Architects who work on one high-profile project after another eventually earn the bragging rights to be called “starchitects”—people in their field who are regarded as celebrities and command top dollar for any real estate venture they’re behind. Residential developments with starchitects attached to them have considerable cache, says Elisa Orlanski Ours, the chief planning and design officer for Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group. They’re also almost always luxury projects with high prices to match and attract global recognition, she says. “They have prestige because of the starchitect, but also because they tend to showcase exceptional craftsmanship and innovation through design,” Orlanski Ours says. “Today’s boldfaced names of architecture take risks and consistently give us something that the market hasn’t seen before.” 11 Hoyt, in Downtown Brooklyn, is another residential building that’s turning heads. Jeanne Gang, whose notable projects include an expansion to the American Museum of Natural History, is the starchitect in question. Gang designed an exterior featuring bay windows that cascade like waves across the façade. The building stretches across almost an entire city block and has 481 residences as well as 55,000 square feet of amenities. Prices begin at $675,000. Thomas Heatherwick is behind Lantern House in West Chelsea, a 22-story condominium with 181 one-to-four-bedroom residences. His Heatherwick Studio has created a design that juxtaposes grey brickwork with industrial metal details; the curved bay windows also stand out. Prices begin at $1.895 million.

As New York City’s luxury market continues its strong rebound from the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic, August marked another milestone. With 1,228 contracts signed, Manhattan had its strongest August on record for signed contracts, according to a report from Corcoran released this week. Buyers signed contracts on 77 properties priced $5 million and up, making it the busiest August ever for luxury new pending sales, as well. “New Yorkers continue to seek more space for better value and in 2021, they’re finding it,” said Corcoran President and CEO Pam Liebman in an emailed statement. “Year-over-year, signed contracts were up 77%, but September will be the real month to watch in terms of annual percentage change.” Concerns over the Covid-19 Delta variant don’t appear to have meaningfully dampened activity in New York, Ms. Liebman said, adding, “We’ll be watching the data closely, especially if any future restrictions go into effect.”

Each of New York’s luxury enclaves stands out with signature features. Pre-war opulence permeates Central Park West. Residents at Billionaires’ Row live higher than anyone else in the country. None of these, however, can match the sheer inventiveness, experimental spirit, and sleek architecture on exhibit in West Chelsea, on and off the High Line, with a star-studded roster of architects from all over the world. #1 - Lantern House, 515 West 18th Street Lantern House was named in honor of Heatherwick Studio's interpretation of bay windows, which offer spectacular High Line views and unique floor plans and interiors. The two-building complex is joined by a dramatic glass lobby pavilion underneath the High Line. #2 - 520 West 28th Street The late and great Zaha Hadid incorporated her signature style for her only NYC residential project, which faces the High Line. The zig-zagging facade curves is reflected in the split-level unit layouts, where kitchens were designed by Hadid herself. Sensuous curves are also on view through the amenities, such as the sunlit pool, fitness center, and screening room.

From fashion to floor plans: In a trend that’s likely to get any style-loving home buyer looking twice, some of the newest luxury residential buildings in New York happen to have renowned designers behind them who previously cut their teeth creating stores for some of the world’s chicest fashion houses. Take 109 East 79th Street, for example, a 20-story building on the Upper East Side that has nods to Art Deco, midcentury, and Bauhaus design. With 32 units ranging from two to five bedrooms, it’s one of a handful of residential buildings designed by Steven Harris, who designed the Dolce & Gabbana stores in St. Bart’s and on the Via Condotti in Rome and parts of the Barneys stores in New York and Beverly Hills. Sales are expected to launch this fall, and prices will likely start at $5.35 million. Also downtown, One Manhattan Square on the Lower East Side was designed by Meyer Davis Studio, the designer of Oscar de la Renta’s worldwide boutiques. The building has over 100,000 square feet of amenities such as a multilevel fitness center and bowling alley, along with modern interiors that combine function and style.

Gotham penthouse sky pads are having a moment. Penthouse 88A at 15 Hudson Yards, which hit the market last December, is in contract, Gimme can exclusively reveal. It was last asking $29.5 million. At the same time, PH39 at 520 W. 28th St, the Zaha Hadid-designed building on the High Line, is also in contract. It was last asking $13.95 million. At Lantern House, 515 W. 18th St., PH 2203 is in contract — last asking $18.97 million. While at 30 Park Place, PH 78B is in contract, last asking $25 million — down from its $29.5 million price in 2017; while PH82 sold for $25 million.

