THE NEW YORK ISSUE - Douglas Elliman

Quintessential downtown power couple S A R A H J E S S I C A PA R K E R and M AT T H E W B R O D E R I C K on the anxietyand ultimate thrill of sharing top billing in Plaza Suite: ‘We’ve never spent this much time together’

May 17, 2022

T H E N E W Y O R K I S S U E

FORGED IN WARThe reporters putting it

on the line in Ukraine

Charlamagne tha God, Jeen-yuhs’ directing duo,SNL’s viral comedy trio and

plenty of unsolicited advicefor Mayor Eric Adams

THE 35 MOST

POWERFUL PEOPLE

IN MEDIA

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Real Estate

Style

S ince slamming to a halt in the early days of the pandemic, New York City’s real estate market has not just come back to life, but hit an increasingly breakneck pace. “From the first quarter of 2021 to 2022

in Manhattan alone, contracts were up 30 percent,” says Million Dollar Listing New York star and Serhant brokerage founder Ryan Serhant. In the first three months of the year, the average number of days properties spent on the market dropped by 13.8 percent, according to data from Douglas Elliman, while median prices jumped by more than 10 percent year-over-year, up to $1.19 million. “Super luxury is now coming back to life, too,” says Douglas Elliman’s Noble Black, “and we’ve recently had international buyers coming back.” From financiers to entertainment industry players, high-end buyers are rushing to get a piece of the city’s increasingly small (and expensive) pool of luxury inventory, and upsizing to penthouses and townhouses. “Penthouses are very much en vogue,” says Corcoran’s Cathy Franklin. “Buyers want high ceilings, lots of light, classic architecture and extensive outdoor space.” Here, THR highlights the city’s top agents helping high-profile clients check off everything on their wish lists while navigating a red-hot market.

NYC’s Top 20 Agents Repping the A-List

Record-breaking deals (like a $188 million Billionaires’ Row transaction) have become the norm as celebrities and moguls list eye-popping

properties and snap up palatial penthouses By Virginia K. Smith

with some of the entertain-ment industry’s most A-list names. In February, per public records, she worked with Paul McCartney and his wife, Nancy Shevell, on the $8.5 million sale of their Fifth Avenue penthouse. Her cur-rent roster of listings includes a Neo-Georgian mansion asking $60 million on the Upper East Side.

Oren & Tal AlexanderDOUGLAS ELLIMAN

The brothers of The Alexander Team have sold around $1.8 bil-lion worth of real estate over the past year, including a penthouse for $42.5 million in an off-market deal at 520 Park Avenue on Billionaires’ Row. “Even with rising rates, the market continues to be resilient,” Tal says. “Prime neighborhoods still lack inventory, and off-market opportunities continue to be the hot trend.” The pair have been the No. 1 team nationally at Douglas Elliman for three years running and are known for major deals such as the $49 million sale of the pent-house at 421 Broome Street in November, just a year after the unit had previously sold for $35 million. Serena BoardmanSOTHEBY’S

INTERNATIONAL REALTY

Boardman routinely breaks sales records and works

T. Alexander

Black

O. Alexander

Boardman

SELLING T HE CI T Y

Noble Black DOUGLAS ELLIMAN

“Our market in general has been on fire since January,” says Black, who represented John Legend and Chrissy Teigen in an $18 million April sale of two adjoin-ing apartments they had intended to combine when they first purchased them pre-pandemic. “They decided

they’re not spending as much time in New York as they had planned on, and wanted to simplify things,” says Black, whose list of celeb clients has included Scarlett Johansson, Colin Jost and Bethenny Frankel. Last summer, Black sold a condo in Billionaires’ Row tower One57 to HGTV founder Kenneth Lowe for $12.7 million.

$26.5MThis West Village townhouse, once rented by Kylie

Jenner and Travis Scott, is listed with Serhant.

$62MRupert Murdoch’s

triplex at One Madison, listed with Corcoran’s Deborah

Grubman.

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John BurgerBROWN HARRIS STEVENS With reportedly the highest number of listings of any agent in the city (per data from Real Trends) as well as some of the highest-profile clients, Burger remains one of New York’s most reliable power brokers. The tight-lipped Burger declined to comment, but has previously repped Amazon

Burger

Chiang

founder Jeff Bezos on multiple NYC deals, and last year facili-tated the sale of Bette Midler’s $45 million penthouse. Burger currently reps multiple Upper East Side townhouses priced over $30 million.

