Sotheby's International Realty's Meredyth Smith (top), Serena Boardman (bottom) and 730 Park Avenue

Recent sales indicate that classic pre-war co-ops are regaining their footing in the Manhattan sales market. The Wall Street Journal reported that four co-op sales worth $30 million or more have already closed or are in contract this year, compared to four total in the three previous years combined. The combination of the financial downturn and the lure of pricey new apartments in sleek glass towers had iced co-op sales, but as a recovery lingers on the horizon and new condominium construction does not, attention has returned to that sector. [more]

From left: the interior of Speight’s apartment, the exterior of 740 Park Avenue, broker Serena Boardman, broker Meredyth Smith and author Michael Gross

Investment banker Randolph Speight was once the meticulous gatekeeper at one of Manhattan’s most sought after addresses: 740 Park Avenue. But, today, the apartment belonging to the late co-op board director at the tony building is struggling to meet the approval of buyers.

After listing Speight’s duplex spread for $35 million in August 2008, the Speight family has progressively chopped the price there — down 26 percent to $26 million in January 2009 and down another 12 percent to $23 million just yesterday, according to Streeteasy.com. [more]

From the December issue: In New York City real estate, buyers have had the upper hand for a
while. With transactions virtually frozen in the wake of last year’s
collapse of Lehman Brothers, sellers grew alarmed, dropping prices and
offering incentives to tempt purchasers. For the first time in a year, however, New York is no longer a
buyer’s market, brokers say. Or at least not the intense buyer’s market
of recent months.
“Neither buyers nor sellers have an obvious upper hand over each
other right now,” said Ric Swezey, a senior associate at the Corcoran
Group.
As the stock market recovered and prices dropped, more buyers –
especially those who put off buying during the financial crisis — came
back into the market, searching for bargain prices. [more]

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]

From the October issue: The ranks of Manhattan’s super-high-end listings may have shrunk over
the past year, but the city still boasts a number of properties with
sales prices north of $30 million. It’s no surprise that few of these mega-listings have traded in the
last year, with the global financial crisis paralyzing potential
buyers. But now, very high-end listings are beginning to generate
interest again, albeit at smaller price tags. (Case in point: Madonna’s
new $32.5 million Upper East Side townhouse, originally listed for $42
million in October of 2008). This month, The Real Deal looked at five of the city’s
priciest listings — some new, others market fixtures — along with
other noteworthy properties generating buzz this fall.