Jenene Danenberg, Luxury Attache co-founder, and 100 11th Avenue, where closings began last week

In a residential market where most new developers are trying to cut costs, Jenene Danenberg is convinced she can still make them spring for an upgrade. And she has — most recently at 100 11th Avenue and 141 Fifth Avenue, both of which started move-ins last week. Cape Advisors brought in Luxury Attache during the development of its 72-unit Jean Nouvel project at 100 11th Avenue near 19th Street. David Comfort, a senior executive with Cape Advisors, said that the service was helpful in moving sales. “At the time we [began sales in February 2007], West Chelsea was not a [very] residential area, some of the niceties were not particularly known,” Comfort said. Luxury Attache helped educate buyers on attractions in West Chelsea, Comfort said, and even helped arrange travel plans for prospective residents. Luxury Attache, a four-year-old full-concierge service that developers and condo boards have on board to assist residents with everything from party planning to nabbing theater tickets, currently has a full-time station or at least dedicated services in place at 16 other Manhattan buildings. Those include Soho Mews, the Greenwich Club Residences, the Prudential Center, and Andre Balazs’ William Beaver House. Other clients include the National Hockey League, with whom they recently signed, and financial bigwigs like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. [more]

From the November issue: Real estate brokers are often stereotyped as shysters and
double-dealers. But in today’s rocky market, buyers are sometimes the
ones being deceptive.
Edward Longley, an associate broker at City Connections Realty, was
shocked to discover recently that his clients were planning to buy the
88 Greenwich Street condo he had shown them — but without paying
Longley a commission. And real estate agent Carleen McManus arranged
for her client to see a unit at Jersey City’s 77 Hudson before she went
on vacation, only to return and find the client negotiating to buy a
unit there. More and more agents say buyers they have worked with — often for
months at a time — are cutting them out of the deal when it’s time to
pay the commission.