Carrie Chiang CORCOR AN GROUP

“Buyers are back and they are betting on Manhattan,” says Chiang, who was one of the listing agents on the biggest sale so far in New York in 2022, a $70.5 million penthouse at 432 Park Avenue. She also sold Gloria Vanderbilt’s childhood home on the Upper East Side

Five Names to Know in the

Hamptons

T he always-coveted Hamptons have

become even more in-demand over the past two years as buyers prioritized space, privacy and comfort during the pandemic. Inventory in the first quarter was down 41.5% year-over-year, while average prices were up nearly 25%, accord-ing to Douglas Elliman.

SUSAN BREITENBACH Corcoran GroupBreitenbach has han-dled sales for the likes of Christie Brinkley, and recently sold a Bridgehampton compound for close to $25 million.

CHRIS COLEMAN CompassColeman sold $225 million worth of Hamptons real estate in 2021, including Dick Cavett’s historic Tick Hall for $23.6 million, which was Montauk’s most expen-sive sale last year.

CHRISTOPHER BURNSIDE Brown Harris StevensBurnside recently listed developer David Walentas’ three-acre Southampton estate for $37 million.

ERICA GROSSMAN Douglas EllimanAmong her listings is a $55 million spread on East Hampton’s Lily Pond Lane.

CODY AND ZACH VICHINSKYBespoke Real EstateSince launching their firm in 2014, the brothers have taken the market by storm. Last year, they recorded the highest-ever Hamptons sale, a $145 million deal in Southampton. —v.k.s.

The pool at a Charles Gwathmey-designed home in Sagaponack, listed with

Breitenbach for $27.9 million.

OU T E A ST

for $32.2 million. “Luxury properties with outdoor space, like penthouses and townhomes, remain in high demand,” she says. Chiang is now representing a $28 million townhouse owned by Yue-Sai Kan, the “Oprah of China,” as well as a $79 million penthouse at 432 Park Avenue.

Fredrik Eklund & John Gomes DOUGLAS ELLIMAN Even as their Eklund | Gomes Team has continued to expand its presence across California, Florida and Texas, the duo have maintained their perch at the top of New York City’s real estate market. (Last year, Eklund left his role on Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing.) To wit: In late April, the team’s Ryan Stenta also helped facilitate the $70.5 million penthouse sale at 432 Park Avenue. “There’s an enormous amount of activity — the volume is unprecedented,” says Gomes. “As a result, we’re seeing price gains.” The team recently represented actor Anthony Rapp as well as tech mogul Anil Aggarwal, and have previously done deals with Sarah Jessica Parker, Daniel Craig, Jennifer Lopez and Keith Richards.

Stephen Ferrara & Clayton Orrigo

COMPASS

“The luxury market in New York City has not slowed at all and remains extremely strong,” says Ferrara, who, with Orrigo, leads the Hudson Advisory Team at Compass. “Overall demand is deep and the buying pool is robust, yet our biggest challenge is the continuous lack of high-quality inventory and large-format homes.” Consistently among the top-selling brokerage teams in the city, last year they handled the sale of a $45 mil-lion penthouse in Tribeca’s “Jenga Building,” which boasts Keegan-Michael Key and Frank

$16.2MThis seven-level

townhouse, listed with Corcoran’s Cathy Franklin,

includes a basketball court.

Gomes

Eklund

Ferrara

Orrigo



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Real Estate

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Grubman

Kern

Lenz

Serhant

Jordan

Modlin

Ocean as residents. “We have several new developments in the West Village coming later this year,” Ferrara says. “However, we still anticipate that the demand will far out-weigh the supply.”

Cathy Franklin CORCOR AN GROUP

“We are on track to have our best year ever in 2022,” says Franklin, who leads sales at boutique Upper West Side development 109 East 79th, which launched in November. A $35 million penthouse, the last available unit in the building, is now in contract. Franklin is also the list-ing agent on a $49.5 million Hudson Yards penthouse fea-tured on HBO’s Succession, as well as a $16.25 million Upper East Side townhouse with its own basketball court.

Nick Gavin COMPASS Gavin brokered 2021’s biggest deal in downtown Manhattan with the $49.5 million sale of Formula 1 racer Lewis Hamilton’s penthouse at 443

Greenwich. He also recently sold Jonah Hill’s NoHo loft for $11 million, and (along with broker Adam Modlin) is rep-ping Karlie Kloss and Joshua Kushner on a $23.5 million Puck Building penthouse listing. “I’ve seen the luxury market on an upswing since the bounceback from the pan-demic,” says Gavin. “One tenet will always remain true — no matter the market conditions, quality, turn-key product will always sell at a premium.”

