Boies Buys $7.8 Million Manhattan Apartment After Cut

David Boies, the antitrust lawyer who took on Microsoft Corp. and represented Al Gore in the contested U.S. presidential election of 2000, bought a seven room apartment overlooking New York’s Central Park for $7.75 million after the price was reduced by more than 20 percent.

Boies, chairman and founder of New York-based law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, purchased a two-bedroom unit at the Sherry-Netherland hotel on Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, according to city property records. The original asking price was $9.95 million, according to listing service StreetEasy.com.

Sales of luxury Manhattan apartments, defined as the top 10 percent by price, declined 16 percent in the third quarter as the median price of a four-bedroom co-operative or condominium plunged 49 percent to $5.18 million, according to appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. Boies is buying into a property where residents are entitled to daily maid and laundry service.

Commercial Real Estate: Now Is the Perfect Time to Invest

A Contrarian Bet Worth $9.5 Billion

I’m in good company with my projection here.

During last February and March, a hedge fund called Appaloosa Management was busy buying up shares of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and Citigroup (NYSE: C).

And the guy calling the shots was a man named David Tepper, who runs the fund.

At the time, investors, colleagues and even his friends thought he was nuts – a move akin to lounging on the deck of the Titanic while everyone else was abandons ship.

But in yet another example of how it’s often wise to take a contrarian investment stance, the bet not only paid off handsomely for Tepper’s firm, but for Tepper personally. Appaloosa is up nearly $7 billion on the trade, while Tepper stands to pocket a very cool $2.5 billion in profit for himself.

Tepper’s no one-hit wonder either…

His track record includes huge payouts for his investors in Korean stocks, Russian debt, junk bonds and commodities over the last decade.

We should all be so astute…

Perhaps we can be, because there’s still time to get in on his next big idea

GLOBAL HOTEL ROUNDUP

* apan Airlines subsidiary plans to open 7 inns totaling 2,848 rooms in China, Vietnam and United Arab Emirates over next 2 years.
* Accor opens 400th lodging in Europe.
* Extended stay hotels outperforming big-name inns.
* Occupancy and revenue down worldwide, STR notes.
* Industry's decline may have hit bottom, Hotel Pulse Index hints.


(TOKYO, JAPAN) -- JAL Hotels Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Japan Airlines plans to open seven hotels totaling 2,848 rooms in China, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates over the next two years.

Nikko Hotels International, operated by JAL, is developing the properties.

Hotel-Nikko-Shanghai.jpg

Hotel Nikko Shanghai
Hotels scheduled to open in 2010 are 471-room Hotel JAL Tower Dubai; the 388-room Hotel Nikko Shanghai and the 500-room Hotel Nikko Wuxi.

Heading the 2011 opening list is the 443-room Hotel Nikko Xiamen in Xiamen, a city with a population of three million located in the southwestern province of Fujian overlooking the Taiwan Strait.

Other hotels with 2011 opening dates include the 300-room JAL Bahrain Resort & Spa in Bahrain; the 335-room Hotel Nikko Saigon in Vietnam; the 411-room Nikko Guangzhou.

City Real Estate May Face Smoother Ride In 2010

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With 2009 coming to an end, real estate experts are trying to forecast what may be in store for both property owners and property seekers in the new year. NY1's Shazia Khan filed the following report.

The city's residential sales market waded though uncertainty, panic and dramatic price drops in 2009 -- so what's in store for 2010? Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York is cautiously optimistic.

"Well 2010 is going to follow basically the last quarter of 2009 and the last quarter according to the first two months of the last quarter are doing pretty well -- sales are up dramatically from a year ago, city-wide condo sales are up 64 percent, co-op sales are up 30 percent versus where they were a year ago," Spinola said.

Manhattan Real Estate Mogul, Elie Hirschfeld: Real Estate Will Continue to Dip in 2010

New York real estate tycoon, Elie Hirschfeld, President of Hirschfeld Properties, LLC released the following commentary regarding the 2010 Manhattan NYC real estate market.
"Difficulties will continue in the year to come. While I don't foresee a double dip, values will continue to erode modestly," says Elie Hirschfeld, President of Hirschfeld Properties, LLC. "The capital market will slowly come back into real estate, but sellers will need to soften a bit to achieve the realistic sales prices that will persuade investors to invest. That being said, the market is loosening up. Although investors are concerned, there is huge opportunity to benefit from the depreciated property pricing, so many investors are scouring the New York market to scoop up the good deals. Personally, I see opportunities in both commercial and residential."

Stalled condo projects dot NYC

Stalled condo projects dot NYC

New York City's construction boom went bust so fast some of the condominium buildings are standing unfinished. But proposals to turn them into affordable housing units have been a tough sell. Alisa Roth reports.

Chipotle Owner Pays Extra for the Guacamole of West Village Real Estate

Chipotle founder and co-CEO Steven Ells made his fortune in other lucky parts of the country before finally slowly introducing his Mexican-burrito chain to New York. But he's taking on personal real estate at the heart of the city, in Manhattan's West Village, in a veritable full-court press. Curbed discovered that Ells has purchased, in the last two years:

• 92 Jane Street: A 5,000-square-foot landmark with a minimalist interior that set him back $13.4 million.
• The penthouse at 40 Fifth Avenue: This four-bedroom, four-bathroom palace with a killer view, which he purchased from Village Voice founding publisher Ed Fancher, only cost him $11 million.

Read more: Chipotle Owner Pays Extra for the Guacamole of West Village Real Estate -- Daily Intel http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2009/12/chipotle_owner_pays_extra_for.html#ixzz0ZUy1MvR9

In East Harlem, More Rental Deals, but Smaller Fees

It was the rhythm of the real estate boom: As apartment rents throughout the city soared, more New Yorkers flooded East Harlem, formerly dominated by Italian and Hispanic residents, looking for affordable apartments. Soon developers eager to cash in on East Harlem’s revival followed, building thousands of new apartments. Then small-business owners like Andre Mauro, 27, and his brother, Matthew, 23, profited as they rented out more of the neighborhood’s old and new spaces.

Now the Mauro brothers — along with the developers they worked for and the tenants they rented to — are feeling the pinch of the recession. Andre Mauro described how the neighborhood where they live and work is suffering.