Aby Rosen | The New York Observer

Wolfe Grins? Rosen Gets 980 Madison O.K.--for Stumpier Tower

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:54:48 -0400

It’s been a long three years for Aby Rosen.

The landlord and art collector has tried for that long to get approval for an apartment tower at Madison Avenue and 77th Street designed by British starchitect Norman Foster. He’s gone to hearing after hearing at the Landmarks Preservation Commission, repeatedly rebuffed with instructions to cut the building down and make it more harmonious with the historic Upper East Side that surrounds it.

The Recession Hotels

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:52:31 -0400

...

George and Harry: Our Special Correspondent Gets the Royal Stiff-Arm at Star-Studded Manhattan Polo Classic

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:23:24 -0400

I’m not a big fan of dressing up like a prepped-out Hamptons dork.

Yet, there I was, sporting the obligatory blue blazer, linen shirt, khakis, and suede moccasins, desperately trying to fit in with the stuffy upper-crust crowd watching British scion Prince Harry take on Argentinean stud Nacho Figueras at the star-studded Veuve Clicquot Manhattan Polo Classic on Governor’s Island on Saturday afternoon, May ...

Biggest Commercial Deals: Significant Shrinkage

Tue, 12 May 2009 12:22:13 -0400

Perusing statistics on the city’s biggest commercial property deals is like going to the Empire State Building’s observation deck with tourist friends from out of town: You know it’s supposed to mean something, but New York can be so much cooler.

The statistics underline just how far New York’s property sales market has fallen, and not just since Lehman Brothers’ September 2008 collapse. The biggest deal in the first quarter of 2009 was CB Richard...

Confidence Man: Rosen Turns Down $60 M.-Plus Offers for Mansion; Holds Out for Likable Buyer

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:47:30 -0500

Any New Yorker who’s asked about potential buyers’ interest in his tectonically enormous real estate is likely to exaggerate a bit. A biomedical venture capitalist, for example, told The Times in May that he’d turned down “five or six” offers as high as $100 million for his 15 Central Park West duplex, which didn’t quite make sense because, among other things, his asking price was only $90 million.

But Aby...

Landmarks May Vote on 980 Madison Next Week

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:27:53 -0400

The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission may vote on developer Aby Rosen's proposed Norman Foster-designed commercial tower at 980 Madison Avenue at its meeting next week, according to a Landmarks spokeswoman. Such a move would bring to an end a more than two-year debate over a planned tower at the site, which has sparked a firestorm of criticism in the Upper East Side from nearby residents and author Tom Wolfe (see our Q&A with Mr....

Tom Wolfe Responds to Aby Rosen's Anti-Semitic Charge

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:54:25 -0400

Tom Wolfe responded in this week's Observer to Aby Rosen's allegations of anti-Semitism in Mr. Wolfe's 2006 New York Times op-ed about Mr. Rosen's plans for 980 Madison.

Here was Mr. Rosen in The Observer last week:

I like productive criticism; I try to criticize things all the time, not because I’m so important. … I want equal criticism; it’s just the way you deliver it. It had a nasty undertone that I...

The Glass Tycoon

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:08:21 -0400

Location: You like to give parties with dozens of Russian violinists and industrial quantities of caviar. Is decadence your worst trait?

Mr. Rosen: The last thing I am is decadent. … I’m a big thinker; I do a lot of stuff; I enjoy life immensely. … When I throw parties, I blow a lot of money, you know what, so be it; that’s what I like to do.

That sounds like Trump. Do you...

Aby Rosen, Norman Foster Try Again at 980 Madison

Tue, 13 May 2008 21:36:58 -0400

Aby Rosen and Norman Foster are back at 980 Madison Avenue, and Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff has the reveal.

The two were beaten back with their 2006 plan to build a much taller 30-story apartment tower atop the 1949 Parke-Bernet Galleries building, also revealed by Mr. Ouroussoff, as it met strong opposition on the Upper East Side.

From Mr. Ouroussoff’s review, dated for Wednesday’s paper:

[Mr....

Clock Tower at Five Madison Goes for $200 M.

Tue, 15 May 2007 15:42:21 -0400

It’s official: The Clock Tower at Five Madison Avenue has sold for $200 million. A Tuesday release from part-owner SL Green says that Lev Leviev’s Africa Israel is, indeed, the buyer. The 41-story Clock Tower was also owned by Aby Rosen’s RFR Holding and by hotelier Ian Schrager.

Mr. Schrager told The Observer first in March about the tower’s likely sale.

Full release below.

...

In This Week's [em]Observer[/em]...

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 05:00:00 -0500

Bloomberg Hits Up Real-Estate Bigs for WTC Memorial--$5 M. a Piece! "One morning in early February, about a dozen of New York's finest and wealthiest real-estate leaders convened to eat breakfast and hear why they should contribute to the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation. The place was Gracie Mansion. And the speaker was the man who, indirectly or directly, determines how high they can build and where--and, on certain, city-led projects, whether they can build...

The Sheriff of Landmarks

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 19:00:00 -0500

LOCATION: The controversy over 980 Madison Avenue has yet to be resolved, but the Landmarks Preservation Commission made it clear in late January that developer Aby Rosen will have to change the scope of his planned 30-story condo tower atop the historic building. What has been the commission’s thinking on 980 Madison? TIERNEY: It’s the process that we go through on any major proposed change in the historic district, whether it be a proposed...

