Courtney Love and images of her former 250 West 10th Street home

Alternative rocker Courtney Love’s former West Village townhouse rental — from which she was nearly evicted — has undergone a price cut and a broker change, Curbed reported. Stribling & Associates’ C.B. Whyte now has the listing with a $9.6 million ask, down from the original $11.4 million price tag. [more]

From left: Bruno Ricciotti (left) and Noah Freedman, founders of Bond New York and the new Bond logo

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases that deal with the legality of same sex marriage. And, as anyone active on social media can attest, the issue has been front and center on people’s minds. Many individual Facebook users have changed their profile photos to a special red version of the Human Rights Campaign logo — a pink equal sign inside a red square — in order to show their support for gay marriage. What may surprise some is that the traditionally stuffy, buttoned up and apolitical — if not outright conservative — real estate industry is no exception. [more]

Kirk Henckels and a rendering of 56 Leonard Street

The wealthy have flocked back to the Manhattan luxury market, spending even more than they did in the pre-crisis highs, but are doing so more discreetly, a new report seen by the Wall Street Journal shows.  [more]

From left: Cornelia Eland and the interior of unit 1W at 998 Fifth Avenue

A unit at stately limestone co-op 998 Fifth Avenue has sold for $18.5 million, according to records filed today with the city. Unit #1W, which had been on the market for about 10 months, closed for $1.5 million less than the asking price — the Dec. 21 deal perhaps ushered along by tax concerns connected to the fiscal cliff. [more]

94 Thompson’s penthouse

The penthouse at Soho’s 94 Thompson Street, gut renovated by its owner, has sold for $10.6 million, according to records filed with the city today. Ian Tarr, the CEO of a biological science database company, had listed the property for $16 million last year, according to Streeteasy.com.

Tarr, who spends the bulk of his time in London, per a report from the New York Times, said he spent nearly as much on the custom renovation of the 3,500 -square-foot home as he did purchasing the co-op — for $4.725 million, in 2004. [more]

From left: Elizabeth Stribling, Rebecca Mason and 340 West 23rd Street (credit: PropertyShark)

Stribling & Associates’ Chelsea location, which the firm bills as the longest-running residential real estate office in the country — the brokerage James N. Wells & Sons first opened in that space in 1819 — is getting a makeover.

The storefront at 340 West 23rd Street, between Eighth and Ninth avenues, is currently closed for renovations. It is set to reopen in 2013 — with new technology and a new layout that will accommodate additional agents. [more]

From left: Marcia Gay Harden, Cathy Taub and the exterior and interior of 351 West 120th Street

Actress Marcia Gay Harden sold her Harlem townhouse for $2.75 million, more than twice what she and her soon-to-be-ex-husband paid for the home about a decade ago, according to city records filed today. The seven-bedroom home at 351 West 120th Street between Morningside and Manhattan avenues was listed with Cathy Taub, an executive vice president at Stribling & Associates. [more]

Elizabeth Stribling in her Brooklyn Heights apartment

From the May issue: On a Thursday morning, Elizabeth Stribling is leafing through an array of photos spread out on her kitchen counter. The pictures show Stribling, founder of the eponymous high-end residential brokerage, posing in a white Valentino cocktail dress at New York’s French Consulate on Fifth Avenue. At an event the night before, the self-described Francophile had been honored for her work as chairman of the French Heritage Society. [more]

Kirk Henckels

The market was hot for Manhattan co-ops with prices over $5 million last year, according to a new report from Stribling & Associates, with prices and volume of sales increasing.

“Co-ops fared very well because the sellers reduced their prices,” said Kirk Henckels, executive vice president and director of Stribling Private Brokerage. “They got very real regarding bringing their prices back down from the peak of the market.” [more]

Michael Chapman, executive vice president of Stribling, and 20 Henry Street

Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund, the development team that includes NBA legend Magic Johnson, has finally finished its conversion of the old Peaks Mason Mints candy factory in Brooklyn Heights into luxury condominiums, the Wall Street Journal reported. The 24 loft units hit the market today, with asking prices between $450,000 and $2.56 million, under brokerage Stribling & Associates. [more]