Category — Co-op Apartment Brokers

This co-op apartment at 1165 Fifth Avenue was a sweet, sweet deal.

This classic 6 maisonette co-op apartment in a pre-war building at 1165 Fifth Avenue and East 98th Street just sold for $1.2 million, an amazing 32% less than the co-op’s original $1,775,000 list price when it first went on the market in April 2007.

Who would have ever imagined buying a classic 6 on Fifth Avenue for $1.2 million?

The buyers, orthopedic surgeon MacEllis K. Glass, M.D. and Corcoran Senior Vice President Martha Friedricks-Glass, that’s who.

According to public records, seller Rogih Yazgi, a Harvard Law School graduate, appears to have relocated back to his Florida roots.

The apartment has some amenities that many co-op shareholders lack, like central air conditioning, a washer and dryer, a storage bin assigned to the apartment, and gym for residents in the co-op’s basement.

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This pet-friendly co-op is across the street from Mount Sinai Hospital and next to the St. Bernard’s School for boys, a private school that currently costs $33,270 a year to attend (don’t worry: for that price, lunch is included).

1165 Fifth Avenue Classic 6 Co-op Apartment

Monthly maintenance for the apartment was listed at $2,030. The co-op requires potential shareholders to have at least 50% of the purchase price, limiting finance to 50% of the sale price.

It appears that part of the reason why the apartment sold for so little is that it:

• Is a first floor apartment.
• To enter, owners and visitors must walk up steps inside the building’s lobby.
• The apartment appears to be located adjacent to the bustling St. Bernard’s School for boys, with considerable daytime activity.

After being on the market for 2½ years, the seller must have been motivated to drop the price as much as she did.

An enormous co-op apartment at 765 Park Avenue just sold for $12 million, according to public records, a modest 4% drop from the original $12.5 million list price.


The seller was Manhattan corporate lawyer Harvey M. Spear, counsel at Cadwalader.

The buyers are Benjamin J. Winter and Susan R. WInter. Benjamin is Chairman of the Winter Organization, a 109-year-old family run real estate investment, development and management firm founded by his late grandfather who immigrated from Poland to the Lower East Side in 1901. The couple will be moving from their Fifth Avenue co-op.

The 11-room 3 bedroom, 4 bath pre-war co-op is in grand building created by famed New York City architect Rosario Candela in 1927.

Brown Harris Stevens brokers John Burger and Mary Fitzgibbons had the exclusive.

The formal dining room overlooks East 72nd Street, while the adjacent living room also has corner views of Park Avenue. The co-op apartment has boasts two wood-burning fireplaces, environmentally unsound features that contribute to New York City’s asthma risks, particle pollution, and emit many of the same carcinogens as cigarettes.

The master bedroom, an additional bedroom, and the library all have Park Avenues views facing west. The apartment also has a library, maid’s room, laundry facility, and eat-in kitchen.

Monthly maintenance in this pet-friendly white-glove co-op is $6,102, and the building has a gym.

Neighbors in the building include:

• Oil baron Thomas J. Edelman and wife Ingrid Ongar Edelman.
  
  The Edelman’s paid a whopping $22 million for a duplex co-op in 2008 when it was sold by the estate of Frances Todman, the widow of game show producer BIll Todman of Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions fame.
• Everett R. Cook and Karen Cook.
  Everett is a managing director at Pouschine Cook Capital Management. The Cooks paid $7.975 million for their co-op in 2008.
• Dr. Elizabeth A. Maher, an ophthalmologist who recently obtained sole ownership of a high-floor apartment in the building in a divorce settlement with her ex-husband James Maher.
• Andrew Georges and Heather Georges who paid $7.6 million for a lower floor duplex in 2006
• Former Bank of America media dealmaker Stephen Ketchum and Cynthia Ketchum, who paid $6.2 million for their lower floor apartment in 2005

Photo credits: Brown Harris Stevens

New York real estate developer Harry Lis and wife Melissa Lis just sold their co-op apartment combination at 31 East 72nd Street for $9.425 million, turning a profit on their sale to Michael Rena, a neighbor. Rena already owns an adjoining high-floor apartment in this Upper East Side building.


Like a select few other apartment owners in Manhattan, this means that Rena now has triplets: three contiguous co-ops.

In 2006, Harry Lis paid $6.75 million for one co-op and $2 million for another adjoining apartment to create a combined unit. In today’s market, turning a $650,000 profit on the sale is a nice chunk of change.

The 8-room, 3 bedroom, 3½ bath apartment has a low monthly maintenance of just $2,326 This co-op has incredible sun-drenched rooms from its southern and western exposures. You can see Central Park from the dining room, and relax in the living room, library, or master bedroom — all of which get southern exposures.

The listing brokers were Serena Boardman, sister-in-law of developer Aby Rosen (Harry Lis’s business partner) and Roberta Golubock had the exclusive for Sotheby’s.

The co-op has New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission status, a combination boon and a bane. In theory, such a designation adds value to an apartment building and neighborhood district. On the downside, however, even minor changes to apartment windows, building facades, and signs may be subject to LPC review and scrutiny — a costly process for co-op shareholders and boards.

Floor plan credit: Sotheby’s International Realty