Daniela Sassoun of the Corcoran Group at 110 Central Park South, which has been popular with her South American clients.

From the February issue: International buyers — perhaps the most overhyped group of boom-time
property seekers — are back, brokers say, and they’re richer than
ever.
While much of the meager sales activity in New York has occurred at
the lower end of the market during the past year, experts say the new
wave of foreign buyers now trolling for Manhattan property tends to be
wealthier than previous foreign buyers, and they are looking for
pricier real estate. That’s largely because the New York market is no
longer as accessible to the working-class foreigners who invested in
homes here during the mid-aughts. With mortgages rarely available to
foreigners, international buyers must now often be able to plunk down
the entire purchase price in cash. That’s just one of the ways today’s foreign shoppers are different from their boom-time counterparts. [more]

In a bid to attract more foreign buyers, the developer of Midtown condominium-hotel Cassa has hired brokerage Prodigy International to handle sales, replacing new development firm the Marketing Directors. Developer Solly Assa, a head of Assa Properties, told The Real Deal today that Prodigy is now the exclusive marketing and sales agent for the 48-story glass tower, located at 70 West 45th Street. “We’re targeting more of an international client,” he said. “Prodigy is really catering to international consumers.” Assa said that the Marketing Directors sold nearly 40 percent of the project’s 57 condo units since sales began in June. The building was designed by Cetra/Ruddy and TEN Arquitectos, the Mexico City firm headed by Enrique Norten. When completed this spring, it will house 166 hotel rooms operated by Desires Hotels. [more]

From the South Florida Web site: “Timing, timing, timing” is becoming the new mantra for investors
trying to pull off bulk purchases at the empty condo towers that are
Brickell and South Florida’s oceanfront legacy of the building bubble.
Rodrigo Nino, founder and president of Prodigy International, is so
sure of a recovery in the near future for Miami’s condo market that his
investment group purchased 10 units in Brickell on the River — the last
batch of developer-owned units at the twin towers — and another 33
developer-owned units in Bal Harbour’s oceanfront Harbour House.
Prodigy, which works in Florida, New York and the Caribbean, closes on
both deals this month. Nino plans to rent the units at rates that would
cover taxes and maintenance fees and sell for a profit in three years
to international buyers. [more]

As developers in places like New York and Miami look for ways to sell off condo inventory, some are turning to guaranteed income assets, also called master leases. Broker Rodrigo Nino, founder of Prodigy Network, has started using these leases, in which the developer leases out or promises to lease a condo, puts up to three years worth of rent in an escrow account, and then sells the property to an investor, who is guaranteed rental income at least until the money in the escrow account runs out. Nino is using this method to sell units in William Beaver House, at 15 William Street at Beaver Street. [more]

Shaun Osher and William Beaver House

Core Group Marketing
has filed suit against the developer of chic downtown condominium
William Beaver House, claiming it is owed more than $220,000 in unpaid
commissions for units sold at the building. In a suit filed Monday in New York State Supreme Court, Core claims
that the project’s owners committed breach of contract and fraud by
failing to pay commissions for units Core sold at the development. Core
asked that the payments for rent be paid along with interest, legal
fees and compensatory damages. The high-profile Financial District project is being developed by
hotelier and nightlife impresario Andre Balazs, along with SDS
Investments, a private real estate firm led by developers S. Lawrence
Davis and Alex Sapir, president of the Sapir Organization. [more]

Battery Park City’s Visionaire receives Platinum LEED certification: The
Visionaire, the Albanese Organization’s latest green residential
development in Battery Park City, has received Platinum LEED
certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, making it the only
LEED Platinum condominium on the East Coast. The 35-story, 247-unit
building was designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects and construction
was completed last fall. It features a rooftop garden that harvests
rainwater for irrigation of the garden, a central heating and cooling
system powered by natural gas, and solar panels which harvest a portion
of the building’s electric output. TRD [more]