The World's Top-Earning Celebrity In 2016

Swift has nabbed the top spot on the 2016 Forbes Celebrity 100 list. The singer earned an estimated $170 million in the past year, driven in part by her very successful 1989 World Tour. Swift more than doubled her take from last year, when she earned $80 million.

"She smashed the Rolling Stones' North American touring record, grossing $200 million on the continent en route to quarter of a billion dollars in total," Forbes reports. "She also pads her pocketbook by shilling for brands including Diet Coke, Keds and Apple."

Musical artists One Direction came in second on this year's list with $110 million. Rounding out the top 5 were author James Patterson ($95 million); talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw and soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo (both $88 million); and comedian Kevin Hart ($87.5 million).

The top 10 list of highest-paid celebs is as follows:

1. Taylor Swift ($170 million)

2. One Direction ($110 million)

3. James Patterson ($95 million)

4. Dr. Phil McGraw ($88 million)

5. Cristiano Ronaldo ($88 million)

6. Kevin Hart ($87.5 million)

7. Howard Stern ($85 million)

8. Lionel Messi ($81.5 million)

9. Adele ($80.5 million)

10. Rush Limbaugh ($79 million)

 

One sad note: Had Swift stayed with her now ex-boo, superstar DJ/producer Calvin Harris, she would have topped two lists.

With his $63 million in earnings, the pair would have been the top-earning Celebrity 100 couple, outpacing Beyonce and Jay Z, who earned a combined $107.5 million over the past year.

Shake it off, Taylor -- there's always next year.

New Sales Listing - 33 Greenwich Avenue, Unit 12B

33 Greenwich Avenue, Unit 12BWest Village, Manhattan, NY, 10014
 

1 BED
1 BATH
Offered At $1,195,000

 

South-west facing, renovated, high-floor, corner one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment with dual exposures and a private outdoor terrace offering unobstructed views over the West Village. 

Flooded with sunlight, this apartment has undergone a gut renovation and features an open kitchen with Cesarstone counters, Bosch dishwasher and oven, Jennair stove top, Summit refrigerator and freezer, all of which are concealed by custom cabinetry. Heated floors in the bathroom and kitchen will keep you toasty in the winter, while the roomy bedroom with two exposures is outfitted with CitiQuiet windows to ensure a peaceful night's sleep. The 30-foot private terrace delivers gorgeous sunsets and unobstructed views down to the Hudson River, perfect for private outdoor dinners, BBQ’s or entertaining guests.

Additional owner upgrades include in-wall HDMI cabling in the bedroom, and in-wall speakers / projector in the living room. The windowed bathroom offers a textured ceramic stone floor, glass and marble wall tiles, a built-in cabinet with heated glass, a heated towel rail and a tub with built-in shower and glass screen.

33 Greenwich Avenue is a full-service co-op situated in the heart of the historic West Village offering full-time doorman, live-in super, parking garage, storage, gym, laundry, bike room and a landscaped roof deck, with views of the Empire State Building. Pied à terres, co-purchasing and gifting are allowed with board approval. Subletting is permitted after two years, for one year at a time for a maximum of two years over a five-year period. Pets are allowed with board approval. Famous Village restaurants and vibrant nightlife dot the area, while the adjacent Meatpacking District, SoHo, and Union Square neighborhoods mean the best of Lower Manhattan is within easy reach. Transportation is phenomenal with A/C/E, B/D/F/M, 1, L and PATH trains nearby.

Smart Or Greedy?

When 15 Central Park West was set to kick off construction in 2005, the building’s co-developer William Zeckendorf made what would turn out to be a prescient purchase. He paid his firm, Zeckendorf Development, $10.7 million for a three-bedroom pad on the 41st floor. The building went on to become the most successful condominium in New York’s history, the “Limestone Jesus” of luxury living. And Zeckendorf’s $10.7 million bet netted him, in the span of just five years, a profit of more than $30 million.

“Don’t get high on your own supply,” Michelle Pfeiffer’s character warned in the 1980s cult classic “Scarface.” But many developers who’ve ignored that maxim have come out on top.

Sponsors buying their own product is so commonplace in New York real estate that brokers use it as a marketing tactic, banks set limits on how many units a sponsor can take out of circulation and buyers have come to like the perks of calling developers their “neighbor.”

One key reason developers buy in is to reap the rewards of an appreciating product, insiders said.

“The downside of building a condo is, once you’ve sold, if the building continues to appreciate in value, the developer doesn’t participate in that,” said Scott Singer, president of the Singer & Bassuk Organization. “So it’s a way to participate in future increases.” At 15 CPW, for example, the average price per square foot has risen steadily nearly every year since its launch, according to data from CityRealty. When sales kicked off in 2007, units at the building traded at an average of $2,614 per square foot, a number that jumped to $4,706 by 2010.

While none of the developers contacted for this story agreed to speak on the record, details gleaned from public records shed light on their purchases.

Miki Naftali

Some recent deals involving sponsors include the Naftali Group’s Miki Naftali, who picked up a $6 million penthouse at his 182 West 82nd Street project this year, and Ian Schrager, who forked over $15 million at his 160 Leroy Street. Ziel Feldmanowns a pad at the Marquand, a Beaux-Arts mansion at 11 East 68th Street that his HFZ Capital Group converted into condos in 2013, while Alchemy Properties’ Ken Horn owns an apartment at the Isis at 303 East 77th Street. JDS Development Group’s Michael Stern owns a $16 million pad at Walker Tower at 212 East 18th Street, which his firm developed with Property Markets Group. PMG principals Kevin Maloney and Elliott Joseph own condos there, too. Madison Equities’Robert Gladstone plans to move into 212 Fifth Avenue, a project he’s co-developing with Building and Land Technology.

Another member of this club is Donald Trump.  The presidential candidate reportedly held on to dozens of apartments at Trump Parc at 106 Central Park South and Trump Park Avenue at 502 Park Avenue. Last year, he sold a penthouse at Trump Park Avenue for $21.4 million, or $3,453 per foot, and earlier this year, the Trump Organization sold a full-floor unit at the building for $14.05 million, or $3,345 per foot.

The sales were not related to funding his campaign, Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump told the Wall Street Journal at the time. “We sell units when the market is conducive to selling,” she said.

PMG’s Maloney and Joseph seem to share the sentiment.

Maloney, who shelled out $11.4 million for an 18th-floor pad at Walker Tower in 2014, listed it last year for $15.65 million. He also offered the apartment as part of a three-unit spread asking $60 million, or $6,000 per foot. Joseph owned the other two units in the package, having paid a combined $22.9 million for them.

Though the combination sale never happened, Joseph was able to sell one of his units, 18C, for $10.4 million in September, 82 percent more than the $4.7 million he paid in 2014. His other unit, Unit 18A, which is currently in contract, was last asking $25.5 million, a nearly 50 percent markup over his purchase price of $17.2 million.

Michael Graves

Douglas Elliman’s Michael Graves, who represented the PMG principals in the sales, declined to comment specifically on the deals. But he said sponsors often “cherry pick” units they feel will soar in value.

“A lot of developers are looking for units that are malleable to make larger,” Graves said, and if a developer thinks large units will make a killing in the next real estate cycle, he or she may purchase adjacent, smaller units that can be combined when the time is right.

“It would make you scratch your head if a developer was not interested in buying their units for a long-term investment,” he added.

From a lender’s perspective, however, developers holding onto units can complicate deals.

