The pool at 15 Central Park West

From the July issue: One of the selling points emphasized by brokers at the Edge condominium in Williamsburg is the major weekend scene at the pool, with lots of sunbathing, picnicking and socializing. At 20 Pine’s pool in the Financial District, neighbors regularly practice yoga and host parties.

But there will be no pool parties at 15 Central Park West this summer. Even as the weather heats up, the atmosphere at the über-exclusive condominium remains subdued, residents say, and the pool area is often deserted.

The Robert A.M. Stern-designed building has become the condominium of choice for hotshot celebrities like Denzel Washington and Sting, and finance bigwigs such as Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and Citigroup Chairman Emeritus Sanford Weill. [more]

Musician Sting’s apartment at 88 Central Park West has sold for $17.75 million, a 29 percent decrease from its original 2006 listing price of $24.9 million with the late Linda Stein,
the Observer reported. The four-bedroom, 6,000-square-foot apartment –
recorded in city records under Sting’s real name, Gordon Sumner — was
sold to Michael Naify. Sting originally bought the property from
crooner Billy Joel in the 1980s. Before the apartment went into
contract a few months ago, Halstead Property’s Mark Friedman had it
listed for $19 million. [NYO]

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Brian Roberts, the Philadelphia-based Comcast CEO who struck a deal in December to take over NBC Universal from the General Electric Company, is in contract on a New York City pied-a-terre at 15 Central Park West, broker sources told the Wall Street Journal. Roberts had been eyeing two-bedroom units in the building with Central Park views that ranged in price from $7 million to $12.9 million, but it was unclear which one he ultimately settled upon. [more]

Sting has sold his home at 88 Central Park West after four years of trying to unload the pad, according to the New York Observer. The four-bedroom, 6,600-square-foot home has been marketed by Halstead Property’s Mark Friedman and Robert Cabrera for $19 million. No word yet on the closing price. [more]

It took just four hours for a jury to convict Natavia Lowery of murdering her boss and broker-to-the-stars Linda Stein. Natavia Lowery, 28, was found guilty today of second-degree murder and 21 counts of grand larceny, identity theft, forgery and petty larceny. She faces up to life in prison. Following an argument, Lowery brutally beat Stein, 62, to death Oct. 30, 2007 inside the Prudential Douglas Elliman broker’s 18th-floor penthouse apartment at 965 Fifth Avenue, between 77th and 78th streets. The prosecution’s case featured written and videotaped confessions in which Lowery said she beat Stein with a yoga stick, surveillance footage, phone records, bank records, cell phone tower and subway card records to track movement as well as witnesses. Stein was widely-known for her multi-million listings and celebrity clientele, including Billy Joel, Sting, Michael Douglas and Steven Spielberg, and her past as a manager to punk rock group the Ramones. TRD
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From left: Mandy Stein, daughter of the late broker Linda Stein (middle), and defendant Natavia Lowery

A lawyer for Natavia Lowery, the woman charged with killing Linda Stein, a former celebrity real estate broker and punk rock manager, said yesterday his client falsely admitted to the murder to give the detectives who questioned her “what they wanted to hear.”
The lawyer, John Christie, said the detectives who investigated Stein’s murder invited his client, Lowery, 28, to meet with them in a diner in November 2007. She was then taken to the 7th police precinct and questioned for 10 hours. Lowery had gotten through life by telling people “what they wanted to hear,” Christie said, and she did the same that day, wishing to end the interrogation.
Stein, 62, was found bludgeoned on the floor of her Fifth Avenue apartment Oct. 30, 2007. Stein’s family sold 18C, Stein’s one-bedroom, one-bathroom penthouse apartment at 965 Fifth Avenue, for $1.045 million in August 2008.
Yesterday, the 13th floor courtroom of Manhattan’s State Supreme Court was packed for the opening statements. The case has attracted wide attention due to Stein’s celebrity status — her clients included Sting, Elton John, Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley, and Angelina Jolie. She co-managed the band the Ramones prior to becoming a broker.
Christie admitted Lowery was guilty of stealing money from Stein, but said she was not someone able to carefully plan Stein’s murder and hide all the traces. She could not have prevented the blood, which splattered up to three feet high, to get on her clothes, Christie said. DNA evidence found on the scene did not link Lowery to the crime.
“Natavia is not a savvy criminal,” Christie said. “She is not capable of doing what happened to Linda Stein.” [more]

From left: Natavia Lowery and Linda Stein

Jury selection continued today in the case of Natavia Lowery, the former personal assistant to Linda Stein who is charged with killing the celebrity real estate broker.

