To celebrate the launch of our new Upper East Side location, last night, we opened the doors of our new office to our fellow CORE agents and management team. Guests were invited to tour the two-level office, located on the second and third floors of a historic brownstone on 61st Street at Madison Avenue. Following the open house, the party moved next door to Serafina Restaurant for an evening of food, drinks and conversation. CORE CEO Shaun Osher and Senior Managing Director Reba Miller both addressed the crowd, speaking about the evolution of the CORE brand and the significance of the new location.

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Last Wednesday, New York City’s Central Park Conservancy hosted “Central to Spring”,  a kickoff event to welcome the new season at the Park. Residential buildings surrounding the Park, including One Museum Mile, hosted residents and guests for cocktails and hors d’oeuvre as a way to support the Central Park Conservancy and celebrate spring in one of the world’s greatest parks. In addition to the gatherings within each building, guests were invited to watch a fireworks display that took place within Central Park.

Guests at One Museum Mile mingled on the building’s expansive rooftop before heading down to see two units of the 18th floor that housed live music in one room, and a preview screening of the building’s appearance on Selling New York in the other. One Museum Mile’s sales team members, Tom Postilio, Natalie Rakowski, Parul Brahmbhatt, and John Harrison were all present to toast to the season and join in the celebration. Click the break for a look inside the event. (more…)

A sampling of last week’s press coverage of CORE and CORE properties.

Introducing the Upper East Side’s New CORE
In celebration of CORE’s new Madison Avenue office, our good friends at The New York Observer hosted a night of mingling, good food, and outstanding conversation last Wednesday at Rouge Tomate.  The New York Observer was also celebrating the launch of their new lifestyle section “NYO”, with guests of the party getting a first look at the new publication.  Guests included CORE brokers and staff, industry professionals, developers, architects, members of the media, and other invited guests.

Living Large:  A Townhouse in the Sky
Adrian Noriega’s penthouse listing at 15 West 20^th Street was the highlight of last week’s “Living Large” segment with Emily Smith.  The Flatiron District home, equipped with over 2,000 square-feet of terrace space, private elevator access, and several other upgraded amenities, represents the best in luxury city living.

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The Observer's Jared Kushner, Joseph Meyer and CORE's Jack Cayre and Shaun Osher

To toast to the grand opening of CORE’s new Madison Avenue office and the launch of The New York Observer’s new lifestyle section, “NYO”, CORE partnered with the New York paper last night for an evening of celebrations at the Upper East Side’s Rouge Tomate.  Filled with Observer bigwigs including the paper’s owner, Jared Kushner, industry professionals, CORE agents and staff, developers, architects, members of the media and other invited guests, the night featured speeches from our CEO, Shaun Osher, and Joseph Meyer, CEO of The New York Observer, great food and outstanding conversation.  Check out the recap of last night’s event, courtesy of our friends at The Observer.

Check out scenes from last night’s party below:

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Last night’s The New York Observer’s 25^th Anniversary celebration at The Four Seasons Restaurant had no shortage of celebrities and other notable guests in attendance.  With names like Katie Holmes, Spike Lee, Rupert Murdoch and Donald Trump as guests, one could easily get lost in the crowd of New York’s most influential individuals.  This week’s “Photo of the Week” captures CORE’s very own Shaun Osher and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg having a meeting of the minds, taking a moment to chat as the event was underway.  Perhaps the two of them were discussing the real estate market in New York City or the latest episode of Selling New York!

CORE was a proud sponsor of last night’s event, along with several other real estate firms throughout the city.

I am immensely passionate about real estate, which is why I became a sales associate in 2010. Like all of us, I have a number of other passions which I like to explore in my free time.  Last year, I found myself missing the fun, community and self-expression associated with being on stage so I founded th AfterWork Theater Project, New York’s first recreational theater company for non-professional performers.

AWTP creates theater with the sole purpose of fostering community and recreation.  We provide every day people with the opportunity to rehearse and perform fully-staged plays and musicals in New York City, no audition required.  Participants pay a tuition and are part of the production. Parts are decided on what we call “Launch Day” where the cast shares their skills in order to see where individual strengths are. We work with non-professional actors only and see the program as simply fun, making no claims about furthering the acting careers of our cast members.