“There’s nothing wrong with it, but the lender has to look at the likelihood of being repaid in full and what’s their cushion from the rest of the units,” Singer said.

If a developer offers to buy an apartment for $1 when it’s worth $1 million, that deal lowers the building’s total sellout and the potential earnings the developer would use to repay the bank. But if a developer offers a fair-market price for the pad, lenders may be heartened to see a contract signed early in the process.

“It would make you scratch your head if a developer was not interested in buying their units for a long-term investment,” — Michael Graves.

To protect their interest, some lenders limit the number of units a developers can hold off the general market. Brokerages, too, push for a cap on the amount of inventory a developer can buy themselves, or sell to friends and family, since those deals often exclude brokerage fees.

Above all, banks want to know they’re being repaid, said Aaron Shmulewitz, an attorney at Belkin Burden Wenig & Goldman. “Lenders like to see sales, not unsold units,” he said, adding that sponsors also walk a fine line between snagging themselves a good deal and adversely affecting comps in the building.

For these reasons, it’s rare to see developers gift themselves or their relatives units. At DDG’s 41 Bond Street, for example, CEO Joe McMillan forked over $6.2 million to buy out his investment partners and become the sole owner of a first-floor unit, property records show.

Howard Lorber

But “friends and family” discounts are par for the course, and allow developers and their bosom buddies to invest early in a building and ride the wave of price appreciations.

Earlier this year, for example, Douglas Elliman chair Howard Lorber paid a “friends and family” price of just over $15 million for a half-floor pad on the 67th floor of 432 Park Avenue, where his brokerage is handling on-site sales for Macklowe Properties and CIM Group.  The price for his 4,000-square-foot pad worked out to $3,750 per foot. His neighbor on the same floor, neither friend nor family, paid $26.6 million, or over $6,650 per foot.

In “House of Outrageous Fortune,” which chronicled the rise of 15 CPW, author Michael Gross said a number of early buyers – including the Zeckendorfs, their equity partner Eyal Ofer and his brother, Idan, as well as Goldman Sachs’ Lloyd Blankfein, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Justin Metz, then a Goldman real estate executive – all received fat discounts on their pads.

Blankfein, for example, paid $25.7 million, or $4,262 per foot, for a duplex that was asking $29 million, according to Gross. The apartments now on the market at the building are asking, on average, $6,670 per foot, according to CityRealty.

According to Gross, each “insider” deal at 15 CPW varied, but some received 6 percent off the initial ask plus an additional 3 percent “friends and family” discount. All benefited from being first movers: Five days after sales launched, the developers raised prices – the first of 30 such increases.

“Developers have been involved in the building from Day 1, so they know how the sausage is made and still want to live there.” — Jonathan Miller

Aaron Appel, a managing director in JLL’s real estate investment banking practice, said sponsors who put their money into condos may see a tax upside: After 12 months of ownership, the unit is subject to capital gains tax versus ordinary income tax. “I have a lot of clients who buy and hold for tax purposes,” he said.

And from a marketing standpoint, developers’ purchases can certainly look good to potential buyers, and early contracts from friends and family — many of them high-fliers in their own right — can help generate buzz. Buyers may see it as sponsors putting their money where their mouths are.

“Developers have been involved in the building from Day 1, so they know how the sausage is made and still want to live there,” said Jonathan Miller, CEO of real estate appraisal firm Miller Samuel.

Douglas Elliman’s Vickey Barron, who headed up sales at Walker Tower, said the fact that Stern lived in the building was an effective sales tool. “I used to say, ‘Michael is going to live in the building,’” she said. “It really does go a long way.”

Other developers like the ability to trick out their apartments to a degree that wouldn’t be possible in someone else’s finished product. Related Companies CEO Jeff Blau, for example, helped design his own penthouse at the Chatham, a Robert A.M. Stern-designed condominium developed by Related at 181 East 65th Street. Stern, too, keeps an apartment at the building.

His boss, Related chair Stephen Ross, currently has one of the best commutes in the city, from his sprawling penthouse at the Time Warner Center, which Related developed in 2003, to Related’s corporate offices below. And he intends to keep it that way: Related will soon be moving its corporate headquarters to its Hudson Yards megaproject, and Ross will move his home there, too.

This Evening - Manhattanhenge 2016

Photographers and photo enthusiasts get ready.

Each year in May and again in July, New York City has the opportunity to experience Manhattanhenge - the phenomenal moment when the sun aligns perfectly with the city’s grid and gives us the chance to catch a glimpse of the sunset from east to west streets in Manhattan.

If you love sunsets and appreciate Manhattan's urban terrain, then you should make sure you have your camera (or smartphone) charged-up and ready to go at the end of this month and also in July. 

RELATED: MAP: How to see Manhattanhenge May 29 - 30 (2015)

According to the American Museum of Natural History, Manhattanhenge will take place on the following days and times to see the half sunset on Manhattan’s grid. 

Half
May 29, 8:12 p.m.
July 12, 8:20 p.m.

Below are the dates and time to see the full sunset along Manhattan’s grid.

Full
May 30 8:12 p.m.
July 11 8:20 p.m.

The Hayden Planetarium will be hosting a special public program on Tuesday, July 12 at 7 p.m. which will include a presentation by astrophsicist Jackie Faherty discussing the history and astronomy behind Manhattanhenge. 

You will be able to view Manhattanhenge from various points in the city but the best spots to see it are: 14th Street, 23rd Street, 34th Street, 42nd Street, and 57th Street looking west.

Compass Nabs LA Top Firm The Agency’s Sports & Entertainment Division Chief

Compass is continuing its poaching spree. This time, the brokerage nabbed the managing director of competitor the Agency’s sports and entertainment division to lead its own similar division.

Agent Kofi Nartey, whose client list has included basketball great Michael Jordan; recording artist Iggy Azalea; and NFL veterans LaDainian Tomlinson and Marcellus Wiley, will work out of Compass’ Beverly Hills office and will focus on the specialized needs of professional athletes and entertainers, the company said.

“Compass Global Sports & Entertainment Division will serve a very important niche market that is equal parts real estate and concierge services,” said Robert Reffkin, Compass Founder and CEO. “Sports stars and entertainers often find themselves having to shift life and career plans in a moment’s notice, and with Kofi’s expertise, Compass is prepared to seamlessly guide them through any stage in their journeys whether in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Boston, Washington DC, or beyond.”

Nartey said he had not been planning a departure from the Agency but couldn’t resist a chance to build a team from scratch with national reach.

Compass does have some credibility with the sporting set. Golfer Greg Norman recently listed his $55 million Colorado ranch with Compass broker Steven Shane.

A former football player at the University of California at Berkeley, Nartey has also appeared in several films and is regularly a featured agent on HGTV’s “Selling LA.”

Who Lives At Fancy 740 Park Avenue?!?

The second cooperative building in our series, 740 Park Avenue, shares many attributes with River House: a strict board, high ceilings, and other architectural details too expensive to replicate with new construction today.

The 19-story building, which also uses the more discrete 71 East 71st Street address, was designed by Rosario Candela and developed by James Lee, the grandfather of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Because 740 Park was constructed just as the United States was entering the Great Depression, it faced financial difficulties from its inception and for decades after being completed in 1930, even spending time as a rental. Its units, constructed to be mansion stacked on mansions, were white elephants that were difficult to sell.

