‘Million Dollar Listing New York’ recap: we’re going to Paris!

It's season six of Million Dollar Listing New York, where three brokers—Fredrik Eklund, Ryan Serhant, and new guy Steve Gold—show the world what it takes to sell high-priced New York City apartments. Check in each week for recaps.

Once again, two of the MDLNY guys actually interact: This time, it’s Steve and Fredrik, who meet to discuss sales at 75 Kenmare (which Freddy is leading, but we’ll get to that). There’s not a whole lot to the exchange, though it seems to be setting up a bigger confrontation in next week’s episode, if the “next week on…” preview is to be believed.

Basically, they’re having a back-and-forth over the types of units that Steve’s buyers are looking for; Fredrik says he should aim for ones in the $2 million range, and Steve is like, “actually, most of my clients are probably over $10 million.” Well then!

“Fredrik has a flair for the dramatic,” says Steve, which is an understatement. We’ll see how this plays out next week, which also happens to be the season finale. Sad! Anyway, onto the recap.

Fredrik

Fredrik’s project this week is 75 Kenmare, the Nolita condo with interiors by rocker and scarf enthusiast Lenny Kravitz. “Of all the projects I’ve ever done, this is probably the one I’m most excited about,” Fredrik says of the parking garage-turned-condo. He’s heading to the sales gallery—which cost a whopping $2 million to build out—to check it out for the first time, and unsurprisingly, Freddy is in love.

And he has big plans for this project: He wants to do an official launch in Paris, in an effort to capture international buyers—plus, he did a similar thing in London for 1 Seaport, and Kravitz has a home there, so why not?

There’s also the fact that developer Dan Hollander (of DHA Capital) is asking really high prices for the building’s penthouses—they’re going for $5,000 per square foot. “Nothing has ever in the history of the neighborhood gone for $5,000/square foot,” says Fredrik. Paris, he argues, is the way to garner interest and get those prices.

“If we’re gonna do a double launch, we’re gonna need to come back with some real sales,” says Hollander. Freddy has to sell 25 percent of the units, including a penthouse, for it to pay off. He knows it’s going to be tough, but he agrees—off to Paris!

But first, he has to meet with Knight/Frank, the “property consultancy” that he worked with on the 1 Seaport launch in London. This is only really noteworthy because of Fredrik’s demands for the Paris event: He wants 500 brokers to show up; he wants 10 supermodels to be there, along with 10 Russian and Chinese billionaires; and he wants to do the event … on the Eiffel Tower? That’s when the Knight/Frank folks stop him and basically tell him to chill, which, fair. Okay, now it’s off to Paris.

Fredrik is staying at the Hôtel Plaza Athénée in Paris, and we’re very jealous of his extremely nice accommodations, which come complete with Eiffel Tower views. He’s worried about work, of course, but he says, “right in this moment, I’m going to enjoy the room.” That is, until he calls Derek, who says he has news about their baby plans—gasp! Fredrik asks him to come to Paris early, so they can talk about it in person, and thus, we’re left with a cliffhanger (of sorts).

Ryan

Ryan is still feeling, as he says, “stuck,” and his arc this week is about trying to get unstuck. First, he decides to hand over the major day-to-day work on the Jacqueline, the Upper East Side development from last week, to Amy Herman. (But he’s not giving up his commission, obvs.) He tells Amy that he wants to “take a little breather.”

“What’s going on with you?” Amy asks, incredulously. “It’s not a Ryan Serhant move.” She’s not wrong! But Ryan insists that he’s sometimes you just need to shake things up. She’s skeptical, and so are we, because in all of the seasons of this show, Ryan has been aggressively work-work-work all the time—will this “breather” really help him?

It doesn’t seem like it; we cut to Ryan trying to enjoy a sunset, and it seems to be giving him more anxiety. Emilia walks in, and is very confused. “Are you okay?” she asks Ryan. No, he’s not; trying to stay calm and watch a sunset “feels weird as shit,” he says.

Emilia is speaking some truth about Ryan’s rut predicament: “Things will get monotonous,” she says. (Welcome to being a grown-up!) She suggests that instead of trying to ~chill~, Ryan should try taking on a small listing, and focus on something that’s not a huge property, instead of simply sitting on the couch and staring at a sunset. He seems extremely relieved to have permission from someone to work.

The “smaller” listing Ryan takes on is a 1,388-square-foot apartment in Midtown, with two bedrooms, views of the East River, and interiors that Ryan tactfully points out are designed to the client’s specific tastes. Said client, John, and his wife have been married for 49 years, and he says this place is “an island of serenity.”

And Ryan is remembering that just because an apartment not part of a ridiculous luxury development, doesn’t mean his clients won’t be as demanding. John wants to sell the place for $2.5 million, which Ryan thinks is way too high. “The most I would list this for is two and a quarter,” Ryan tells him. Reason wins out, and they agree to $2.25 million—but now, Ryan has to get multiple offers.

That may be hindered by the fact that when Ryan shows up for a showing, all of the furniture and decor is gone. Ryan is freaking out, and his assistant Jordan is trying to console it. “It’s going to be okay, you’re the greatest salesperson ever,” he says. Pep talk time! And even though the listing doesn’t get an offer right away, Ryan’s showing the place to a bunch of older New Yorkers who are way cooler than the potential buyers we typically see on this show. One woman randomly starts singing in the master bathroom, and she’s killing it! That is definitely one way to get out of a rut.

Steve

Steve’s arc this week largely focused on him visiting his family in Stamford, which was very nice. I won’t go into it too deeply because it was actually quite heartwarming, and proved that there is more to him than just aggressive real estate dude. So let’s move on!

Beyond that—and the 75 Kenmare stuff, which we covered above—Steve is still working on his friend Sam’s bizarro Wooster Street listing, which has become problematic because Sam is “starting to rethink this whole thing.” He just really doesn’t want to move. “It’s really hard to let go of,” Sam tells Steve. “The idea of not enjoying it after all that work, I can’t even think about it.” I know I would want to enjoy my gold-encrusted shower and extremely goth couches if I’d poured my heart and soul into them, too.

And with that, Steve loses his listing. Well, really, Bradley Cooper—Steve’s driver—loses the listing, which is definitely a bummer for him. (Still, maybe Steve shouldn’t have pressured the guy into selling?)

Bradley is bummed, but Steve is trying to console him—after all, it wasn’t Brad’s fault. So Steve tries to make it up to him by … firing him? “It’s just not working out as a driver,” says Steve. Except it’s a good thing, because he’s going to bring Brad on as a broker. Hooray for Brad!