Twenty-eight potential jurors were brought into a courtroom on the 13th floor or Manhattan’s State Supreme Court before Justice Richard Carruthers.

Lowery, 28, dressed in a khaki top and dark brown pants, listened to her lawyer as the jurors were seated. Her mother, Lottie Lowery Walsh, sat in the back of the courtroom apparently praying.

Stein, 62, was found bludgeoned on the floor of her Fifth Avenue apartment Oct. 30, 2007. A week and half later, Lowery was arrested, and she allegedly confessed to killing Stein by hitting her multiple times with a yoga stick in a videotaped interview. She later recanted her statement. TRD [more]

Natavia Lowery, who stands accused of killing broker Linda Stein, for whom she worked as a personal assistant, resides in the “punitive segregation” section in Rikers Island because she was found to have thrown liquid at a guard, according to a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Correction. The type of liquid is still under investigation, the spokesperson said.
However, the guard was taken to the hospital to be cleaned and have her eyes checked out. The incident occurred Jan. 2. That same day, following the liquid toss, Lowery was relocated from her longtime cell — where she has spent more than two years — and put in a new one in the harsher
“punitive segregation” section. That part, which functions as sort of a jail within a jail, could be Lowery’s home until at least April. While it is, the spokesperson said, she can only leave her cell for an hour of mandated recreation a day, and, say, visits or religious services. Those in the general population at Rikers, meanwhile, are free to leave their cells during daylight hours. The trial was supposed to begin Monday morning. But just as soon as it started, in Manhattan’s State Supreme Court, Justice Richard Carruthers confusingly sent everybody home because Lowery was wearing an orange jumpsuit. Today, some of the mystery was cleared up. [more]

Natavia Lowery (left), one-time assistant to broker Linda Stein (right), is charged with Stein’s murder

Natavia Lowery, who is accused of murdering her boss, Linda Stein, the megawatt Prudential Douglas Elliman broker who died in October 2007, was a chronic thief with past employers, prosecutors said today in Manhattan’s State Supreme Court. In a preliminary hearing to lay out the trial’s ground rules, Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi spelled out new instances of stealing by Lowery, in addition to the already publicized case of identity theft involving a former Brooklyn roommate. For one, Lowery stole “thousands of dollars” from Planned Parenthood, where she temped before becoming Stein’s assistant, in a racket that involved buying items on a corporate credit card and then returning them for cash, Illuzzi said. The scam, which prosecutors discovered after going through receipts confiscated from Lowery, also prevented her from landing full-time employment with the agency, whose directors could testify in the trial. “Her skills and attitude weren’t ones that they thought were appropriate for permanent work,” Illuzzi told Justice Richard Carruthers. [more]

From left: Linda Stein and her former assistant, Natavia Lowery, who is on trial for her 2007 murder

Jury selection in the trial of Natavia Lowery, the personal assistant accused of murdering Prudential Douglas Elliman broker Linda Stein, began this morning but was postponed after Lowery arrived wearing prison garb, according to the Department of Corrections. Inmates are entitled to wear civilian clothing when appearing before a judge and a jury, said Stephen Morello, a department spokesperson, but the jail staff misread Lowery’s accompanying paperwork. Jury selection will resume
tomorrow morning. Stein, a high-end broker whose clients included Billy Joel,

Sting, Michael Douglas and Steven Spielberg, was found dead in her
Upper East Side apartment Oct. 30, 2007. Lowery, 28, confessed to killing Stein by
hitting her multiple times with a yoga stick after she was arrested
a week and a half later, but then recanted, saying her story was
false. The videotaped confession is expected to be the prosecution’s main piece of evidence, while the defense is expected to argue that Lowery, who now faces
charges of murder and manslaughter, was coerced into her admission without a lawyer present. TRD

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