By the time the building’s fortunes recovered in the 1980s, the face of the country’s and city’s elite had changed. America’s WASP aristocracy had given up its monopoly on high society in favor of a meritocracy of sorts. At 740 Park, representatives of this meritocracy include David Koch, Stephen Schwarzman, Vera Wang, Elizabeth Swig, and William Zeckendorf.

In 2005, society reporter Michael Gross published “740 Park: The Story of the World’s Richest Apartment Building,” which listed the building’s residents. We give you an updated look at the captains of finance, industry, and fashion who reside there today, more than a decade later.

(Source: Property Shark and published news articles).

David and Julia Koch

Unit price: Undisclosed

David Koch is a Kansas-born chemical engineer, captain of industry, donor to libertarian political causes, philanthropist to the arts and medical research, and the scion of the Koch family that made its fortune in chemicals.

Since 1970, he has worked at the conglomerate owned by his family, Koch Industries — rising to president in 1979, and co-owner with his brother Charles in 1983. He received a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1963 and 1962, and is an alumnus of Deerfield Academy (Class of 1959).

Julia Flesher Koch is a former fashion assistant and philanthropist. She is Koch’s second wife. The couple have three children, David Jr., John, and Mary.

Ronald Lauder and Jo Carole Knopf Lauder

Unit price: Undisclosed

Ronald Lauder is a philanthropist, art collector, native New Yorker, would-be politician, donor to Jewish causes and scion of the Lauder family, whose members are heirs to the Estée Lauder cosmetics fortune. His varied career includes a failed run for mayor of New York, founding of the Neue Galerie, working for his family’s company, and in the 1980s, serving at the Pentagon, as a deputy assistant secretary of defense for Europe, and as the US ambassador to Austria in the Reagan administration.

For his gallery, Lauder acquired the Gustav Klimt painting above for $135 million, in June 2006. At the time, it was the highest price ever paid for a painting.

Lauder received a degree in international business from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. He is an alumnus of Bronx High School of Science. Jo Carole Knopf Lauder is a homemaker. The couple have two adult daughters, Aerin and Jane.

Stephen Schwarzman and Christine Hearst Schwarzman

Unit price: Undisclosed

Stephen Schwarzman is a billionaire financier, philanthropist, and the co-founder and principal of the Blackstone Group, a private equity firm. His career includes stints at Lehman Brothers and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. He received a MBA from Harvard Business School in 1972 and a BA from Yale University. He grew up in suburban Philadelphia.

Christine Hearst Schwarzman is a trained lawyer. She and Schwarzman, her second husband, have two children, Elizabeth and Edward. Her previous marriage, which produced one child, ended in divorce. In the 1990s, she worked as an intellectual property lawyer at Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman. She received a JD from New York University Law School and a BA from Hofstra University.

Dana and Andrew Stone

Unit price: Undisclosed

Dana Stone, née Cook, is a psychotherapist who practices out of an office at 740 Park. Stone received a master’s degree in social work from New York University (NYU) in 2012, a master’s degree in real estate development in 1988, and a BS in occupational therapy from Tufts University in 1980.

Andrew Stone is a real estate portfolio manager, financier, and the founder of Petra Capital Management. While working at investment bank Credit Suisse, he financed the real estate development projects of Donald Trump, Harry Macklowe, Ian Schrager, and Steven Witkoff. Stone received an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and a BS from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

Elizabeth Swig

Unit price: Undisclosed

Elizabeth Swig is an art collector and philanthropist. She is the ex-wife of Kent Swig, with whom she has two sons. Her father, Harry Macklowe, and her ex-husband are both real estate investors and former business partners who have experienced dramatic reversals of fortune.

Jonathan Sobel and Marcia Dunn

Unit price: $19,250,000

Jonathan Sobel is a financier, former Goldman Sachs partner, and philanthropist, who owns four car dealerships (Mini, BMW, Porsche, and Audi) in Southampton, on Long Island. Sobel received a BA from Columbia University in 1988 and is an alumnus of Dwight Englewood, a private school in New Jersey. He collects models of early computers and other gadgets, including the first model of the Apple Mac.

Marcia Dunn is an ophthalmologist in private practice and a philanthropist to medical causes. Dunn sees patients out of Manhattan office and a West Chester office.

Vera Wang

Unit price: $23,100,000

Vera Wang Becker is a designer of wedding dresses and evening wear, who worked as an editor at Vogue, and as design director at Ralph Lauren, before striking out on her own.

As of 2016, she was separated from Arthur Becker, whom she married in 1989. She received a BA from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, and is an alumna of Chapin, a private all-girls school on the Upper East Side. She was a competitive figure skater as a child.

Hamburg and Miranda Tang

Unit price: Undisclosed

Hamburg Tang, Sr. is a retired businessman who made his fortune in semiconductors and was the co-founder of Long Island City-based Alloys Unlimited.

Miranda Wong Tang is a philanthropist. In 2001, she sat on the board of the Edward S. Harkness Eye Institute and was a member of the president’s council at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

William Lie Zeckendorf and Laura Jean Weiser

Unit price: $27,000,000

William Lie Zeckendorf is a real estate developer and the scion of the Zeckendorf family, which has been investing in New York City real estate for three generations. He is the co-chairman of Terra Holdings, which controls two upscale residential brokerage firms: Brown Harris Stevens and Halstead Property. Kent Swig, the ex-husband of fellow 740 Park resident Elizabeth Swig is co-chairman of Terra Holdings. Zeckendorf is the co-founder with his brother Arthur of their eponymous firm, Zeckendorf Development.

He received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1984 and an undergraduate degree from Tufts University in Massachusetts in 1980. Zeckendorf is an alumnus of Taft, a boarding school in Connecticut.

Laura Jean Weiser is a lawyer. Weiser received a JD from Fordham University, a BA from Tufts University in Massachusetts, studied at Sciences Po (Institut d’études politiques de Paris), and is an alumna of Chapin, a private all-girls school on the Upper East Side, class of 1976.

Michael Palin

Unit price: Undisclosed

Michael Palin is a real estate developer and a widower. He is a principal at Palin Enterprises. His wife Caryl, whose father owned a stake in Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, died in 2007. Palin has a son, Dean, and two daughters, Andrea and Dorothy. Dean works at the family firm.

Israel and Caryl Englander

Unit price: $71,277,500

Israel Englander, who goes by Izzy, is a hedge fund manager, art collector and philanthropist. Forbes estimated his net worth $5 billion, as of 2016.

Englander, who grew up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and began trading stocks in high school, co-founded Millennium Management in 1989. He received a BS from New York University in 1970 and majored in finance.

He and his wife Caryl have donated millions of dollars to Jewish organizations and schools.  Caryl Englander, née Schechter, is an art collector and philanthropist. She sits on the board of the Mount Sinai Children’s Center Foundation.

John and Carmen Thain

Unit price: $27,500,000

John Thain is a bank executive and former Goldman Sachs partner, whose career has included stints as chief executive of both investment bank Merrill Lynch and the New York Stock Exchange.

Since 2010, he has served as chairman and chief executive of mid-sized lender CIT Group, but is expected to step down in March 2016. Thain’s decade-long leadership of Merrill Lynch was cut short by the financial crisis and the bank’s forced merger with Bank of America. He received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1979 and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1977.

Carmen Ribera-Thain is a homemaker. She and John Thain have four children.

