Met Ball attendees, from left: Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch, Anna Wintour, Madonna and Katy Perry

Loews Hotels chairman Jonathan Tisch and his wife, Lizzie, are donating $10 million for a new gallery in the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of a major renovation of its 23,000-square-foot Costume Institute, the New York Times reported. While fundraising for the project has been in the works for years (last year’s Gala Benefit organized by Vogue editor Ann Wintour raised around $9 million), the Tisch gift “provided us with the tipping point to move forward,” said Met director Thomas Campbell. Comments

Robert Hurst, former president of the Whitney Museum of American Art, 950 Fifth Avenue, unit 89

The limestone prewar co-op at 950 Fifth Avenue has only seven units and a reputation as a haven for billionaire bachelors — reportedly single Boston Properties CEO Mort Zuckerman lives there, and bigwigs Dennis Kozlowski, formerly of Tyco, and Jonathan Tisch of Loews Hotel are ex-residents. For a cool $29 million, one newcomer could join the pack. The 12-room duplex that belongs to Robert Hurst, a Goldman Sachs alum and former president of the Whitney Museum of American Art, hit the market today, according to Streeteasy.com. The spread, unit 89, has views of Central Park, a maid’s room and on the second floor, via a limestone staircase, three bedrooms. Hurst, now a managing director at private equity firm Crestview Partners, could not be reached for comment and Brown Harris Stevens’ Alexis Bodenheimer, who is the exclusive agent with the brokerage’s Cathy Franklin, was mum on the listing. TRD [more]

Socialite and philanthropist Lily Safra’s son, Eduardo, is in contract on two adjacent co-op apartments at 2 East 67th Street for approximately $18 million combined — a 25 percent discount off their last combined asking price of $24 million, and a nearly 50 percent discount off of their original combined asking price: $34.5 million, according to the Post. The two apartments, each with two bedrooms and four bathrooms, comprise the entire fourth floor and are said to be in good condition. In 2008, Loews CEO Jonathan Tisch bought an 11th-floor apartment in the same building that needed major renovations for $48 million. The full third-floor unit below the new pad recently saw a $5 million price cut to $38 million. [Post, 3rd item]

Serena Boardman (Photo credit: Patrick McMullan)

From the December issue: It’s 2005, and golden-haired socialite
Serena Boardman is sunning herself on a yacht near the coast of
Sardinia in Italy. Nearby, her friend Dori Cooperman — now best known
for befriending actress Lindsay Lohan in rehab — is on the phone with
a reporter from W Magazine, chronicling the addictive qualities of
photo Web site PatrickMcMullan.com. Boardman interjects with her
opinion of the site, which documents the social lives of New York
City’s glitterati. “Tell him it captures a moment,” she shouts. Until
recently, the scene was typical for the 39-year-old Boardman, the
jet-setting heiress to a banking fortune whose stepmother is a European
princess. Along with society pals like Alexandra von Fürstenberg and Blaine Trump, Boardman spent her 20s being photographed in couture gowns at galas and benefits all over New York and Palm Beach, often with her equally glamorous sister, Samantha. Magazines chronicled her taste in clothes (Roberto Cavalli ruffled cocktail dresses) and jewelry (Verdura). She held jobs at the Web site Luxuryfinder.com and in the jewelry department at Sotheby’s. But to the media they were a postscript to Boardman’s glamorous social life. So it comes as a surprise to those who know Boardman that only a few years later, she’s morphed into one of the most successful real estate brokers in the business. [more]

Real estate bigwigs brought their “A” game to David Moore’s “Funny Business” comedy show for charity at Caroline’s comedy club in Times Square last Thursday night (see highlights in the video below). Stephen Siegel, chairman of global brokerage at CB Richard Ellis, told jokes about the down real estate market, the bad job market and at least one that was not family friendly. The show also featured schtick by Jonathan Tisch, chief executive of Loews Hotels, who sang a rendition of the Frank Sinatra song “It was a very good year.” He started out: “When I was 53 — it was a very good year — it was a very good year for hotel chains and travel. The money flowed free. It was before AIG. It was 2006.” And Stew Leonard, president and CEO of popular grocery chain Stew Leonard, told a Madoff joke. The charity comedy show was hosted by David Moore, CEO of Register.com and vice chairman of private jet company Marquis Jet. TRD
[more]

From the November issue: During the boom years, Manhattan real estate seemed like an open book.
As prices climbed higher, news of record-breaking Manhattan deals –
like Harry Macklowe’s $60 million Plaza buy or Jonathan Tisch’s $48
million co-op purchase at 2 East 67th Street — was reported not just
throughout the country, but all over the globe. With city data about real estate transactions being published
online, some brokers jockeyed to have their names linked with
high-profile sales. Buying or selling a high-priced Manhattan apartment
became a badge of honor.
Still, there was an element of polite society that preferred its
real estate quiet, working with discreet brokers who could be trusted
to keep their names and activities out of the headlines.