A record-shattering $88 million sale at 15 Central Park West has brought new attention to the Upper West Side. The area has long offered a quiet and idyllic environment for people seeking a certain level of understated elegance from their neighborhood, but aside from John Lennon and “Seinfeld,” it has never attracted as much attention as other ‘hoods. Here are our three favorite CORE listings in the area.

Where: 270 West End Avenue #12-E
Size: 3 bedrooms/3 bathrooms
Asking: $2,399,000
Listed by: Doron Zwickel

West End Avenue, hugging the coast of Manhattan, is as graceful as a stretch can be, and we love this duplex. It’s a luxurious and contemporary move-in-ready apartment located in the type of classic pre-war building that defines the neighborhood. The blend of old and new synthesizes and creates a special home that also happens to be enmeshed in the oasis of Lincoln Center, Riverside Park and, of course, Central Park.

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Where: 73 Worth Street PH-D
Size: 4 bedrooms/2 bathrooms
Asking: $2,495,000
Listed by: Adrian Noriega

An unseasonably warm winter has us already thinking about even sunnier days ahead, when margaritas replace minks and private outdoor space becomes a hotter commodity than info on the iPad 3. There is already plenty to love about this big, bright penthouse loft at TriBeCa’s Worth Building before we even get to the great outdoors, but here’s the headline: three private terraces, and plenty of floor-to-ceiling windows in this duplex to keep an eye on them. Once spring arrives, everyone you know will want to enjoy cocktails in the fresh air, or if you want to be more creative with the outdoor space, take a cue from the neighbors. A glimpse of the master bedroom — with a its own terrace right off it — is below.

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

“Added Life, Costs on West 29th Street”
Wall Street Journal
The WSJ included Parul Brahmbhatt’s quirky listing at 120 West 29th Street (right) in its look at how the boutique Ace Hotel has transformed the neighborhood now being referred to as NoMad. We took a closer look at the topic last week.

“Manhattan Sales and Rental Projects Hitting the Market in 2012″
Curbed
The 54-unit Walker Tower, an ultra-luxury Art Deco condo conversion being brought to the market in the spring, is highlighted in Curbed’s map of new developments to watch in 2012.

“Development updates”
The Real Deal
The Real Deal reported that just two apartments remain available at 83 Franklin, the new Tribeca luxury rental building that starred on an episode of “Selling New York” last month. Apartments in the building have rented for up to $22,500 a month.

Manhattan has one of the most famous skylines in the world, and the best part is it’s constantly changing. A perfect example is this photo from a private terrace at Penthouse B at 44 Laight Street in TriBeCa, which is available to rent through CORE’s Liz Dworkin for $20,000 per month. Look closely and you’ll see a crane and steel rising in the distance. That black speck is 1 World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, soon to be the tallest building in the country at 1776′ tall. Today, according to the latest update, the building’s structural steel has risen to the 91st floor, and it will keep rising rapidly until April. It’s fun to see how a view changes over time, and it’s even more fun to do so from a Jacuzzi.

New York City’s neighborhoods are always evolving, whether it’s an established area like Fifth Avenue by the park, or a neighborhood without a name. Today the Wall Street Journal shines a light on the area that’s not quite Chelsea, not quite Midtown, and, up until a few years ago, was only known for its discount electronics and fragrance stores. Now the neighborhood has a flashy nickname, NoMad (for north of Madison Square Park), and a boutique hotel, the Ace that is driving all sorts of new restaurant and retail development.

Who stands to profit? Local property owners, of course. “Real-estate people predict the pace of development in the area will continue in the next few years,” the Journal writes, hinting at high-end projects to come like the NoMad Hotel a block away from the Ace on Broadway and 28th Street. Will residential real estate prices mirror the neighborhood’s rise? The paper highlights a handful of for-sale apartments in its look at NoMad, including the one-of-a-kind apartment at 120 West 29th Street listed by CORE’s Parul Brahmbhatt, seen here. (It also made the WSJ’s neighborhood map, right.) It just goes to show that sometimes all it takes is a spark, or in this case, a hotel, to change a neighborhood’s fortunes — and a wise buyer knows when to check in.

