Riverside South, the 77-acre former rail yard-turned condominiums between 59th and 72nd streets, is seeing an uptick in sales, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Aldyn, at 63rd Street and West End Avenue, is 50 percent sold, and the Rushmore, at Riverside Boulevard and 64th Street, is 90 percent sold, the Journal said. Both buildings are around 40 stories. In the third quarter of 2011 the average price for condominiums on Riverside Drive rose 19 percent, the Journal said, to $1,470 per square foot.
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Clockwise from top left: The Aldyn at 60 Riverside Boulevard, Beth Fisher, managing director at Corcoran Sunshine, and a living room in the buildingThe condominium portion of the Aldyn, Extell Development’s first foray into condo-rental hybrids, is now 50 percent sold, according to the project’s exclusive marketers, Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group.

The building is one of four developed by Gary Barnett’s Extell Development on Riverside Boulevard between 59th and 72nd streets.

The 40-story Aldyn, at 60 Riverside Boulevard near 64th Street, has 136 rental units on the bottom 10 floors and 150 condos on the remaining floors. Sales began in January with prices ranging from $765,000 for a 691-square-foot one-bedroom unit to $16.9 million for a 5,487-square-foot, seven-bedroom unit, Streeteasy.com shows. – Adam Fusfeld [more]

MetLife has grabbed a 2 percent share of New York’s residential mortgage market just as rock-bottom lending rates and rising consumer confidence begin to spur home sales, according to Crain’s. The nation’s largest life insurer, with $55.9 billion in revenues, is planning a measured approach to growth in its hometown.

“As a new lender, we don’t have the baggage of the past,” said Tony Clintock, northeast regional sales leader for the residential mortgage division of the bank.

The move into the residential market has been in the works since 2008 when MetLife acquired the residential mortgage business from Tennessee-based First Horizon National. Since then, the sales force has grown to 40, covering all five boroughs. Most of its volume comes from financing sales at dozens of new condo developments where the bank acts as the projects’ preferred lender,
such as Extell Development’s the Aldyn and the Rushmore. [more]

From left: 80 Dekalb Avenue, BKLYN Gold, Beekman Tower and Cliff Finn of Citi Habitats

Citi Habitats’ managing director of new development marketing, Clifford Finn, gave The Real Deal the scoop on several new development rentals the company will be marketing this spring.

In early April, Citi Habitats will begin leasing units at the Ashley, a 209-unit luxury rental building developed by Extell Development. Located on 63rd Street between West End and Riverside, the Ashley is the sister rental tower to new condo the Aldyn. Starting in mid-May, Citi Habitats will be handling rentals at the Addison, a 270-unit project on Schermerhorn Street in Downtown Brooklyn from Broadway Management Company, the developer of new Manhattan condominium Sutton57. Rentals of the Addison’s studios and one- and two-bedroom units will start in mid-May for summer occupancy, Finn said.

Downtown Brooklyn has exploded with new rentals recently, including another project Citi Habitats is marketing, Forest City Ratner’s 354-unit 80 DeKalb Avenue. Also in May, Citi Habitats will start leasing at Lalezarian Properties’ new rental project at 350 West 37th Street at Ninth Avenue. The 80/20 project is tentatively being called “Townsend,” though that could change. [more]