Vanessa Grout, head of Douglas Elliman Florida
Prudential Douglas Elliman will open a new office in Boca Raton, its eighth in South Florida, Crain’s reported. The expansion of the massive residential brokerage comes as more of Elliman’s New York clients shop for retirement and second homes in South Florida and as more foreign investors buy in both the New York and South Florida markets. Vanessa Grout, head of Douglas Elliman in Florida, will oversee the new office slated to open May 31. [more]
Michael Lorber and 241 Orange Grove Road
From the South Florida site: Michael Lorber, star of Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing New York” and son of Douglas Elliman Chairman Howard Lorber, has splurged on his very own Palm Beach pad following the season finale of his hit show, he told The Real Deal today. Lorber paid $1.3 million for his new digs at 241 Orange Grove Road, he said, buying it from a company that owns and rents out hundreds of homes in South Florida. The asking price was $1.49 million. [more]
From left: Elliman's Ann Lenane, the Aldyn and a great room designed by Lambertson Truex with Patrick Lonn
The Kips Bay Annual Decorator Show House will be held in an Upper West Side condominium, rather than an East Side townhouse, for the first time in its 40-year history, the New York Times reported. The move to the west side was prompted, in part, by the lack of suitable properties for the charitable event, which involves nearly 30 designers decorating rooms within the selected home. The proceeds, obtained through an admission fee, benefit the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club, which has generated $17 million since the program’s inception in 1973. [more]
President and CEO of Prudential Douglas Elliman Dottie Herman in blue and guests at last night’s “Million Dollar Listing New York” finale party
The men of “Million Dollar Listing New York” hit the party circuit last night in honor of the first season finale. In the early evening, Prudential Douglas Elliman broker Michael Lorber, son of Elliman chairman Howard Lorber (who has cameos on the show), and broker Fredrik Eklund were spotted boozing and schmoozing at the expansive second-floor event space at the Bowery Hotel. Click here to see the photos and more.
From left: Michael Lorber, senior vice president at Prudential Douglas Eliman and Howard Lorber, chairman of Elliman (credit: Gotham Photo)
Last Wednesday, brokers gathered for a peek at three duplex model units at BellTel Lofts in Brooklyn, designed by Tui Lifestyle, and marketed by Prudential Douglas Elliman. Howard Lorber, chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman, and Susan De Franca, president and chief executive of Douglas Elliman Development Marketing at the development, were on hand for the brunch and tour at BellTell, at 365 Bridge Street in Downtown Brooklyn. And so was JJ Bistricer, executive vice president of Clipper Equity, the building’s developer (see photos above). [more]
Dolly LenzDolly Lenz, the vice chairman of Prudential Douglas Eliman, appeared on Bloomberg’s “Taking Stock” Friday to discuss the high end of the city’s real estate market. When asked about the $12 million Park Avenue co-op sale she recently brokered, Lenz called the apartment “nice” but she “wouldn’t say it’s amazing or great.” Instead, a better, 3,300-square-foot listing she has at 15 Central Park West asking $35 million is a “bargain.” [more]
From left: Michelle Griffith of Trump Sales and Leasing, the interior of the Trump Park Avenue building and the exterior of the building, at 502 Park Avenue
A multi-million dollar penthouse at Trump Park Avenue has hit the market with a new listing agent, but the same $35 million price, according to Streeteasy.com.
The home, now listed with Michelle Griffith, a broker at Trump Sales and Leasing, was previously marketed by Callae Brownstein, Vincent Santoro and Michael Lorber of Prudential Douglas Elliman. Elliman first listed the unitwith an asking price of $22.5 million beginning in November 2010. [more]
From left: Michael Guerra, Elliman’s Brooklyn managing director, and Frank Percesepe, Corcoran’s Brooklyn senior regional vice president
Home prices and transaction volume in Brooklyn and Queens were down in the first quarter of 2012 compared to the same period last year, according to market reports released today by residential brokerages Prudential Douglas Elliman and the Corcoran Group, although the overall picture shows stability.
In Brooklyn, the median sales price dropped 5.3 percent to $450,000 from $475,000 in the same period last year, while the number of sales tumbled 23.9 percent to 1,807 from 2,373 sales, the Elliman report says. Corcoran pegged the median sales price at $428,000, a 2 percent decline over the same period last year. [more]
Irene Nickolai, now at Elliman
Manhattan boutique real estate firm Stratus Realty Group has joined Prudential Douglas Elliman, a statement from Elliman today said. The Tribeca-based Stratus, founded by Irene Nickolai in 2008, will do business as the Nickolai Group and be based out of Elliman’s 1995 Broadway office, the statement said.
Nickolai began her career as a gallerist in nearby Chelsea and served as a vice president at New York Commercial Realty before forming Stratus. [more]
From left: Lisa Maysonet and Gary Kabol, now of Sotheby's International Realty
Real estate veteran Lisa Maysonet and her husband and partner Gary Kabol have departed Prudential Douglas Elliman for Sotheby’s International Realty, according to a statement today from Sotheby’s. Maysonet spilled the beans on Twitter yesterday before quickly deleting the tweet. It began: “After 20-plus years I decided to leave Douglas Elliman and have now officially joined Sotheby’s International.” [more]