Steven and Heather Mnuchin

Unit price: Undisclosed

Steven Mnuchin is a senior bank executive, former Goldman Sachs partner and financier to the movie industry. His career has included a stint as co-owner and co-chairman of Relativity Media, a film and television production studio in Beverly Hills that declared bankruptcy in 2015.

Mnuchin led a group of investors that acquired California-based OneWest Bank (formerly known as IndyMac), which was reeling from the sub-prime crisis. CIT, which was run by fellow 740 Park resident John Thain, acquired OneWest in 2015. He received a BA from Yale University.

He and his wife Heather, who have three children, spend most of their time in Los Angeles. Heather Mnuchin, née Crosby, is a designer of yoga clothes and former public relations executive. She received a BA from Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

Tamara Sarah and David Randall Winn

 Unit price: $32,000,000

Tamara Sarah Winn is an heiress. She is the daughter of billionaire Ira Rennert, who made his fortune in mining and smelting plants in South America and the United States via Renco Group, a privately-held conglomerate. The EPA singled out the company as a polluter.

David Randall Winn, who goes by Randy, is a fund manager and former credit ratings analyst. In 2014, he established FiveW Capital LLC, a private investment firm. From 1999 to 2011, he co-managed Capital IQ, now a subsidiary of ratings agency Standard & Poor’s. Winn received a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University.

Howard and Nancy Marks

Unit price: $52,500,000

Howard Marks is a private equity executive, former equities analyst and author. He serves as chairman of Los Angeles-based Oaktree Capital Management, a private equity firm he co-founded.

In 2011, Columbia University Press published a book written by Marks, “The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor.” He and his second wife Nancy spend a significant amount of their time in L.A. The couple have an adult son, Andrew, who works as a hedge fund manager. Marks received an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and a degree from University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business in 1967. He grew up in Rego Park, Queens.

Nancy Marks is a homemaker and educator by training. She received an MA from Columbia University Teachers College in 1972 and a BA from New York University in 1971.

David and Danielle Ganek

Unit price: $19,100,000

David Ganek is a money manager, patron of the arts and a former trustee of the Guggenheim.

From 2003 to 2011, he established and ran a hedge fund, Level Global. It closed in the wake of an insider trading scandal. Ganek himself was never charged, though his fund settled with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, paying $20.5 million.

His career includes stints at now-shuttered hedge fund SAC Capital, and at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (an investment bank acquired by Credit Suisse in 2000). He received an undergraduate degree from Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Danielle Ganek is a philanthropist, a novelist and a former magazine editor. She is the author of “Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him,” set in the milieu of artists and their modern-day patrons, and “The Summer We Read Gatsby,” about love in the Hamptons. She serves on the board of the Robin Hood Foundation, an organization that strives to alleviate poverty in New York. Her career also includes stints in the editorial departments of glossy magazines Woman’s Day and Mademoiselle and at Galeries Lafayette, a French department store. She received an undergraduate degree from Franklin & Marshall, where she met her husband, and spent parts of her childhood in Brazil and Switzerland.

The Ganeks have three children, Harry, Nicholas, and Zoe and divide their time between Manhattan and a house in Southampton.
As of April 2016, their 4-bedroom unit was listed for $32,500,000, according to Streeteasy.

Forget Faberge, Iron Skillets Are The Heirloom du Jour

Iron skillets are a staple of home cooking no matter what income bracket you fall into. It’s also one of the few truly useful items most people inherit – I mean let’s be real, your grandfather’s Philippe Patek probably doesn’t get much wear.

Now because of a renewed interest in authentic home cooking, the once cheap and ubiquitous iron skillet is getting a high end make over, according to the New York Times. 

While most skillet owners pay something like $16 (or nothing if they inherited one), serious collector will pay as much as $1,500 for “rare” skillets like the Erie Spider, the Griswold Slant and the Wapak Chickenfoot; an elusive Sidney No. 8.

And for those who want to start there own tradition and season their own skillet there are now a handful of American artisans handcrafting pricey pans.
Finex in Portland, Ore. (of course), Borough Furnace in Syracuse and Field Company are all crafting cast-iron skillets at prices ranging from $100 to $300 a pan.

At those prices you could afford copper cookware, but then again it wouldn’t look like something your great-grandpappy griddled with on the frontier.

Eight of Connecticut’s Thimble Islands List for $78 Million

After spending years collecting a cluster of small islands off the Connecticut coast, a wealthy family has decided to put eight of the rocky islands on the market for $78 million.

Located in the Thimble Islands archipelago in Long Island Sound off the coast of Branford, nearly all of the islands for sale have homes on them, according to Shelly Tretter Lynch of Sotheby’s International Realty, one of the listing agents.

The largest, Rogers Island, is about 8 acres and includes a roughly 13,000-square-foot, 10-bedroom restored house built around 1900 as well as a swimming pool, a tennis court and a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf putting green and tees. Reachable by a 5- to 10- minute boat ride, the island also contains a four-bedroom guesthouse, an artist’s studio, two piers and a greenhouse.

The other islands for sale range from tiny undeveloped Reel Island to the roughly .8-acre Wheeler Island, which has an eight-bedroom house. A pedestrian bridge connects the East and West portions of Cut-in-Two Island, each of which has a house and guesthouse. The sale price also includes a 2.32-acre waterfront property on the mainland containing several houses and a private dock for boats traveling to and from the islands.

The properties are owned by Christine and Edmund Stoecklein. Ms. Stoecklein has spent years acquiring islands in the area: Her former husband John Svenningsen, founder of the party supplies company Amscan Holdings, purchased West Crib Island in the 1970s. After his death in 1997, she began buying up other islands, including Rogers Island in 2003 for $22.3 million, a record-setting price for the Thimbles. In total she spent more than $30 million to buy the islands, then spent millions more on renovations, infrastructure and landscaping, according to co-listing agent Bill Fandel of Telluride Sotheby’s International Realty.

The Stoeckleins use the islands to house friends and family in the summer, Mr. Fandel said, but they recently bought a home in Washington state, where they plan to spend more time. The family is selling all of the islands except West Crib, the first one they owned, he said.

In 2012 Ms. Stoecklein briefly listed two of the islands; they were removed from the market after failing to sell, and they’ve received further upgrades since then, Mr. Fandel said.

There are about 80 houses among the Thimble Islands, which became popular as a summer resort area in the late 19th century. It is difficult to price the islands because they rarely change hands, the listing agents said. Potato Island, which isn’t owned by the Stoeckleins, spans about 1 acre and is currently listed for $6.5 million.

Summering In The City

As the city has gotten cleaner, greener and safer — and let’s face it, wealthier — New Yorkers are creating elaborate private terraces to augment their homes and provide a lofty perch to engage in al fresco entertaining.

Taking advantage of previously under-used roofs, these terraces offer sturdy Amazon-sourced wood decks, landscaping with mosses and fruit bushes, sleek Belgian metal seating and kitchens that can rival the ones in the apartments downstairs. In fact, bedazzled with grills, fridges and flat-screen televisions, these spaces can be replicas of interior versions, save for an overhead view of stars.

In step with the ongoing development boom, which makes Manhattan more and more (high-end) residential by the day, terrace construction has grown to become a robust niche of the building business, according to landscape designers, major appliance manufacturers and residents of luxury apartments.

“Not everybody may understand how they can enhance their lives and add value to their real estate, only a specific kind of client,” said Jeff Mendoza, the principal of J. Mendoza Gardens, a New York-focused firm that has designed hundreds of up-in-the-air urban gardens over the years. “But if you can afford to have these kinds of amenities, why not?”

