15 Central Park West | The New York Observer

$37 M. and Still a Hike to the Bathroom

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:33:39 -0400

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Are the Good Times Back? 15 Central Park West Penthouse Sells for $37 M.

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:31:27 -0400

These are anxious days for very expensive, wildly high, overly plush New York apartments. On the one hand, it's so common for fancy sellers to be losing money on their real estate deals that no one's really shocked when a Jean Nouvel condo sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars less than it was bought for--or when a Central Park South sprawl loses millions. On the other hand, there are increasingly frequent signs that...

Never Mind the $100 M.: Doc Gets $75K in Rent for 15 CPW Duplex

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:19:34 -0400

One year and six days ago, a biotechnology venture capitalist and major Republican donor named Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald paid $30 million for an 18th-floor duplex at 15 Central Park West, the third most expensive apartment sold in the hugely buttoned-up new condo.

But before the next month was over, he had already told The Times that he had turned down offers for “as much as $100 million,” which didn’t make much sense...

Slim Manhattan: 99 Percent Luxury Free

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:34:12 -0400

During the giddy days of the housing boom, perhaps no single word quite defined Manhattan’s zooming sales market quite like “luxury.” Everyone was obsessed with it and wanted to buy it; most people paid for it, even if it wasn’t what they got. Those days are definitively over, with last week's first-quarter market reports unmistakably showing a screeching slowdown amid the top 10 percent of the sales market.

Real estate research site StreetEasy set the...

$75 M. in 15 CPW? Not Enough! Mogul Also Wants $18.4 M. in Trump International

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:59:51 -0400

It takes a certain amount of gusto to be a secretive, politically connected pharmaceutical benefits management mogul, especially one whom New Jersey newspapers refer to as “less a skeleton than a ghost.” And it takes an added level of nerve to quietly ask $75 million for an 18th-floor duplex at 15 Central Park West, particularly if it cost $23.5 million to buy. But it takes extra vim to put your second apartment in the...

Meet A-Rod’s Landlord! Why Third Baseman Settled for Second at 15 CPW

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:54:34 -0400

Of all the indignities the greatest ballplayer on earth has suffered this year, like having to admit on television that he spent three years on steroids, or leaving the World Baseball Classic to undergo hip surgery, surely nothing could bother Alex Rodriguez more than being forced to take a mere two-bedroom rental at 15 Central Park West.

But when he went for 82-year-old steel magnate Leroy Schecter’s $40,000-per-month, 3,103-square-foot, 35th-floor, three-bedroom unit in...

The Quiet Listings

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:33:58 -0500

In the middle of these cartoonishly dismal times, what’s a cosmetics executive to do if she wants to ask nearly $100 million for her penthouse? She’ll put it on the market without actually putting it on the market, just like a venture capitalist, a widowed philanthropist, a pharmaceuticals mogul and a Victoria’s Secret billionaire have recently done.

According to two sources, Sandie Tillotson, the senior vice president and co-founder of Nu...

Handicapping ’09! Where Will the Very Next Mammoth Manhattan Sale Come From?

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 18:42:12 -0500

Until this week, when news broke that hedge fund manager John A. Griffin paid $32.25 million for a co-op at 1030 Fifth Avenue, New York’s 10 most expensive residential listings looked more or less doomed. The thinking went that none of the three townhouses and seven apartments, each asking (officially or quietly) over $45 million, could possibly sell during this frozen downturn.

Now that Mr. Griffin’s deal...

Cracking The $5 M. Zip Code

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:15:26 -0500

The Manhattan zip code with the greatest number of home sales of at least $5 million this year has been 10023 on the Upper West Side. (Research site PropertyShark mined the data based on closed deals through Oct. 17.) No surprise, since the area includes 15 Central Park West and the Time Warner Center.

But even without the $5 million-and-up transactions from these ultra-luxury condos – 102 this year! –...

What a Difference 15 CPW Makes!

