Stephen Wald took a home DNA test in 2018, hoping to explore his family ancestry with his two young children. Instead, he learned a family secret: The man who raised him was not his biological father. Several days of intense online sleuthing for more details yielded another surprise, the identity and phone number of an apparent half-sister, Julie Gale. Mr. Wald, then 60 years old and a New York...
PropertyShark’s monthly roundup of the city’s biggest deals. Source: PropertyShark, a Yardi Systems Inc. company 616-626 First Ave., Manhattan Sale Price: $837,000,000 American Copper Buildings. Image courtesy of SEFAR Architecture JDS Development Group sold the SHoP Architects-designed American Copper Buildings in the Murray Hill neighborhood to Black Spruce. The...
Manhattan’s luxury home market has been experiencing a strong spring, witnessing consistently high sale activity and now, the priciest deal made in the past year. There were 37 contracts signed on homes asking $4 million or more in Manhattan in the week ending Sunday, four fewer than the prior week, according to Monday’s report from Olshan Realty. The total sales volume was $339.38 million, which...
Frederick Law Olmsted is celebrated for designing some of the world’s most iconic parks, such as Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, Boston’s Emerald Necklace, and the grounds of the White House. The father of landscape architecture’s most commemorated space is New York City’s crown jewel, Central Park. But this eminent landscape architect, who turns 200 today, has a legacy that runs far deeper. Long...
The world’s oldest hotels will indulge almost anyone’s curiosity. And that’s for good reason: Most jet-setters enjoy staying in places steeped in history. Certainly, while few openings are as highly anticipated as new hotels, there’s something nostalgic about a resort, inn, or B&B that’s been open for so many years. It’s the idea of staying in a place that’s witnessed everything...
The New York Post is reporting that Grammy winners Alicia Keys and producer husband Kasseem “Swizz Beatz” Dean have sold the New Jersey mansion they purchased from comedian Eddie Murphy at a substantial loss. The property, which they purchased in two parts nearly a decade ago for $12.1 million, had been on the market for years, originally listing for $14.9 million in 2015 before being slashed to $9.4...
A four-bedroom home in Paradise Valley, Arizona, sold for $21 million, a record sum for the Phoenix suburb, which boasts the state’s wealthiest ZIP code. The 13,000-square-foot home, which sits on 4.3 acres at 6015 East Cameldale Way, was asking $22.5 million when it hit the market last spring, the Wall Street Journal reported. Nancy Hanley Eriksson, who sold the home, built it over a decade ago with...
PC: Steve K. Ever wonder how neighborhood names like Hell’s Kitchen came to be? Here’s a quick tour of the history of NYC neighborhood names! The Districts MEATPACKING DISTRICT Between 16th and Hudson Street, and 9th and 11th Avenue PC: NY Press Now flooded with exclusive nightclubs and bustling bars, the...
Australian hedge-fund manager Greg Coffey was the buyer behind a $105 million deal for the oceanfront Fordune estate in the Hamptons late last year, according to people familiar with the situation. The sale of the Southampton compound, built for auto mogul Henry Ford II around 1960, was one of the largest recorded transactions in Hamptons history, though the closing price was significantly shy of the...
Manhattan’s luxury real estate market has shown steady growth this month. There were 41 contracts signed for homes asking $4 million or more in Manhattan in the week ending. The same number as the prior week. The highest weekly total so far this year, according to Monday’s report from Olshan Realty. The contracts included 25 condos, 11 co-ops and five townhouses. Even though the number of contracts...