The New York Observer » Manhattan Transfers

Brains Behind Dora the Explorer Gains $8.5 M. UWS Condo

They're at it again! We told you last month that the co-creator of bilingual cartoon character Dora the Explorer Eric Weiner and wife Cherie Vogelstein had sold their home for $5.85 million. Hopefully Mr. Weiner has made a good cut of the cartoon franchise (which has reportedly raked in over $1 billion in revenue for Nickeloedeon) because he and Ms. Vogelstein have just spent $8.5 million on their new Upper West Side home. Read More

960 Fifth Spread, Out to Stud, Nails $6.8 M. Sale

The estate of prominent horse breeder and philanthropist Edward "Ned" Evans has sold his Fifth Avenue apartment. According to an obituary by the New York Racing Association, Evans ranked seventh among the most successful American racehorse owners the year he died, 2010, raking in over $3 million in prize money. (At one time the C.E.O. of Macmillan publishers as well, Evans recently donated $50 million to the Yale School of Management. Boola Boola, indeed.) Read More

Piven Purchases Piazza’s Pre-War Place in Tribeca

Remember earlier in the summer when we told you that Mike Piazza sold his Tribeca condo? It turns out the buyer, who purchased the home through "Judson Payton, LLC," is none other than Jeremy Piven, The New York Post reports. Read More

Ex-President James LeGros Buys in the Bowery

Surf's up for Point Break actor James LeGros and his wife Kristina Loggia LeGros . City records show that the couple just purchased a new home at 5 East Third Street. Mr. LeGros, who plays Roach in the epic surf film, paid $1.7 million for the apartment, which was originally listed for $1.89 million. Read More

907 Fifth Trade: $10.4 M. Includes Sizable ‘Breakfast Room’

As the ultimate fate of the massive mansion of deceased copper heiress Hugette Clark at 907 Fifth Avenue remains unknown, the fate of another unit in the tony co-op has been solved. Read More

Late Hollywood Publicist Jerome Pickman’s Sutton Place Pad Sells

The estate of showbiz oldie Jerome Pickman has sold his apartment at 2 Sutton Place South. Pickman was a fixture in the film industry for decades, and worked on moves from Psycho to The Ten Commandments. He was a publicity manager at 20th Century Fox and was sales director at Paramount. Read More

Bob Giraldi, Michael Jackson’s Director on ‘Beat It,’ Sells in Richard Meier’s 176 Perry

The director of Michael Jackson's 1980s touchstone "Beat It" video has sold his West Village condo for $7.35 million. Bob Giraldi, who also directed the infamous Pepsi commercial in which MJ's hair caught fire, has since moved on to different things, co-founding online mag StarChefs.com with co-producer and co-signer on the Perry Street deed, Patti Greaney. Read More

MacArthur Genius Grant Guy’s Old El Dorado Place Trades (Updated)

The estate of Gregoire C.R.B MacArthur has sold his apartment in the El Dorado at 300 Central Park West. MacArthur, who passed away in 2001, was a director at the MacArthur Foundation, where he oversaw the allocation of those snazzy “genius grants.”

According to a listing by Stribling’s Cathy Taub, the three-bedroom, three-bath’s layout is “amongst the best on Central Park West,” with a large gallery and a separate bedroom wing. MacArthur, a perennial social and civic activist, was instrumental in supporting Ralph Nader in 2000. Perhaps his sprawling views of the reservoir inspired his political leanings? Ms. Taub’s listing concludes with the cheery invitation to “Bring your architect!”

The buyers, Renee and Richard Barasch, have done just that. Read More

Developer Ron Moelis Buys 900 Fifth Apartment—It’s ‘Very, Very, Very French’

Developer Ron Moelis, the chief executive of L+M Partners, knows something about affordable homes. The apartment he and wife Kerry just purchased at 900 Fifth Avenue, however, has little in common with the Harlem housing projects he helps fund. Spanning a full 2,400 square feet, the pre-war pad is on the 11th floor of the building, and boasts views of the city skyline over Central Park. Read More

Fox Film Honcho Thomas Rothman Buys in Alden

First Geraldo Rivera buys at 45 East 89th Street, and now the co-chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment, Thomas Rothman, has purchased a Manhattan home. Mr. Rothman and wife, Jessica Harper Rothman, have bought a giant penthouse in The Alden on Central Park West for $3.8 million, slightly more than the $3.4 million that Mr. Rivera paid for his home. While the honcho can’t rival Mr. Rivera’s insatiable preening (nor lugubrious moustache), he does host his own TV show, Fox Legacy, which provides background and behind-the-scenes looks at films aired on the Fox movie channel. Read More

Alexa Chung Buys in the East Village

It looks as though heartbreak leads to real estate for Alexa Chung. The British sweetheart and MTV golden girl has purchased an apartment in the East Village only weeks after breaking up with her musician boyfriend and moving out of their Williamsburg apartment. Read More

Stefano Tonchi and David Maupin’s Twins Can Have Their Own Rooms in the Osbourne

Were you concerned that W editor Stefano Tonchi, partner David Maupin and their newborn girls were homeless after reading in The Observer that they had sold their Greenwich Village apartment? Worry no more! Read More

Chef Lee Brian Schrager Whips Up Bigger Ansonia Apartment

Upon noticing that famous foodie Lee Brian Schrager had put his apartment up for sale, residents of The Ansonia may have worried that the sweet epicurean scents of a master at work would disappear from the building forever. Read More

Jim Parsons Bangs 36 Gramercy Park East

Although The National Enquirer reported this winter that the engagement was off between Big Bang actor Jim Parsons and his fiancé Todd Allan Spiewak, it looks as though all is well with the couple, whether or not they're still engaged. Mr. Parsons, who won an Emmy last year, and Mr. Spiewak just purchased an apartment together at 36 Gramercy Park East. Read More

Mrs. Taki’s Apartment! Kids’ Couture Designer Sells at 850 Park

Beverely Ann Taki, who once designed a line of couture children’s clothing called Mrs. Taki’s Kids, has sold her Upper East Side apartment. Ms. Taki’s previous husband, Tomio Taki, was the original investor in Donna Karan’s first line in 1984.

Ms. Taki’s former three-bedroom, three-bath home at 850 Park Avenue features a hand-carved wooden fireplace, a washer-dryer and a 575-square-foot living room. The buyers, couple-about-town Joe and Marie Melone, will enjoy the building’s convenient location, just steps from the Lennox Hill Hospital, 77th Street subway stop and good old fashioned Upper East Side shopping. Read More