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:57:27 -0500

Last week, we gave you (via PropertyShark's crackerjack research) the Manhattan zip codes with the most $5 million-and-up housing deals in 2008. That list, however, deliberately did not include The Plaza, 15 Central Park West and Time Warner Center.

The above does, and there's a big difference between the two lists: Gone is the dominance of the Upper East Side.

Upper East Side zips claimed four of the top five spots on last week's list....

Death of City's Biggest Listing: $80 M. Penthouse Off the Market

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:56:20 -0400

Remember when Penthouse 40B at Fifteen Central Park West was such a gloriously shiny token of our breathtaking real estate bubble? A certain foreigner--maybe a London-based investor--signed a contract in 2005 for the 5,276-square-foot, 14-foot-tall, 9.5-room, four-bedroom penthouse, and closed at the end of this April for $21.5 million. He took out a $14.5 million mortgage with JPMorgan Chase that same day, records show, which means it only cost $7 million cash. And within...

The Nervous Week Nervous Rich People Price-Chopped Nervously

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:54:55 -0400

When the asking price of luxury real estate falls in New York, it makes a very big sound. It's the sound of brokers screaming.

This week alone, a hip couple's downtown townhouse was listed for $13.85 million (down from $18 million and then $15.5 million); a billionaire's loft went from $37,500 per month to $29,000; a casino magnate's $35 million 15 Central Park West spread went to $31.5 million; an old Ron Perelman mansion dove...

15 C.P.W. Alert! Only One Penthouse Left--Act Now!

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:28:55 -0400

And then there was one.

What's a cash-flush corporate titan to do now? Penthouse 42, the second-to-last penthouse currently for sale at 15 Central Park West, has sold for $26.625 million, city records show, to a buyer listed as Martima Holdings LLC. As was the case with the last three penthouse sales we've reported on, the buyer of the final trophy unit in the Robert A.M. Stern-designed building is unknown.

That's the third trophy...

15 C.P.W. Alert! Another Penthouse Down, Two to Go

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:39:44 -0400

Another 15 Central Park West penthouse gone, leaving just two to go. A buyer dubbed on city records as Jnolva LLC has paid $10.7 million for penthouse 41B. Penthouse 42 has not been snapped up yet, and a few floors below, another penthouse on the 40th-floor has been on the market for a reported $80 million since early July, $58.5 million more than a buyer listed as Prominence Corp. paid for the four-bedroom condo...

The Volkswagen of Manhattan Apartments is Sputtering

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:49:01 -0400

Fewer $1 million Manhattan apartments traded in the first half of 2008 than in the first half of 2007. Though the difference wasn’t titanic, it signals another hurrah for a housing market in full adjectival decline.

The total number of closings on $1 million-plus apartments fell from 3,569 in the first half of 2007 to 3,347 during the first half of this year, a 6.22 percent drop. Still, almost...

Vanity Fair Does 15 CPW: Starbucks, The Horror!

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:20:15 -0400

We wonder if the staff of 15 Central Park West knows that New York City's swankiest new building will eventually have retail tenants like Best Buy and West Elm. Based on their reaction to a Starbucks cardboard coffee cup, we presume they may be in for a surprise.

Vanity Fair penetrated 15 Central Park West's limestone facade for its September issue, and architecture critic Paul Goldberger had no shortage of praise for the Robert A.M....

Bob Costas Unloads Time Warner Condo For $8.5 M.

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 17:14:03 -0400

The Time Warner Center often rightfully gets credit for sparking Columbus Circle’s renaissance and laying the groundwork for at least eight new condo developments in a five-block radius since it opened in 2003. So you can’t help but wonder if developer Related Companies ever gets peeved when the buildings it paved the way for come in and steal its thunder—that means you, 15 Central Park West!

The...

Clock Tower to Plaza: Watch Us Get Russians (And Donatella!)

