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

House of the Day: 7 Bond Street, PHAB
Wall Street Journal
Michael Graves’ stunning listing at 7 Bond Street was showcased in “House of the Day.”  Featuring stunning views of downtown Manhattan, an open, modern floorplan and a well-suited rooftop terrace, this home represents the epitome of luxury living in Noho.

Nate Berkus’ Greenwich Village Apartment For Sale
Forbes
Emily Beare and Christian Rogers’ listing at 32 Downing Street was featured in Forbes as well as several other media outlets last week.  The one-bedroom West Village home was recently placed on the market by noted interior designer, Nate Berkus.

Dream Homes: 15 Union Square West, 5DE
The New York Post
Vickey Barron, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Ralph Modica’s listing at 15 Union Square West continues to gain exposure, as it is featured in the latest installment of “Dream Homes.”

Despite being on the market only a few days, there has been a lot of buzz surrounding Emily Beare and Christian Rogers’ listing at 32 Downing Street. As of last week, unit 4D was placed on the market by owner and interior designer Nate Berkus. The listing, already making headlines in The Huffington Post, Forbes, AOL.com and other media outlets, is currently listed at $699,000. Featured in Oprah at Home magazine, Nate Berkus personally designed and thoroughly renovated this one-bedroom home, which is located in the West Village. This home features a renovated kitchen with new appliances, a pristine new bath with Carrera marble floors and gleaming white subway tile, vintage hardware throughout, custom wire-glass doors which separate the bedroom from the living room, custom closets and painted wood flooring throughout.

See more photos of this listing after the break.

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

“Argentines Turn Cash Into Condos in Miami”
New York Times
Alexei Barrionuevo’s latest Big Deal column, on South American — and particularly Argentinian — buyers looking to invest their savings in Miami and New York real estate, highlights One Museum Mile (right) as a new luxury development in Manhattan that is getting lots of investor interest.

“CORE to open retail office on UES”
The Real Deal
CORE’s exciting announcement of a new Madison Avenue office is covered by The Real Deal, which writes, “The firm, which was recently ranked by TRD as the city’s top boutique brokerage based on the value of listings, has inked a 10-year lease for a 3,500-square-foot office at 673 Madison Avenue that will open next spring, the spokesperson said. A gut renovation of the place will begin this fall.

“Residential Sales Around the Region”
New York Times
The sale of the Chelsea Skyhouse, a triplex penthouse at 213 West 23rd Street listed by CORE’s Emily Beare and Christian Rogers, is featured. The trophy apartment, with 6,000 square feet of private outdoor space and a 30-foot atrium, sold for $8.2 million.

“Supersized” apartments are a hot sector of the market, The Real Deal magazine reports in its latest issue, as real estate developers look for ways to appeal to wealthy buyers. The list of new supersized buildings includes CORE’s upcoming Walker Tower development, but with the launch of sales at Walker Tower still a few weeks out, we thought we’d highlight three other supersized pads currently on the market.

Where: 213 West 23rd Street, Skyhouse
Size: 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms
Asking: $8,950,000
Listed by: Emily Beare and Christian Rogers

This Chelsea apartment isn’t called the “Skyhouse” for no reason. The mansion-in-the-sky, a triplex sitting atop a landmark building, has 5,000 square feet of indoor space along with an almost unheard of 6,000 square feet of private outdoor space. No neighbors, four exposures, and striking views of the Hudson River and Empire State Building — it’s a supersized home for a supersized lifestyle.

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After last week’s look at homes for book lovers we thought we’d throw the spotlight on another form of collecting. New York is famous for its cultural institutions and museums, but there are just as many great works of art hanging on the walls of private apartments as there are in the Met. High ceilings and sturdy walls with spaces for canvases are some of the most sought-after real estate features these days. Here are our favorite properties on the market that are ideal for displaying your collection.

Where: 166 West 18th Street, PH-12
Size: 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms
Asking: $9,900,000
Listed by: Stuart Sussman

What better place to start when discussing than Chelsea, the gallery capitol of New York City? This full-floor penthouse in the ultra-modern Yves building has plenty of glass walls, but the interiors provide ample space for even the largest paintings to be installed, as witnessed by the current décor. The grandiose scale of the apartment means that it won’t get overwhelmed by even the largest installations.

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It’s been an unseasonably warm winter in New York, and the historic former McBurney YMCA is dressing accordingly. Exterior maintenance work on the building, which was converted to a handful of massive loft apartments a few years ago, is now complete, and the Beaux-Arts beauty at 213 West 23rd Street has shed its scaffolding and is once again shining. Today the Daily News takes note of the building, specifically its epic penthouse. Dubbed Chelsea Skyhouse, the 6,000-square-foot apartment — with a 30′ atrium and a layout currently configured as a four-bedroom, each having access to terraces — also includes a staggering 7,000 sq. ft. of private outdoor space. It’s listed for $8.95M by CORE’s Christian Rogers and Emily Beare, who cracks to the Daily News, “People in the suburbs don’t have backyards this big.”

The paper’s Gina Pace adds, “With exposures in four directions, tons of floor-to-ceiling windows and no neighbors on the floor, the space feels like it has been airlifted from the west coast and placed on top of the Beaux Arts-style building.” Click over to the Daily News story for some great photos, and check out the floorplan for the Chelsea Skyhouse below. (more…)

One major aspect of a real estate broker’s job that most people don’t know about is the role of decorator. Agents need a keen eye for interior design, and not only regarding what does or doesn’t look good, but what will sell. CORE agents are particularly talented in this regard — just ask the media. Today Christian Rogers and Elizabeth Kee lend their expert advice on renovating and redecorating for a sale in a pair of great newspaper stories.

In the New York Post, veteran broker Christian Rogers explains not only what to do before listing a home for sale (modernize kitchens and bathrooms, upgrade appliances, stay neutral when it comes to colors and personal taste), but also what not to do. That list includes avoiding expensive custom window treatments, Miami-style marble and terrazzo flooring, and Venetian-plastered walls (”Ninety-nine percent of the time, it’s done terribly,” Rogers says). Click through to the Post’s story for more tips and tricks of the trade.

In the New York Times Home & Garden section, Elizabeth Kee tackles an age-old dilemma: What to do about family photos hanging on the wall before listing an apartment? Though most sellers won’t want to hear it, removing the photos “should be the very first thing you do when you prepare an apartment for sale,” Kee says. To find out why, head over to the Times.

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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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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Where: 213 West 23rd Street
Size: 5 bedrooms/4.5 bathrooms/6,000 square feet
Asking: $8,950,000
Listed by: Emily Beare and Christian Rogers

It might be too chilly to gather with family and friends out on the 7,000 square feet of outdoor space that comes with this triplex penthouse, but no need to worry: 6,000 square feet of indoor space should do the trick. The spacious and sleek kitchen in this Chelsea masterpiece has ample counter space for cooking one of the longest kitchen islands around, so there’s plenty of room for side dishes. And when everyone needs to take a nap after the feast, 5 bedrooms should cover it. That’s not all though, we’ve got two more Turkey Day treats!

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