Steve Gold CORCOR AN GROUP

“The speed of the turnaround in New York City’s real estate market has been remark-able,” says Gold, a star of Million Dollar Listing New York. The Soho resident special-izes in the luxury downtown market, playing a key role in selling headline-grabbing new developments including 40 Mercer by Jean Nouvel, Zaha Hadid’s 520 West 28th Street, and the West Village’s

Superior Ink building. Gold’s roster of clients has included model Hilary Rhoda, Anne Hathaway and Spotlight producer Michael Bederman. In March, he listed director Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin’s $20 million town-house on 17th Street.

Deborah GrubmanCORCOR AN GROUP

Grubman — whose roster of entertainment industry clients has included Harrison Ford,

The Surprisingly Hot Second-Home Area Outside N YC: Long Island’s Gold Coast

A s the name would imply, Long Island’s Gold Coast has long been a favorite escape for New

York City’s rich and powerful. Sands Point, one of the North Shore’s marquee neighborhoods, was the inspiration for the old-money East Egg in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, while Kings Point was the basis for West Egg. And the area still has the grand old mansions and estates to prove it.

Wealth along the Gold Coast first exploded dur-ing the Gilded Age of the early 20th century, and mansions that once belonged to prominent families such as the Guggenheims and the Vanderbilts are still standing to this day.

“There’s still a smattering of beautiful late 19th and early 20th century estates,” says Maggie Keats, a broker with Douglas Elliman on Long Island. “It’s what gives the communities texture and character. The architecture is beautiful.”

While the Gold Coast’s sprawling compounds had fallen out of vogue for high-end clients in recent decades — overshadowed by other spots like the Hamptons, Connecticut’s Litchfield County and Hudson, New York — a number of wealthy buyers have flocked to the North Shore since the start of the pandemic. The attraction? It offers a coveted combination of privacy, extensive acreage and a quicker commute to and from the city than other second-home destinations.

“The area woke up after the pandemic,” says Keats. “The Gold Coast has so much to offer, not only because it has beautiful neighborhoods and incredible estates, but you’re also perfectly perched: You can easily get into the city a few days a week if you need to; you can also go out to the Hamptons.”

Waterfront neighborhoods including Great Neck, Port Washington and Manhasset are in especially high demand, and overall, suburban Long Island (outside of the Hamptons) saw a 400 percent increase in home sales priced at or above $10 mil-lion in 2021, according to Compass.

Keats is listing an eight-bedroom mansion on nearly four acres in Old Westbury that’s priced at $8 million and includes a tennis court and a 1,000-bottle-capacity wine cellar. In December, entrepreneur Michael Walrath, an owner of the Surf Lodge in Montauk, listed his five-bedroom 1925 Colonial residence on seven acres in Matinecock for $12 million with Lindsay Barnett of Compass. “There’s a renewed interest in property with privacy and country club-like amenities,” says Keats. “People want a really full and luxurious experience at home with a pool, tennis court — I’m even seeing things like a par-3 golf hole with sand traps. [Buyers want] the experience where it’s the best of a five-star resort and a country club all wrapped into one.” —v.k.s.

This 9,464-square-foot mansion (built in 2000) is located in Old Westbury on Long Island and is listed with

Douglas Elliman’s Maggie Keats for $8 million.

$20MBaz Luhrmann and Catherine

Martin’s townhouse, listed with Corcoran’s

Steve Gold.

Gold

Gavin

Franklin



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Shemesh

St. André

Simonsen

Steinberg

David Geffen and “Judge Judy” Sheindlin — listed two units in March, belonging to Rupert Murdoch, for a total of $78 mil-lion. Grubman also represents an exclusive, $25 million Fifth Avenue co-op belong-ing to Suzy Welch, widow of former GE chairman and CEO Jack Welch.

Kirsten JordanDOUGLAS ELLIMAN

Another mainstay of Million Dollar Listing New York, Jordan has facilitated mul-tiple deals at 155 Franklin Street, the exclusive Tribeca building where residents have included Taylor Swift, the Olsen twins and Orlando Bloom. In August, Jordan closed a deal on a unit in the building for the second time; it went for $3.6 million in 2012 and $10 million last year. Her team also handled leasing at 70 Vestry, another celebrity-studded Tribeca building where last year Trevor Noah rented out a unit asking $52,000 per month, according to the New York Post. “What we saw during 2020 and 2021 is that no matter what the market is, the right product and right location sells well in New York,” says Jordan. “It almost seems to be recession-proof as long as it’s in those prime locations.”

