NY coops and cooperative apartment sales: prices, buyers, sellers, details, and deals

Contractor Isaac Fhima sold his 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom co-op apartment at 233 East 69th Street to physician Jan Boublik and Pfizer Director Jennifer Whiteley for $1.7 million.

Without disccounting renovation costs and broker’s fees, that’s approximately a 71% return on his investment. That’s a Not a bad return, considering that Fhima paid $995,000 for the cooperative on April 1, 2009, just 16 months ago, a much better return than either the Dow Jones Index (35.7%) or NASDAQ Composite (48%) during the same time period.

When he bought the apartment for just under $1 million, Fhima cleverly avoided paying New York’s dreaded mansion tax on buyers of co-op and condo apartments selling for $1 million or more.

Halstead agents Charles Glatter and Therese Corriente had the exclusive for Fhima.

Glatter may have gotten the listing by knowing Fhima through the Manhattan Sephardic Congregation where both are members.  Fhima is also on the synagogue’s Board of Directors.

Jan Boublik is a German-educated anasthesiologist who completed his residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

The sale price was 11.5% less than the original list price of $1,895,000 when Fhima put the apartment back on the market in October 2009, only six months after he bought it.

The apartment has lots of high-end appliances kitchen has high end appliances including a SubZero refrigerator and Viking appliances.

Tragically, the co-op’s kitchen appears to have beeen remodeled using Wenge and Zebra woods, threatened species of hardwoods in their native West African habitats, according to Rain Forest Relief.

The co-op is pet friendly.

A bonus: for $1.7 million, it appears that you get a legal washer and dryer in the unit, if the floor plan does not contradict provisions in the co-op’s proprietary lease and House Rules.

Manhattan socialite Liliane Peck just sold her triplex co-op apartment at 1040 Madison Avenue a/k/a 31 East 79th Street, for $7 million.

The buyer was CPA Joel Ackerman, the newly appointed Director of the Fuoco Group, LLP, an accounting and business advisory firm. Ackerman also holds a Masters of Science in Taxation.

The triplex occupies three high floors. It comes with a wood-burning fireplace in the living, like other apartments in this grand pre-war building.

The 4-bedroom, 3½ bathroom apartment also has a library on the second floor of the duplex.

Peck bought Anna Bulgari’s apartment in the same building for $3.49 million last year.

Dr. Robert Haar, a board-certified Orthopaedic Surgeon with a specialty in sports medicine, just paid $3,550,000 for a ’7 into 6′ room pre-war co-op apartment at 880 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

The surgeon paid $250,000 less than the original $3.8 million list price when the apartment was first on the market in April 2009.

Dr. Haar now has one of the best commutes that a New Yorker could ever dream about.

He can walk from his Emery Roth co-op at Fifth Avenue and East 69th Street to his office on East 88th Street, a mile-long stroll uptown along Central Park.

The sellers were Stribling and Associates agent Patricia Weeks and her husband, Stuart Rekant, the CEO of Juniper Content Corporation..

Of course, a Stribling broker had the exclusive for the Weeks-Rekant co-op. Stribling VP Shel Joblin had the listing for his colleague.

880 Fifth is located only one block away from the Frick Museum at 70th and Fifth Avenue, and seven blocks from Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue Synagogue.

This spacious apartment was essentially a 2,220 sq. ft. 1-bedroom co-op with an enourmous living room overlooking Fifth Avenue.

An ideal entertaining space for empty nesters, or single folks who entertain, the cooperative also features a huge gallery next to the entry foyer, and a 16-foot wide dining room.

The beautiful, gleaming white kitchen has a breakfast room, and the maid’s room makes for a perfect home office.

880 Fifth is not a pet-friendly co-op for dog owners. The listing emphatically stated that “[d]ogs [are] not permitted.”

For $3.55 million, Dr. Haar also gets the privilege of using a washer and dryer in his apartment.