GOOGLE'S NEVILL-MANNING TAKES BEST NYC PENTHOUSE

According to public records Craig Nevill-Manning, engineering director at Google, and his wife Kirsten have purchased one of the most stunning architectural beauties in New York City,the penthouse at 150 Nassau. And they got it for a cool,$6,450,000. The original asking price was $10,000,000 in 2002. The views are tremendous, overlooking City Hall, the Woolworth Building, the Brooklyn Bridge and all of Manhattan. It's a movie set at night. Over 7,000 square feet and 1000 sf plus outdoors. Here's a pix of one of the ditties on the terrace. Cheers to them. I couldn't believe it hadn't been snapped up long ago. How appropriate someone at Google would see the possibilities!

GRAND CENTRAL STATION NYC

LOVE ARCHITECTURE: SAVE MARRIAGE

During the late 1990s when the loft love-in began in Tribeca, buyers wanted only to buy raw lofts and redo them according to their dreams. Problem was people didn't realize renovating and modernizing 2000 and more square feet of space isn't all that simple. In fact it becomes a full time job. The details can be overwhelming: architects, expediters; the building department; building permits; bonded and insured plumbers & electricians; decisions; compromises; many a marriage/partnership didn't survive. Soon word got around and the raw loft quickly became a no-go and now is a relic of the past. Well way back when - 18th century to be exact, a couple in Northern Ireland were very much enthralled with architecture. Of course then the rich didn't have to go to work in the morning and sell shares of Intel and bother with building permits and all that nonsense, they just called up the architects and said this is what we want, please build it. It seems Viscount Bangor and Lady Anne Bligh did just this, however, they couldn't agree on an architectural style. He liked the classical style and Lady Bligh was set on having quatrefoils and centre pointed windows of the Gothic tradition. Simple enough, the clever architect built the front in the Classical Style and the rear in Gothic, thus came into being "Castle Ward" now a National Trust property in County Down, Northern Ireland located near the village of Strangford. Lady Bligh and the Viscount lived happily ever after.

This little story popped up in the wonderfully entertaining book "The Architecture of Happiness" written by Alain de Botton. Here's a pix of both.

RECENT PROPERTY SALES - DOWNTOWN MANHATTAN

120 Water Street - 5 story building - $3,900,000 11/06
15 Mercer - 2908 SF Condo - $4,350,000 (sold at asking price) 12/06
150 Nassau St - 650 SF Condo - $649,000 (asking price $699,000) 8/06
275 Greenwich St - 692 SF Condo - $680,100 (asking price $695,000) 10/06
15 Gold St - 15 Floors - $50,475,000 11/06
380 Broome St - 6 family walk-up w/stores - $10,000,000 11/06
123 Watts - 4 Floors - $5,800,000 11/06
446 W 14th St - 4 Floors - $13,000,000 10/06
505 Greenwich St - 698 SF Condo - $900,000 (asking price $920,000) 11/06
130 Barrow St - 706 SF Condo - $850,000 (asking price $969,000) 11/06
369-373 Broadway - Loft & Retail Stores & Offices - $36,616,300 10/06
113 Nassau St - Store Building - $10,518,800 6/06
523 Greenwich St - Garage/Gas Station -$17,500,000 11/06
21 Astor Pl - 2025 SF Condo - $2,900,000
23 Barclay St - Office Building - $170,050,000 12/06

PROPERTY FOR SALE - FINALLY SELLS

44 White Street 1st floor and below level has sold. Selling price $2.1 mil. This property first came on the market around 1998. The price was $1.6 mil. Far too aggressive for the time, as it is a coop and first floor and below level. A few years and brokers later, in 2004, the price became $3,495,000. That broker was able to hang on and finally in August of 2006 they reduced the price to $2.25 mil. and bingo a buyer appeared. Confirms that the market makes the price, not dreams.

WHAT YOUR NY REAL ESTATE DOLLAR WILL BUY

You can buy 10J at 225 Fifth Avenue for $3,990,000 and have $1,452,000 left over to completely furnish it for $5,442,000, the price that Shakespeare's The Comedies, Histories & Tragedies, Published according to the True Orginal Copies recently brought at a Sotheby's auction.

The night view from 10J:



See more at www.5th-avenue-nyc.com

MANHATTAN REAL ESTATE - QUARTERLY REPORTS

Jonathan Miller in his blog Matrix has posted a page of charts, (a perfect vehicle for the time challenged individual), of the 4th quarter condo and co-op real estate activity in Manhattan. These will tell you most everything you want to know about the current real estate environment in Manhattan for condos and co-ops. Charts included are:

Median Sales Price (unadjusted)
Average Sales Price (unadjusted)
Inflation Adjusted Average Sales Price (current dollars)
Listing Discount v Days on Market
Dow Jones Industrial Average v Manhattan Average Sales Price
CPI Adjusted Manhattan Average Sales Price v 1 Year Adjusted Rate Mortgage
Manhattan Average Sales Price (unadjusted) v 30 Year Mortgage Rate
Manhattan Listing Inventory v Days on Market
Prior Year Quarter Gain (loss) in Inventory v Change in Median Sales Price
Manhattan Co-op/Condo Supply (listing inventory) and Demand (number of sales)
Manhattan Market Strata by Number of Sales
Manhattan Market Strata by Dollar Volume
Manhattan Co-op and Condo Listing Inventory

Jump here to take a look and visit Miller's blog at matrix.millersamuel.com

MANHATTAN REAL ESTATE

Healthy year for Manhattan Real Estate published by RISMEDIA is just one more article touting that despite the national turndown in the housing market, Manhattan property prices actually rose 6% in 2006. Jump here for the full story.

Manhattan Apartment Downturn is Short-Lived

TODAY'S LINK

Dottie Herman of Prudential Douglas Elliman and Jonathan Miller of the appraisal company Miller Samuel are quoted in yesterday's Washington Post article regarding the real estate market in Manhattan and why we're not following the national lead of doom and gloom. Jump here for the full story.

LIVING GREEN IN 2007

Greening of New York - see it in Jonathan Schein's New York House Magazine. Nancy Ruhling writes an article about how Lisa Sharkey and Paul Gleicher transform an 1885 Upper West Side townhouse into a stylish model for living green in Manhattan. Don't miss the invaluable Green Resource List at the end of the article! Go here to read. Photo by Linda Bell Hall.