Carol Friedman, senior vice president at Nest Seekers, and 36 Gramercy Park EastAs the last of the 25 available units enter contract at Mann Realty’s condominium conversion of 36 Gramercy Park East, more units are being prepared to hit the market, according to Nest Seekers International, which is marketing the building.

Sales launched at the 51-unit former rental building, between 20th and 21st streets, in 2010, even as Mann continued to do interior renovation work on the circa 1908 building. Buyers paid about $2,200 to $2,400 per square foot for unrenovated two- and three-bedroom apartments facing Gramercy Park, and then commissioned custom renovations. The buyers of renovated one- and two-bedroom apartments that don’t face the park paid an average of $1,806 and $1,930 per foot, respectively, Carol Friedman, senior vice president of Nest Seekers and marketing agent at the building, said. – Adam Fusfeld [more]

Maurice Mann’s condominium conversion at 36 Gramercy Park East has crossed the 50 percent sold mark, with 19 of the 30 units available for sale in the building now either closed or in contract, according to Nest Seekers International, which is marketing the project. (The building has 51 units in total, but some are still occupied by rent-stabilized tenants.) Sales launched just under a year ago, and in March, the brokerage team increased prices by as much as 23 percent in response to what it described as high demand for the homes. Prices for the remaining units range from $1.325 million for one-bedrooms to $5.895 million for three-bedrooms. TRD [more]

Nest Seeker’s agent Sabrina Seidner, who is marketing the condo at 314 West 100th Street

The last two available apartments at the 33-unit boutique condominium at 314 West 100th Street are now in contract. The building, located between Riverside Drive and West End Avenue, has been on the market since 2007, first being handled by the Corcoran Group, according to a spokesperson for Nest Seekers International, which began marketing the building in early 2010. The condo, built in 1936, recently underwent a complete renovation, while also retaining the original floors, doors and other fixtures. TRD [more]

Closings have begun at the Upper West Side’s Apthorp condominium, Prudential Douglas Elliman powerbroker Dolly Lenz told the Post. Lenz said more than $100 million worth of closings are expected over the next six weeks. The iconic 102-year-old building, whose residents have included Nora Ephron, Al Pacino, Cyndi Lauper and Sidney Poitier, was originally built for the Astor Family. Developers Mann Realty and Africa Israel bought the building, which lies between 78th and 79th streets between Broadway and West End Avenue, for $426 million in 2007. A controversial rental-to-condo conversion battle followed, and the offering plan was approved in 2008. [Post]

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Lev Leviev, head of Africa Israel, and the Apthorp

A state Supreme Court judge ruled Monday against the owners of the famed Apthorp condominium on the Upper West Side, blocking a proposed monthly rent increase of about $37 per apartment. The owners wanted to overturn an earlier denial by the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal of their effort to recoup $2.9 million in capital improvements with the hike. Judge Alice Schlesinger ruled that the ownership group, led by Africa Israel Corp. and Mann Realty Associates, failed to provide evidence that new electrical wiring in the 163-unit building had been properly installed and documented.
The case stemmed from a so-called major capital improvements request from the building’s previous owners.
“The tenants won a well-deserved victory when Judge Schlesinger correctly upheld the DHCR denial of the electrical MCI because of the owner’s failure to provide DHCR with the required documentation,” said attorney David Hershey-Webb, who represented the tenants.
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The feud between the Apthorp’s owners, Africa Israel Investments and
Mann Realty Associates, has ended, and the building’s brokers are
focused on selling the units. Howard Lorber, chairman of Prudential
Douglas Elliman, said that prices will soon fall further at the Apthorp
because sponsors have to sign up a number of buyers before September,
the deadline set in the offering plan. Lorber said Elliman has eight to
10 deals in the works, including one potential buyer who reportedly
offered less than $1,500 a square foot for a unit, a price so low the
sponsors would have to go back to their lenders for approval. Asking
prices at the condo building, located at 390 West End Avenue, have fallen to an average of $1,950 a square foot
from $2,400 to $3,000. Some celebrities have reportedly been looking at
the building, including actors Alec Baldwin, Sarah Jessica Parker and
husband Matthew Broderick, and music executive Tommy Mottola. [NYT] and [Crain's] [more]