NY Observer > Gramercy Park

Model Mogul Paolo Zampolli Sells Gramercy Penthouse for $3.1 M.

Lysandra Ohrstrom — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:22:35 -0400

With friends like Ron Burkle and Donald Trump and a lilting Italian accent, ID Model Management founder Paolo Zampolli (whose clients apparently include Tara Reid) has long been a Page Six fixture. But the high-rolling, aspiring real estate mogul drew the attention of the international media in 2005 when he started recruiting fashion models to moonlight as brokers.

When it came time to put his own two-bedroom, 2,300 square-foot Gramercy Park penthouse on the market about a year ago, however, Mr. Zampolli decided to handle the sale personally, listing the co-op with Elliman, with himself as broker. read more »

Winona Ryder Sells Gramercy Co-op For $2.2 M.

Lysandra Ohrstrom — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:42:24 -0400

Before Winona Ryder had a falling out with an up-and-coming ingénue named Gwyneth Paltrow in the 1990's, the duo were often spotted gallivanting around Manhattan with cigarettes dangling from their lips, and Ms. Paltrow reportedly lived on her more famous friend's couch in Gramercy Park.

Things have changed a lot for Ms. Ryder since then--the infamous shoplifting incident, getting overshadowed by Angelina Jolie in Girl, Interrupted, a relationship with Matt Damon, and a handful of cinematic bombs, to name a few--but until now she had held on to her second-floor co-op at One Lexington Avenue on the northern end of Gramercy. read more »

Late Critic Joel Siegel's Irving Place Co-Op Goes for $1.9 M.

Lysandra Ohrstrom — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:58:51 -0400

Joel Siegel's co-op at 82 Irving Place has been sold to an In Style editor Ariela Avram for $1.95 million, city records show. The tirelessly cheerful Good Morning America film critic died last summer at the age of 63 after a prolonged battle with colon cancer. His wife and the executor of his estate, Ena Swansea, signed the property deed.

Siegel had been fundraising for cancer research for decades before he was diagnosed following his first wife's death from brain cancer. He and Gene Wilder co-founded the first Gilda's Club cancer support group.

Tres Chic? Non. CVS to Join McDonald's in Starck's Condo

Lysandra Ohrstrom — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:25:18 -0500

CVS Pharmacy is leasing a basement retail condominium in the Philippe Starck-designed condo on 23rd Street between First and Second avenues. Omnispective Management, the leaser, bought the condo for $22.2 million. Eastern Consolidatd represented both the buyer and the seller in the off-market transaction, and told The Observer of the deal. read more »

Schrager to Bowery Hotel: Good Luck!

Max Abelson — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 19:00:00 -0500

Only four of the Bowery Hotel’s 17 floors have opened for business, but the fireplace in its w read more »

Mansion Steal at $19 M.

Max Abelson — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 19:00:00 -0500

The 101-year-old mansion at 47 East 68th Street has been sold for a bargain $19 million to Carlos Al read more »

In This Week's Observer...

Observer Staff — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 04:07:08 -0500

West Side Bar Stands Athwart Bank-Branch Boom "Like many torch-bearers of old family-owned businesses, Steve Chahalis hopes his son, too, will one day work behind the same counter as he has--as a bartender, though, not a bank teller. But in order to keep his clan's longstanding P&G Cafe Bar from devolving into yet another ubiquitous Manhattan bank branch, Mr. Chahalis might have to start paying like one." Go to Counter Espionage by Chris Shott. Simon & Schuster Stays at 1230 Avenue of the Americas "Bucking a recent trend for media and publishing, Simon & Schuster isn't moving.For now.The publishing titan has renewed its lease of 292,000 square feet at its headquarters at 1230 Avenue of the Americas." Trammell Crow Office 'Like A Morgue' "'It's like a morgue here,' said one Trammell Crow broker describing Trammell's former office on Madison Avenue. 'It just sucks.' As The Observer reported in December, a large portion of Trammell's 24 New York-based brokers won't be making their way to CB Richard Ellis's headquarters at 200 Park Avenue in the coming weeks." Go to Commercial Breaks by John Koblin. Money Guy Gets Centenarian Beauty for a Song "The 101-year-old mansion at 47 East 68th Street has been sold for a bargain $19 million to Carlos Alejandro Perez Davila. The managing director of the finance firm Quadrant Capital Advisors is also a director at the beer brewery SABMiller (as in the classy, golden Miller Genuine Draft)." Crazy Like a Fuchs "Fifty Gramercy Park North was built in conjunction with the redevelopment of that next-door dowager, the Gramercy Park Hotel, by a development team that included hotelier Ian Schrager and real-estate developers Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs. Mr. Fuchs, who himself invested in an eighth-floor sponsor unit at 50 Gramercy Park North for $9,062,400, has now put the apartment back on the market with a $5.5 million mark-up." Go to Manhattan Transfers by Max Abelson. Co-op and Condo Buildings Win City's Valuation Game "When is a luxury condo not a luxury condo? When the city assesses it for property taxes. Then it becomes a rental. Under the city's notoriously convoluted property-tax code, condos and co-ops are assessed for property-tax purposes as if they were rental buildings. This rule, based on the concept of guessing how much income apartment buildings could generate in rent rolls, leads to vastly undervalued condos and co-ops." Go to The Lab by Tom Acitelli. Congestion Pricing Prophet: 'Biking Is The New Golf!' "Paul Steely White, 36, is on his way to a community board meeting in Park Slope to ask for its support for Intro 199, a City Council bill that would require the city to track traffic patterns around New York, and set goals for reducing congestion. It is, he explained, a necessary step toward any sort of congestion pricing system--the system, devised in London, whereby drivers would pay for the privilege of driving into the central business districts of New York City." Go to story by Matthew Schuerman. Letters to the Editor: Donald Trump Responds "One would hope that even public figures would be accorded fair and accurate treatment by The Observer. This is clearly not the case. Your Dec. 18, 2006, article entitled 'The Trump Family,' by Tom Acitelli and John Koblin, paints a seriously inaccurate--indeed, false--picture of me and my business dealings."--Donald Trump, Manhattan Burning Bridges "I'm not so sure that Robert Moses would appreciate the honor Columbia University is bestowing on him; he certainly would not have wanted Robert Caro to be any part of a program examining his career."--Jim Schachter, Manhattan Go to Letters to the Editor.

Promise and Peril Of Fleeing New York— And Coming Back

Laura Dave — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 20:00:00 -0400

I was leaving New York for good. read more »

Alessandra Cate and Siena Marie Barefoot

Daisy Carrington — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 20:00:00 -0400

April 4, 2006 3 p.m.; 3:02 p.m. 5 pounds, 14 ounces; 5 pounds, 1 ounce Mount Sinai Hospital read more »

Events for May 10, 2006

Observer Staff — Tue, 09 May 2006 13:19:04 -0400

Tomorrow is the 4th Annual Parks Advocacy Day.

In the evening, NARAL Pro-Choice New York host a fashion benefit: Strut Your Choice.

The Gramercy Park Republican Group hold a discussion on a possible Republican-Libertarian alliance.

The Nassau County Republican Committee host their 3rd Annual Patriot Reception in Woodbury.

And the Drum Major Institute host a discussion on the disappearing middle class. —Nicole Brydson