2009 Rental Graph By The Guru

Something For The Wanna Haves:

This graph tells us it’s great news for bargain renters across the Manhattan land. For those that felt exiled to the other suburbs because of the increase in rental rates from 2007-2008 you are now no longer banished. Return to the isle immediately the landlords require your dutifull 1 year lease commitment.
In return they will bestow upon you not 1 but possibly 2 months free rent on top of the already decreased rates of 17.5%.
For those that chose to stay and take the high rate beating it is now time to tell your landlord that you are now king and what you feel the apartment you are staying in is worth. Ask for 17.5% off and you may receiveth. If not leave for a larger space for less money. Once in a while the masses do receive fair treatment. This is that time. Take full advantage while you can.

[CityFile]Mortgage company founder Steven Schnall and his wife Sherri have dropped the price of their massive townhouse at 2 North Moore Street less than three months after putting it back on the market for $33 million. The 11,000-square-foot mansion is now listed with Deborah Grubman for the bargain price of $29 million. Get it while it’s hot! [Corcoran]

The Apthorp Courtyard

NY Apartment Updates: THE Apthorp, one of New York’s grandest apartment buildings with a sprawling interior courtyard and vaulted limestone arches has been wracked with contentious disputes, feuding partners, lenders threatening to foreclose but now there’s calm after the storm.
[NY Times]Asking prices on the condominiums fell to an average of $1,950 a square foot from $2,400 to $3,000, at least for the buyers of the first 25 or so apartments that must be sold before the condo plan can be declared effective.

Will the many celebrities that have been considering a purchase at this noble establishment Alec Baldwin, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Tommy Mottola, return now that the dust has settled? Will they be seduced now the prices are even more affordable despite the fact that they are the only one’s who could afford them in the first place?

NYC Apartment updates: [Cityfile]
Software titan Peter Norton has gone into contract to sell his 45th-floor apartment at Trump International

The Milan

The Real Deal Reports-The Milan Condo on 23rd Street in Chelsea is going to need a new name.

Joining the ranks of New York City’s many “nondos,” the 42-unit conversion will remain a rental building rather than going condominium as planned.

NY Living Solutions were one of the local neighborhood brokerage houses that had attempted to help sell The Milan by bringing by dozens of potential buyers. Nick Hetherington a managing director with the East 20th Street location of NY Living Solutions stated” To date we were unable to bring about even 1 purchase at The Milan while we were successful in completing many transactions in other Chelsea condos.”

One-bedrooms in the now-vacant doorman building, where each apartment has a balcony, rent for $2,700, while two-bedroom units start at $4,100.

Nick Hetherington commented “this price structure is extremly aggressive compared to other doorman buildings in the Chelsea neighborhood. And with the new condo finishes this is an excellent opportunity for renters to find something affordable with new designs in a central location.”

Irving Townhome Private 30' saltwater pool

New York Real Estate News update.

The Townhome
The Townhome at 57 Irving Place is the quintessential urban home. With three full floors, this unique residence features four bedrooms, five full bathrooms, and two powder rooms as well as private street and lobby entrances. Superb conveniences include a private garden, single-car garage, and a full floor of amenities complete with its own thirty-foot saltwater swimming pool, media/entertainment room and fitness spa.
Wow- That’s impressive. That makes me feel like I need to start getting up at 4am for my morning jog before embarking on a regular 12 hour day at the office before attending an evening gala or premiere opening. Either that or my parents really need to start helping me out a little more already. Whichever way the dice rolls I’ll be eagar to learn of this extraordinary home’s new purchaser. Stay tuned for further updates.

Nick Hetherington

A queens neighborhood is boasting new recognition from a national magazine over it’s old home offering’s.  NY1’s Jill Urban filed the following report.

Time Warner Center- Home to The Ridiculously Rich-a-lous

Celebrity NY City Real Estate News:

Investor Gerhard Andlinger has sold his penthouse at the Time Warner Center for $37.5 million, making it the biggest residential deal the city has seen in nearly a year. Not that this should necessarily be interepreted as a sign the real estate market is back. The 8,300-square-foot apartment, which was sold to an anonymous buyer, had been listed for $65 million when it first hit the market last year. [NYO]• Keiko Ibi, the Tokyo-born filmmaker who won an Oscar her 1999 documentary The Personals, has put her condo at 15 Central Park West back on the market less than two years after purchasing it for $1.8 million. The one-bedroom is now listed for $3.75 million. [Cityfile, BHS]

Stephen Daldry-'Billy Elliot' Director

• Director Stephen Daldry has reportedly gone into contract to buy a red-brick townhouse in Chelsea with an asking price of “just under $5 million,” while British architect Lord Norman Foster has picked up the apartment next door to the one he already owns at 912 Fifth Avenue for $6.7 million. [NYM]
• Markus Kiersztan, the owner of MP Creative and Uniqlo’s creative director in the United States, has paid $1.8 million for a three-bedroom loft at 10 Leonard Street. [Cityfile]

Celebrity NY City Real Estate News:

So, it all started this morning when The NY Post
ran a quick blurb on page 6 titled ‘Bargain Hunter’. Paula Froelich The Post’s mercurial gossip writer got hold of an email Kerry Washington had sent to her friends letting them know she needs an apartment while doing the David Mamet play ‘Race’. Kerry has a budget of $3000 for a furnished rental. Miss Froelich pens that is ‘a cheap apartment’. Maybe Miss Froelich could rent Miss Washington her own apartment in Soho. It’s a nice ‘cheap’ 1 bedroom in a walk up on Sullivan street.
Richard Lawson of Gawker.com also picked up on this story. His response is right on the ‘cheap’ money.

Curbed-

One Of Only 26 rooms

It’s official: Madonna is an Upper East Sider, having just closed on the 57-foot-wide Georgian-style townhouse at 152 East 81st Street. Yes, yes—eww, east of Lexington Avenue, the horror, blah blah blah. The lingering mystery was how much the Material Girl shelled out, with initial reports putting her bid at $40 million (the asking price was $42 million, down from $45M). Not so, the Times’ Josh Barbanel reports.

Madge paid only $32.5 million, or $1.25 million per each of its 26 rooms. Of course, there’s also a pair of garages to preserve a bit of privacy and a 3,000-square-foot garden for the brood to stretch their legs. It’s the biggest townhouse deal of the year, but will the discount silence brokers who criticized Madonna’s big-money move to the wrong side of Lex?