Prime real estate
Upper West Side townhouses, North Fork thaw, How to Pretend to be Fancy, Croatian yachts, Delta premium at JFK, shoppiest shops, MORE
REAL ESTATE • In Contract
Upper West Side stories
Seven Manhattan townhouses went into contract last week, more than any other week since June, per Olshan. The headliner? 109 Waverly Place, a 25’-wide, 8300-SF, rehauled Greek Revival last listed for $19.995M. (Don’t miss the lower-level lap pool.)
But most of the action was concentrated on the Upper West Side, where four manses found buyers. The properties, clustered between 77th and 90th, ranged in asking from $5.75M to $17.995M. In the middle was 137 W. 77th St. (above), a 1890s classic, recently redesigned by The Turett Collaborative. Among the new flourishes: a centerpiece open staircase and full-floor windows opening onto several manicured outdoor spaces.
Here, the full suite of four listings for your lunchtime gazing:
→ 137 W 87th St (Upper West Side) • 5BR/3BA, 4330 SF townhouse • Ask: $5.75M • 1887 Queen Anne-style with 5 fireplaces • Days on market: 59 • Monthly taxes: $2670 • Agents: Richard Pretsfelder & Sophie Smadbeck, Leslie Garfield.
→ 4 W 90th St (Upper West Side) • 10BR/10BA, 9384 SF house • Ask: $8.495M (reduced $1.5M 7/8/23) • 19’-wide and elevatored with 10 units and plan for a single-family reno • Days on market: 468 • Monthly taxes: $8584 • Agents: Richard Pretsfelder & Sophie Smadbeck, Leslie Garfield.
→ 137 W 77th St (Upper West Side, above) • 5BR/8.2BA, 6815 SF house • Ask: $12.995M (reduced $1M 1/8/24) • semi-detached on extra-deep lot • Days on market: 150 • Monthly taxes: $6862 • Agent: Ugo Russino, Compass.
→ 25 W 88th St (Upper West Side) • 6BR/6.2BA, 8068 SF house • Ask: $17.995M • platinum certified LEED with 7 floors of renovated living space • Days on market: 330 • Monthly taxes: $10,800 • Agents: Richard Pretsfelder, Thomas Wexler, Sophie Smadbeck & Morgan Garofalo, Leslie Garfield.
NYC REAL ESTATE LINKS: Revised design revealed for Hudson Yards supertall Affirmation Tower complete with ‘pinched flourish’ • Tribeca penthouse on the market for 13 years (it’s complicated!) tries again at $10 million • Why superrich buyers want to live in this West Village parking garage • Permits filed for new 47-story tower in Brooklyn Heights • Studio sale at Brooklyn Tower sets borough record at $2k per SF • In the East Village, wisteria watch begins.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Friday Routine
Charter a yacht in Croatia
WHITNEY MARSTON PIERCE • principal • Marston Studio
Neighborhood you live in: Tribeca
It’s Friday afternoon, how are you rolling into the weekend?
The first part of Friday is always contractor check-ins/site visits. As the owner of an interior design studio, I always have projects going on all over the city (and state). I’m currently obsessed (by choice and otherwise) with a bar and restaurant I just finished called Oasis in Richmond Hill, which we rebuilt from the studs. Visits are a matter of making sure construction and finishes are exactly to spec and my standards, so pop-ins are an absolute necessity. As much as I love yelling at contractors over the phone, it’s even more fun in person.
I kid. It’s super important to be there to see, touch, and measure everything myself, and to cheer on the team. With this particular project, we gave it an updated classic feel that will be the first of its kind in the neighborhood.
Where are you dining this weekend?
After site visits, I usually head back to the office in Tribeca, which often means lunch in the neighborhood. If it’s a quickie, I’m hitting Los Tacos Hermanos. After living here for the better part of 15 years, the Angeleno in me is just consistently and pleasantly surprised that the city finally figured out tacos. If I have a bit more time, you can find me at my local pub, Walker’s, having their chopped sirloin steak. Is it a fancy, deconstructed burger with a beyond-delicious peppercorn demi-glace? Yes, and I love it. However, if I have time and still want tacos, you can find me at Belle Reve, which has surprisingly legit tacos and a birria consomé that I would happily bathe in, or at least have a bathtub of. Or a meal at The Odeon. Who doesn’t adore the true classics? And no matter where I’m dining, if they’re available, I’ll have a martini, because we’re adults, and I refuse to let the Martini Lunch be a thing of the past.
How about a little leisure or culture?
I’m quite fortunate to live in the new art gallery center of the city, or so it seems. There are nearly a hundred (and I’m not exaggerating) within a couple blocks of the office, so thankfully, I couldn’t avoid them if I wanted to. I like to slink into a few that catch my eye, to get inspired, look for clients' walls or my own. My other favorite thing to look at is the city and its inhabitants, so if the weather is even halfway decent, you’ll likely find me walking to or from a site visit listening to a podcast or the radio — probably Throughline, Freakonomics, or WNYC.