Deborah KernCORCOR AN GROUP

Kern grabbed headlines in January when she represented billionaire Daniel Och in the nearly $190 million sale of his penthouse at 220 Central Park South, to a buyer later revealed to be Alibaba’s Joseph Tsai (see sidebar, page 36). “High-end New York real estate never went away,” says Kern. “While many prominent proper-ties have recently traded to purchasers domestically, we are starting to see an uptick in international activity as the rules for travel relax.”

Dolly LenzDOLLY LENZ REAL ESTATE

A presence in both New York City and the Hamptons, Lenz has listings from palatial Long Island estates to grand Upper East Side co-ops, including Joan Rivers’ former East 62nd Street penthouse, on the mar-ket for $38 million. A frequent media commentator, Lenz sold Newsmax anchor Greg Kelly’s Chelsea one-bedroom for $1.66 million last year.

Adam ModlinMODLIN GROUP

Modlin often specializes in big-ticket townhouse sales for high-profile — and highly private — clients. Modlin has, per public records, facilitated

multiple deals for Karlie Kloss and Joshua Kushner within the Puck Building, including their $42.5 million purchase of a new penthouse last fall. In December, he listed art dealer David Mugrabi’s Upper East Side townhouse for $52 mil-lion, and last fall he sold a NoHo penthouse to former Google CEO Eric Schmidt for $27.5 million.

Ryan SerhantSERHANT

The Million Dollar Listing New York star launched his own eponymous broker-age in 2020, with a focus on both luxury concierge services and savvy social media marketing. The leap of faith paid off: In December,

Serhant’s team sold a pent-house belonging to author Mark Manson for $13.5 mil-lion “in one day through social media,” Serhant says. Over the past year, Serhant has also repped a $26.5 mil-lion Greenwich townhouse formerly rented by Travis Scott and Kylie Jenner, sold Peloton star trainer Cody Rigsby a $1.46 million penthouse in Williamsburg, and brokered the sale of Bella Hadid’s $6.5 million Soho penthouse. “It’s been quite a whirlwind,” says Serhant.

Tamir Shemesh SERHANT

Shemesh started off 2022 with a bang, leaving Douglas Elliman to join up at Serhant.

$7.1MElliman’s

Kirsten Jordan recently sold

this Tribeca loft, once owned by Orlando Bloom.

$18MA terrace at one of the

units (co-listed with Elliman’s Noble Black)

that John Legend and Chrissy Teigen

sold in April.



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Having handled sales in Toll Brothers buildings for years, in April Shemesh listed the $22 million Upper East Side triplex of the firm’s co-founder, Robert Toll, and his wife, Jane. Over the past year, Shemesh has sold more than $100 mil-lion worth of real estate at 111 Murray. Last summer, he sold a $13.4 million unit at 1010 Park Avenue to Florida-based buyers via FaceTime. Lisa Simonsen DOUGLAS ELLIMAN

In between appearances on HGTV’s Kendra Sells Hollywood (on which she mentors real-ity star-turned-agent Kendra Wilkinson), Simonsen also finds time to break sales records — her $20 million sale of a penthouse at Abi Chelsea recorded the high-est price-per-square-foot of any boutique new develop-ment sale in 2021. Simonsen also, per records, brought in the buyer for Bella Hadid’s SoHo penthouse (sold last year for $6.5 million), and has worked with Kelly Ripa and Lisa Ling.

Jim St. AndréCOMPASS “Just when you think [New York’s market] is slowing down, it’s not,” says St. André. “We’re starting to see more international buyers enter-ing the market as well, while [previously in the pandemic] we’d had almost none. I just showed a $30 million off-market townhouse to a couple from London.” In the past year, St. André has handled sales for both Ellen Barkin and Julianne Moore, and previously led sales at 17 Jane Street, a sought-after West Village development where buyers have included Jennifer Lawrence.

Leonard Steinberg COMPASS

Living up to his job title as chief evangelist at Compass, Steinberg says, “The New York luxury markets never died, they simply took an extended nap. And those who took the risk of buying in 2020 and 2021 have done well.” With his eponymous sales team, Steinberg routinely trades in some of the city’s highest-profile buildings, such as tony new develop-ment No. 33 Park Row. Earlier this year, per public records, he represented Jon Bon Jovi on the sale of his $22 million Manhattan condo.

