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]

Truman Capote and the inside of the townhouse at 70 Willow Street

Brokers are having a hard time finding a buyer for the Brooklyn Heights home formerly occupied by eccentric writer Truman Capote, according to Curbed.

As The Real Deal previously reported, the 9,000-square-foot home where Capote, author of “In Cold Blood” and novel “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” lived from 1955 to 1965, hit the market for $18 million in May 2010 This is its second price cut.

The 11-bedroom, 7.5-bathroom townhouse at 70 Willow Street had its price slashed to $15.9 million in June, according to Streeteasy.com, and it has now been lowered even more, to $14.995 million. [more]

Karen Heyman and Alan Heyman, Sotheby’s International Realty

From the July issue: The business of selling Brooklyn real estate has changed drastically in recent years. When Brooklyn native Karen Heyman first started selling Dumbo lofts in the 1990s, Manhattan residents refused to take the subway there. “I used to have to send my driver over the bridge to pick people up,” recalled Heyman, now a senior vice president at Sotheby’s International Realty. Today, “those same people are now on their third or fourth Dumbo apartment.” Brooklyn brokers have seen their business (and wallets) expand exponentially over the past decade, as a trickle, and then a flood, of resettling Manhattanites ventured across the East River. In particular, agents have benefited hugely from the condo boom of the mid-2000s, which greatly upped Brooklyn sales prices (downturn notwithstanding). [more]

Academy Award-nominated actor Mickey Rourke has traded a $19,800-a-month loft in the Meatpacking District for two floors in a West Village townhouse that were asking significantly less, according to TMZ. The “Wrestler” star’s new pad, which appears to be the garden duplex at 50 Morton Street, was last listed for $13,500 per month by Sotheby’s International Realty broker Jane Forman, according to Streeteasy.com. It has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a patio and a wood-burning fireplace. According to city records, the townhouse once belonged to the late Elsie Cardia, who owned the Beatrice Inn for 50 years. Last year, The Real Deal reported that Rourke was scoping out for-sale units in the storied Apthorp condominium conversion on the Upper West Side in the $3 million and $4 million range. [TMZ] [more]

Gil Lamphere, Martha Stewart and 173 Perry Street and the penthouse unit

[Updated at 5 p.m. on June 28 with comments from the seller, Gil Lamphere] A West Village condominium unit that once belonged to lifestyle guru Martha Stewart, which she sold before heading to prison in an insider trading case, has found a buyer.

This past Saturday, a contract was signed on the penthouse, at 173 Perry Street, according to people familiar with the deal. The sale price was $11.8 million, those sources said, and the buyer was a Chilean bank executive whose name wasn’t immediately available.

Camille McKinley, the Sotheby’s International Realty broker who handled the listing, did not return a call for comment.

The unit, a duplex with one bath, four terraces, 3,300 square feet and keyed elevator access in a white metal and glass tower designed by Richard Meier, had been listed for $13.9 million.

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Stuart ElliottFrom the June issue: It’s that time of year again — time to escape the city and head to the beach. Time to trade your pumps and wingtips for flip-flops and sandals. Time to trade fluorescent office lighting for the sun beating down on your back. Time to reserve lunch tables for lobster roll shacks, get pieces of corn stuck between your teeth, and wash it all down with a beer.
With summer season in the Hamptons kicking into gear, we thought, “What better time to take a look at the biggest firms and priciest deals on the East End?”
Unlike those caught up in the migration from Manhattan, it hasn’t been vacation time for top agents out there on Long Island. In an improving market, they’ve been listing and closing deals with big seven- and eight-figure price tags. [more]

Peter Madoff and the Old Westbury mansion

Peter Madoff, brother of Bernie, is trying to unload his Long Island mansion as he faces a lawsuit by the trustee overseeing the recovery of funds for victims of his brother’s Ponzi scheme. According to Newsday, the Old Westbury home that Peter owns with his wife has hit the market for $6.5 million. The five-bedroom, five-and-two-half-bathroom property, which is listed with Daniel Gale of Sotheby’s International Realty, sits on more than four acres next to a private golf club and has a pool, tennis court and elevator. The Madoffs purchased it for around $2.5 million in 1990. [more]

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]

From left: Diane Ramirez and Susan Goldy

Halstead Property acquired longtime residential Riverdale brokerage Susan Goldy Real Estate, the firm announced today, marking its second office in the upscale Bronx community. Both sides refused to disclose the terms of the deal, but Susan Goldy’s 12 agents will remain in their Moshalu Avenue office while joining the Halstead Property brand, as of today.

Halstead already has a 20-agent office at 3531 Johnson Avenue, but Diane Ramirez, president of the firm, said she coveted Susan Goldy’s “incredible reputation in the community and great client base” along with the added depth and marketshare the firm immediately provides Halstead.

Susan Goldy, who founded the eponymous firm 34 years ago and maintains an office at 5626 Mosholu Avenue, said that merging with Halstead offered her firm the opportunity to keep pace with a changing real estate landscape. [more]

1. Penthouse at 145 Hudson is back on the market for $45 million
[NYT]
2. Infrastructure improvements on Atlantic Avenue
[Brownstones]
3. Battery Park City’s Liberty twins have gone rental
[Curbed]
4. Sales kick off at Brooklyn’s 608 Lorimer
[Brownstoner]
5. More details emerge about Roman & Williams’ Midtown hotel
[Curbed]
7. Coalition fights bill to mandate living wages
[Crain's]
8. Bidding war may ensue for Truman Capote’s old Brooklyn Heights digs
[NYDN]
9. Is 123 Third Avenue the perfect New York condo?
[NYDN]
10. Combined lofts from Sotheby’s cost $4.7 million
[NYO]
11. Jeffrey Chodorow brings outdoor grub to BeerParc
[NY Mag]