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:01:48 -0400

The Plaza and 15 Central Park West better watch out, because a new ultra-luxe condo is coming to town and its developers are already claiming they will have the edge with an emergent, but increasingly lucrative, segment of the residential market: the Russians.

Earlier this week, Lev Leviev's Africa Israel Investments announced that it had contracted Versace to spearhead the interior redesign of the Clock Tower Building and convert...

The Voodoo Economics of 15 Central Park West: Why the $100 M. Listings Are All in Your Head

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:02:59 -0400

Even though the most expensive single residential deal ever documented in New York City is still a $53 million townhouse sale (though that’s unofficially been beaten by combined-unit spreads at the Plaza), and even though Manhattan real estate is slouching toward dreariness, the biggest real estate story of the summer has been potential $100 million sales at 15 Central Park West, where buyers who closed on their new condos just this year are putting...

15CPW Alert! Another Penthouse Down

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:15:18 -0400

Another one of the most coveted trophy apartments in Manhattan has sold, leaving only three more penthouse units at 15 Central Park West up for grabs--one of which is on the market for nearly three times the price it sold for two months earlier.

A 43rd-floor penthouse has sold for $21.5 million to a buyer listed as 15 CPW Real Estate Holdings LLC, city records show. LLCs have bought five of the six...

Super-Duper High-End 15 CPW Announces Decidedly Middlebrow Retail Tenants

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:35:42 -0400

You'd think that the buyers of $100 million apartments in the stat-warping 15 Central Park West would want something a tad more highbrow--say, a Prada or a Harry Winston--occupying their ground-floor retail espace. Instead, the gilded tenants at the A.M. Stern-designed tower will have a Best Buy, a West Elm, and a JP Morgan Chase Bank.

William Lie and Arthur Zeckendorf, the developers of the building, made the official announcement today, though it was...

Most Expensive New York Apartment Ever ('Quietly') Listed: $150 M. at 15 CPW

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:54:53 -0400

Remember that rumored $90 million listing at 15 Central Park West? It was nothing.

Dolly Lenz, New York City's most gargantuan real estate agent, broke astounding news at Portfolio's Four Seasons get-together this morning: "There are a few apartments on the market at 15 CPW, a new development on Central Park West, asking somewhere between $80 and $125 million--three different apartments--and one quietly on the market at $150 million," she said.

Wowzah. Brokers...

15CPW Alert! Anesthesiology Biggie Buys $5.8 M. Condo

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:54:01 -0400

These days we barely bat an eyelash when a Russian oligarch buys a trophy apartment in the Plaza or 15 Central Park West, but it's rare to encounter an expat whose personal fortune comes from anesthesiology.

A New Jersey-based pain management specialist, Dr. Anna Sokolova, has paid $5.8 million for a 30th-floor condo in the star-studded Upper West Side building, city records show.

Dr. Sokolova appears to have a penchant for high-profile...

15CPW Alert! Philadelphia Flyers/76ers Owner (and Ayn Rand Lover) Ed Snider Buys $7 M. Condo

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:25:58 -0400

In what surely must be yet another brutal blow to the self esteem of Philadelphia, that cute Pennsylvania city that pretends to rival New York, its biggest sports mogul, Ed Snider, has paid $7,340,000 for a high-floor apartment at Robert A.M. Stern's 15 Central Park West.

The deal has been a long time coming. According to a deed filed in city records this morning, Mr. Snider signed his contract back in December 2005, and didn't...

15CPW Alert! Bullish Indian Billionaire Drops $4.6 M. (with $3.4 M. Mortgage!) on 16th-Floor Condo

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:48:30 -0400

Trophy real estate has become a de-facto rite of initiation into India's ever-growing billionaires club, so it’s only natural that a relatively new entrant, Saurabh Mittal, would buy a condo in one of New York's marquis buildings.

The founder of one of India's fastest-growing companies, Indiabulls Financial Services, has paid $4.6 million for a 16th-floor condo at 15 Central Park West through the Kalawati LLC, city records show. ...