Any weekend getaways?
I spend about half of my time at my country house, so often, a Friday evening is grabbing my weekender and heading to the western Catskills, to a tiny town called Andes. It's a couple days (or longer) chock full of coziness and tending the fireplace, weather permitting. I’m currently writing a book, (called How to Pretend to be Fancy), so you’ll often find me in my office furiously typing away or watching deer nibbling at my yard. Or, after a day of pleasant activities, at the local watering hole, The Andes Hotel, sipping, you guessed it, a martini. Plus I’m lucky enough to have clients in the country as well, so the beginning of the next week is popping in to see progress, present custom wallpaper designs, and throw samples around.
What was your last great vacation?
Eight simple words: charter a yacht with your friends in Croatia. Yes, you heard me right. It’s a whole dream. Thirteen of us island-hopped around the Adriatic for a week. Between hanging on deck, swimming in secret coves, exploring tunnels from WWII, eating on board and on land, and step touching with my favorite people, there’s nothing better. A very close runner-up was a recent weekend in Sonoma. I’m so thankful to be surrounded by incredible folks and a weekend with a handful of them in wine country is another dream. Start with an early lunch at Scribe Winery, load up on their latest vinicultural creations, and sip and cook and dance and hang all night.
CULTURE & LEISURE • In the Arena
Nicki Manaj • Madison Square Garden (Midtown South) • Sat @ 8p • section 107, $260 per
Zach Bryan • UBS Arena (Elmont, NY) • Sun @ 7p • section 104, $325 per
Ben Schwartz & Friends • Beacon Theatre (Upper West Side) • Fri @ 730p • orchestra, $128 per
CULTURE LINKS: Insta-reactions to renderings for New Museum expansion: “hostile,” “corporate” • John Patrick Shanley is this theater season’s king dramatist • Sunset Boulevard coming to Broadway in the fall • Three Tribeca gallery newcomers on what drew them to the nabe • Richard Serra’s magnificent balancing act.
GETAWAYS • North Fork
North Fork newcomers
Has the same warming trend thawing the high end of Hamptons real estate reached the North Fork? Early signs point to yes: In the $2M-$3.99M range, there were four closed transactions in February (up from zero such deals in February 2023). Sellers felt it, too, adding eight new listings to this price bracket last month — a number that continued to grow in March.
Here, three fresh additions to the mix, for the North Fork property hunters among us:
→ 290 Windermere Rd (Orient) • 5BR/4BA, 4200 SF • newly built modernist home with swimming pool on one acre • Listed: 3/7/24 for $3.49M • Agent: Maureen Orientale, Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty.
→ 250 Naugles Dr (Mattituck) • 5BR/4.1BA, 3800 SF • 20-year old house with views to Long Island Sound and walk to beach • Listed: 2/26/24 for $3.2M • Agent: Paula Jerman, Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty.
→ 511 Carpenter St (Greenport, above) • 4BR/3.2BA, 4400 SF • open-plan loft in the heart of Greenport Village • Listed: 3/6/24 for $2.4M • Agents: Jenna Williams and Bridget Elkin, Compass.
GETAWAYS • Airports
JFK: The battle of airport lounge one-upmanship rages on. Delta is readying its first-ever premium lounge, the largest in the Delta network at 38K square feet, to open at Terminal 4 in June. Though the details of who’s going to be allowed in have not yet been finalized, the airline expects around 500 people to be using the lounge at any given time, and the central bar will look the way all airport lounge bars are now required to look (above). Premium Delta lounges at BOS and LAX are slated to follow by the end of the year.
EWR/JFK: Tulum’s new airport — TQO, for those scoring at home — opened to international flights yesterday. Nonstop service from the New York area kicks into gear this Sunday with United flying the route from EWR. JetBlue will add the route daily from JFK starting June 13.
EWR/JFK: After two years away from the hub, Frontier Airlines plans to return to EWR this summer, flying eleven weekly round trips to San Juan starting June 26. It’ll fly the same route from JFK starting June 6, twice daily.
GETAWAYS LINKS: Do reduced credit card swipe fees put travel loyalty programs at risk? • Design unveiled for new concourse at IAD • World’s 50 Best announces Asia list for 2024; Tokyo’s Sézanne is tops • Welcome to the golden age of do-it-yourself hotel room service.
LOST & FOUND • Behind the Paywall
Ahead, a roundup of subscriber intel on the eternal question, “Where should I go in Midtown?” and this week’s NYC favorite restaurants. But first, our list of nine of the shoppiest shops in the city.
GOODS & SERVICES • The Nines
Modern convenience stores
Isle of Us (Upper East Side, above), wellness larder items, and lunch