$188MAfter buying a

9,800-square-foot penthouse (plus a

lower-floor, one-bedroom unit) in 2020 for around $95 million, hedge-fund billionaire Daniel Och

resold the properties in December for a stunning

$188 million, almost doubling what he had

paid for them. The buyer was later revealed to be

Alibaba Group co-founder and Brooklyn Nets

owner Joseph Tsai.$33M

Also in September, financier Richard

Leibovitch of Arel Capital sold a 3,700-square-foot, 31st-floor apartment for $33 million. He had paid $26 million in December 2018 for the unit, making

for an appreciation of 21 percent in less

than three years.

$157.5MLast June, an unnamed

seller — who bought two full floors (levels 60 and 61)

in 2020 for $102.3 million — flipped them for a

combined $157.5 million. The buyer? Also Tsai.

$66MIn September 2021, an

unknown buyer plunked down $66 million for two separate units (a duplex

and a studio), paying about $15.6 million more than the previous owner, who had

bought the properties just a year earlier. (The buyer’s neighbors include Sting, who bought a penthouse

for $65.75 million in 2019.)

Major Flips at 220 Cent ral Park South on Billionaires’ Row

$38MJoan Rivers’ triplex,

listed with Dolly Lenz Real Estate, is back on the market

after a refresh.

220 Central Park South, designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects.

O n May 25, The Hollywood Reporter will launch the New York Power

Broker Awards with a ceremony at Les Trois Chevaux restaurant in the West Village. An East Coast counterpart to the first annual Los Angeles Power Broker Awards (which debuted in 2021), the NYC event will include a dinner honoring the elite sellers who made THR’s 2022 Top New York Real Estate Agents list, followed by a presentation of awards in seven cate-gories. The evening is presented with The Society Group, a luxury real estate PR firm, and sponsored by Vesta Home, an interior design and home staging company.

The categories and nominees are: ● POWER BROKERS OF NEW DEVELOPMENT (for sales in new builds): Douglas Elliman’s Eklund | Gomes Team, Serhant’s Ryan Serhant, Compass’ Leonard Steinberg

● PENTHOUSE SALE OF THE YEAR AWARD (for the sale of a significant PH): Corcoran’s Carrie Chiang, Compass’ Hudson Advisory Team, Corcoran’s Deborah Kern

● AGENT OF HISTORIC ARCHITECTURE (for an agent who puts special care into deals at venerated buildings): Corcoran’s Deborah Grubman, Dolly Lenz Real Estate’s Dolly Lenz, The Modlin Group’s Adam Modlin

● CELEBRITY PROPERTY PORTFOLIO (to a trusted agent of Hollywood clients): Douglas Elliman’s Noble Black, Compass’ Nick Gavin, Corcoran’s Steve Gold

● POWER BROKERS OF BILLIONAIRES’ ROW (for sales activity in the super-luxury residen-tial skyscraper area just south of Central Park): Douglas Elliman’s The Alexander Team, Serhant’s Tamir Shemesh, Compass’ Jim St. André

● STRATOSPHERIC SALE AWARD (for a major single sale): Carrie Chiang; Douglas Elliman’s Ryan Stenta and Compass’ Jason Haber; Eklund | Gomes; Adam Modlin

● RISING STAR NEW YORK (to an up-and-coming power broker): Compass’ Ian Slater, Douglas Elliman’s McKenzie Ryan, Compass’ Maggie Wu

The New York Power Broker Awards are chosen by THR editors and based on sales numbers and the prestige of properties listed and sold.

THR Inaugurates New York Power Broker Awards

R E A LTOR HONORS

Greenwich Village’s Les Trois Chevaux restaurant, opened in 2020 by chef Angie Mar.

C ompleted in 2019, Vornado Realty

Trust’s 70-story 220 Central Park West holds the record for the most expensive home sale ever recorded in the U.S. — hedge-fund billionaire Ken Griffin’s purchase of a four-floor penthouse for $238 million in 2019. The limestone-clad, ultra-luxury property (which has 118 apart-ments, mostly duplexes) is also seeing units resell at stunning premiums over the past 12 months, partly due to it being the only building in Billionaires’ Row that sits directly on Central Park. — DEGEN PENER


THE NEW YORK ISSUE - Douglas Elliman

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