Is That Much-Hyped $90 M. (or $100 M.) Listing at 15 CPW For Real?

Thu, 29 May 2008 11:55:49 -0400

Even if the prospect of a $100 million apartment sale in Manhattan isn't wildly far-fetched, there are some good reasons to be skeptical about all the news lately on venture capitalist's Lindsay Rosenwald's 15 Central Park West spread.

On Sunday, The Times wrote that Dr. Rosenwald's 5,870-square-foot duplex in the condo, which he bought for $30 million in April, has gotten "five or six calls from brokers, offering as much as $100 million...

15CPW Alert! Miami Developer Buys for $3.5 M.

Tue, 13 May 2008 16:02:28 -0400

Florida developer Gerardo Capo has paid $3.5 million for a 12th-floor condo at 15 Central Park West, city records show, moving about as far from Miami's bottomless housing market as one can get--metaphorically speaking.

The chairman of the Capo Group lives in one of his own luxury condos in Miami Beach, just 48 miles east of one the biggest and most controversial projects in his portfolio, the $850 million Bimini...

15CPW Alert! Somebody Really Likes to Buy There

Tue, 06 May 2008 12:43:50 -0400

At least a dozen people at 15 Central Park West have thrown out an extra $800,000 or so for a pied a terre for the help to complement their own palatial condos. Penthouse owner Sanford Weil even paid $950,000 for a second unit that we can only assume is a closet since it is not denoted by the S-prefix--supposedly the S stands for "suite," but we can't help but notice that it's also the...

15CPW Alert! Morgan Stanley Exec Moves In

Fri, 02 May 2008 12:35:56 -0400

After Morgan Stanley took a beating from the collapse of the subprime mortgage market, one would think the firm's global co-chief of real estate investment might have second thoughts about making any real estate investments of his own. But not only did K.S. Kalsi (a.k.a. Sonny) and his wife pay $14.6 million for a fifth-floor condo at 15 Central Park West, according to city records, he took out two different mortgages--one for $1 million...

15CPW Alert! Hip Hop Clothing Mogul Moves In

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:46:52 -0400

When Joseph Betesh opened an Army-Navy store in the South Bronx in 1975 he probably never imagined he would become a full-fledged hip-hop clothing mogul with 19 branches of his Dr. Jay's store spread across the five boroughs. Now the Sephardic Jewish retailer who made a fortune selling "urban apparel" to 18- to 30- year-olds is moving about as far away from his retail roots as possible.

Mr. Betesh has paid $5.6 million...

15 CPW Alert! Deutsche Bankers Muscle In On Lehman, Goldman Territory

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 17:44:56 -0400

Compared to some of the other blue-chip investment banks in the city, Deutsche Bank was not well represented at 15 Central Park West. The lone Deutsche banker with a condo in the tower has been flying solo in a sea of Goldman and Lehman residents since he closed on a $9.9 million unit in February.

It seems he's finally gotten a buddy. Deutsche's Head of Trading for Emerging Market Debt, Kay Haigh, paid...

15 CPW Alert! Lehman Lady Lands $6.5 M. Pad

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:41:28 -0400

The first and only woman to gain entry into the 15-member boys club that is the Lehman Brothers’ executive board has now penetrated one of the city’s most exclusive buildings. Erin M. Callan, the recently appointed Lehman CFO, paid $6.5 million for a 31st-floor condo at 15 Central Park West, city records show.

She will have plenty of colleagues in the building. The co-chief of...

15 CPW Watch! Sandy Weill's Broker Buys a $2.5 M. Condo Downstairs

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:27:32 -0400

It's a good year to be a top-notch, shiny-shoe, uptown real estate broker. Less than a year after Sandy Weill finally closed on his $42.4 million penthouse at 15 Central Park West, his agent on the deal has gotten a condo of his own in the multi-billion dollar building.

Kyle Blackmon paid $2.6 million for a 25th-floor condo, city records show. A 6% commission on a $42.4 million deal works out to just over $2.5...

