Clockwise from top left: Magnum Real Estate Group President Benjamin Shaoul, Arman (inset), a rendering of 482 Greenwich Street, and Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Leonard SteinbergFor all the unconventional partnerships in real estate, perhaps the most unlikely is an artist and a developer conspiring to build a nine-story condominium at the corner of Greenwich and Canal streets in Tribeca, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The lot at 482 Greenwich Street was owned by the artist Arman, who made a career out of critiquing consumerism by turning the every day items that comprised the city’s grit into an usual structures. Now, his wife has partnered with Magnum Real Estate Group to turn it into a luxurious nine-story, eight-unit, Karl Fischer-designed condo.

Arman purchased the land in the early 1980s along with a five-story loft building into which he moved, predating the artistic community’s shift from Soho. [more]

From left: Some of this week’s top brokers are Kirk Henckels, Alexa Lambert, Karen Foley (Sebiri), Jed Garfield and Daniela Kunen

[more]

Bobbi Brown and 245 Tenth Avenue

Makeup mogul Bobbi Brown is in contract to buy a penthouse at 245 Tenth
Avenue
for $5 million, the New York Post reported. The two-bedroom,
three-bathroom, 2,500-square-foot unit, between 24th and 25th streets, is in the Della Valle
Bernheimer-designed condominium building that is perched above the new
second phase of the High Line. An elevator opens directly into the
apartment’s entry gallery, which leads to a 45-foot-long living room
with a fireplace and a big eat-in kitchen, with stairs leading up
to a roof terrace. The listing broker was Leonard Steinberg of
Prudential Douglas
Elliman, who could not be reached for comment. Brown also owns properties at 1 Fifth
Avenue, and in Montclair, N.J, her primary home. [Post]  [more]

When the second installment of the High Line opened last month, the word “voyeuristic” popped up more than a few times in reviews describing the park’s coexistence with its architectural surroundings. Well, it turns out that those neighboring buildings New Yorkers have been gawking at from the elevated pathway for the past two months actually have residents, and not all of them wanted to live in a metaphoric fishbowl. “People take pictures and wave at you when you’re alone in your home. We have to keep dark shades up all the time,” Ronni McFadden, who lives eye-level with the High Line at West 23rd Street and 10th Avenue, told the Post. “There’s zero privacy.” According to Carlos Santiago, “it’s a great view, but we can’t enjoy it because we have to keep the shades down at all times, and one of the best things about the apartment was the light.” [more]

Tribeca’s inventory shortage has helped salvage the troubled Tribeca Skylofts condominium at 145 Hudson Street, according to the Observer. The 14-story building, purchased in 1996 by developer Stanley Scott, launched sales for 22 condominium units on the top four floors in 2002. But the duplex penthouse was so large it exceeded Landmarks Preservation Commission filings, and had to be reworked, before eventually being bought at a then-record downtown price of $30.5 million by William Duker. However, that construction delayed the sale of a second round of nine condos on the three floors directly below the first round. (The building’s first seven floors consist exclusively of commercial condos.) Buyers deposits were refunded, and the units first returned to the market this spring. The two-, three-, and four-bedroom units, ranging in price from $3.5 million to $7.3 million are now completely sold out at an average price just less than $1,900 per square foot, despite residing in a building without any amenities typical of newer high-end stock. Real estate insiders credited the paucity of available Tribeca inventory. [more]

From the June issue: Actress Jennifer Aniston has long sought to trade the (unrealistically spacious) apartment she inhabited on “Friends” for a real, flesh-and-blood Manhattan home. For years, she’s been spotted checking out everything from newly constructed Financial District condo 20 Pine to the Village co-op 552 LaGuardia Place.
Now, Aniston has finally made up her mind. Last month, her purchase of two units at the West Village condominium 299 West 12th Street hit public records, signaling once and for all that Aniston is ready to commit.
Whether her buy at the building, developed by prewar tastemakers Bing & Bing, indicates a market recovery is less clear.

[more]

From left: Leonard Steinberg, 245 Tenth Avenue and Herve Senequier

The Grasso Holdings-developed condominium at 245 Tenth Avenue, once more than 60 percent in contract before construction stalled, kicked off its renewed sales effort with an open house last night at a fifth-floor unit overlooking the High Line. Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery is currently the lone tenant, having moved into one of the two ground-floor office condos in September 2009. Brokers Leonard Steinberg and Herve Senequier of Prudential Douglas Elliman market the residential portion of the building.
According to Steinberg, between the High Line’s extension to Greenwich Village, the subway station planned for 11th Avenue and 34th Street, and Avenues, an exclusive private school slated to open next year nearby on 10th Avenue, the neighborhood is primed to become one of the city’s most sought-after. [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]

Listing agent Paula Del Nunzio of Brown Harris Stevens and images of 4 East 84th Street (interior listing photo obtained via the Times)

An Upper East Side townhouse originally commissioned by Frank Woolworth is about to shatter New York City records when it hits the market for $90 million, likely the highest-ever official asking price for a single-family home in Manhattan.

According to the New York Times, Brown Harris Stevens townhouse guru Paula Del Nunzio is readying that listing for 4 East 80th Street, the 17,676-square-foot mansion currently owned by the estate of fitness mogul Lucille Roberts, who died in 2003.

Industry sources said its $90 million asking price will by far eclipse any other for a townhouse in New York City history; Aby Rosen’s 22 East 71st Street and the mansion near Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s, at 1016 Madison Avenue, were each, in 2008, asking $75 million. Neither property sold, and both have since slashed their asking prices. [more]

From left: Dolly Lenz, Raphael De Niro, Joyce Kafati-Batarse and Leonard Steinberg

Superbroker Dolly Lenz and the De Niro Group, led by Raphael De Niro, took home the top prizes at this year’s Prudential Douglas Elliman company awards last night. Lenz won the award for top individual based on both gross commission income and transactions, while the De Niro Group took home the prize for top team based on commission income. The Joyce Kafati-Batarse Team took home the top team prize for number of transactions. The Leonard Steinberg-Luxury Loft Group was the second-place team, based on gross commission income. TRD [more]