The year 2009 was a trying time to be a real estate broker, developer or investor, but it never lacked for news. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, the industry watched in awe — and sometimes horror — as residential sales ground to a virtual halt, condo projects stopped in their tracks, office rents shrank and retail stores disappeared. Buyers at buildings like 22 Renwick sued to get out of their contracts, and some were granted the opportunity to back out of their contracts. Meanwhile, an amazing cast of characters — from Kent Swig to Harry Macklowe to Lev Leviev — publicly fought for survival. There were also glimmers of hope, from the opening of the High Line in June to the expansion of Halstead Property into Connecticut to the sale of Former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld’s sale 16-room co-op apartment at 640 Park Avenue for $25.87 million, almost $5 million more than he bought it for two years ago. Click here to see The Real Deal staff’s picks for the stories that most altered the New York City real estate landscape in 2009. [more]

Serena Boardman, a senior vice president at Sotheby’s, and Carrie Chiang, a senior vice president at the Corcoran Group

Serena Boardman and Carrie Chiang made the most appearances on The Real Deal’s weekly top agent list during the second half of 2009. The Real Deal’s list tracks the top five real estate agents with the highest priced residential sales each week, based on residential deals filed with the city. The feature began about halfway through the year.

Boardman, a senior vice president at Sotheby’s International Realty, ranked number one, making the list six times, followed by Carrie Chiang, a senior vice president at the Corcoran Group, who made the list five times. Boardman’s top sale in the last half of the year, as recorded by The Real Deal was the sale of a $9.75 million townhouse at 12 East 78th Street. Deals recorded during each week do not necessarily reflect current market conditions due to the lag time between when a contract is signed, closes and is recorded with the city. Boardman’s current listings include a massive $75 million mansion at 22 East 71st Street and the high-profile Bernard Madoff penthouse apartment. TRD
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Serena Boardman (Photo credit: Patrick McMullan)

From the December issue: It’s 2005, and golden-haired socialite
Serena Boardman is sunning herself on a yacht near the coast of
Sardinia in Italy. Nearby, her friend Dori Cooperman — now best known
for befriending actress Lindsay Lohan in rehab — is on the phone with
a reporter from W Magazine, chronicling the addictive qualities of
photo Web site PatrickMcMullan.com. Boardman interjects with her
opinion of the site, which documents the social lives of New York
City’s glitterati. “Tell him it captures a moment,” she shouts. Until
recently, the scene was typical for the 39-year-old Boardman, the
jet-setting heiress to a banking fortune whose stepmother is a European
princess. Along with society pals like Alexandra von Fürstenberg and Blaine Trump, Boardman spent her 20s being photographed in couture gowns at galas and benefits all over New York and Palm Beach, often with her equally glamorous sister, Samantha. Magazines chronicled her taste in clothes (Roberto Cavalli ruffled cocktail dresses) and jewelry (Verdura). She held jobs at the Web site Luxuryfinder.com and in the jewelry department at Sotheby’s. But to the media they were a postscript to Boardman’s glamorous social life. So it comes as a surprise to those who know Boardman that only a few years later, she’s morphed into one of the most successful real estate brokers in the business. [more]

The Real Deal has ranked the top listing agents of the week based on the highest priced residential deals filed with the city.

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The Real Deal has ranked the top listing agents of the week based on the highest priced residential deals filed with the city.

[more]

The Real Deal has ranked the top listing agents of the week based on the highest priced residential deals filed with the city.

[more]

The Real Deal has ranked the top listing agents of the week based on the highest priced residential deals filed with the city.

[more]

Carrie Chiang beat out Dolly Lenz in The Real Deal’s top agent survey

From the May issue: In a surprise upset, Corcoran’s Carrie Chiang beat out Prudential Douglas Elliman super broker Dolly Lenz in The Real Deal’s first top Manhattan agent survey, based on total dollar value of listings. According
to the survey, which ranked agents from the largest 15 firms, Lenz had
81 active exclusive listings to Chiang’s 67. However, Chiang, a senior
vice president at Corcoran and director of the firm’s international
division, has exclusives worth some $472.8 million, topping Lenz’s
$426.7 million. The survey data were collected in mid-April from
active residential Manhattan listings, updated within the last 120
days, from the OLR listing portal. Townhouse specialist Paula
Del Nunzio, a senior vice president and managing director at Brown
Harris Stevens, came in third, with 23 exclusives worth a total of
$351.1 million, followed by Brown Harris Stevens’ John Burger and
Serena Boardman of Sotheby’s. [more]