For our first production, we took on HAIR: the American Tribal Rock Love Musical and the results far exceeded any of our expectations.  The cast consisted of 35 members ranging from ages 18 to 65 and the participants ran the gamut from a high school graduate to a senior-level attorney. We rehearsed for two and a half months and then performed for an audience of family, friends and more. The cast bonded in a beautiful way and the whole process took people back to their youth, not to mention helping release the stresses of our daily working lives. The spirit of HAIR is all about breaking down walls and freeing the human spirit and that’s what the AfterWork Project is all about.  I even got a beautiful new listing out of it.

We are currently preparing for our next season when we’ll rehearse and perform Jonathan Larson’s Pultizer Prize winning musical: RENT.

Read the glowing New York Times review of the AfterWork Theater Project’s production of HAIR here.

I was approached by my client, Amanda Timchak, about participating in a fundraising event for City Harvest, a nonprofit organization she serves by sitting on their Leadership Council. While I had a good idea about the organization’s mission, I didn’t realize the magnitude of their efforts. I learned that City Harvest works with all segments of the NYC food industry including local restaurants, manufacturers, farms, corporate cafeterias and grocers, in addition to its local food drives and drop-off points, which they do in order to collect millions of pounds of food for the City’s hungry men, women and children. They have been tirelessly serving New York City for three decades; delivering food to nearly 600 community food programs and helping feed millions of New Yorkers that face hunger each year.

Some interesting facts about giving:

• $36 will help feed 20 children for a whole week
• $56 will rescue 224 pounds of food
• $83 will help feed a senior for nearly a year
• $135 will help feed 17 New Yorkers for a full month

This particular event, A Mid-Winter Escape, which I was asked to participate, is now in its second year.After learning more about all the great work City Harvest did, I spoke to our CEO, Shaun Osher about a possible sponsorship. He, like me, recognizes the severity of this ongoing and important issue, especially given the alarmingly high number of New Yorkers who go hungry each year. The latest statistic reported that more than three million citizens struggle to afford food. It took little-to-no convincing to get Shaun on board and happily agree for CORE to participate as a corporate sponsor of this fantastic event.

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Mickey Conlon, Tamara Tunie and Tom Postilio

Last week, CORE’s own Tom Postilio and Mickey Conlon, commandeered Feinstein’s at Loews Regency to host their elite clientele for a very exclusive, star-studded event that recalled the Golden Age of the New York nightclub scene. As the tony nightclub counts down its final days at The Regency, Michael Feinstein performed a private concert of his acclaimed Gershwin show, currently one of the hottest tickets in town. Celebrity sightings included Tyne Daly and Tamara Tunie, as well as many familiar faces from Selling New York, and much buzz about Joan Collins, who famously joined Postilio and Conlon in her very first reality TV appearance. Not to be outdone, showbiz veterans Postilio and Conlon joined Feinstein onstage to croon a few holiday tunes and paid tribute to Frank Sinatra for what would have been his 97th birthday.

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Last night, CORE hosted a party at the Jimmy at the James Hotel to celebrate the accomplishments of 2012 including being named “#1 Boutique Real Estate Firm in Manhattan” by The Real Deal. In addition to CORE brokers, the night was spent with developers and creative consultants. You can view highlights below and head to the CORE Facebook page to view more snapshots of the evening’s festivities. Cheers!

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My first seasonal newsletter began in the summer of 2008,  and in 2011, I re-branded my newsletter as Lisa Graham Lifestyles as a source for my clients’ real estate needs, as well as lifestyle, design and wellness suggestions. My intention for this newsletter is to stay connected with my clients, friends and family and to help them maintain harmony in their lives and home which can be challenging, especially in the fast pace of New York City. I have always had a passion for both real estate and wellness and my background in health coaching has inspired me to help people with their real estate needs in a more holistic way, with a focus on well-being in the home. Ultimately, your home is a reflection of you and your lifestyle and I enjoy purposefully assisting people in a way that positively supports movement and growth bringing harmony into their lives. Currently 700+ people receive my newsletter and the list is growing…

An excerpt from my latest newsletter features an upcoming event. Hope you can join me this week! Read more:

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