Madonna and her Upper West Side pad

Entertainer and songstress Madonna is not known for doing anything by halves. Her approach to selling real estate appears to be no different. The “Material Girl” has slashed the listing price on her Upper West Side co-op by more than 15 percent after less than three months on the market, according to data from Streeteasy.com. The unit, which was previously listed for $23.5 million, is now available for just $19.995 million, the listings website shows. It is located at Harperly Hall at 41 Central Park West. [more]

From left: Madonna, Robert De Niro, Oprah Winfrey and Anderson Cooper

This year, boldfaced names of film, television, music and beyond moved around New York — buying, renting, selling (or attempting to do so). From the sale of Oprah Winfrey’s penthouse at Place 57 to the controversial demolition of “Friends” star David Schwimmer’s East Village townhouse to the Clintons’ Lily Pond Lane rental in East Hampton, 2012 marked a busy year in the world of celebrity real estate. Here’s a recap by industry. [more]

Madonna and the Upper West Side apartment

Madonna is listing her 6,000-square-foot Upper West Side duplex at 41 Central Park West, between 64th and 65th streets, for $23.5 million, the Real Estalker reported.

The pop star listed the six-bedroom, eight-bathroom spread at Harperly Hall for sale yesterday, according to Streeteasy.com. The listing brokers are Arabella Greene Buckworth of Brown Harris Stevens and Adam Modlin of the Modlin Group. [more]

Madonna will have to go to court after a resident in her Central Park
West building at 1 West 64th Street has complained that she was being too loud, the New York
Post reported. A Manhattan Supreme Court judge is letting a complaint
by resident Karen George, who claims that Madonna would
play music and dance around so loudly downstairs that her apartment
above would shake, go to trial…. [more]

Sandy Gallin and his “Serenity” estate

Talent manager Sandy Gallin has unloaded his 14-acre Bridgehampton estate for $17.5 million, or 45 percent off of its original, $32 million asking price in September 2009, according to Curbed. Gallin, whose celebrity client roster has included Michael Jackson and Barbara Streisand over the course of his career, had dubbed the property — the combination of three lots, including a pond, pool and 6,500-square-foot house — “Serenity.” Madonna was at one point rumored to be the buyer, but Bill Williams, vice president at Sotheby’s, now confirms that it was actually Matt Coffin, of lowermybills.com fame and fortune, and his wife, Los Angeles designer and one-time Wilhelmina Models president Natasha Esch, who were brought in by Sotheby’s broker Rylan Jacka and triumphed in a “bidding war.” … [more]

BHS’ John Burger and San Remo

The San Remo, the legendary twin-towered co-op at 145 Central Park West, is primed to shatter its own sales records with one apartment in contract for upwards of $15 million and another on the market for $20 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. The first, a 19th-floor apartment with a 2,500-square-foot terrace that was listed for $17.5 million with John Burger of Brown Harris Stevens, went into contract last week. If it closes, it would be the highest-priced sale ever in the iconic building, which has been home to celebrities like Rita Hayworth, Bono and Steven Spielberg, thanks to a notably lax co-op board that doesn’t tend to shy away from big names as much as its peers across the park. (Though, the San Remo’s board did notoriously reject Madonna in 1985). But a $15 million-plus record sale would likely not hold that title for long: the 11-room apartment four floors below has already set a record with its $20 million listing price, and brokers say the very top of the market in New York City is holding strong despite a bleak residential market elsewhere. The 4,250-square-foot apartment, which is also listed by Burger, has three bedrooms, including a master suite that boasts a 23-foot spa bath and dressing room. [WSJ]

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A private driveway and garage at East 94th Street between Lexington and Third avenues is a rarity in Manhattan with more than 1.5 million cars competing for a scarcity of spots, the New York Times reported. Parking is becoming an expensive and often controversial luxury in New York City, as The Real Deal columnist Michael Stoler noted. The owners of the Upper East Side garage sued the city for the right to build it, but since then, the City Council has been cracking down on regulations meant to tighten restrictions on curb cuts and zoning laws to prevent others from doing the same. At a West Chelsea building at 200 11th Avenue, apartments with private garages range from $5 million to more than $17 million, broker Leonard Steinberg told the Times. Madonna paid $32 million for a townhouse with a two-car garage, but even a one-car garage could add more than $500,000 to the value of a house, said Dexter Guerrieri, president of Manhattan brokerage Vandenburg, the Townhouse Experts. [NYT]

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After dropping $32 million on her townhouse at 152 East 81st Street last April, Madonna is making some major changes to her 12,000-square-foot pad, according to the New York Post. The celeb singer is adding a new, 1,614-square-foot floor to her home, which will be used as a gym, according to city records. But the $1.7 million renovation doesn’t stop there — Madonna also plans to gut renovate the property’s 10 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms, reports show. Also among the additions to her home are a hair salon, a luggage-only closet and an additional master bedroom. [Post]

… [more]

After dropping $32 million on her townhouse at 152 East 81st Street last April, Madonna is making some major changes to her 12,000-square-foot pad, according to the New York Post. The celeb singer is adding a new, 1,614-square-foot floor to her home, which will be used as a gym, according to city records. But the $1.7 million renovation doesn’t stop there — Madonna also plans to gut renovate the property’s 10 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms, reports show. Also among the additions to her home are a hair salon, a luggage-only closet and an additional master bedroom. [Post]

… [more]

The Lower East Side building that has housed the Eisner Brothers Store for the past 30 years is on the market for $18 million. The building at 75 Essex Street, listed by Lisa Bornstein of Bond New York, is being marketed as a potential condo conversion, “akin to Nolita’s Candle Building,” or for use as an office building, hotel, or museum. It will be delivered vacant with 19,300 square feet of air rights. Still, Eisner has some ideas of his own. In an interview with Bowery Boogie, he said the contract for whoever ends up taking the property off his hands will require the new owner to leave the exterior “as is.” He envisions the property as a “single-family home for a famous person… someone like Madonna.” Eisner also noted that it has the “potential for a swimming pool in the rear yard.” [Bowery Boogie]