Riverside Park

After passing through three owners and countless lawsuits, the neighborhood taking root in the massive developments along Riverside Boulevard on the Upper West Side is beginning to mature.

The New York Times cited Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group data that show prices and sales pace in the area far outpacing the market. The average price per square foot of a Riverside Boulevard condominium increased 10 percent year-over-year to $1,552 in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to a 4 percent gain to $1,417 in Manhattan as a whole. [more]

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.
[more]

Douglaston Development’s the Edge in Brooklyn was the most successful New York City residential development in the third quarter of 2011 in terms of number of units sold, according to data from PropertyShark.com.

Seventy units were sold in total at the Edge between July and September, with a median sales price of $705,229. It is also the most successful development of the year so far, the data shows, with 215 units selling at the property so far in 2011.

As The Real Deal reported earlier this year, the Edge, which is being marketed by MNS, sold more units by June than any New York City residential building did in all of 2010. — Katherine Clarke [more]

Clockwise from top left: Extell Development President Gary Barnett, the Rushmore and Carlyle Group co-founder William ConwayAttorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office faced off with lawyers
representing Extell Development and Carlyle Realty Partners yesterday as
a Manhattan Supreme Court judge heard what may be the final arguments
in a long-running effort to overturn a $16 million escrow dispute at the
Rushmore condominium.

Judge Anil Singh was urged to overturn the April 2010 ruling by former
AG Andrew Cuomo, who ordered the developers to refund $16 million
in deposits to 41 buyers at the luxury condo building at 80 Riverside
Boulevard close to 64th Street.

The case centers on whether the developers missed a Sept. 1, 2008 deadline
to close the first sale at the 289-unit building, or whether a scrivener’s
error in the offering plan mistakenly included the wrong date, which the
developers insist should have been Sept. 1, 2009, giving them a one-year
window to finish construction and close the first deal. [more]

Clockwise from left: Actor Robin Williams, the exterior of the Rushmore and the interior of the apartment

Comedian and actor Robin Williams has just moved out of his digs at the Rushmore at 80 Riverside Boulevard after staying there for a six-month stint during the run of his Broadway show “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” according to Michael Arcos and David Tobon of Blu Realty. The star of “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Patch Adams” paid $15,000 a month for the 2,459-square-foot, four-bedroom, they said.

The apartment has now been rented to Matteo Battaini, CEO of Pirelli Tires in North America, the Blu agents and co-founders, who represented both the landlord and tenant in the deal, said. The owner’s identity was not immediately clear.

Williams is certainly not the first celebrity to have fallen for the charms of the Rushmore.  [more]

From left: R&B artist Joe and Blu Realty Group co-founder Alon Chadad; Joe with guests from the National Committee For the Furtherance of Jewish Education, including chairman Rabbi Shea Hecht on the right; Blu Realty Group co-founders Alon Chadad and David Tobon

The Real Deal made the rounds at a pair of real estate gatherings last night, including a charity event at Trump Place on the Upper West Side sponsored by Blu Realty Group, and a wine and cheese celebration party for the opening of MNS’ new Chelsea office. At Trump Place, Blu took a few minutes from helping to raise money for Toys for Hospitalized Kids to discuss their new office opening in the building’s base and introduce a few music celebrities to guests, which were largely real estate pros.
Meanwhile, TRD checked out MNS’ wine and cheese party also held last night to celebrate the opening of its new Chelsea office at 189 Eighth Avenue. Sales director Fabrizio Uberti Bona told us he recently sold an apartment for an executive at the concert and ticketing company Live Nation and after he succeeded, the client hooked him and his wife up with tickets to a Beyonce concert. – Adam Fusfeld and Miranda Neubauer Comments

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Kedar Massenburg, BLU Realty’s Alon Chadad and the Avery

Kedar Massenburg, the former Motown Records president who launched the
careers of Erykah Badu and D’Angelo among others, recently rented an
approximately 1,500-square-foot, three-bedroom, three-bathroom apartment
overlooking the Hudson River at the Avery on the Upper West Side, The
Real Deal has learned. Massenburg and his broker, Alon Chadad, co-founder
of BLU Realty Group,
would not disclose the rent, but said Massenberg did not negotiate on
price. Comparable apartments in the condominium at 100 Riverside Boulevard rented in the last month for about
$9,800 per month, Streeteasy.com shows.
[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]

A floorplan for the $55 million combination spread, Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, who used to rent the lesser of the two units, and the exterior of 15 Central Park West

Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez has officially moved out of his blockbuster 15 Central Park West rental, but those hoping to snag his place are out of luck — at least until next year.

Leroy Schecter, the steel mogul who owns both A-Rod’s former unit and the one next door, and who has been trying to sell them for a combined $55 million since last March, pulled the listing from the market this week. Emily Beare, the Core broker in charge of marketing the 35th-floor condominiums on Schecter’s behalf, told The Real Deal that the owner is planning to physically combine the units in an attempt to generate higher offers. [more]

From left: Lynne Brown, Melissa Ziweslin, Graham Spearman, Heather Cook, Kelley Kennedy Mack and the Rushmore

For the second year in a row, the sales team at the Rushmore, a 289-unit condominium at 80 Riverside Boulevard on the Upper West Side, took home Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group’s top prize at the firm’s annual awards. The team, comprised of Lynne Brown, Lena Nusimow, Graham Spearman, Aidan Sullivan and Melissa Ziweslin, was the top-selling group in the company, with $179 million in closings last year. The deal of the year, meanwhile, was presented to the 101 Warren Street sales team (Heather Cook and Angeli Dahiya) for closing on the building’s last unit, the Skyhome 3460, for $13 million. During the awards ceremony, Kelly Kennedy Mack, president of Corcoran Sunshine, said that the company closed on $1.73 billion worth of new residential development in 2010, up from $1.6 billion the prior year. TRD [more]