15 CPW Alert! Kids Town Boss Takes $2.6 M. Unit

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:51:41 -0400

American retailers, as a whole, have seen much brighter days. But apparently some in the industry are faring better than others.

The president of New England department store chain Kids Town, Joseph Sutton, has purchased a $2.6 million pad on the 14th floor at 15 Central Park West, city records show, backed by a $1.8 million mortgage. ...

15 CPW Alert! Hedge Fund Doctor Gets $30 M. Duplex

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:17:18 -0400

15 Central Park West has no shortage of accomplished residents. Pick a field and its leader might just have a condo in the building. There are dozens of Wall Street investors who’ve made (and in a few cases) lost billions of dollars, a Nascar star, a pharmaceutical executive, and even English teacher-cum-rockstar Sting.

The latest buyer might be the most dazzling professional hyphenate yet—M.D./Hedge Fund Manager. Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald, a one-time internal...

15CPW Alert! Sting Closes for $26.5 M.

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:50:24 -0400

Sting has closed on his condo at 15 Central Park West, city records show. The former English teacher signed the property deed for the $26.5 million, 16th-floor condo with his proper name, Gordon Sumner.

Sting signed the contract to buy the 5,500-square-foot, tower-side duplex with five bedrooms and a terrace nearly two years ago. In the time since, Sting and wife Trudie Styler took a massive Central Park West duplex of theirs nearby off the...

15CPW Alert! Mist Mogul Buys for $5.4 M.

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:49:26 -0400

A mogul who made a fortune on portable, personal cooling devices paid $5.4 million for a 26th-floor condo at 15 Central Park West, city records show. Steven Bandawat bought the Arizona-based Misty Mate in 2004 and the company has since become the jewel in the crown of a portfolio that also includes Bromwell Housewares and Michiana Forge. Since then everyone from the U.S. military to the 1996 Summer Olympics have used the company's "misters."...

15CPW ALERT! Sol Kerzner's Daughter Buys for $18 M.; Hedge Funder Gets In for $11.5 M.

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:01:39 -0400

South African gambling and hotel mogul Sol Kerzner has indulged his daughters’ penchant for expensive real estate over the years, gaining a reputation as quite the doting daddy. He bought his daughter Beverly a $10.5 million, 5,845-square-foot penthouse at Philip Johnson’s Urban Glass House two years ago. Just a year later, last September, The Observer's Max Abelson reported that the heiress paid $8.35 million for a colossal basketball court-turned-triplex at 213 West 23rd...

15CPW ALERT! Blankfeins Buy Again!

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:03:40 -0400

Laura Blankfein, the wife of Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, paid $701,000 for Suite 807 ("suite" being the euphemism for a staff apartment) at 15 Central Park West, city records show.

The Observer's Max Abelson reported that the Blankfeins closed on a 16th-floor duplex condo in the building back in January when the extent of the subprime mortgage crisis' impact on Wall Street was finally becoming clear. The couple signed the contract for the...

15CPW ALERT! Pfizer Exec Buys for $2.5 M.

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:46:57 -0400

Gary Jortner, executive vice president of corporate affairs at Pfizer, has bought what we can only assume is a pied a terre at 15 Central Park West given its relatively modest price tag of $2.48 million, city records show. Mr. Jortner and his wife Cindy live in Rye, according to the property deed.

One of the most successful Big Pharma firms, Pfizer has been slagging lately. In January, it announced plans to cut 10,000...

15CPW ALERT! Energy Mogul Adds Condo to Suite

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:35:55 -0400

Mikhail Segal, the director of Dynegy, the third-largest independent power production company in the U.S., has paid $12.95 million for a 38th-floor unit at 15 Central Park West, city records show. Last week we reported that Mr. Segal and his wife Sofia bought a $1 million "suite"--the posh building's euphemism for staff quarters.

Mr. Segal worked at the Department of Energy in the former Soviet Union and went on to found...

