From left, Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Dottie Herman, Halstead Property’s Greg Heym and the Corcoran Group’s Pamela Liebman The volume of Manhattan home sales declined at least 12 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, although prices continued to hold steady, according to quarterly reports issued today by the city’s largest residential real estate brokerages. Experts proffered a host of explanations for the drop in sales activity, from global economic chaos to low inventory levels to financing issues for buyers in the middle of the market. [more]

William Zeckendorf, co-developer of 15 Central Park West and a co-owner of Terra Holdings, parent company of Halstead Property and Brown Harris Stevens, has gone into contract to buy a two-bedroom, 17th-floor apartment at 740 Park Avenue, a building once owned by his grandfather, for $27 million, the New York Post reported.

The 10-room apartment is owned by video game magnate Gregory Fischbach and his wife Linda, who bought the apartment in 1994 for $6.3 million. It was once owned by John D. Rockefeller, who planned to join the unit with his duplex below but never did.

Zeckendorf has been busy maneuvering his personal real estate assets of late. [more]

William Zeckendorf and 927 Fifth Avenue

William Lie Zeckendorf could probably teach his legion of real estate brokers a thing or two about doing a deal. According to the New York Observer, the co-owner of Terra Holdings, parent company of Halstead Property and Brown Harris Stevens, flipped the top half of a 927 Fifth Avenue duplex for as much as $5 million profit in a matter of six months.

Sources told the Observer that the five-bedroom spread sold for “well over” its $31.5 million asking price, and may have even brought in more than $34 million. Zeckendorf paid $29.1 million for the portion of Bruce Wasserstein’s old duplex in a one-day auction in December. BHS’ John Burger brokered the deal but wasn’t available for comment. [more]

The Manhattan residential real estate sales market can best be characterized as stable, according to second-quarter reports issued by the city’s largest real estate brokerages, signaling strength amidst an uncertain economic climate elsewhere in the country. Reports from Prudential Douglas Elliman, the Corcoran Group and data from sister firms Halstead Property and Brown Harris Stevens show mixed but healthy indicators. In a still strict lending environment, it comes as little surprise that the best performing sectors of the market — the top end of the market where buyers are wealthiest, and the bottom end of the new development market where units qualify for Federal Housing Authority-approved loans — were those where financing came easiest. [more]

Jim Gricar will leave his role as the West Side manager at Brown Harris Stevens to fill a new position, general sales manager, at Halstead Property. The two firms are owned by Terra Holdings and Gricar said the move lacked the controversy typically associated with job changes.
“The owners approached me about the opportunity and I was very excited,” Gricar said. “I’ll get to work directly with Diane Ramirez [the president of Halstead] and manage operations, not only on the West Side, but across the firm.”
The move is effective April 4. TRD [more]

Terra Holdings said today that it has acquired the assets of property management firm Caran Properties and will begin operating it as a division of the Halstead Management Companies, effective immediately. Among the Caran properties that will be folded into Halstead’s portfolio are 200 West End Avenue, Sky House, Place57, the Astor and the Shepherd House. Caran’s Sherry Frankel and Martha Goupit will run the new Caran Management team for Terra, and will move into the Terra headquarters at 770 Lexington Avenue. Terra did not disclose the financial details of the merger. TRD

From the May issue: A year ago this month, New York’s real estate community experienced one of the darker moments of the recession when Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy — one of the city’s largest and most established firms — announced it would close. However, CBHK turned out to be the only major firm that disappeared. Business, meanwhile, has steadily improved for months. “New York has had a very good rebound,” said Pamela Liebman, CEO of the Corcoran Group. [more]

Looking to drum up some business in these tough times? Try issuing a
market report.

During the roller coaster ride that has been the residential real
estate market of the past year, brokers and consumers have scrambled
for information to interpret rapidly changing market forces. In
response, real estate firms have issued a veritable avalanche of
market reports, each hoping to become the consumer’s go-to source for
information, and grow their brand in the process.

But this information overload may now be backfiring, since there are
now so many reports available, often with wildly disparate information.

“All of these firms believe in [issuing reports] as a way of marketing
themselves and separating themselves from the competition,” said Paul
Purcell, a partner at real estate consultancy Braddock + Purcell and
the co-founder of Charles Rutenberg Realty in New York. “It simply
serves to confuse the consumer, and make them wonder why each firm has
different information.” [more]

Arthur Zeckendorf, one of four Terra Holdings co-chairmen; Terra headquarters at 770 Lexington Ave. (Photo source: PropertyShark)

Terra Holdings, owner of Brown Harris Stevens and Halstead Property, has purchased Penmark Realty, one of the city’s top property management firms, for an undisclosed amount, according to the New York Post. Penmark had contracts to manage roughly 80 New York City buildings, including all of Extell’s, which Terra will oversee under the new name Penmark-Halstead Management. Prudential Douglas Elliman was also approached about a potential Penmark acquisition, said Howard Lorber, chairman of Elliman, but declined because it feared taking on the liability of a company already plagued by lawsuits. Penmark will soon operate out of Terra’s 770 Lexington Avenue headquarters at 60th Street. [Post]

Developer Kent Swig was denied a motion to reargue or stay enforcement of a $32 million judgment by Square Mile Structured Debt yesterday. New York State Supreme Court Judge Bernard Fried ruled that Swig failed to prove any legal errors that would allow him to reopen or delay the case. The judgment was issued against Swig after he defaulted on a $28 million personal loan from Square Mile that was used to help develop the troubled Sheffield57 condominium near Columbus Circle. Fried denied the motion despite allegations that Swig was denied access to critical documents and that Square Mile misrepresented key facts to Swig. Fried ruled that the only way to issue a stay would be if the court “overlooked or misapprehended the facts or the law.” The ruling will likely provide further hardship for Swig and his considerable number of real estate assets, which include Swig Equities, the real estate development firm, Helmsley-Spear, the commercial real estate firm previously owned by Harry Helmsley and Terra Holdings (where he is co-chairman and co-owner), the parent company of Brown Harris Stevens and Halstead Property. [more]