Though the Mexican empanadas, tequila and piñatas were typical of Manhattan Cinco de Mayo celebrations yesterday, the location certainly was not: a new condominium between 81st and 82nd streets along Park Avenue (see photos above). That contributed to the large crowd at 949 Park Avenue last night — 145 brokers, by the count of Fredrick Eklund, one of three Prudential Douglas Elliman agents exclusively marketing the building — packed into one of the glassy development’s six units, all duplexes.

The crowd was dodging “Million Dollar Listing” camera crews filming an episode for the show, premiering in the fall, as well as the staircase, and a jam-packed elevator corridor where visitors were angling to get to the roof. [more]

Harry Macklowe has struck a deal to buy 737 Park Avenue for between $250 million and $255 million, sources tell Crain’s, and plans to convert the 108 rental units into condominiums. Macklowe’s interest in the property was widely reported, but details of the sale price and his intentions for the property are new. It’s the second building in the area that Macklowe has purchased in the hopes of doing a condo conversion, as last month Macklowe purchased a property at 150 East 72nd Street near Lexington Avenue for $70 million. Macklowe also bought 953-961 First Avenue with Prudential Douglas Elliman chairman Howard Lorber earlier this year. In purchasing 737 Park, 30 percent of which is comprised of rent stabilized units, Macklowe joined an undisclosed equity partner, according to Crain’s. [more]

From left: Howard Lorber, Leonard Steinberg, Herve Senequier, Dolly Lenz, Raphael De Niro and 41 W. 74th Street

A six-story Upper West Side townhouse has just sold for $12.5 million, according to the New York Observer, after a tumultuous past as a would-be condominium development. The townhouse, at 41 West 74th Street, which contains two 3,800-square-foot triplex units, was purchased by Prudential Douglas Elliman honcho Howard Lorber’s Vector Group this past August and was marketed by Elliman top dogs Leonard Steinberg, Herve Senequier, Dolly Lenz and Raphael De Niro. [more]

Developer Harry Macklowe, who was infamously forced to relinquish nearly his entire real estate empire after a bad $7 billion real estate bet at the height of the market, is getting back in the game. Macklowe, who also lost a business partner in his son, William, as a result of his portfolio’s implosion, now has a new teammate in Prudential Douglas Elliman Chairman Howard Lorber. According to Crain’s, the pair just purchased the defaulted loan on a prime Midtown development site and is planning to build a residential tower there. Comments

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100 Eleventh AvenueFrom the February issue: Outside, a late-January snowstorm has left a delicate frosting on the
shimmering gray-green jumble of steel and glass that is 100 Eleventh
Avenue, making the newly constructed condo tower all the more
eye-catching in the flat winter light.
Inside, however, fat drops of water fall from the ceiling, forming a
puddle on the polished-granite floor of the Jean Nouvel-designed lobby.
Todd Eberle, a photographer who lives on the fourth floor, eyes the leak with concern.
“I don’t know what that’s about, but it’s not good,” he says.
A photographer-at-large for Vanity Fair who has spent much of his
career shooting architecture, Eberle is an avowed Nouvel devotee. They love their new apartment, its terrace with views of Frank
Gehry’s IAC Building, and the way changing patterns of light dance
across the floor.
Yet Eberle is one of a number of residents voicing concerns about the building. [more]

Caroline Grane and Michael Lorber
Bravo’s New York City version of “Million Dollar Listing” begins shooting today, and the Post has more gossip about what is to be expected come next fall, when the show will premiere. As might be expected, the network that brought us the “Real Housewives” plans to distinguish its version of realty reality television from HGTV’s popular “Selling New York” by focusing on “strong, contrasting personalities who travel in the same circle… and who clash whenever things threaten to get too boring,” rather than on the properties themselves. In that vein, Core broker Caroline Grane has just jumped ship to Nest Seekers International to join the “Listings” cast. [more]

TRD publisher Amir Korangy mingles with guests

Earlier this month, 1,400 people attended The Real Deal’s sixth annual forum addressing “The Road to Recovery.” Check out photos of people shmoozing during the networking portion of the event as well as the scene during the panel discussion and the Q & A with Sharif El-Gamal, chairman and CEO of Soho Properties and developer of the Park51 mosque and community center near Ground Zero. The panelists included hotelier Ian Schrager, CEO of the Ian Schrager Company; Daniel Tishman, chairman & CEO of Tishman Construction; Jeff Blau, president of Related Companies; Robert Knakal, chairman of Massey Knakal Realty Services; Howard Lorber, chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman, and Diane Ramirez, president of Halstead Property. TRD

[more]

Hotelier Ian Schrager, CEO of the Ian Schrager Company; Daniel Tishman, chairman & CEO of Tishman Construction; Jeff Blau, president of Related Companies; Robert Knakal, chairman of Massey Knakal Realty Services; Howard Lorber, chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman, and Diane Ramirez, president of Halstead Property, batted around market issues in a panel discussion at [more]

Event panelists included Ian Schrager, Daniel Tishman, Jeff Blau, Robert Knakal,  Howard Lorber and Diane Ramirez

Top: panelists at the The Real Deal Forum, from left: Robert Knakal, Diane Ramirez, Howard Lorber, Brian Sullivan, Jeff Blau, Dan Tishman and Ian Schrager; bottom: the crowd listens in (credit: Michael Toolan)

Park 51 developer Sharif El-Gamal did not mince words in discussing Sarah Palin tonight at The Real Deal’s [more]