Douglas Elliman heavyweights, including Chairman Howard Lorber, CEO Dottie Herman and an array of the firm’s top producing brokers, gathered last night to preview 10 Madison Square West in style.
More than 100 guests flocked to a cordoned-off section of Madison Square Park — which developer the Witkoff Group had rented out for the event — to sip lemonade- thyme cocktails and nibble on tiny lobster rolls and salted caramel tartlets.
Sales at the former Toy Building at 1 West 24th Street, exclusively marketed by Douglas Elliman Development Marketing, are set to launch in the next two to three weeks, a spokesperson for the project told TRD.
“Sales began earlier today and we’re already sold out,” Lorber quipped when addressing the crowd.
Elliman’s Kirk Rundhaug, head of sales at the development, set the record straight: no units have been sold prelaunch, he told The Real Deal, but many interested parties toured the site in advance. In fact, 50 brokers were already on the list to see the development, he said.
Afterwards, groups of brokers strolled through the park to the sales office at 60 Madison Avenue to view renderings of the under-construction development.
Among the guests were Elliman heavy-hitters Melanie Lazenby, Dina Lewis, Fredrik Eklund, John Gomes, Leonard Steinberg, Gail Sankarsingh, Michael Lorber, Vickey Barron and Frances Katzen; Susan de França and John Albino of the development marketing division; Reba Miller of CORE; and Michele Kleier, the CEO of Kleier Residential. Developer Steve Witkoff also made the rounds, chatting with brokers.
The Witkoff Group purchased the 16-story building in 2011 for $191 million at auction, as previously reported. The property, once part of the International Toy Center, will be converted into 125 condos. Prices in the development start at about $1 million for a one-bedroom and reportedly edge up to around $25 million for the penthouse. Units are not yet publicly listed.
The project is set to be complete by the end of 2014, the spokesperson said.