Four years ago, renegade broker turned luxury real estate marketer Michael Shvo was the Master of the Fucking Universe. Trademark Shvo touches included 24-hour sales offices, glossy magazines advertising condos and lavish parties with musical guests such as John Legend. And that was just for one building! Then Lehman Brothers went belly-up and some jerk robbed the entire Upper East Side and now, unfortch, the Shvo technique is a bit passé. That's the basic summary of the epic Shvo exposé in the July print edition of The Real Deal, which intertwines Mikey's career arc with the rise and fall of the Manhattan condo market as a whole and makes the poor guy come off like some sort of Citizen Kane-style recluse (the PhotoShop job ain't doing him wonders, either). As usual, the most entertaining aspect of any Shvo saga is what other people are saying about him, and the typically staid Real Deal comments are currently off the rails. But what's up with the building so closely identified with the Shvo ethos, the Financial District's 20 Pine? Interesting things!
The saga of 20 Pine is epic in its own right (all sorts of fun reading here), but the troubled Armani-designed condo conversion may have turned a corner. In another Real Deal story this month, Sarah Ryley looks at the new buildings with the most sales activity between March and May. Defying those who say the Harlem market is dead, West 116th Street's Kalahari topped the list, albeit with just 10 new units going into contract. Good ol' 20 Pine came in third with seven units going to contract, and two deals closed (bringing its total above the 70% threshold that lenders like to see nowadays). About the crazy discounts on some sold units, the Real Deal reports developer Africa-Israel is offering incentives on a "case-by-case basis." Via StreetEasy records, check out some June cases:
1) #802: 1,277 square feet, listed at $1.46 million. Closed: $999,000 ($782/sf)
2) #510: 1,101 square feet, listed at $905,000. Closed: $730,000 ($663/sf)
3) #2301: 827 square feet, listed at $980,000. Closed: $550,000 ($665/sf)
4) #1907: 926 square feet, listed at $1.195 million. Closed: $776,750 ($838/sf)
The units may not be getting 100% of their asking prices, but they'll always be 100% sexy to us.
· Where in the world did Shvo go? [Real Deal]
· The tallest green condo shoots [Real Deal]
· The complete Michael Shvo [Curbed]
· The complete 20 Pine [Curbed]
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