Time Warner Center
Time Warner Center Claims Regional Building of The Year Award, Moves Onto Nationals
The Time Warner Center, that stylish mall at Columbus Circle, has been dubbed the "2008 Office Building of the Year" by the Mid-Atlantic Conference of Building Owners and Managers Association.
The 2.8 million-square-foot Center won in the exclusive 1 million-square-feet-and-over category, after an earlier qualifying win in a statewide competition.
The Center, completed by Stephen Ross' Related Companies in 2004, has 80 floors of residential and retail (think Whole Foods and Sephora), super chichi restaurants (think Per Se and Masa), and lots of fancy offices where famous people work (think Anderson Cooper).
BOMA determined the winner based on a scale of 80 points, for categories ranging from "energy and environmental management" to "tenant relations."
Now, the Center has the chance to compete in that buildings competition to beat all buildings competitions: the national BOMA awards.
Here's the release: read more »
Thank You, 'Miss Cleo'! Psychic King Sells Time Warner Condo For $15.8 M., Buys Another for $24.4 M.
Back in 2002, when Steven Feder’s “Miss Cleo” empire was crumbling under federal lawsuits, the man known as the Psychic Hotline King probably foresaw that things would shine brightly for him again in a few years.
Late last month, eons after his Psychic Readers Network was brought down (and he agreed to forgive $500 million in customer bills), Mr. read more »
Livin' La Vida Time Warner Center Again
The Time Warner Center condo that pop throb Ricky Martin sold last year for $9.75 million is back on the sales market, according to today's Wall Street Journal.
The condo's current owner, an art collector, is listing it for $18.9 million. Mr. Martin bought the condo from the developer in 2004 for about $6.8 million. (Those were the days, huh? A 65th-floor, seven-room Time Warner Center condo for well under $10 million.)
Elizabeth Lee Sample and Brenda Powers of Brown Harris Stevens have the listing.
The Good, the Bad and the Gentrified
Is $22.5 Million A Bargain for 64th-Floor Apartment at Time Warner Center?
When Manhattan Transfers broke the story about Verna Harrah's sale at the Time Warner Center, the listing broker said her apartment "sold for close" to the $25 milion price tag.
But according to newly filed city records, the buyer (listed on the deed as the Armstrong Family Trust) got quite a discount. The closing price was $22.5 million--which boughta nice living room on Central Park, a family room overlooking the Hudson, a foyer of "gold leaf with 17th century columns," six marble bathrooms and two powder rooms, too.
Don't fret for Ms. Harrah: she only paid $8,823,018 for the apartment three years ago. (Click above for a bigger picture of the posh domain.)
- Max AbelsonThe Afternoon Wrap: Friday
- The Time Warner Center's "expensive sheen" is still glittery, pushing the asking price of neighborhood apartments into posh new levels. S. Jhoanna Robledo has a precise list of Columbus Circle sheen. [New York]
- "Big Old East Village Book Party" sounds like fun, especially to people who live in expensive, but punky downtown apartments. [L Magazine]
- DUMBO has hit that coveted way-over-supersaturation point. First the 'hood popped up in Vanity Fair and Vogue; now it's in Ford Edge ads and Men's Health. [DUMBO NYC]
- Eagle-eye commenters on Brownstoner were right about the Brooklyn birthplace of New York rap uber-legend The Notorious B.I.G.: according to his biography, young Christopher Wallace grew up in "a spacious apartment" on St. James Street. (Photo above, and more at Clinton Hill Blog). [Brooklyn Vegan] - Max Abelson
Sold! Or Maybe Not. Separating Mandarin Oriental Fact from Fiction
The Mandarian Oriental rumor has been the juiciest real estate one floating around New York for the last several weeks, but trying to parse reality from fiction has been tricky.
The execs at Istithmar are keeping typically quiet. "We do not comment on market rumors," wrote David Jackson, the CEO at Istithmar, in an email to The Real Estate.
That's the same response a Mandarin Oriental spokeswoman gave The Observer a month ago.
"Several industry sources" told The Real Deal it was a done deal; "sources" told the Post the same.One Real Deal source has each room being sold at $1.4 million; another has it at $2 million. A Post source has it at "approxiamtely $1.6 million."
To say the least, the details are murky.
If you listened to the rumors, the Mandarin Oriental's been in contract since late October. But with a masterful stroke in keeping this deal very quiet, we have a feeling no one will know if it's truly done -- and for how much -- until it closes.
- John KoblinChef Lomonaco's Grill to Live
The 'Fashionable' East 50s Condo, and Le Cirque Ravioli
'The Essence of European Sophistication'
One day in late 2007, the 34-story Veneto will be the most voguish luxury condo in the East 50s. It happens to be east of Third Avenue, and it happens to now be a mammoth construction site, but that hasn't stopped Midtown-ers from dropping $125 million on the condo in only three months, filling up 50% of its residences.
To celebrate, developer Related served lunch at Le Cirque--not far from Veneto's 250 East 53rd locale. Writers from The Times and Town & Country downed their champagne and buttery halibut next to happy developers and sales reps.
Why Le Cirque? The restaurant was designed by Adam D. Tihany, the man behind the Veneto's "Terzo Piano resident lounge" and Arcobaleno children's playroom (and, of course, fitness center).
Incidentally, Mr. Tihany also designed Per Se for chef Thomas Keller at the Time Warner Center--a little building managed by Related.
"I get two calls a week, at least, from developers who want me to design their condos," Mr. Tihany said to the table. "I get a feeling that they don't look at me as a person or a designer, but as $200 extra per square foot." read more »
- Max AbelsonDenzel Buys at 15 C.P.W.
Mr. Washington's 3,000-square-foot pad includes three bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a terrace (facing the park). read more »
And how is 15 C.P.W. stacking up against the nearby Time Warner Center in terms of early sales? Pretty good, if you ask a Zeckendorf:
At the Central Park West condo, two-thirds of its 200 units have received signed binding contracts since going on sale in September, its developer, Zeckendorf Development, says. In comparison, the nearby Time Warner Center took four years, until March, to sell its 201 units.- Michael Calderone
Big Euro Machers Will Crash Plaza: Ritzy Pied-à-Terres
Big Euro Machers Will Crash Plaza: Ritzy Pied-à-Terres
Jay-Z Rents and Big Deals
Embattled media mogul Conrad Black recently sold his co-op at 635 Park Avenue to developer Marty Berman for $10.5 million, according to New York magazine. And Hugh Jackman has been looking around some pricey properties lately, most recently in Harvey Weinstein’s old building on Mercer Street. read more »
Actor Samuel L. Jackson recently paid $4.8 million an Upper East Side previously owned by the former basketball player Greg Anthony and his ex-wife, the novelist Crystal McCrary, according to the New York Times.
Who else is better to profile in the The Times Habitats column than the self-described “queen of New York real estate?” Take a walk inside Barbara Corcoran’s Park Avenue apartment with an audio slide show. Believe it or not, you don’t even need TimesSelect!