Cost isn’t the only issue. This being New York, and not suburbia, space is usually at a premium, even for the highest-end penthouses. While designers can fashion veritable forests in postage stamp-sized spaces, clients who want distinctive kitchens and lounges will likely require at least 1,000 square feet of space, experts said.

And because New Yorkers share buildings with others, often as part of fussy co-ops, terraces usually require approvals, which can drag out for years: Shareholders want engineers to triple check that no pergolas will come falling down on their heads, and no water leaks either.

But “eventually they get built,” said Todd Haiman, a landscape designer based in Manhattan, who added that steps can be taken to lighten the load and reassure co-op boards.

Private outdoor spaces can be replicas of interior versions, save for an overhead view of stars.

Concrete pavers, for instance, are attractive but weighty. An alternate option in an urban setting is porcelain tile from companies like Kronos Ceramiche (about $15 per two-by-two-foot tile), an Italian firm. Its SKE Coupled line, which resembles wood, is also about a third of the weight of concrete, Haiman said.

Similarly, Mendoza likes to use planters that rise just a few inches above the ground, as opposed to the more traditional 16-inch-deep variety, to reduce mass. And those low-slung types don’t necessarily skimp on greenery, as is evident at a project he completed on a 2,000-square-foot terrace with views of the Hudson River on the Upper West Side, for a client who worked on Wall Street. Mendoza’s firm is a division of New York-based landscaper Blondie’s Treehouse.

On that Upper West Side terrace, low-slung planters filled with minuartia verna, a verdant moss, rim the perimeter and complement larger boxes with trees and grasses. Bi-level planting allows one to “fill more area visually and not add a tremendous amount of weight,” said Mendoza, who deploys the technique frequently.

For another take on gardening high above the sidewalks, there are the blueberry bushes and strawberry plants planted for a client of Haiman’s in Noho on a 1,100-square-foot private terrace accessed by a spiral staircase.

Like many modern terrace-seekers, the Noho client wanted more than just a place to sunbathe. Edged in blue-river stones, the oasis is tricked out with an outdoor shower, a day bed for afternoon naps with storage beneath and space enough for yoga poses, though the client prefers to jump rope.

Landscape designer Todd Haiman created a 1,100-square-foot oasis on a private terrace in Noho.

Though its cooking appliance is just a basic grill, most clients prefer a full kitchen, and they have an array of outdoor-rated (that is, made of stainless steel) appliances to choose among.

Popular brands for outdoor built-in grills include Twin Eagles, whose 36-inch-wide model, which comes with a rotisserie and lid-operated night-light, retails for around $5,000, according to an online search. (Note: New York does not allow gas tanks, only piped-in fuel.)

But the Mercedes of cooking equipment, designers said, is from Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet, which supplied the kitchen belonging to high-end architect Lou Switzer, and serves as the focal point of a spacious 2,800-square-foot terrace on the Upper East Side.

That grill, which stretches to 38 inches and offers gas- and wood-burning functions, sits behind a black marble-topped bar against an ipe-wood backsplash, which conceals a tall water tank. A similar-sized Kalamazoo grill retails for about $15,000.

Switzer’s fridge, tucked under the counter like most rooftop models, is also from Kalamazoo; others prefer the brand True Residential. Its solid-door 24-inch-wide model retails for about $3,000, according to Gringer and Sons, a New York supplier.

Switzer designed his own terrace, which also features bluestone pavers, a hot tub and enough leg room for 100-person parties, he said. About all that’s missing is a TV, though he might add one this summer, he said. As long as those flat-screens are shaded and protected from the elements, they can be enjoyed outside, experts said.

For furniture choices, New Yorkers are flocking to Royal Botania. The Belgian brand’s Vigor line, which offers teak-framed sectionals and deep-dyed cushions, are well suited to rain and sun. A sprawling seven-module sectional with a matching table will run about $37,000, a Royal Botania rep said.

Smaller terraces, meanwhile, may be more suited to another trendy European manufacturer, Fermob of France, which produces colorful, petite metal furniture. A bistro table and pair of matching chairs cost about $600 at ABC Carpet & Home in the Flatiron District.

In general, as terrace design evolves, clients are also increasingly considering their impact on the environment. Ipe, which can be harvested from the Amazon jungle by clear-cutting, has fallen out of favor in some quarters. Instead, try black locust, “which is native, lasts a long time and is rot-resistant,” Haiman said.

What’s the total cost of all this decking and pine trees, planters and couches? Assume about $150 to $250 per square foot, or starting at about $200,000 for a spare-no-expenses high-end job, experts said.

That might be a small price to pay to get the best of both worlds, city and country, in one space. Switzer, a married father of three sons and owner of a dog, had been considering relocating from New York to the suburbs before creating his terrace. “I think,” he said, “we’ve gotten our money’s worth out of it.”

Miami Takes The Reigns From New York As America's Rudest City

New Yorkers aren't the angriest urbanites in America anymore.

Miami has taken over as the rudest city in America in a survey conducted by Travel + Leisure, Time Inc.’ s travel magazine.

New York fell to the No. 3 spot. It may have shed its frosty image due to a mild winter that kept locals more cheerful toward tourists, Travel + Leisure reasoned.  

Miami-based travel blogger, Christine Austin, said Miami may have reached its breaking point this winter when tourists crowded beaches and streets. “It feels like you're being stretched to the seams," said Austin. "It’s a lot to handle in a short period of time, and for people who live here, just going to the grocery store is frustrating [because of the traffic].” 

New York City has experienced a steady increase in tourism for more than a decade, with a record 58.3 million visitors last year. While New Yorkers often curse at the crowds concentrated in Times Square, most neighborhoods are not overburdened by outsiders. 

According to Austin, the other factor working against Miami could be how tourists perceive the city.

“People may feel that the locals are always happy, laid-back and relaxed, because they perceive Miami as a fun, beachy, relaxing place to vacation," Austin said. "They are disappointed, [when they realize] we're out there trying to buy groceries and go to work like any regular Joe.”

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Dylan Hoffman - #1 Broker in New York City By Transactions | Wall Street Journal & Real Trends 2016

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Congratulations! Today Dylan Hoffman was named the #1 broker in New York City, based on transaction volume.

This past month Dylan has been awarded numerous top rankings both in the City and nationwide.  

  • #1 Broker in New York City By Transactions

  • #4 Broker in New York State By Transactions

  • #26 Broker in New York Sate By Transaction Volume Amount 

  • #82 out of 2,500,000+ Brokers in the US By Transactions

  • #101 out of 2,500,000+ Brokers in the US By Transaction Volume Amount

Record-Breaking $154M Home Hits The Market In China

Call it “Utopia” or the “One Billion Yuan Luxury Home”.

A newly built garden home in Suzhou, China, has just hit the market with an asking price of 1 billion Chinese yuan, an equivalent of $154 million, setting a price record in China.

“It is so far the highest luxury listing we have in China,” Jim Hao, vice chairman of Beijing Sotheby’s International Realty, which handles the marketing of the property, told Mansion Global exclusively.

A search of news reports shows that it is the most expensive home in mainland China to ever hit the market. Other luxury homes that came remotely close were previously listed or sold for half the price (not counting a Hong Kong estate that was sold in recent weeks for about $270 million).