It’s a new year and new episodes of HGTV’s hit reality show “Selling New York” await, but fans of the show will have to wait until next week to get their CORE fix. Tune in to HGTV on Thursday, January 12, to catch the latest CORE-centric episode, but don’t wait until 10:30pm to do it! New episodes of “Selling New York” will air Thursdays at 9:30pm from here on out. And if you miss an episode or two, fear not, you can always catch up by heading over to HGTV’s SNY website, which has full episodes of the show as well as previews of what’s to come on upcoming episodes.

Manhattan can never be described as average, but these apartments can. According to the latest market reports, the average sale price of a Manhattan apartment is $1.45 million. What does average look like? Pretty great, if you ask us. Here’s a look at three CORE listings priced around that magic number.

Where: 650 Sixth Avenue #5-A
Size: 1 bedroom/1 home office/2 bathrooms
Asking: $1,575,000
Listed by: Kirk Rundhaug, Mark Lynch and Ryan Fitzpatrick

There’s not much else that can be called average about this expansive (over 1,200 square feet) space that straddles Chelsea and the Flatiron District. The Cammeyer, a pre-war jewel that was once the world’s biggest shoe store, is one of the best loft buildings downtown. The finishes and location are second to none, the layouts are impressive — here there’s a 35′ x 12′ Great Room — and the building’s white-glove service goes above and beyond any concept of “average.”

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Today several quarterly reports detailing the ups and downs of the Manhattan real estate market at the end of 2011 were released, and the headline, according to the Wall Street Journal, was a sharp decline in sales. Though apartments in Manhattan still sold for an average price of $1.445 million and a median price of $855,000 (about even with past reports), the number of deals fell 12.4% from the fourth quarter of 2010, and 35% from last summer. Part of that drop has to do with seasonality — the fourth quarter is typically the slowest real estate sales period — but the blame can also be pinned on a simple lack of supply. New condominium sales showed the deepest declines, and as the Journal writes, “Real-estate brokers noted that the supply of apartments on the market had been shrinking, especially for new condominiums, which showed the fewest listings on the market in several years.”

Is this lack of supply creating demand? It’s one of the major story lines to follow in 2012, according to Shaun Osher. CORE’s founder and CEO offered these predictions for the 2012 Manhattan real estate market, with the impact of new inventory being chief among them:

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Where: 100 West 58th Street, #4-H
Size: 1 bedroom/1 bathroom
Asking: $825,000
Listed by: Tom Postilio and Mickey Conlon

It’s a new year, but let’s not forget about the old, because in New York City, a dash of the past mixed with the present can go a long way. For example, when it comes to prestige in real estate, nothing beats a Candela classic. The Windsor Park is just that, a prewar Rosario Candela-designed brown-brick beauty converted to condominiums. It may hark back to another era, but there’s a contemporary feel in this building as well, thanks to renovations designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates, the prestigious firm that has worked on the Guggenheim Museum and Yale’s Art and Architecture Building, among many others. This one-bedroom apartment, priced well under $1 million, is like getting your foot in the door of two distinct architectural styles at once. Perfect for those with a resolution to try new things.

During the holiday season it is always better to give than to receive, and with that in mind, CORE’s Christian Rogers renewed his involvement with a special charity this year. As the CORE Blog heads into a break until the new year, Christian tells us about this important cause.

Hosts Tyler Perry and Jessica Biel (L); The Waterwalk, partially sponsored by CORE and Midtown Equities (R).

It’s been a fantastic year, so I was really excited to be able to give back. It’s funny how giving back, however, is not exactly straightforward. There are so many great causes and so many fantastic charities. How does one choose? The existence of sites like Charity Navigator can make it easier, but the fact that they exist, and the many different categories and sub categories they list for qualifying charities, is a testament to the complexity of choosing a cause.

Not being predisposed to a particular cause, I applied some basic criteria. The charity had to be efficient, meaning as much money as possible had to go directly to helping people on the ground rather than to paying for administrative costs. It also had to help a large number of people in a fundamental way.

As I searched I came across an incredibly efficient charity with an incredibly big, yet clear goal that was excellently branded – charity: water, a non-profit organization that brings clean and safe drinking water to developing nations. Scott Harrison, the founder, has a big objective with a very simple approach: bring clean drinking water to 1 billion people, make sure 100% of public donations go directly to funding projects, prove to donors where their donations are spent, and in his own words, “not suck at design!”

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