Just as the downturn is over, New York City condominium and co-op boards welcomed a new real estate phenomenon, the turndown. The financial scrutiny for buying condos and co-ops, and the number of sales that were vetoed in 2011, was unprecedented, brokers, real estate lawyers and property managers told the New York Times.

It was a year where normal real estate logic did not apply, the paper said. Condo boards, which normally should not be able to reject prospective buyers, were creating obstacles to purchase in order to maintain some scrutiny over who can buy, and co-op boards looked more favorably upon buyers with mortgages than cash buyers because they found them to be more financially stable. [more]

By Katherine Clarke and Lauren Elkies

From left: Tamir Shemesh of the Corcoran Group, model Anne Flore Trichilo, 164 Bank Street and Maria Daou

International fashion model Anne Flore Trichilo has sold her 164 Bank Street apartment, according to public records filed with the city today. The Corcoran Group’s Tamir Shemesh, who represented Trichilo in the sale, said the unit closed Nov. 22 for $1.13 million.

Trichilo, who has worked with designers like Karl Lagerfeld and photographers such as Patrick Demarchelier, purchased the unit in 2001, according to public records, which did not reveal the price she paid. The 700-square-foot, one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit has Hudson Street views. The condo building, between Washington and West streets, features 24 loft-like apartments on 13 floors. [more]

At The Real Deal‘s seventh annual forum last week’s at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, real estate pros gathered to watch debates between real estate attorneys Adam Leitman Bailey of the eponymous firm and Stuart Saft, chair of law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf’s global real estate department; developer Billy Macklowe of William Macklowe Company and John Catsimatidis, CEO of the Red Apple Group; and Frederick Peters, president of Warburg Realty, and Lockhart Steele, founder of Curbed. In attendance were Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman’s retail leasing and sales division, Jonathan Miller, president of appraisal firm Miller Samuel and Andrew Barrocas, CEO of brokerage MNS, all of whom stepped outside to talk to The Real Deal about the state of the market (see video above). — Katherine Clarke

[more]

Stuart Elliott,
editor-in-chief of The
Real Deal

From the November issue: We won’t be bringing you a crowd that’s going to boo a soldier, cheer executions or applaud the death of an uninsured man, like we’ve seen at this year’s Republican presidential debates. But this month at Lincoln Center, The Real Deal‘s first debate — in which real estate bigwigs will square off against one another — promises to be a heated discussion of some of the key issues facing the industry today.
As far as we know, it will be the first real estate debate of its kind in New York City. The format is a departure from our usual annual panel discussion.
We have a bunch of prominent debaters lined up, and the issues that will be on the table on Nov. 16 are central to the livelihoods of those who work in real estate here in the city. [more]

From left: Robert Shulman, an associate broker at Warburg Realty, Joan Swift, vice president of Prudential Douglas Elliman and 625 Park Avenue

Financier David Matlin’s full fourth-floor Park Avenue apartment that came on the market in April has found a buyer, a source told The Real Deal. The 7,500-square-foot private residence, which was listed as a co-exclusive with Robert Shulman, an associate broker at Warburg Realty, and Joan Swift, vice president of Prudential Douglas Elliman, for $29.5 million earlier this year, closed today for $25 million, the source said, though the transaction has not yet hit public record. The residence, at 625 Park Avenue, between 65th and 66th streets, is a combination of two separate units — a 5,000-square-foot apartment and another 2,500-square-foot unit next door. The latter could use some renovation work, according to the listing, which said it “awaits your personal touch.” [more]

Frederick Peters, president and CEO of Warburg Realty, appeared on CUNY TV’s “Building New York” with host, and former columnist for The Real Deal, Michael Stoler (see video above), to discuss his career and his family’s history in New York, which dates back to the first half of the 19th century. Peters had wanted to be a pianist up until the time he bought his first apartment, a co-op on Central Park West, in 1977. In fact, in a 2008 interview with The Real Deal, Peters said he would be running an orchestra if it weren’t for real estate.

“I was bitten by the real estate bug,” he said. “It was when everyone thought New York was dying and real estate was cheap.” Peters went on to be a broker at LPK for five years before taking a managing position at Albert Ashforth’s brokerage. When the company decided to vacate the New York market, it sold the division to Peters, who renamed it Ashforth-Warburg, eventually dropping Ashforth altogether. Peters took the reins in 1990 during the depths of a recession, but “miraculously, we made money,” he said, and quickly expanded the firm from 25 agents to 150. Though president of the firm, Peters says he continues to sell apartments for two reasons: because he wants to keep his finger on the pulse of the market and because he enjoys it. [more]

Clockwise from left: a screen shoot of the application, Streeteasy’s Sofia Song, Steve Dawson of Sotheby’s International Realty, Warburg’s Richard Steinberg and Rutenberg’s Kathy Braddock

The still somewhat mysterious world of brokerage has become more transparent.

New York sales and rentals listings website Streeteasy.com has launched a new feature allowing users a unique way to asses a real estate agent’s performance through data about the deals they’ve closed. The feature, called “Shop for a Broker,” links property with closed sales data from the city, letting users view completed transactions by price point, type of property and neighborhoods.

“This is the first product in New York that’s done anything like this,” said Jared Kleinstein, manager at Streeteasy. The tool will be accessible to consumers with Streeteasy.com insider accounts, which cost $10 per month. Starting today, prospective homebuyers and sellers will be able to identify the most qualified broker to work with, judging by their deal history and how long their listings sit on the market. [more]

Two Financial District condominiums, the Africa Israel-developed 20 Pine Street and the Hakimian Organization-sponsored 75 Wall Street, held a joint open house to showcase their remaining units to brokers (see photos above).

The event started at 20 Pine, which is entering its final sales stage as only about 25 of the 412 units remain on the market. Sales started in the building in January 2006, according to Streeteasy.com, and Warburg Realty serves as the exclusive marketing team. Brokers were shown unit #2503, a 706-square-foot studio asking $925,000; unit #3104, a two-bedroom, 1,573-square-foot apartment asking $2.35 million, and PH12, a two-bedroom, 1,829-square-foot penthouse asking $2.8 million. – Adam Fusfeld Comments

Not long after the Chelsea Carriage House at 159 West 24th Street went on the market in autumn 2008, its three young developers ceased to be able pay interest on their loans and the lender moved to foreclose. Eamon Roche, Joshua Sachs and Eric Gray had purchased the property in 2006, then a parking garage, for $8.75 million. Sales had looked promising until Lehman Brothers collapsed.
Now, two years after the court-appointed receiver took over, the Chelsea condos are back on the sales market and in the hands of their former owners, according to the Wall Street Journal. Roche, Sachs and Gray are back are back at the helm of the project, working with the same bank and contractors, thanks to a deal made with MidFirst Bank. [more]

Craig Huff, co-CEO of hedge fund Reservoir Capital Group, and his wife have purchased the entire sixth floor at 993 Fifth Avenue, a limestone building opposite the Metropolitan Museum of Art between 80th and 81st streets, according to the New York Observer.

Frederick Peters and Judith Lederer of Warburg Realty and the Corcoran Group’s Carrie Chiang shared the listing. The exact price was not immediately available.

“In this day in which masters of the universe tend to act like masters of the universe, it was an incredible pleasure to work with a buyer with so much grace and humility,” Warburg broker Frederick Peters told the Observer.

The seller of one of the apartments on the floor was the estate of Grace J. Ross, the wife of corporate lawyer David G. Ross, whose clients included the Boston Celtics. [more]