Early in the pandemic, as homes began to serve as headquarters for work and school, and families spent more time together than perhaps ever before, design professionals, psychologists, and anyone who’d had at least one Zoom mishap (which is all of us) wondered if the much-beloved open floor plan was officially over. Already, the market had seen a shift toward formality, with the reemergence of separate dining rooms and foyers. But as COVID-19 transformed the home into the official hub of just about everything, outlets for privacy and retreat within that space became essential.

But the presumed death of the open floor plan may not be quite so accurate. For one thing, the needs that gave way to their rise have not gone away. “The open floor plan was a response to prewar closed floor plans, and its many advantages still remain,” says Elisa Orlanski Ours, chief planning and design officer for Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group. “Namely, improving traffic flow, increasing access to shared light, and allowing for multifunctionality and versatility.”

Corcoran Sunshine, the industry leader in the planning, design, marketing, and sale of luxury residential new developments, recently held its annual awards celebration. Conducted virtually for the first time, the event was hosted by Corcoran Sunshine’s president, Kelly Kennedy Mack, and honored the team’s noteworthy achievements throughout 2020.
“Despite the obstacles 2020 presented, we not only survived, we thrived. Corcoran Sunshine developed creative initiatives that kept business moving forward, no matter what,” said Mack. “I am incredibly proud of our achievements, and would like to give my heartfelt thanks to our team for their dedication – both to our firm and to New York City. I look forward to even more success as 2021 progresses.”

Corcoran Sunshine, the industry leader in the planning, design, marketing, and sale of luxury residential new developments, recently held its annual awards celebration. Conducted virtually for the first time, the event was hosted by Corcoran Sunshine’s president, Kelly Kennedy Mack, and honored the team’s noteworthy achievements throughout 2020.
The awards marked the culmination of a remarkable year. Six of 2020’s top ten best-selling Manhattan new developments are represented by Corcoran Sunshine; namely Lantern House, The Park Loggia, Waterline Square, Fifteen Hudson Yards, 25 Park Row and 130 William. The firm added a seventh to their portfolio when they were tapped to assist in marketing One Manhattan Square. Corcoran Sunshine also represents 11 Hoyt in Downtown Brooklyn, top-selling building across New York City in 2020 – based on contracts signed.

Elisa Orlanski Ours, chief planning and design officer at Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group, spends her days matchmaking interior designers with architects for every project her firm takes on. For Tishman Speyer’s 11 Hoyt in Brooklyn, she tapped Michaelis Boyd to do the 55,000 square feet of amenities and the 481 residences inside Studio Gang’s 57-story tower.
Orlanski Ours has met many designers during her career, so she has plenty of advice for those looking to land real estate work. “Just because you haven’t done a condo doesn’t mean you can’t. Maybe you’ve done a hotel, or a restaurant, or a mega-residence with a gym and pool—that can scale up to a multi-unit building,” she says. She loves to tap up-and-coming designers, sometimes recommending them just to do a lobby and amenities. She’ll ask decorators she likes to put together a portfolio. “If you don’t have a huge range of work, that’s okay; you can put together a portfolio of all of your kitchens, or all of your bathrooms,” she suggests.

Corcoran Sunshine, recently held its annual awards celebration to toast the firm’s achievements of 2019. Over 140 guests, led by Corcoran Sunshine president, Kelly Kennedy Mack, joined in applauding the year’s success and Corcoran Sunshine colleagues who were recognized for their outstanding efforts last year. Mack proudly recounted the milestones of 2019 which included, among others, Corcoran Sunshine’s successful marketing of five of Manhattan’s top 10 best-selling new development properties.

After operating as “sister” companies for nearly two decades, the Corcoran Group and Citi Habitats are merging under the Corcoran banner to better compete in an increasingly cutthroat brokerage business. The deal, announced Tuesday, will boost the company’s standing as one of the biggest firms in New York City with a combined 2,420 agents responsible for $7 billion in annual sales and 22,000 rental transactions last year. “There’s no company in the city that will come close to us with the breadth of what we can do,” said Corcoran CEO Pam Liebman, citing Corcoran’s track record in sales and Citi Habitats’ large book of rental business.

The 2010s were a time of decadence for real estate, according to Corcoran Sunshine chief Kelly Mack. Mack — whose firm marketed the decade’s biggest projects, including Gary Barnett’s One57 and Vornado Realty Trust’s 220 Central Park South — sat with The Real Deal this month to reflect on the burst of new development in the 2010s. She said deals are now happening when sellers and buyers find common ground on price. And to her, the newest luxury amenity is value.

