The Rushmore and Kelly Coffey (source: CityRealty and Elle)

In the last major court battle of a multi-year escrow dispute at the Rushmore condominium, a State Supreme Court judge ruled in favor of a Wall Street executive who sued to rescind her $6.9 million purchase at the building.

Supreme Court Justice Debra James ordered Extell Development and Carlyle Realty Partners to refund more than $1 million to Kelly Coffey, a Manhattan resident who originally agreed to buy the unit in 2007. The judgment represents Coffey’s down payment, plus interest and fees. [more]

From left: Extell’s Gary Barnett, the Rushmore and Andrew Chung of Carlyle Realty

Lawyers for 40 buyers at the Rushmore condominium were awarded an injunction against the developers, after Stroock & Stroock & Lavan stopped payment on more than $15 million in escrow refunds. The buyers  just recently received the payouts, on the heels of three years of litigation with the Extell Development and Carlyle Realty Partners.   [more]

Extell’s Gary Barnett and the Rushmore

It’s been a rough few months for Extell Development. The success of sales at its luxury tower One57 was clouded by the snap of a wily crane during Hurricane Sandy, and the developer lost an ongoing legal battle with residents at the Rushmore condominium. Now, in a separate Rushmore case, another buyer at the Upper West Side building has scored a victory against the developer.

A New York State Supreme Court judge ruled on Dec. 5 that Extell is liable in a case involving alleged misrepresentations over one resident’s view of a quiet courtyard, The Real Deal has learned. [more]

The Rushmore

After years of waging a legal fight over $16 million in escrow funds, buyers at the Rushmore condominium on Riverside Boulevard learned that an imposter pretending to work for Extell Development gained access to personal information stored in those same escrow accounts at Bank of America, The Real Deal has learned.

Stroock, Stroock & Lavan, the Manhattan-based law firm, and escrow agent for the Rushmore, warned buyers in a November 14 letter that the fake employee got a copy of the master account statement, which contained the amount of the individual deposits and the last four digits of the buyers’ social security numbers or tax ID numbers. “We learned last week that a copy of the current statement of the bank master account for the Rushmore was provided to an imposter using the name of an actual employee of Extell Development Co.,” Stroock attorney Bruce Schneider wrote. [more]

Clockwise from top left: Extell Development President Gary Barnett, the Rushmore and Carlyle Group co-founder William Conway (Rushmore image c/o CityRealty)

A State Supreme Court judge ordered Extell Development and Carlyle Realty Partners to post an additional $5 million on top of a previously posted $1 million bond until a final ruling is reached in the protracted legal dispute at the Rushmore condominium.

Extell and Carlyle, which developed the 289-unit condo at 80 Riverside Boulevard on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, had filed suit against former Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s office to overturn a 2010 order that the developers refund $16 million in escrow deposits to 41 buyers.  [more]

Upper West Side new developments, from left: the Laureate, the Rushmore, the Aldyn and 846 West End Avenue

The median listing price for new development apartments in Manhattan is up 10 percent year-over-year to $1.486 million in May, according to Streeteasy.com’s new development May market report. Contract activity and median sales prices for new homes in Manhattan and Brooklyn have increased significantly year-over-year. Meanwhile inventory has declined, most significantly in Brooklyn, where it was 33 percent lower than it was a year ago, and 19 percent lower than six months ago. [more]

From left: the Rushmore at 80 Riverside Boulevard, Andrew Chung, principal at Carlyle Realty Partners and Gary Barnett, president of Extell Development

Lawyers for Extell Development and Carlyle Realty Partners yesterday appealed a state Supreme Court order to refund $16 million in escrow funds to buyers at the Rushmore condominium on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Justice Anil Singh ruled against the Rushmore developers, who filed a so-called Article 78 appeal against former Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who in April 2010 ordered return of the condo deposits to 41 buyers at the 80 Riverside Boulevard tower. [more]

From left: Rushmore, Aldyn and New York by Gehry (credit: Gehry Partners, LLP)

Wall Street professionals are accounting for less business in the residential sales and rental markets, as banks slash pay and jobs, and brokerages have begun shifting their focus towards home hunters in the technology, media and entertainment industries.

Citing data from Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group, Crain’s reported that just 24 percent of the brokerage’s new luxury condominium buyers in 2011 worked in finance, compared to 35 percent in 2006 and 2007. [more]

The Rushmore, Alex Rodriguez and Modlin Group President Adam Modlin

Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez has sold his Rushmore condominium for a significant profit just 10 months after buying it last March, the Wall Street Journal reported. Rodriguez put the unit on the market in October with Modlin Group President Adam Modlin for $8 million, seven months after he purchased it for $5.5 million.  [more]

Goldstein Hill & West Architects, the architecture firm founded by Alan Goldstein, L. Stephen Hill and David West, former partners in Costas Kondylis’ firm, are beginning to forge an identity independent of the Kondylis legacy, according to Real Estate Weekly. Having completed all their remaining Costas Kondylis and Partners contracts, they’re opting for a more diverse range of projects, and looking outside New York. One of their most recent projects is Liberty Green, Milstein Properties’ residential building in Battery Park City…. [more]