Elizabeth Stribling

Residential brokerage Stribling & Associates has joined forces with London-based real estate services company Savills, forming a professional association, according to Stribling representatives. The association is meant to help Stribling’s “client’s homes reach the widest possible market,” according to founder Elizabeth Stribling, while giving Savils an entree into the U.S. market. Attorneys Jay Neveloff and Steve Senir of Levin Naftalis & Frankel represented Stribling in the formation of the association. As The Real Deal previously reported, Stribling has also recently expanded its grasp to Italy, taking on listings in Tuscany and beyond. TRD

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From left: James Dimon, whose firm JPMorgan Chase owes $300,000; Crowne Plaza JFK, which owes $944,491; the Holiday Inn JFK, which owes $852,239; Gordon DuGan, whose firm W. P. Carey & Co. owes $464,000 (Dimon photo source: Public Intelligence)

Tax debtors beware: New York State is calling you out.

Last Friday, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance went live on its Web site with lists of the top 250 individual and corporate tax debtors in the state.

The individual debtors range from Onandaga County resident Bradley Cooke, who owes $381,509, to Irving Bilzinsky, the former Scores strip clubs owner from Brooklyn who topped out the list with more than $15 million outstanding taxes from between 2007 and 2009. Among businesses, Gui Hong Chen, of Queens, took the top spot with more than $19 million in unpaid corporate taxes.

This week, The Real Deal combed through the newly-public documents to find the worst offenders in New York City real estate.

They include luxury broker Agnes Nolan and her late husband, who owe more than $850,000 in personal income taxes, a subsidiary of real estate investment firm W.P. Carey, which has a warrant out for roughly $464,000, and JPMorgan Chase Bank, which owes upwards of $300,000 (see the full list after the jump).

Perhaps the highest-profile individuals listed were Ponzi-schemer Bernard Madoff (No. 69, with $984,281 in sales taxes) and celebrity fashion photographer Annie Leibovitz (No. 83, with $503,740 in personal income taxes outstanding). Earlier this week, Leibovitz narrowly avoided emergency sales of her four New York homes — three Greenwich Village brownstones and part of the Astor family’s estate in Rhinebeck, N.Y. — when a Los Angeles private equity firm specializing in distressed real estate agreed to take on her millions of dollars in debt…. [more]

Agnes Nolan, the veteran luxury real estate broker who once ran brokerage Whitbred-Nolan, has listed her own slice of high-end New York real estate for $13.9 million. Nolan, who employed Elizabeth Stribling for 14 years before she broke off to start Stribling & Associates 30 years ago, has lived in the penthouse duplex at 271 Central Park West since 1964. The five-bedroom, five-and-a-half-bathroom home contains 4,000 square feet, a wraparound terrace and views of Central Park. Powerbroker Dolly Lenz of Prudential Douglas Elliman has the listing. [Post, 4th item]

From left: David Arena, Elizabeth Stribling, David Schlamm and Barak Dunayer

In the wake of the financial crisis that ripped through the country, real estate pros did their best to keep their heads above water in 2009. As 2010 commences, The Real Deal asked a number of New Yorkers hailing from different parts of the real estate industry why they are glad 2009 is over. Click here to see what they said is their top reason. TRD

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From left: Studley’s soiree was in its new offices at 399 Park Avenue; Charles
Rutenberg Realty celebrated the holidays at bowling alley Lucky Strike
Lanes, and Halstead Property held its bash at Guastavino’s at 409 East
59th Street, where Brown Harris Stevens also celebrated the season

In a real estate market that’s been challenging at best, knowing how to celebrate the bounty of the holidays is a tricky thing.

Celebrate too much and you risk looking out of touch with the economic climate. Too little, and your firm could look like it’s struggling.

“Perception is everything,” said Cindy Seidowitz, a senior vice president at Studley. It could seem terribly gauche, for example, “if [people] are canceling parties and scaling back and you’re throwing this lavish bash,” she added.

Most years commercial real estate firm Studley would decamp to a restaurant or club for its annual Christmas party — this year, it stuck to its home base. The firm, which is planning to move into its new 11th-floor office at 399 Park Avenue in the first quarter of 2010, decided to celebrate the holidays and its relocation to the 60,000-square-foot space by holding its annual holiday bash there. … [more]

As industry leaders lamented the dissolution of Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy, a story The Real Deal broke Wednesday, the Corcoran Group’s CEO Pamela Liebman dismissed rumors that the mid-sized brokerage will be absorbed into Corcoran. “There is no formal incorporation of Coldwell Banker agents into Corcoran,” Liebman said. “This is not a purchase by [Corcoran parent company] NRT.” She said that in the coming weeks, some former CBHK agents may be encouraged to come to Corcoran because the two companies share ties to New Jersey-based Realogy Corporation. Industry sources have said that JoAnne Kennedy, the COO of CBHK, will
be relocated within Realogy, and in a memo released Wednesday, Kennedy
told CBHK brokers that if they “follow her,” they will be able to keep
their listings and data. When asked whether Kennedy would be hired by Corcoran and bring CBHK agents with her, Liebman said she had no comment…. [more]

Elizabeth Stribling and Ian Levine

Stribling & Associates has formed a property management alliance
with Spandrel Property Services, a property management firm and
affiliate of developer RAL Companies & Affiliates, the firms
announced this week. Spandrel will be able to solicit property management business from
Stribling’s high-end brokers, said Ian Levine, Spandrel’s president,
who is also COO and CFO of RAL. RAL developed One Brooklyn Bridge Park,
for which Stribling is the exclusive sales and marketing broker. Elizabeth Stribling, Stribling’s founder and president, said since her company does not have a property management division this
arrangement benefits her firm because her sales agents can better meet
client needs. Stribling & Associates can refer clients who are looking for a
property manager to Spandrel, Stribling said. Often, building board
members ask for property manager recommendations, she said…. [more]