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]

2 East 67th Street

The third floor of one of Manhattan’s premiere pre-war co-ops, 2 East 67th Street, appears to have been re-listed today with an asking price of $30 million, $8 million less than in 2009, according to Streeteasy.com.

The five-bedroom, five-bathroom unit was last listed by Greek pharmaceutical executive Athanase Lavidas, according to published reports. In 2008, the Fifth Avenue co-op was asking $43 million, and since that was not too long after Jonathan Tisch, the Loews Corporation co-chairman, famously dropped $48 million for the 11th floor of the grandiose building, that price might not have been unreasonable. In 2009, the price was chopped to $38 million, Curbed reported. As no relevant sales for that building appear in city records, it appears the Greek baron is the seller of the unit. [more]

From left: Paula Del Nunzio, Serena Boardman, Carrie Chiang, Shlomi Reuveni and Dolly Lenz

From the June issue: In March, Brown Harris Stevens broker Paula Del Nunzio put the Woolworth mansion at 4 East 80th Street on the market for $90 million. The listing — the priciest Manhattan residential listing ever — signaled that the era of massively expensive property sales is back, with a vengeance. Brokers say there is more high-end product on the market than last year, and furthermore, many of these new, pricey listings are resales rather than the newly constructed condos that seemed to dominate the luxury market in Manhattan for so long. That trend is reflected in The Real Deal’s annual ranking of the city’s top brokers, which is based on who is marketing the most Manhattan property.

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The Park Avenue co-op so elite that it has its own, 576-page history book has a rare opening. Courtney Sale Ross, the philanthropist and widow of former Time Warner CEO Steve Ross, is putting her 12th- and 13th-floor duplex apartments at 740 Park Avenue on the market for $60 million. According to the Wall Street Journal, the two units are not fully combined but have access to each other, and are also being offered separately for $35 million and $25 million. It’s not the first time Ross has tested the waters on the pair of trophy apartments; she had quietly put them up for sale in 2008, but a formal listing never surfaced. Now Serena Boardman of Sotheby’s International Realty is making the listing official. [more]

A duplex apartment at 834 Fifth Avenue has been sold to developer Larry Heyman for $36 million in the priciest Manhattan co-op sale in more than a year, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Rosario Candela-designed building, at 64th Street, was once the home of Laurance Rockefeller, and now claims four of Manhattan’s 20 most expensive co-op sales. Its newest resident, a vice president at Heyman Properties, whose portfolio includes the Financial District’s 61 Broadway and other commercial properties in Westchester and Connecticut, is also the son of the late GAF Corp. chairman Samual Heyman. The seller was billionaire Leslie Wexner, who founded Victoria’s Secret parent company Limited Brands. [more]

Mary Ann Tighe and 4 East 72nd Street (building photo credit: CityRealty)Aaron Tighe, the son of CB RIchard Ellis CEO and Real Estate Board of New York Chair Mary Ann Tighe, has just nabbed a four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom apartment at the tony 4 East 72nd Street for $5.83 million, according to the New York Observer. Aaron, a managing director at Credit Suisse, landed the co-op at a steep discount — the apartment was first listed in May 2009 by Sotheby’s International Realty brokers Meredith Smyth and Serena Boardman for $7.75 million. The apartment, sold by John Bartlett Coleman, best known for his development of the Ritz-Carlton hotel on Central Park South, was later listed by Key-Ventures broker A. Laurance Kaiser. [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]

Bernard Madoff and his former penthouse apartment at 133 East 64th Street

Bernie Madoff’s Upper East Side penthouse, last listed for $8.9 million, has gone into contract for an undisclosed price, according to the Wall Street Journal. The buyer is also as-yet unknown. As The Real Deal first reported last month, brokers seeking to show the 133 East 64th Street home had been told there was an accepted offer on the seized duplex co-op, which was being sold by the United States Marshals Service. Sotheby’s International Realty brokers Anne Corey and Serena Boardman had the listing, which came on the market in September for $9.9 million and saw a $1 million price chop in November. [more]

From the February issue: Nothing says progress like Madoff. Late last month, The Real Deal broke the story that the Ponzi schemer’s Upper East Side penthouse finally appears close to a sale.
Listing brokers Anne Corey and Serena Boardman of Sotheby’s
International Realty have told interested agents that there is an
accepted offer on the 133 East 64th Street duplex. At press time, the
U.S. Marshals Service, which seized the property from the disgraced
financier, said the listing had not yet entered contract.
The sale (if it does clear the many obstacles of today’s market) may not be unqualified good news.
The penthouse’s asking price is $8.9 million, following a November
price chop of $1 million. It’s also been sitting on the market since
September.  [more]

Bernard Madoff and his former penthouse apartment at 133 East 64th Street

Bernie Madoff’s Upper East Side penthouse may be close to finding a buyer. Brokers asking to show Madoff’s former
home at 133 East 64th Street have been told that there is an accepted
offer on the property, sources said. The seized co-op,
which is being sold by the United States Marshals Service, is
currently listed by Sotheby’s International Realty brokers Anne Corey
and Serena Boardman for $8.9 million after a $1 million price chop in November. The property was listed as having an accepted offer in at least one
brokerage’s internal listing system Thursday afternoon. But Roland Ubaldo, a spokesperson for the US Marshals Service, said
the brokers are negotiating with potential buyers and that the
property is still being shown. Corey and Boardman were not immediately available for comment. Madoff’s former Montauk home recently sold for $9.4 million.
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