The Suzhou garden home, marketed as “Taohuayuan,” meaning “Utopia” but translating literally to “Peach Blossom Land,” sits on a private island on the south shore of Suzhou’s Dushu Lake, China’s biggest lake by surface area. It has a total of 32 bedrooms and 32 bathrooms, with all the bedrooms facing south, desired by many for optimal natural light.

The listing first appeared on June 6. Sotheby’s has started recently marketing the property as the “One Billion Yuan Luxury Home” in reference to the asking price.

Private gardens in Suzhou have been recognized as World Cultural Heritage sites. In recent years, the garden-style homes have been sought after by top collectors, according to developer Sunac China Holdings Limited.

It took Sunac China about three years to build this particular home. It commissioned Xiangshanbang Traditional Architectural and Building Skills to handcraft all the bricks and plants. The craftsmen have manifested their artistic conception of Taohuayuan with the essence of East Asian gardens at its core, and created a space worthy of the highest recognition in contemporary landscaping, internationally.

And apparently it’s worked. “There are quite a few overseas clients who have showed their interests in this unique property,” said listing agent Juan Zhao Feng.

Matt Lauer Unloading Southampton Beach Cottage for $4M

On Monday, 6sqft reported that “Today” anchor Matt Lauer had scooped upRichard Gere‘s Hamptons estate for an impressive $36 million. He’s wasted no time trying to unload his other properties on the island, as the Post reveals today that his Southampton beach cottage has hit the market for $4 million. Located at 67 Scotts Landing Road, the charming waterfront home sits on .75 acres within a community “where houses are generally passed on to the next generation,” according to the listing. This exclusive neighborhood offers tennis courts and access to a bay beach with a pavilion that puts on events.

The cottage is much simpler than Lauer’s new digs; it has three bedrooms and spans just 1,800 square feet. There’s beamed cathedral ceilings and a fireplace in the living room, which has an opening to the country kitchen. Off the kitchen is the dining room that features a lovely bay window.

The enclosed porch has glass doors that lead outside to a deck and down to the yard and 85 feet of bulkhead waterfront.

There also a charming detached garage that’s adjacent to the stone pathway that leads to the front door.

As 6sqft previously noted, “Lauer, who’s notorious for taking a private helicopter back and forth from the city to the Hamptons, also owns a 40-acre farm in Water Mill (where he recently had some beef with his neighbors).”

This Week’s 5 Most Expensive Listings

Here’s our look at the five most expensive residential listings to hit StreetEasy in the past seven days, otherwise known as the crème de la crème of the Manhattan market this week.

30 Park Place #PH82

Address 30 Park Place #PH82
Price $30,000,000
Type/Size Condo: three bedrooms and four-and-a-half bathrooms
This full-floor penthouse in the Robert A.M. Stern designed 30 Park Place is this week’s most expensive listing. Situated on the 82nd floor of the tower, this spread comes with 360 degree views, four private terraces, a library and two walk-in closets.

930 Fifth Avenue 18A–18C

Address 930 Fifth Avenue 18A–18C
Price $19,000,000
Type/Size Co-op
This listing isn’t just one apartment, it’s two. Snap up this combination opportunity and you’ll be the owner of 18A and 18C at 930 Fifth Avenue (where Woody Allen once owned a penthouse). Both units are available individually, but between them will total approximately 5,000 square feet with over 90 feet of frontage on Central Park.

432 Park Avenue #38A

Address 432 Park Avenue #38A
Price $18,350,000
Type/Size Condo: three bedrooms and four-and-a-half bathrooms
This 4,082 square foot spread in New York’s biggest trash can has only been on the market for three days and already it’s in contract. The potential buyers must have been swayed by the library, the private elevator landing and the huge windows with Central Park views.

111 West 67th Street #22EFGH

Address 111 West 67th Street #22EFGH
Price $11,599,000
Type/Size Condo: five bedrooms and five-and-a-half bathrooms
Located at The Park Millennium, this corner apartment spans 3,300 square feet. While it may not be the biggest apartment on this week’s list, with 20 closets it might just have the most storage space. It’s being sold by the anonymous 111 West 67th LLC.

60 Riverside Boulevard #PH4001

Address 60 Riverside Boulevard #PH4001
Price $9,999,000
Type/Size Condo: four bedrooms and four-and-a-half bathrooms
At $9.99 million, this Roman and Williams-designed penthouse is a little cheaper than the homes we usually highlight on this list – but not by much. It’s located on top floor of the Aldyn and has floor-to-ceiling windows and 12-foot-high ceilings. Meanwhile the building itself offers residents access to an athletic club and spa, a playground, a rock climbing wall and a bowling alley.

Monthly Update - July 2016

There's no doubt the United Kingdom's separation from the EU will have reverberations in the Manhattan housing market, but just what those aftershocks may be is not entirely clear at this early stage. 


I’ve already heard from brokers using the Brexit has a negotiating tool and placing low offers on listings, "Hey, I could see you asking that price pre-Brexit, but not post-Brexit!" 


As we now know, the markets have recovered and it’s way too early to see exactly what kind of real impact Brexit will have on the Manhattan housing sector. Our super-luxury market is already at a virtual stand still and other price points are near “snookered”!


There are some that say the UK exit might even help the super luxury end of the market as investors from Europe and other overseas markets, which are subjected to even more turmoil and stress, continue to flock to our shores for a much more stable investments. Large cities, such as New York, Miami, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. could  see a nice little bump in their luxury and high-end markets from now to the end of the year.


Long term, though, the general consensus is that the adjustment of removing the U.K. from the EU will be tough on the global economy.


So, what should the average buyer or seller make of all this “barmy” news?


Well, for starters, because of all this unease, the Fed will most likely not raise interests rates to ensure the housing market doesn’t see any more undue stress than it needs to for the remaining part of the year. There may be a further adjustment period to add to our already adjusting marketplace because of the Brexit. Or there could even be a pause in the markets while everyone stops to see what’s going to happen—although this is unlikely in the New York City housing market.  Some say this  could be beneficial to buyers as sellers might get nervous and accept a lower price then they’d initially take. For sellers, they might feel skittish at the market and feel there is too much uncertainty, removing their properties from the marketplace, depleting the housing stock and putting downward pressure on the buyer's supply causing demand to increase.


But, personally I feel that the market around $1 million will stay strong, maybe even pick up, and that all other segments will carry on the same paths they were headed on before the Brexit vote — at least for the next 6 months.  

 

 

The Monthly Numbers:

June saw 1,600 new listings come to the market in Manhattan, which is down 869 from May. 

In May 23.5% of all new listings that month were in contract by the end of May. Compared to only 17.7% in June. 

Across the board June saw a decrees in listings in all categories, which is typical. Listing volume on average 35% and a full 59% in the two-bed category.   

2Q16 Manhattan Market Report

  • There were 3,238 closings during the second quarter, a 6% decrease from a year ago. Condo closings increased by 10% while co-op closings decreased by more than 18%, led by a 22% decline in closings under $1M, the property types's largest price segment. Condo sales in both the $3M-$5M and the $5M-$10M categories increased by over 35% compared to last year, largely due to the surge of closings in a number of new developments, most notably The Greenwich Lane, 10 Madison Square West, and 56 Leonard.
  • The 2Q16 median closing price was the highest on record for the market overall ($1,195,000), co-op ($795,000), and the highest second quarter on record for condos ($1,650,000).
  • Absorption is brisk in the Downtown Market, where median time on market (68 days) nearly matched that of Manhattan overall (63 days) despite a median closing price that was 41% higher than Manhattan's.
  • Months of supply is on the rise, as inventory posts slight gains and pace of contract signings slowed.

