They say once you’ve lived at the San Remo, the twin-towered Central Park West behemoth and one of the city’s most coveted addresses, it’s difficult to imagine living anywhere else. Shareholders are known to move around within the illustrious building, picking up the leftovers from their neighbors’ divorces, moves and deaths.

That convention holds, too, for San Remo resident James “Jimmy Jr.” Nederlander, presumed heir to Broadway’s the Nederlander Organization, who just dropped $13.5 million on his late neighbor’s three-bedroom apartment upstairs, public records show.

The theater producer, whose credits include “Hairspray,” “Wicked” and the revival of “La Cage Aux Folles,” is a longtime shareholder in the Emery Roth-designed co-op. And with a list of neighbors that’s included the likes of Bono, Steven Spielberg and Rita Hayworth over the years, it’s no wonder he wasn’t anxious to move out. … [more]

From left: famed Holocaust scholar Robert Jay Lifton, a bedroom inside 300 Central Park West, 300 Central Park West’s exterior, the living room at 157 West 87th Street and the building’s exterior

A combination of two rarely available El Dorado apartments — one of them the former home of famed Holocaust scholar Robert Jay Lifton — has already generated a near-asking-price offer since hitting the market last week, brokers said. Cathy Taub, an executive vice president at Stribling & Associates, has listed Lifton’s old stomping grounds at 300 Central Park West for $7.2 million. The eight-room co-op, 7G, is now owned by one of the richest families in the country, the MacArthurs, according to broker sources. The unit can be sold individually, or for $13.4 million, combined with the adjacent apartment to create a 15-room spread. Also, a townhouse that hit the market today for $4.95 million comes with a waterfall. The four-story brownstone at 157 West 87th Street is listed with Vandenberg, the Townhouse Experts. Click here for more.

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Some renderings of 60 Orchard and Elizabeth Stribling

A seven-unit boutique condominium at 60 Orchard Street between Grand and Hester streets has launched sales on the Lower East Side. Stribling Marketing Associates is marketing the building, which expects move-ins by April. The building is comprised entirely of two-bedroom, two-bathroom units, which range in size from 1,218 square feet to 1,468 square feet. The units each include a gas fireplace, terrace and floor-to-ceiling windows. TRD… [more]

Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick and 88 Central Park West (building photo: PropertyShark)

The rumors surrounding Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick’s real estate escapades can be laid to rest, according to the New York Observer, after word emerged that the couple — and its growing family — has nabbed an eight-bedroom, five-bathroom apartment in 88 Central Park West. The unit, once the home of Laurie Tisch, hit the market for $25 million in August, before dropping its asking price to $21.5 million recently…. [more]

Inside the unit at 998 Fifth Avenue and agent Cornelia Zagat Eland of Stribling & Associates

The building that Guggenheims and Vanderbilts have called home is ready to welcome a new resident.

A roughly 5,000-square-foot co-op at 998 Fifth Avenue, designed by McKim, Mead & White, the architecture team behind the much-lauded original Pennsylvania Station, has hit the market for $24 million, even as a pricier unit there owned by private equity investor Steven Rattner languishes without a buyer, according to public records. … [more]

From left: Ashley and Mary Kate Olsen, and images from inside the 1 Morton Square penthouse

For the Olsen twins, perhaps the third time will be the charm for their 1 Morton Square penthouse in the West Village, which has just reentered the market, according to Curbed. The twins, who reportedly never lived in the apartment, tried unsuccessfully to flip the property — once in 2005 for $9.45 million and again in 2007 for $11.995 million. … [more]

HGTV’s new realty reality show, “Selling New York,” premiers tonight at 9 p.m., promising to showcase the “top of the real estate food chain.” The show follows Gumley Haft Kleier’s Michele Kleier and her broker daughters, Samantha Kleier Forbes and Sabrina Kleier Morgenstern, as well as Core’s Shaun Osher, among other brokers from each firm as they maneuver their way through some of the city’s most high-end real estate transactions. In honor of the debut, The Real Deal did some digging to find out which of the city’s prized properties are slated to be featured this season. Among them: a four-bedroom loft at the Chelsea Mercantile listed for $22.45 million, the 25 Murray Street loft for which former Giants star Michael Strahan is asking $1.85 million, a $17 million landmarked townhouse at 109 East 69th Street, and a 2,295-square-foot spread at highly-anticipated One Brooklyn Bridge Park (see slide show of many of the homes above). Click here for more information about the residences expected to appear in the upcoming season.
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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.

Some of the top agents of the week, from left: Fritzi Kallop, Maria Pashby, Alexa Lambert, Iris Marden, Eileen Teich, Joanna Pashby and Cornelia Zagat Eland

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The return of Wall Street bonuses, albeit largely in stock form, is proving a boon to the lower end of the luxury market, brokers say. After a year of going without, financiers who have bonuses coming to them once again are now looking to take advantage of a perceived trough in the real estate market — and quickly. “People are hearing about bonus money and think they’re going to miss out,” said Michele Kleier of boutique brokerage Gumley Haft Kleier, who said she received a flurry of calls in response to her high-end listings last week. Other luxury brokers experienced similar surges, an unusual event for what is typically a “quite sleepy” January market, said Stribling’s Kirk Henckels. Buyers in the $2 million to $3 million range are particularly active, with Manhattan contracts between $1.5 million and $5 million up 171 percent for the month that ended Jan. 15 over the year-ago period, according to Streeteasy.com. [NY Mag]

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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