Donny Deutsch and his 6 East 78th Street home

Advertising guru and television personality Donny Deutsch is facing a barrage of claims that he stiffed the contractors and architects who helped design his Upper East Side townhouse. Frederic Schwartz, the architect tapped by Deutsch to transform his 6 East 78th Street townhouse into a contemporary palace in 2010, claims he was never paid the $1.79 million he’s owed for the work. Schwartz this week filed to extend a mechanic’s lien against the property first granted by the Supreme Court of New York last year. [more]

Sotheby's International Realty President Philip White, Warren Lewis President Aroza Sanjana and Warren Lewis' Park Slope office

Brooklyn-based Warren Lewis Realty has joined the Sotheby’s International Realty affiliate network, Sotheby’s announced today, and will operate as Warren Lewis Sotheby’s International Realty. The 25-year-old, previously independently owned firm has two offices: one at 123A Seventh Avenue in Park Slope and another it opened earlier this year at 299 Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg. [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]

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]

Clockwise from top left: Elizabeth Sample of Sotheby’s International Realty, One57 and Wendy Maitland, managing director of Town ResidentialExtell Development has raised the price of one of its penthouses by 12 percent to a whopping $110 million, according to documents filed with the New York state attorney general cited by the Wall Street Journal.

In what will be Manhattan’s tallest residential tower, the listing for the 10,923-square-foot, six-bedroom condominium on the top two floors of the 90-story building might be the borough’s priciest ever. The asking price of a 13,554-square-foot unit on the 75th and 76th floors was also raised to $105 million. Building wide, prices are about about 3.9 percent since the condo plan was first submitted. [more]

From left: 15 CPW, Time Warner Center and the Plaza

Not only is the high-end of the Manhattan housing market healthy, but in some respects it’s performing just as well as it did during the market’s peak, according to the Wall Street Journal. Seven deals worth more than $30 million have been recorded this year, not including Sanford Weill’s recent $88 million sale, the most since 2008 and the third-most ever. Further, the $6,000 per square foot price point that was noteworthy even in 2008 has become somewhat more commonplace, the Journal said.

The astronomical prices are buoyed by a shortage of ultra-luxury apartments, according to brokers, as the world’s wealthiest people are moving assets right now. [more]

Debt-ridden Irish financier Derek Quinlan has sold another Upper East Side property for at least $5 million off its original asking price. Quinlan closed on the sale of his townhouse at 54 East 64th Street for just $20 million, according to public records filed with the city today, after originally asking $25 million.

Records shed little light on the identity of the buyer of the East 64th Street home, however. The purchaser is listed as SM 64th Street Holdings LLC, according to the records, with an address at the New York law firm of Cooley.

Quinlan, who reportedly once managed a private equity fund with $15 billion under management and invested heavily in hotel developments, went into contract for the townhouse, at 54 East 64th Street, between Park and Madison avenues, Sept. 30, but his Avestus Capital Partners, a leading European real estate investment and asset manager with offices in Quinlan’s native Dublin, closed on the sale of the property to the LLC for $5 million discount.
[more]

From left: Sotheby’s International Realty CEO Kathryn Korte, Robert Bland, manager of Sotheby’s Greenwich office, and Cleveland, Duble & Arnold President Tom Gorin[Updated 3:05 p.m. with comments from Sotheby's and Cleveland, Duble & Arnold] Sotheby’s International Realty acquired 102-year-old Greenwich, Conn.-based residential brokerage Cleveland, Duble & Arnold, the firm announced today.

On Friday, Sotheby’s will absorb the firm’s entire stable of 25 agents at its One Putwick Plaza office, and Cleveland, Duble & Arnold President Tom Gorin will take a leadership role within Sotheby’s Greenwich office, which will continue to be managed by Robert Bland. Cleveland, Duble & Arnold’s headquarters were located across the street from Sotheby’s office, at 79 East Putnam Avenue. Due to confidentiality agreements, Sotheby’s International Realty CEO Kathryn Korte could not disclose the terms of the agreement. [more]

Realogy’s net revenue for the third quarter was $1.2 billion, an increase of 10 percent from third quarter of 2010, the company announced today, largely due to an increase in transaction volume at the company’s franchises, which include the Corcoran Group, Citi Habitats, Coldwell Banker and Sotheby’s International Realty.

“Despite difficult macro-economic issues, our third quarter produced 10 percent revenue growth before restructuring and other items,” said Richard Smith, Realogy’s president and CEO. “Given the macroeconomic headwinds facing the housing market, our operating performance has shown resilience. We believe we are substantially advantaged with our leaner, highly variable cost model, a capital structure that includes $2.1 billion of convertible debt and the continued support of our largest investors.” – Katherine Clarke [more]

6 Wyckham Hill Lane and Robert Bland of Sotheby’s International Realty

The owners of a Greenwich, Conn. home on the market for $4.9 million are offering a $100,000 bonus to the broker that successfully finds a buyer for the home, on top of the area’s typical 5 percent commission. The New York Times reported the owners of 6 Wyckham Hill Lane sent out an email blast to notify local agents of the bonus about two weeks ago and set Thanksgiving as the day the deal expires.

The home is listed by Robert Bland, the manager of Sotheby’s International Realty’s Greenwich office, who said it is meant to drum up interest and focus it over a short period for a home that’s been on the market for more than a year. [more]