15CPW ALERT! $31 M. In Deals

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:29:47 -0400

A pair of condos at 15 Central Park West have sold, city records show. A buyer listed as Jay Investments LLC paid $20.5 million for Unit 11A. A few minutes later, a $15.6 million condo sale popped up in city records.

The second deed lists a pair of LLC's, G-Ike Management and L-Stone Management, as the buyers of Unit 15C. Both of the companies are registered to the same North Carolina address as...

15CPW ALERT! Spanx You Very Much! Travel Mogul Flips for $8.5 M.

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:15:51 -0400

Back in January, we reported that the owner of the upscale travel agency Smart Flyer had bought a $4.86 million condo at 15 Central Park West. Less than two months later, Spanx CEO Sara Blakely and former rapper and Marquis Jet founder Jessie Itzler (a.k.a. 1991 one-hit-wonder Jesse Jaymes), have paid Mr. Holtz $8.5 million for the 14th-floor condo, city records show. After turning a nearly $4 million profit, Mr. Holtz must only be...

15CPW ALERT! Energy Mogul Buys $1 M. Suite

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:44:11 -0400

Mikhail Segal, the director of Dynegy, the third largest independent power production company in the U.S., has bought a $1 million "suite" at 15 Central Park West, according to city records.

Mr. Segal worked at the Department of Energy in the former Soviet Union and went on to found LS Power Group in 1990. In 2006, LS Power Group's assets were acquired by Dynegy for $2 billion. ...

15CPW ALERT! Google Guy Buys $30 M. Spread

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:43:24 -0400

Tech mogul Omid Kordestani has bought a $30 million condo at 15 Central Park West today, according to city records. Mr. Kordestani is the senior vice president of Global Sales and Business Development at Google and was the 189th richest man in America in 2006, according to Forbes' annual survey....

15CPW ALERT! $11.7 M. Sale

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:16:05 -0400

An unknown buyer has paid $11.77 million for Unit 9B at 15 Central Park West, according to city records. The same buyer purchased a $720,000 "suite"--the euphemism for staff accomodations at the building--on Feb. 22. Though we couldn't confirm the identity of the buyer, one of the names listed on the deed was Queens College graduate Betty Lau, the CEO of technology firm Applied Info. Partners....

15CPW ALERT! Docs Buy for $3.4 M.

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 15:41:27 -0500

Drs. Evelyn and Amarga Segundo have bought a $3.4 million condo at 15 Central Park West, city records show. The couple live in Plandome in Nassau County, according to the deed; and have separate medical practices in Ozone Park and Jackson Heights in Queens. As far as we know they are the first practicing medical doctors to move into the Zeckendorf-developed building. ...

15CPW ALERT! Former Merck Chairman Takes $21 M. Condo

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:19:51 -0500

The former chairman and CEO of the pharmaceutical giant Merck, Roy P. Vagelos, has bought a $21 million condo at 15 Central Park West, city records today show.

At Merck until 1994, Mr. Vagelos was largely credited with shepherding the firm through its pre-Vioxx golden years. Since his departure, Merck has been rocked by a series of high-profile scandals, most notably its recall of its best-selling arthritis drug Vioxx after a study revealed it...

15CPW ALERT, PART DEUX! An $11.4 M. Buy

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:28:47 -0500

A Madrid-based Internet company called the Aitana Corporation has paid $11.4 million for an 11th-floor condo at 15 Central Park West, according to city records. We're hunting for more details about the buyer....

15CPW ALERT! Former Goldman Sachs Banker Buys (Again!)

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:21:33 -0500

Just one week after paying $11 million for a sixth-floor condo at 15 Central Park West, the founding partner of the Canyon Capital consulting firm, Josh Friedman, has closed on an $810,000 unit there as well, according to city records filed today. It's presumably one of the 29 maids' suites on the lower floors of the building, and he bought it through a family trust, records show.

Mr. Friedman used to work in...