Palazzo Chupi

The final unit left at Palazzo Chupi, the condominium developed by artist Julian Schnabel, has sold, according to Curbed. The eighth- and ninth-floor, 4,000-square-foot duplex sold for $12 million in December, down $20 million from the original asking price of $32 million, to a buyer known as “Magellan 360 LLC.” The development, where Richard Gere owns a unit, has endured repeated price cuts, as it struggled to attract buyers for its few remaining units. The second to last unit to sell closed in September 2009, prior to which Schnabel sold off a late period Picasso to pay off Chupi-related debt. [more]

From left: Peter Riguardi, Don Capoccia, Frederick Peters, Roger Erickson and Daun Paris

Although many end-of-the-year residential and commercial real estate sales reports have yet to arrive, a new year grants the license to look back and evaluate how predictions and prognostications made last year panned out over the past 12 months. Many of the experts The Real Deal talked to last year had a bleak outlook for 2009 — and rightly so. But others missed the mark, either with too-optimistic predictions for recovery or overreaching pessimism that — if it’s possible — actually overstated how devastating the market would ultimately prove to be in 2009. Here, The Real Deal looks back at some of the top claims and predictions made in the beginning of last year to see who hit the nail on the head and who missed the mark.  More

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Olatz Schnabel, wife of artist and film director Julian Schnabel, paid $5.5 million for a three-story residential building at 38 King Street between Sixth Avenue and Varick Street in Soho. Olatz Schnabel went into contract in September and closed on the purchase Dec. 16, property records published today show. The contract signing came less than a week before rumors of a divorce surfaced in September.
The seller of the 4,256-square-foot unit was identified as Daniel Kellison, property records indicate. The asking price for the Federal-style property was $6.5 million, according to a listing on the Web site of brokerage Prudential Douglas Elliman. [more]

Artist Julian Schnabel’s Palazzo Chupi is seeing some more price cuts. The price of the combined triplex and duplex units has been slashed to $27.9 million, which is $10.1 million less than its last listing price of $38 million, and more than $31 million less than its original asking price of $59 million. The units can be bought separately, as well. The triplex alone is going for $14.95 million, and the duplex can be purchased for $12.95 million, which is an average of $3,634 per square foot. Residents at the five-unit Palazzo Chupi, at 360 West 11th Street, include Schnabel and actor Richard Gere, who listed his home for $15 million before taking it off the market in March.

From the March issue: No one is actually announcing a borough-wide “fire sale.” But with hundreds of listings — for homes ranging from trophy apartments in glittering towers to shoebox-sized studios in prewar walk-ups — with price cuts exceeding 20 percent, one could be excused for thinking there was a giant clearance tag on the island of Manhattan. Or that there could be one someday, as analysts are now beginning to agree such steep discounts will only become more prevalent as sellers reckon with the stunning recession that has already scorched big cities across the country. This month, The Real Deal drilled down to examine price cuts in Manhattan, neighborhood by neighborhood. The island was divided into 12 districts (see map in A sinking island), customized data was gathered for each on past sales by PropertyShark.com and on current listings by StreetEasy.com, and industry players discussed how far listings would need to drop for property to move. [more]