Download The Full Report HERE

Just Released:

Compass Quarterly  |  Luxury Issue

Download it HERE

The Hoffman Team Has Gone Social

Hoffman Team Active Listings

COMPASS News:

Manhattan's Price Per Square Foot Has Never Been Higher

The sale of luxury apartments in new developments—many of which had contracts signed more than a year ago—have boosted prices to record numbers for Manhattan’s second quarter sales report. Douglas Elliman released numbers on the Manhattan market, finding that the median sales price increased 13.1 percent from the same quarter last year to $1,108,500. The price per square foot was up 31.3 percent to $1,759, another record. And the average sales price rose 13.1 percent to $2,029,075— that marks the second consecutive quarter in which the average price to buy a Manhattan pad surpasses $2 million.

Jonathan Miller, the man behind the numbers for the Elliman report, separated new development sales from resales to get a better understanding of market trends. New development, which accounted for 18.5 percent of all closings, has seen "a heavy volume of closings since 3Q15 that skew to the high end," he says. But it’s worth noting that most of the contracts for new development units were signed 12 to 18 months prior.

If you’re only looking at the new development market (both condos and co-ops), price per square foot was up 28.1 percent to $2,577 and the average sales price was up 4.9 percent to $4,383,078, both record numbers. The number of sales increased a whopping 188.2 percent. As for demand, Miller says, "the below $5 million, new development market is seeing steady sales activity, but is slow above that threshold unless developers are negotiating."

Resale apartments—which make up 81.5 percent of all closings— show more stable pricing, although it’s "stable at a high price point," Miller points out. The median sales price was pretty much unchanged, at $945,000, while the price per square foot was up 13.8 percent to $1,453.

So while the new development sales contributed to all the record prices, the resale market, Miller says, could be considered "tight at the bottom, soft at the top and neutral in the middle... overall, it’s flat." Resale inventory jumped 25 percent—after three years of chronically low inventory—and the pace of the market remains pretty fast. The absorption rate of 7.2 months is slower than a year ago, but the 40-quarter average is 8.2 months.

Compass also found record prices in the second quarter numbers—with the $1.195 million median closing price the highest on record for the market overall. Median prices on co-ops came in at $790,000, and condos at $1.65 million, the highest second quarter on record. They are finding the most demand in the Downtown market: the median time on the market there, 68 days, came close to that of Manhattan overall, at 63 days, despite a median closing price 41 percent higher than Manhattan’s.

Corcoran found the first signs of prices cooling in their second quarter numbers, despite the fact that new development sales continued a year-long trend of double-digit increases. According to the report, "Prices continued to remain near record levels but showed the first indication of settling with the first decrease in average sale price in three quarters (down 6 percent in the second quarter). Average price per square foot also declined by 3 percent for the first time in two quarters, since the third quarter of 2015." Corcoran also called out Downtown Manhattan for its sky-high sales numbers, as 52 percent of all luxury sales took place there this quarter.

Moving back to resales, Halstead offered a breakdown of where they’re all happening. The highest percentage of resales in Manhattan this past quarter were on the East Side, with 21.8 percent, followed by Midtown at 20.4 percent. The firm found that resale apartments spent an average of 88 days on the market, 6 percent longer than the same time a year ago. For both co-ops and condos, sellers accepted 98.2 percent of their last asking price, which was a mere 1 percent less than in 2015’s second quarter.

Bond focused on the increase of inventory this quarter, with partner Noah Freedman noting "that inventory has showed the biggest increase since hitting bottom in late 2013." He also made a distinction between new development and resale: "This also means that after several quarters of the market conversation being dominated by luxury new development, the only area of the market where inventory was increasing, we can start to talk about the strength and stability of resale inventory." He too thinks that the market is poised to balance out more than it has in recent years, with more price corrections in the luxury market.

Finally, Streeteasy tracked rental prices in both Manhattan and Brooklyn for the month of May. They found some slowdown in Manhattan—rentals spent more days on the market last month (an increase from 21 to 24 days), more rentals were discounted (with an increase from 28.7 percent last year to 30.4 percent), and rent price growth is slowing.

The median rent has increased 2.3 percent since last year from $3,206 to $3,280, less than half the rate of the previous year. And there may be more where that came from, as price growth is expected to continue to slow down in the next 12 months. According to the report, "The median resale price is expected to rise 1.2 percent in Manhattan over the next 12 months (down from 2.8 percent growth over the last 12 months). Prices are expected to decline in Downtown Manhattan."

 

There’s also some relief this summer in Brooklyn, with rentals staying on a market a little longer (from 19 to 22 days) and one out of three rental units (32.3 percent) getting discounted. Median rent increased 1.2 percent since last May to $2,873, compared to a 4.4 percent increase from May 2014 to May 2015, and that price is also expected to slow over the next year.

Here’s what StreetEasy economist Krishna Rao has to say about apartment hunting in these hot months: "New York renters have grown accustomed to arriving at open houses with their checkbooks in hand, for fear of losing out on a property. Now, in the face of record-high prices, renters are pausing to weigh their options, easing urgency for summer shoppers in both boroughs."

Gramercy Park: Steeped in History & Grandeur

From its beginning in the 1830s, when Samuel B. Ruggles began to develop Gramercy Park in Manhattan, centered on a private two-acre green space, the neighborhood was meant for the moneyed class. It has expanded through the years to include blocks bordering the East Village and the Flatiron district, but the name still carries prestige.

Christopher Kremer, 28, cares about none of that. Last year he bought a 550-square-foot studio in a 1960s co-op on East 21st Street and Third Avenue for $549,000. “I just like the convenience of it,” he said. “For me, time is money.”

Mr. Kremer, a history teacher, walks to work at the High School for Health Professions & Human Services on East 15th Street. To afford his monthly mortgage of just over $2,000, he said he was cooking more and has stopped contributing to a retirement account that is separate from his teacher’s pension.

“New York City real estate seemed like a safe way to invest my money instead,” he said. “Because of the area, I don’t ever envision a problem reselling this place.”

Those more interested in privacy and status, and who have substantially deeper pockets, may gravitate to the blocks surrounding the gated Gramercy Park itself. The 19th-century architecture invites reveries of characters from Edith Wharton novels leaving their cards at imposing mansions.

7 GRAMERCY PARK WEST, #5D A two-bedroom two-bath condo with a key to the park, listed at $2.5 million. CreditSantiago Mejia/The New York Times

Arlene Harrison has lived on the park since 1971 and is the president of theGramercy Park Block Association, which has about 2,000 members.

“I know who’s moved, who’s cashing in on the value of their apartments,” she said, adding that in recent years the escalation has been “quite shocking.”

“Apartments that were $1.2 million or $1.3 went for $5 million, all cash, and you better put in a bid by tonight,” she said.

Only those with the right address — in the buildings that face the park — get a key to the meticulously landscaped Gramercy Park. A sign posted inside forbids music, alcohol, smoking, dogs, feeding of birds, ball playing and Frisbees.

“I’m the enforcer of the rules,” said Ms. Harrison, a retired special education teacher who described her age as “ageless.” She starts each morning at a window table at Maialino, Danny Meyer’s trattoria in the Gramercy Park Hotel.

