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Albanese Organization co-founder dies

By AdAm FusFeld Longtime real estate developer Anthony Albanese, co-founder of the Albanese Organization, died last month. Albanese was born in 1930, grew up in Ozone Park, Queens, and attended Hofstra University before embarking on a 63-year Anthony Albanese career in real estate. He launched the Albanese Organization in 1949 with his brother, Vincent, and began buying sites in Queens for the development of four-story attached homes. In the 1960s, he expanded the business to Long Island, and a decade later began developing apartment buildings in Manhattan and commercial spaces on Long Island. In the 1980s he built 100 United Nations Plaza, the first of the firms major Manhattan residential properties. Recent Albanese projects in Manhattan include the Visionaire and the Solaire in Battery Park City, and the Vanguard Chelsea at 77 West 24th Street.

Top deals of the month

Agent
Dolly Lenz James Cornell and Leslie Marshall Ilan Bracha Leslie Mason Jared Seligman

Firm
Elliman

Price

Address

$19.45 million 25 Columbus Circle #ST68A $11 million 212 Columbia Heights 923 Fifth Avenue #17C 46 Morton Street 407 East 75th Street

Corcoran

Keller Williams NYC

$10.9 million $9.85 million $8.4 million

Elliman Elliman

Source: StreetEasy and The Real Deal. Data is for closed deals filed with the city between Jan. 30 and Feb. 24, where both a broker and an address can be identified. Chart only includes sellers brokers.

Fannie Mae director sells $5.5 million UWS townhouse

By leigh KAmping-CArder Fannie Mae Director Jonathan Plutzik is certainly not in need of a bailout. Plutzik and his wife, Leslie Goldwasser, last month sold their Upper West Side townhouse for $5.5 million. And unlike millions of homeowners across the country, Plutzik and Goldwasser were certainly not underwater on their house, located at 312 102nd Street between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive. The sale closed Feb. 1, according to city property records, and the couple paid off a $910,000 mortgage the same day. The buyer was an anonymous LLC. Plutzik first put the six-bedroom home on the market in May for $5.895 million, cutting the price to $5.495 million in October, according to listings website StreetEasy. The property features a gym with a ballet barre, a gift-wrapping room and a wine cellar wired for music, according to the Corcoran Groups listing. Plutzik, who retired as vice chairman of Credit Suisse First Boston in 2003, has sat on Fannie Maes Board of Directors since 2009.

Most popular stories

1) Brookfields grand plan 2) The luxury list: A ranking of Manhattan resale brokers on $5 million-plus deals 3) Astor master: Edward Minskoff is betting the bank on Astor Place office tower 4) Will sex sell Chelsea loft? 5) The burbs: A look at the wealthiest just-outside-NYC counties 6) UES broker to star in new Bravo show, Love Broker 7) Ashkenazy lists Village IHOP location for $14M 8) Elliman may ditch Prudential name: Herman 9) Manhattan rents unseasonably strong, even as incentives rise

Last Drake Hotel site holdout drops motion stalling related development
By KAtherine ClArKe Jacob & Co., a high-end watchmaker headquartered at 48 East 57th Street, has withdrawn a motion for an injunction against the developer of the nearby Drake Hotel site. The withdrawal, filed last month in New York Civil Court, marks the end of Jacob & Co.s latest dispute with the developer, CIM. The two have wrangled since Jacob & Co. initially refused to sell the East 57th Street property to CIM, which had hoped to raze the building as part of its Drake Hotel master plan. The watchmaker stood firm, even when the other remaining holdout, British retailer Turnbull & Asser, sold its 57th Street location to CIM last year for $32.4 million. In October, Jacob & Co. filed a lawsuit against CIM, alleging that the demolition of an adjacent townhouse damaged the Jacob & Co. property, resulting in a significant loss of revenue, according to the complaint. Jacob & Co. did not respond to requests for comment about why the Joseph Cayre The Drake Hotel site suit was dropped.
102 March 2012 www.TheRealDeal.com

10) BGCs purchase of Grubb & Ellis to stabilize floundering firm?

Reader comments
The rise of Rapid Realty:

Why open so many franchises all over Brooklyn? This isnt 1990, where every neighborhood needs a broker. Everything is done online.
Friends star demolishes EV townhouse as LPC comes knocking:

Well done David ... Ill be there for you.

Will sex sell Chelsea loft?:

Unless the apartment comes with the girl, Im out.

Paolo Zampolli