Category — Midtown East

New York Judge Abraham Gerges and art educator Laurel Danowitz Gerges bought a 2800 square foot 4-bedroom, 4 bath co-op apartment for $1.4 million at the Excelsior on 303 East 57th Street on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, according to New York City public records.


The apartment was sold by Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy broker Elayne Reimer and her husband Leon M. Reimer, a CPA.

This was a very unusual transaction since, according to N.Y.C. public records, the Reimers sold the co-op for $500,000 less than the $1,900,000 they paid for it in May 2006.

Did this experience Manhattan broker and her accountant husband overpay, or did were they able to work some legal accounting magic into the transaction? That’s the question that many real estate and accounting professionals may be asking themselves when looking at the deal.

Elayne Reimer’s real estate slogan is “Make Them Happy and Never Give Up!” Having lived in the building for so many years, she has extensive contacts in the co-op.

A year and a half ago, the New York Sun quoted Reimer saying that “Once people realize the [housing] bubble talk is a lot of nonsense, they come back and buy.”

Did that apply to Reimer’s sale?

In an interesting twist, Leon Reimer’s CPA expertise includes advising individual clients and law firms by “provid[ing] litigation support, forensic accounting and investigative accounting services to many law firms; supervise high level technical tax research and planning projects for businesses and high net worth individuals,” and more.

A co-op apartment at 205 Third Avenue in Gramercy Park Towers recently sold for $1.15 million, according to New York City records. The building is within walking distance of Union Square and the large number of nearby hospitals on First Avenue.

The unit was sold by an entity named AGBH Gramercy, LLC and bought by Roland Marchand and Lynn Marchand. The apartment is located on a high floor near the cooperative’s roof garden. Other building amenities include 24-hour doormen, lobby attendant, common courtyard, and a parking garage (although it’s unclear whether there are restrictions or a waiting list for shareholder seeking a space there).

This post-war co-op was built in 1964. It’s located just a few blocks away from historic Gramercy Park, but this building’s residents shouldn’t even dream of getting a key to the park.

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The building’s current financial situation reportedly gives shareholders a generous 54% tax-deduction for monthly maintenance payments. Maintenance payments include utility charges.

So what are some potential negatives of buying at Gramercy Park Towers? The restrictive “no dog” policy clearly puts shareholders at a disadvantage when they want to sell their apartment. That immediately limits the number of prospective purchasers. Another setback is an apparent prohibition against washing machines and dryers in your apartment, judging by Halstead broker Ivana Tagliamonte and Kelle Buhler’s recent listing for a $985,000 home in the building.

The co-op had a notorious litigation history in the ’80s and ’90s,with rent-regulated tenants who lived there at the time of the co-op conversion.