Landmarks Leaves Door Slightly Ajar for Foster

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 11:28:52 -0500

A bad marriage or an open door? How best to characterize the reaction from Tuesday morning's Landmarks Preservation Commission meeting on Norman Foster's 22-story tower for 980 Madison Avenue? The Real Estate called the principal actors for comment, having been unable to attend in person. "Nine out of 10 commissioners strongly opposed the current project because of the height, the scale, and the materials were inapporpiate for the district," said commission spokeswoman Lisi de Bourbon....

Preservationists Cry Wolfe; We've Got Their Numbers

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 19:00:00 -0500

“ … The Landmarks Preservation Commission has been de facto defunct for going on 20 years,” he wrote in The New York Times. “Today...

Preservationists Cry Wolfe; We’ve Got Their Numbers

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 19:00:00 -0500

On the sleepy last Sunday in November, Tom Wolfe flipped a middle finger at the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission. The writer, still angry about the commission’s decision last year not to landmark 2 Columbus Circle, essentially called the commission pawns of the developer class in the city’s booming real-estate market. “ … The Landmarks Preservation Commission has been de facto defunct for going on 20 years,” he wrote in The New York Times. “Today...

Haven No Longer: Say Goodbye Fast to the Far East Side

Sun, 03 Dec 2006 19:00:00 -0500

Ever since Peter Falk lit the opening cigarette in the 1971 Broadway version of The Prisoner of Second Avenue, the eastern reaches of the Upper East Side have been known as a haven—or hell—for modest renters. The real-estate boom has changed all of that, prompting condo conversions as far east as First Avenue and turning a weathered redoubt for curmudgeons into a glossy destination for young, well-heeled families. The reasons for this transformation, which...

Aby Loves Tom - Not!

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 12:42:19 -0500

Wolfe "works with the insult factor." In a conversation on Tuesday with The Real Estate, the developer Aby Rosen did his best to besmirch the knight in a white suit who tried to rescue 980 Madison in the Times this weekend: Tom Wolfe loves to rant and he's been ranting against the city and the Landmarks [Preservation] Commission and the commissioners left and right. I think the commissioners are doing a fantastic job. They do...

The Skidmore Owings & Merrill 'Experiment' Turns 70

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 11:16:00 -0400

The House An architecture firm named Skidmore, Owings & Merrill--the group behind buildings named the Lever House, Sears Tower, and the AOL Time Warner Center--is turning 70 years young. Clear your calendar: On September 6, little SOM is throwing a birthday bash at Aby Rosen's private Lever House terrace. Grab the new book while you're there (it's cutely subtitled: 'The Experiment Since 1939'), and be sure to ask how the Freedom Tower or diminutive...

It's Coming: NYT Mag Discovers Real Estate

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 11:34:19 -0500

Click image to enlarge. Devoting an entire issue to real estate is a great idea for two reasons. First, New Yorkers seemingly can't get enough of the topic. Second, there's a lot of brokerages ready to spend big money on full-color ads for their luxury developments. Bulging to over 200 pages, this weekend's New York Times magazine features plenty of articles, advertisements, and advertorials. It's honestly difficult to know where to begin. There...

Ian Schrager: "I'm Having a Ball"

Thu, 09 Feb 2006 09:07:30 -0500

Outside Looking In. Ian Schrager and Aby Rosen Offer A Sneak Preview of 40 Bond
The velvet rope was lowered yesterday for some architecture writers to nosh on Nobu cod at the sales office for the much hyped 40 Bond. Today, developers Ian Schrager and Aby Rosen, the stylish duo profiled last month by The Observer, were on hand to entertain real estate and luxury living reporters. And there was more food...

The Bond Street Boys

Sun, 15 Jan 2006 19:00:00 -0500

Last November, Ian Schrager and Aby Rosen invited about 25 of Manhattan’s top luxury real-estate brokers to dinner at the Tribeca restaurant, Bouley. The evening was arranged to celebrate the completion of a luxurious and much-anticipated apartment at 50 Gramercy Park North, the 23-unit co-op the duo had developed together alongside their gut renovation of the historic Gramercy Park Hotel. But the gossip over dinner and drinks eventually reached as far south as 40...

Round-Up: Ian Schrager, Syrup Smells, Bubble Talk

Thu, 05 Jan 2006 03:26:00 -0500

- That syrup smell? Blame New Jersey. New York Times - Real estate slowdown? The number of mortgage applications filed last week fell to the lowest level since May 2002. The Real Deal - Jonathan Miller gets meta: Big Media’s use of “bubble speak” is declining. Matrix - Meanwhile Janis Mara at Inman News makes fun of everyone. - Prices went up in Manhattan. But volume went down. WSJ Online - Ian Schrager and Aby Rosen bought One Madison...

What a Girl Wants: Hewitt School Shops for $8 Million Annex

Sun, 12 Aug 2001 20:00:00 -0400

New York City's smallest private girls' school is about to get a little larger. In late June of this year, representatives from the Hewitt School signed a contract to buy a mostly gutted townhouse at 10 East 75th Street, just one block from their location of 30 years at 45 East 75th Street. The asking price was $9.5 million, and real-estate sources close to the deal said that the school agreed to pay the...

Skyscraper Collector Aby Rosen Gets Out of Homeowning

Sun, 08 Apr 2001 20:00:00 -0400

Wearing waders and clutching cardboard models of the skyscrapers he owns, German developer Aby Rosen, 40, had his picture taken knee-deep in the pool at the Four Seasons restaurant in February. But while the newly divorced man-about-town, a co-owner of RFR Realty, flaunts his big office towers–Mies van der Rohe's Seagram Building (where the Four Seasons is located) is the latest, at $375 million–he's quietly divesting himself of personal real estate.

On March 30, Mr....