Marquis Who's Who, the series of books comprised of short biographies of notable folks, has launched a companion website with a pretty darn good real estate and design section. There are interviews with heavy hitters like Daniel Libeskind, Robert A.M. Stern, Pam Liebman, Dottie Herman, Frank Sciame and others. We've yet to tear through the whole thing, but the interview with Louise Sunshine is an immediate attention grabber. The queen of real estate marketing is now working with developer Alexico on Tribeca's 56 Leonard and the renovation/partial conversion of The Mark hotel on the Upper East Side, and she had interesting things to say about both.
On the financing troubles at the Herzog and de Meuron-designed 56 Leonard Street: "That project is suffering the traumas of being unable to complete construction financing right now. We're two-thirds of the way there right now." Got it. So, the developer: 90% sure that 56 Leonard will happen. Louise Sunshine: 66% sure?
And over at The Mark, which recently reintroduced itself to Madison Avenue:
We're opening The Mark Hotel in March. One third of that will be permanent residences and only about one-third of those residences are sold. People are really just not buying in this market; they're circling. We're hoping that will change when The Mark opens. When people experience it, they will see it is the new beyond-five-star hotel in New York. These comments are certainly a departure from Louise Sunshine's statements about The Mark back in September '07, when she claimed the building's unprecedented interest had already sparked 18 letters of intent on the $60 million penthouse and "no less than 25 letters of intent for each" of the suites. What, where they all written on Bernie Madoff's stationery?
· Interview With Louise Sunshine [Who's Who]
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