“When I see someone I know, I run out with my clipboard,” she said.

One change coming to the neighborhood is Gramercy Square, a condominium development on the site of the Cabrini Medical Center, which closed in 2008. The four-building, 223-unit complex runs from East 19th Street to East 20th Street, midway between Second and Third Avenues.

“They’re putting in gardens, so there’s going to be green space all around it,” Ms. Harrison said. “That’s a positive impact.”

Sales at Gramercy Square are expected to start at the end of the year, and the apartments to be ready for occupancy by late summer 2017. Asking prices will start at $1.215 million for a studio, $1.3 million for a one-bedroom, $2.225 million for a two-bedroom and $3.375 million for a three-bedroom, according to the marketing department at Douglas Elliman Development Marketing, which is handling sales.

“We think of Gramercy Park as the four blocks that face the park,” Ms. Harrison said, “but these days everyone’s trying to get a Gramercy Park address.”

What You’ll Find

An air of grandeur pervades Gramercy Park’s historic district, lined with Italianate and Greek Revival facades, some of which date to the 1840s. Its designated blocks are irregular, belting around the park from East 21st Street to East 18th Street and cinching in Irving Place, where the low-rise, ivy-covered mansions have a charm of their own.

By one popular definition, the boundaries of the wider Gramercy neighborhood run from East 14th Street to East 23rd Street and from Park Avenue South to First Avenue.

A 21st-century high-end development is a seven-story, seven-unit condominium at 355 East 19th Street, expected to be ready for occupancy by the end of the summer. A three-bedroom on the third floor is listed at $2.925 million; the penthouse, with a 780-square-foot terrace, is $3.495 million.

133 EAST 15TH STREET, #1C A two-level loft with a sleeping alcove in a prewar co-op, listed at $825,000. CreditSantiago Mejia/The New York Times

What You’ll Pay

In the first quarter of 2016, the median sales price of a co-op in Gramercy was $666,500, down 2 percent from the first quarter of 2015, according to Gregory J. Heym, the chief economist for Terra Holdings. The median price of a condo, however, rose 38 percent to $2.13 million.

On June 22 a search on StreetEasy.com found 104 properties for sale, ranging from $409,000 for a small studio co-op a half-block from Gramercy Park to a two-bedroom condo on Gramercy Park West for $2.5 million.

As for rentals, Guy Goldman, a founder of Loftey, a real estate start-up based nearby, said the park “adds a bto the market.” A small one-bedroom that included a key to the park recently rented for “an astronomical” $6,500 per month, he said. More typical rentals in the neighborhood were studios ranging from $2,500 to $3,500; one-bedrooms for $3,500 to $5,000; two-bedrooms for $5,000 to $7,000; and three-bedrooms for $6,000 to $9,000.

What to Do

Casa Mono on East 17th Street serves Catalan-style fare. Pete’s Tavern on East 18th, dating to 1864, is solid for burgers and beer.

Nonmembers are admitted to some events at the National Arts Club at 15 Gramercy Park South. An online calendar lists art exhibitions, performances and lectures.

The Gramercy Theater, at 127 East 23rd Street, and Irving Plaza, at 17 Irving Place, showcase mostly rock and hip-hop artists. The Vineyard Theater, at 108 East 15th Street, is an Off Broadway nonprofit company dedicated to taking risks with new plays and musicals.

4 LEXINGTON AVENUE, #ML A one-bedroom co-op with full-time doormen, listed at $519,999. CreditSantiago Mejia/The New York Times

Those without a key to the gated Gramercy Park can amble over to shady, egalitarian Stuyvesant Square or to Union Square, where the Greenmarket is open year-round on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

The Schools

Elementary school students are zoned for Public School 40 Augustus Saint-Gaudens, at 319 East 19th Street (main entrance on 20th Street), which serves about 630 students from prekindergarten through Grade 5. According to the city’s School Quality Snapshot, 73 percent of students met state standards in English in 2014-2015, versus 30 percent citywide; 81 percent did so in math, versus 39 percent.

Middle School 104 Simon Baruch at 330 East 21st Street serves Grades 6 to 8 and has an enrollment of about 1,120 students. Last year 53 percent met state standards in English versus 30 percent citywide; 61 percent met math standards versus 31 percent.

Admission is by application and interview at School of the Future at 127 East 22nd Street, serving about 730 students from Grades 6 to 12. For the middle school, priority is given to those who live in District 2, including Gramercy. Last year 53 percent met state standards in English and 61 percent in math. There is citywide competition for the high school. Average SAT scores for the class of 2015 were 533 in reading, 534 in math and 522 in writing; citywide averages were 444, 466 and 439.

The Commute

Midtown Manhattan is about 10 minutes away via the 6 train stop at 23rd Street and Park Avenue South. At Union Square, options include the 4, 5, 6, L, N, Q and R. The L runs along 14th Street. Buses serving the area include the M1, M2, M3, M101, M102, M103 and M15 running north and south and the M14A, M14D and M23 traveling crosstown.

The History

On Gramercy Park South is the Players, a clubhouse for actors and art patrons founded in 1888 by the celebrated actor Edwin Booth. After Booth’s brother John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln in 1865, he retired from the stage for around nine months, said Alfred Pommer, an author of “Exploring Gramercy Park and Union Square” (Arcadia Publishing, 2015). “Then he wrote a public letter of apology and went back to being as popular as ever.” In Gramercy Park, a statue of the actor depicts him as a brooding Hamlet.

These Are Some Of The Most Outrageous Requests Celebrities Have Made On Private Planes

When you’re a celebrity, flying on a private jet comes with the gig. It’s the perfect way toavoid long TSA lines and being bombarded by fans. It’s also apparently the way to indulge in some diva-like behavior.

JetSmarter, an on-demand private jet booking app, has flown many of Hollywood’s elite, including Kim Kardashian, Jamie Foxx, Fergie, Jenny McCarthy, Daymond John and Ashley Benson.

For $10,000 a year the company provides its celebrity clientele with unlimited access to its inventory. And in addition to keeping the paparazzi at bay, the private plane company is willing to cater to special and unique requests. And boy do the stars take advantage.

According to JetSmarter, these are some of the most over-the-top requests they’ve ever received. You’ll have to guess the celebrity.

  • One celeb requested an entire plane to be packed with white Casablanca lilies.
  • Another requested to only stock the plane with Cool Ranch Doritos and Sparkling Ice Kiwi Strawberry.
  • For one flight, all of the windows were covered to ensure no natural light came in, as the traveler required complete darkness.
  • There’s a celebrity who flies weekly cross country with a team of stylists and spends the entire time trying on outfits, doing alterations, and laying out clothes for the upcoming week.
  • A couple once took a flight to nowhere, paying nearly seven figures for a six-hour flight where they ended up in the same location where they started. They had a veryexpensive bottle of wine, mid-air spa treatments, expert skin care, and a manicure/pedicure. They brought a world class chef on board, and brought on one of the world’s most well-known opera singers to sing to them for an hour.
  • One celeb requested a private jet from New York City to South Florida — for their cell phone.
  • Another chartered a flight to ship Birkin Bags and clothes back to their hometown after a shopping spree.
  • On one flight, the only music played the entire flight was Liberace.
  • Expert dog trainers were brought on one flight.
  • Food tasters — to make sure the catering fit the celeb's taste pallet — joined another flight.

 

 

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