From left: Related President Jeff Blau, the exterior of the Chatham and the interior of Blau's apartment

Related Companies President Jeff Blau has finally found a buyer for his customized penthouse at the Chatham condominium on the Upper East Side, according to public records filed with the city today.

The two-bedroom, three-bathroom penthouse, which was initially listed with Leighton Candler of the Corcoran Group last April for $18.9 million and later dropped its price to $15.7 million with Cathy Franklin and Alexis Bodenheimer of Brown Harris Stevens, ultimately fetched an even $14 million, records show. Franklin and Bodenheimer were not immediately available for comment. [more]

From left: Robert Knakal and Jeff Sutton From the December issue: Sometimes, the Penn is mightier than the sword — at least when it comes to New York City’s real estate elite. The roster of “Wharton Mafia” — those who have graduated from the real estate program at the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania — is long and illustrious.

The school — which now has a center named for billionaire investor Sam Zell and his late business partner — has churned out heavyweight grads like Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, William Mack, Richard Mack, Jeff Sutton, Andrew Isikoff, Jeff Blau, Robert Knakal, Andrew Mathias, David Brause and Ara Hovnanian.

The schooling can prove professionally transformative. For every heir like Trump or Mack who gains some polish, there are others with fewer — if any — connections who gain the New York real estate world partly through Wharton. [more]

From left: Related Companies President Jeff Blau and a 51st floor residence at MiMA

The Related Companies has switched its strategy at MiMA in Midtown West, the Wall Street Journal reported, and will now lease the nearly complete top-floor units it had long been planning to sell.

Since development began on the 63-story, 814-unit building at 450 West 42nd Street near 10th Avenue, Related had said it would reserve the 151 apartments on the top 13 floors for condominium sales. But now the developer has plans to market them as ultra high-end rentals, with three-bedroom units commanding as much as $20,000 per month. [more]

The Related Companies reimagined the design of the first phase of its Hudson Yards project this past summer, the Wall Street Journal reported, after Chairman Stephen Ross became disenchanted with the original renderings.

“I could tell that Stephen wasn’t in love with it,” Jay Cross, who oversees the West Side project for Related, told the Journal. “He felt he wanted the buildings to be more dramatic. And we found that the marketplace was looking for bigger buildings.”

The initial design, by William Pedersen of Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates architecture firm, featured three strictly rectangular steel office towers, the shortest in the middle. [more]

Related Companies CEO Stephen Ross and President Jeff Blau were on hand at the official announcement that Coach would occupy about 600,000 square feet at the first building the developer plans to construct in its Hudson Yards project on the West Side. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, as well as executives from bag maker Coach, were present at the event at 30th Street and 11th Avenue this morning. CBRE brokers Mary Ann Tighe and Greg Tosko, represented Coach in the transaction. – Adam Pincus [more]

From left: Related Companies Chairman Stephen Ross and partners Jeff Blau and Bruce Beal

Only 18 months ago, developer and Related Companies Chairman Stephen Ross thought U.S. banks were a wise investment. Now, it seems, he’s changed his mind.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Ross and partners Jeff Blau and Bruce Beal each put $100 million of their own money, in addition to $1 billion raised from investors, into a fund called SJB Escrow Corp. in 2009, and spent a year researching U.S. banks, hoping to buy or invest $1.1 billion in lenders. The deeper they looked however, the more worrying things became; they saw troubled assets, weak loan demand, rising regulatory costs and few growth prospects.
“We’re disappointed to see the opportunity evaporate,” Ross said. “If you look at the environment today, I feel even more comfortable that we made the right decision [not to invest].” [more]

Related Companies President Jeff Blau

From the July issue: Jeff Blau is president of Related Companies, one of the largest private real estate development firms in the country, with a portfolio valued at over $15 billion. Earlier this year, Related launched MiMA, a 1.2 million-square-foot, mixed-use development on 42nd Street in Manhattan. The company is also developing the 26-acre Hudson Yards, the largest development site remaining in Manhattan, with plans for up to four corporate headquarters, a retail complex, a hotel, a public school and nine residential buildings. Click here for the complete Q & A. [more]

From left: Bradley Mendelson, executive vice president of Cushman & Wakefield; Jeff Blau, president of Related Companies; Amira Yunis, executive vice president of Newmark and Jason Pruger, Executive Managing Director at Newmark

New York retail brokers and principals are making late appointments and boarding flights over the next few days in preparation to attend the world’s largest retail real estate show in Las Vegas.

Most of the city’s real estate professionals who focus on leasing and sales of store spaces will be at the International Council of Shopping Centers global convention known as RECon, from Sunday to next Wednesday, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The attendee list is a Who’s Who of New York City retail, from landlords like Vornado Realty Trust, Crown Retail Services and Forest City Enterprises to brokerages like Cushman & Wakefield, CB Richard Ellis and Northwest Atlantic. [more]

1. Jennifer Aniston finally closes on a West Village penthouse
[Curbed]
2. Related’s Jeff Blau champions risk-taking in speech to college graduates
[WSJ]
3. Gair2 at 25 Washington Street now open for business
[Curbed]
4. UES office building at 1556 Third Avenue hits the market
[NYO]
5. Prime Boerum Hill property for sale
[Brownstoner]
6. Washington Heights’ High Bridge Water Tower needs $2M in structural repairs
[DNAinfo]
7. Art project would make New York’s housing projects look psychedelic
[Curbed]
8. Chelsea homeless shelter secures longterm city contract
[DNAinfo]
9. Fort Greene’s ABistro finally making moves
[Brownstoner]
10. Will Smith’s trailer and portable gym are ordered away from “Men in Black” set on Greene Street
[DNAinfo]

Jeff Blau, president of developer Related Companies, has listed his two-bedroom penthouse unit at 181 East 65th Street, according to the Wall Street Journal, raising eyebrows with his asking price of $18.9 million. The 3,160-square-foot apartment, located on the corner of Third Avenue, would fetch just under $6,000 per square foot if sold for its asking price, a rare feat for any listing, and particularly for the neighborhood. The apartment building, which opened in 2000, was developed by Related. The penthouse features a 23-foot tall glass-walled dining room and four terraces. [WSJ]