap into the market of some 35,000 Swedish expats in London. [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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Clockwise from top left: 35 West 12th Street, Robert Duffy, Paul Kolbusz, Sara Gelbard and Frank ArendsRobert Duffy, one of the founders of the Marc Jacobs International fashion brand, has closed on the $5.2 million purchase of a townhouse at 35 West 12th Street, one of the skinniest homes in the city, records show.

The four-story townhouse between Fifth and Sixth avenues is a mere 13.5 feet wide, sandwiched between two much taller buildings. New York’s skinniest townhouse is the 9.5-foot-wide 72 1/2 Bedford St. in the West Village, the onetime home of poet Edna St. Vincent Millay and the actors Cary Grant and John Barrymore.
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From left: 62 Bank Street, Lawrence Luhring, Robert Duffy and the home’s interior

Mark Jacobs co-founder Robert Duffy has sold his West Village townhouse for nearly 10 percent more than the asking price. The International Business Times reported that his 22-foot wide, 2,700-square-foot home at 62 Bank Street sold for $7.05 million. The buyer is Lawrence Luhring, co-founder of the Luhring Augistine Gallery.

The recently renovated home has three bedrooms, three bathrooms and was listed by Frank Arends of Prudential Douglas Elliman for $6.5 million. [more]

Related Companies CEO Stephen Ross and the Shops at Columbus Circle

To the surprise of early critics, the Shops at Columbus Circle have been a resounding success, and now Related Companies is revamping the mall’s tenants in hopes of boosting profits, Crain’s reported.
Wary of a mall in Manhattan, some high-priced retailers shunned the mall when it launched seven years ago. But now that it has proven successful, Related is pushing some lower-revenue tenants to leave before their 10-year leases expire, in the interest of finding luxury — and higher-paying — tenants. Crain’s said over the next 18 months about a dozen new, mostly high-fashion stores, will come to the mall. [more]