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]

Ex-City Council Speaker A. Gifford Miller and his new home at 108 East 82nd Street

Former City Council Speaker A. Gifford Miller and his wife Pamela paid $3 million for a five-bedroom duplex cooperative at 108 East 82nd Street on the Upper East Side.
The Millers closed on the purchase of the first- and second-floor apartment that includes three bathrooms and an outdoor terrace, on April 29, city property records published this past Friday show. The sellers were William Tyree, a partner at financial firm Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., and his wife Katherine George, the records show.

The 40-unit, nine-story building located between Lexington and Park avenues, was built in 1916. The apartment was listed in November 2010 by Warburg Realty for $3.15 million, Streeteasy.com shows. [more]

The Real Deal has had an action-packed schedule. We hit up the Charity: Water event at 123 East 10th Street, the largest and priciest home available in the East Village, hosted by Rubicon Property. We stopped by Core’s cocktail party on the 17th floor of 812 Fifth Avenue, which was recently redesigned by architect Joseph Dirand. We also dropped by the Griffin Court condominium in Hell’s Kitchen, where Gumley Haft Kleier was hosting a viewing party of this week’s HGTV’s realty reality show “Selling New York.” Meanwhile, back at the office we were letting our fingers do the walking and got some fun nuggets. Click here for more. [more]

From left: REBNY President Steven Spinola, Rep. Anthony Weiner, Warburg President Frederick Peters, Elaine Mayers of Citi Habitats and Stacey Max of Bellmarc Realty

Tuesday’s approval of an amendment to a proposed Federal Housing Finance Agency ruling dealing with flip taxes could keep lenders from abandoning the New York City residential market in the future, according to industry experts.

The amendment pared down an earlier FHFA provision, announced in fall 2010, which would have barred government-sponsored Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from lending in all multi-family buildings in which a flip tax is written into the contract. In its original form, the proposal could have adversely affected roughly 50 percent of the New York City residential stock, according to Real Estate Board of New York President Steven Spinola.

The amendment was passed as part of a larger proposal that is still winding its way through the approval process. [more]

From left: Michael Shvo, 20 Pine Street and 25 Broad StreetStalled condominium developments that suffered during the recession are now being revived in the Financial District. However, as the neighborhood emerges from the downturn, the new developments are falling short of previous expectations, in terms of pricing and design, the Wall Street Journal reported. The new owners of William Beaver House, for instance, are slashing condo prices, while the creditors of the Setai Wall Street are selling their defaulted loan, to help closings resume. The lenders to 25 Broad Street are foreclosing on the property, paving the way for converting it to rentals. “People in the Financial District got a little over-ambitious, both in terms of prices and concepts,” said Frederick Peters, president of Warburg Realty. [more]

From left: images from inside the home at 180 East 93rd Street and a rendering of the building

A never-been-lived-in apartment at new condominium 180 East 93rd Street is for rent at $23,000, after being purchased by Parisian investors. The third-floor apartment had been on the market for $4.85 million, and closed just before the New Year for an undisclosed price, according to listing broker Ginger Brokaw of the Corcoran Group. The owners are French investors who purchase high-end properties in New York City, then rent them, said Brokaw, who represented the buyers in the transaction. They look for unique properties with stand-out features, she said: homes that are “really interesting — nothing normal.” Meanwhile, a uniquely designed penthouse at Greenwich Village co-op 552 LaGuardia Place just hit the market for $8.75 million. According to the listing, with Brown Harris Stevens’ Paula Del Nunzio, the apartment has four levels, five bedroom and four baths. Click here for more.

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From left: Richard Steinberg, Wendy Greenbaum, Linette Semino and Frederick Peters

Richard Steinberg, executive managing director with Warburg Realty, was presented with his firm’s top prize last night, based on his 2010 sales performance, during Warburg’s annual award ceremony. Wendy Greenbaum, also an executive managing director, took home second place for sales performance, while agent Linette Semino was named rookie of the year. But sales talent isn’t the only thing Warburg is celebrating this year — the firm was recently cast for the second season of HGTV’s realty reality show “Selling New York.” TRD [more]

From left: Warburg brokers Leslie Rosenthal, Deborah Lupard, Richard Steinberg and firm president Frederick Peters

From the December issue: If the casting for season two of HGTV’s “Selling New York” is to be
believed, experienced actors, singers and models have an inside edge on
the popular real estate-themed reality show.
Producers went on the hunt for more brokers in the spring, choosing,
so far, three Warburg Realty brokers (along with company president
Frederick Peters) to join colleagues from Core and Gumley Haft Kleier.
During her audition, Warburg broker Leslie Rosenthal broke into an impromptu “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
“The performance aspect definitely intrigued them,” said Rosenthal,
who was an actor and singer before she started selling homes. “They
wanted people who are natural, who wouldn’t get intimidated by the
process, and who can do the takes, too.” [more]

Stephen Ross and 400 West 12th Street

The deed for an unlisted fourth-floor condominium at the Related Companies’ recently record-breaking Superior Ink condominium was quietly transferred earlier this month to the Related mastermind himself, CEO Stephen Ross. The price of unit 4J at 400 West 12th Street? Zero dollars, of course — and it isn’t the first time. Ross currently lives in a sprawling, 9,290-square-foot penthouse at the Time Warner Center, which he “bought” in 2006 for an equally-low $0. And in June, Curbed reported that Superior Ink apartment #6D went in a freebie transfer to Susan De Franca, president of sales at Related. Ross wasn’t immediately available for comment, and since a listing for unit 4J never surfaced, not much information is available about the new spread. But by comparison, unit 3J, which went into contract last month, was last listed for $5.125 million. Click here for more.

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Prudential Douglas Elliman executive vice president Rob Gross, who has been working on 14 West 14th Street for two years.

From the April issue: You can file the bizarre sales situation at 14 West 14th Street under “thanks to the economy. “Rather than sell all their units at post-meltdown discounts, the sponsors of the building decided to sell just one-third of the units. Read: Roughly 20 of the 30 condos will remain in the developer’s hands and be rented out. Because most banks won’t finance buyers in a building where only 33 percent of the units are being sold, the developers, Albert and Robert Dweck, originally said they would sell only to all-cash buyers. Sales started in September. That strategy, not surprisingly, didn’t bear much fruit. No buyers plunked down cash for their apartments out of the gate. But then, after a couple of months, the team finally found a bank, NJ Lenders Corp., willing to finance buyers at the building. [more]