Veteran Upper East Side brokers, including the Kleier family and Fox Residential chief Barbara Fox, gathered last night for the official opening of Brodsky Development’s 135 East 79th Street. While the event took place at an ad hoc sales center at 654 Madison Avenue built to resemble the building’s interiors, and not at the property itself, guests were suitably impressed by the detailed finishes on display and kept busy munching on tiny macaroni and cheese dishes and steak and arugula mini salads.
The Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group sales team was in attendance, including James Lansill, Armelle Flood and JP Forbes. Corcoran Group President Pam Liebman even made a brief appearance and was seen chattering with Sotheby’s International Realty star Nikki Field. The Kleier trio, including Forbes’ wife Samantha Kleier Forbes, worked the room, while Sabrina Kleier Morgenstern’s property investor husband Robert Morgenstern of Stone Street Properties was also spotted.
Developer Daniel Brodsky and the building’s designer, Bill Sofield, were said to be present as well.
The project, which is still under construction, is just over halfway sold, with 17 of the building’s 30 units under contract, a spokesperson for Brodsky told The Real Deal.
Brodsky recently filed for permission to combine the building’s top two penthouses into a mammoth, 9,000-square-foot trophy pad, which will be asking $50 million.
Brodsky acquired the site, between Lexington and Park avenues, four years ago from the Hunter College Silberman School of Social Work, which had been located there for more than 40 years. The developer is asking top dollar for the units, which start at $7 million.
While Brodsky previously declined to specify how much he had spent on the property, he said it was “by far the most we have ever spent or contemplated spending [on a project].”