The Dakota in the Upper West Side (Source: StreetEasy)

Mired in an economic crisis, Portugal is selling off its assets, including an eight-room co-op at the Dakota at 1 West 72nd Street that the country has owned for 40-plus years, according to the New York Post. [more]

Hassan Nemazee and the apartment at 770 Park Avenue

A Park Avenue residence that once served as the home of convicted white collar fraudster Hassan Nemazee has found a buyer after two years on the market, according to property records filed today. The apartment, at 770 Park Avenue, sold for $17.75 million to Marina Shields Purcell, the half-sister of Hollywood actress Brooke Shields, and her husband Thomas Purcell. [more]

John.Burger

From the February issue: John Burger spends a lot of time walking through Central Park. The Brown Harris Stevens superbroker specializes in the grand apartment buildings located on the leafy thoroughfares bordering the park, and he prefers to travel between them on foot. “I do a lot on Central Park West and a lot on Fifth and Park avenues, so I shuttle back and forth,” said Burger. “I try to walk as often as possible, even in the middle of January, because it can be very beautiful and very peaceful.” Lately, he’s been getting a lot of exercise. [more]

John Burger and 944 Fifth Avenue and David Hamamoto

After hitting the market in June, the Upper East Side co-op of David Hamamoto, chairman and CEO of NorthStar Realty Finance, has sold for $50 million, Bloomberg News reported. The closing for the property located at 944 Fifth Avenue was completed on Dec. 7, according to New York City property records made public yesterday. The buyer is listed as Frank McCourt, but the deed does not provide any additional information. (It is unclear whether the buyer is the Frank McCourt who is a real estate developer and the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers; that bankrupt team was recently sold for $2 billion.) [more]

From left: John Burger, an interior shot of Barnes’ unit and the Dakota

The head of the Dakota’s co-op board, hedge-funder Bruce Barnes apartment at the storied building — listed for $29.6 million — is in contract, Curbed reported. The property was first listed this past April and, according to Streeteasy.com, the price never changed. John Burger at Brown Harris Stevens had the listing. [more]

From left: Rhonda Duffy, John Burger and Rebecca Riskin

What does it take to be a top broker?

The Wall Street Journal breaks it down by region in three real estate markets: New York, Atlanta and Santa Barbara, Calif., and looks at top agents in each location. Brown Harris Stevens’ John Burger told the Journal that he has reached the peak by cultivating relationships with New York City’s well-heeled residents. “When I see clients in New York,” he said, “I entertain them at my club.” [more]

‘Sex and the City’ creator Darren Star is listing his apartment in 1 Central Park West

‘Sex and the City’ creator and producer Darren Star is listing his 1 Central Park West condominium for $15 million.

The unit, 35G, features a 40-foot entertainment space with walls facing Central Park and the Hudson River. For an additional fee, a buyer can buy the apartment’s custom furniture. The apartment was designed by Los Angeles designer Waldo Fernandez, who did a gut renovation on the unit when Star bought it in 2005. [more]

From left: Paula Del Nunzio, Dolly Lenz, Noble Black, Sharon Baum

From the July issue: John Burger has had a good year.  Not only did the Brown Harris Stevens broker earn the No. 1 spot on The Real Deal’s annual ranking of Manhattan’s top listing agents, he also more than doubled his dollar volume of listings from a year ago to $411.7 million.

That number sets a new bar for the ranking, which is based on dollar volume of active Manhattan residential listings, gathered from Online Residential in mid-June. [more]

From left: the exterior and interior of 88 Central Park West

Two Upper West Side apartments that can be combined to provide the buyer with 50 feet of frontage on Central Park have hit the market, according to Streeteasy.com. Whoever buys the apartment not only gets a 6-bedroom, 6-bathroom spread with a private keyed elevator and an art gallery, they also get a celebrity neighbor (although not Katie Holmes).

The co-op units are available at 88 Central Park West, where Robert De Niro resides (and sets fires) and where Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker nearly bought the $25 million penthouse. Sting owned an apartment at the exclusive co-op until two years ago, when he sold his unit for $17 million. [more]

John Burger and 944 Fifth Avenue

A full floor unit in the co-op building at 944 Fifth Avenue is hitting the market with a $50 million asking price, the New York Times reported. John Burger, senior vice president of Brown Harris Stevens, is listing the apartment on behalf of a private investor who bought the apartment 15 years ago and commissioned a two-year renovation before moving in.

The upper-floor unit has six bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms among its 5,000 square feet. It has 70 feet overlooking Central Park, including a 27-foot long living room, and a private elevator entrance in the — literally — white glove building. [more]