When apartments are being shown to potential buyers, it’s a given that appearances matter, from the home itself being staged to perfection to the appearance of the broker or agent tasked with selling it. In particular when marketing higher-end apartments, brokers must manage to look as polished as the properties they work out of, while at the same time, not look so intimidating that they scare a potential buyer into thinking they can’t even afford to look. Solin-Valdina, a television advertising stylist turned personal one, imparted this advice at CS/Talks, a series of evening talks for brokers and other real estate professionals, organized by Corcoran Sunshine. The most recent talk was held at The Park Loggia, a new condominium building in Columbus Circle that Corcoran Sunshine agents are marketing.

Like the resistance knob in a demanding cycling class, the repertoire of wellness offerings in real estate projects is amping up, up, up. From infrared saunas and circadian light technology to fitness concierges and mindful product sourcing, wellness amenities grow bigger and better with every project rollout. Corcoran Sunshine's scope of wellness projects in their pipeline offers a glimpse of the potential. Elisa Ours, Chief Planning and Design Officer at Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group, says 100 percent of the luxury firm’s properties have some wellness or health element, including live greenery walls and 75-foot lap pools. Nearly half have outdoor amenities.

City & State New York recognizes 2019's 50 most powerful people in New York real estate, including Kelly Kennedy Mack. Mack’s history with Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group goes back a long way. Mack leads the brokerage firm’s new development division as it represents some of the most high-profile developments in New York City, including the Hudson Yards project. With 34 projects lined up at Corcoran Sunshine, 2019 promises to be a big year for the New York University and Georgetown University alumna, who began her career doing ad sales and marketing for the Cartoon Network.

This year more than 1,750 real estate industry professionals turned out for Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group’s fourth annual CS Talks, a nine-day series of compelling events and conversations that spanned 19 new developments represented by the city’s top new development marketing firm. Since its launch in 2015, CS Talks has brought more than 5,000 industry leaders to Corcoran Sunshine projects throughout New York City, with attendance increasing every year. For the past four years, CS Talks has provided the real estate community a behind the façade of the city’s top new developments, as well as access to some of the most respected developers, designers, architects, artists, and city executives in New York.

More than 1,750 real estate industry professionals turned out for Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group’s fourth annual CS Talks, a nine-day series of compelling events and conversations that spanned 19 new developments represented by the city’s top new development marketing firm. Since its launch in 2015, CS Talks has brought more than 5,000 industry leaders to Corcoran Sunshine projects throughout New York City, with attendance increasing every year. For the past four years, CS Talks has provided the real estate community a rare look behind the façade of the city’s top new developments, as well as access to some of the most respected developers, designers, architects, artists, and city executives in New York.

Kelly Kennedy Mack is president of Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group — the new development powerhouse that’s closed $40 billion in sales since 2002. The native New Yorker was a protégée of Louise Sunshine, who sold her firm, the Sunshine Group, to NRT (now Realogy) in 2006. Four years after the sale, when Mack was just 32, she was tapped to succeed Sunshine. On Mack’s watch, Corcoran Sunshine has dominated the city’s new development marketing scene. Between 2014 and 2017, it closed $9 billion in transactions, according to a recent analysis by The Real Deal. The firm has also represented some of the most prominent projects in the city, including Related Companies’ Hudson Yards, the Herzog & de Meuron-designed 56 Leonard and Rudin Management’s Greenwich Lane.

The Corcoran Group — one of New York City’s top residential brokerages with $21 billion in annual sales — is gearing up for a massive expansion. Parent company Realogy Holdings said Wednesday that it plans to franchise the Corcoran brand beyond its stronghold on the East Coast to “global megacities” and leisure markets. As a part of the move, Realogy will also franchise Climb, a mobile- and tech-focused brokerage in San Francisco that it acquired in 2016. “As the world has gotten smaller, we want to get bigger,” said Corcoran CEO Pam Liebman. She said it’s no longer about the “luxury triangle,” a reference to Corcoran’s presence in New York City, the Hamptons and Palm Beach.

Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group, New York City’s undisputed leader in residential new development marketing and sales, announced the fourth annual installment of their highly popular CS Talks program. The nine-day series of conversations, spanning from October 16th through October 26th, is expected to bring well over 1,000 real estate professionals to compelling events and dialogues at 19 developments across the city represented by Corcoran Sunshine. CS Talks is a pioneering event series and was a first for the real estate industry when it launched in 2015. Since then, it has brought nearly 4,500 top industry professionals to Corcoran Sunshine developments through engaging and unique programming as well as rare opportunities to interact with some of the top figures in the NYC real estate and design worlds. CS Talks offers real estate agents a new level of insight into both Corcoran Sunshine new developments and broader trends within real estate, culture, and design.

Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group, The Corcoran Group, and Citi Habitats completed “The Real Estate Ride,” a Cycle for Survival indoor cycling event. The team goal was set for $50,000 but the goal was surpassed after many generous contributions, bringing in $105,705 and making them the No. 1 team of the night. It was the team’s second year as the top fundraising team and fourth year participating in the national movement to beat rare cancers by raising funds for cutting-edge lifesaving research at Memorial Sloan Kettering.

The Corcoran Group took the top spot with $6.29 billion in closed Manhattan deals for 2017. That haul, up 3 percent from $6.13 billion in May 2016, was driven by the firm’s new development marketing wing, Corcoran Sunshine, which sold millions of dollars of properties in buildings like 56 Leonard and The Greenwich Lane.

CS Talks has provided industry professionals perspectives on the world of real estate development. “New development is intertwined with arts, culture, and dining in New York, and CS Talks is a celebration of that fascinating meeting point,” said Kelly Kennedy Mack, president of Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group.

The Real Deal spoke with Gordon Hoppe who oversees sales for Corcoran Sunshine to find out what it’s like to work on some of the city’s flashiest buildings — from presale to project sellout. “I tell people to see and read everything they can — market knowledge is of utmost importance,” Hoppe explains. “And most importantly in this industry, listen — listen to agents, listen to buyers. Understanding their motivation will go a long way in making a deal.”

From learning about new dining and food hall experiences, to a discussion on the ever-evolving restaurant scene in NoMad, to the official launch of a Tribeca development, and so much more, CS Talks 2017 was certainly not one to be missed.

Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group just wrapped up their third annual CS Talks event. Events popped up all over Manhattan and to the Brooklyn waterfront. “New development is intertwined with arts, culture and dining in New York, and CS Talks is a celebration of that fascinating meeting point” said Kelly Kennedy Mack, President of Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group.

A record crowd of more than 1,250 real estate industry professionals turned out for Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group’s third annual CS Talks event, an eight-day series of creative events and dialogues which spanned 17 new developments.

For the past three years, CS Talks has given industry professionals access to the city’s top new developments and offered unique perspectives on the world of real estate development. Inspired in part by other speaker series like TED Talks, TimesTalks, and Live from the NYPL, CS Talks was a first for the real estate industry when it launched in 2015. “This year’s compelling events at CS Talks resonated with the city’s top agents and industry tastemakers, who came out in record numbers,” said Kelly Kennedy Mack, President of Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group.

We Hear … Corcoran Sunshine kicks off its third annual CS Talks series on Nov. 6. Speakers include starchitect Robert A.M. Stern, architecture critic Paul Goldberger, architect and designer Piero Lissoni, food macher Eli Zabar and developer Jeff Blau of Related.

CS Talks 2017 is expected to bring over 1,000 real estate professionals to events and dialogues at 17 developments represented by Corcoran Sunshine. “The goal of CS Talks has always been to offer the brokerage community a totally new level of insight into development, and this year’s program has added some especially compelling events,” said Kelly Kennedy Mack, President of Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group. “We are fascinated by the intersection of art, culture, and real estate; and CS Talks explores this uniquely New York phenomenon.” CS Talks will open with an exclusive introduction to the first-ever Cipriani food hall and restaurant experience at Waterline Square by the Cipriani family, and closes with a champagne toast to celebrate the unveiling of The Penthouse at Tribeca’s One Hundred Barclay.

An early purchase may result in a higher resale price in the future. Benefits of purchasing a residence early in the development stage potentially include a lower sales price, the choice to purchase a preferred unit, and the option to customize the space. Most developers will offer specific design options that work within their budget—often a choice between a light package or a dark package in the kitchen and bathroom. This means that buyers can pick between different looks, “a beautiful amount of flexibility, and what feels like customization,” said Melissa Ziweslin, a managing director at Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group. “The optics of giving buyers flexibility in a crowded marketplace is key.”

The new crop of townhouses maintains the privacy and charm of these classic homes, while borrowing many modern features from the new construction condo world. “To have your own standalone residence, yet be completely connected to building with a full suite of amenities attracts buyers who may have been hesitant to enter the townhouse market before,” said Corcoran Sunshine’s senior sales director at The Greenwich Lane, Dan Tubb. Town Home owners at 20 East End Avenue will be able to enjoy the refined and elegant amenity spaces in the main building, including a gated private motor court, a library stocked with a collection of books that Mr. Stern curated, a billiards room, a wine cellar, and a private dining room.

Once again, Corcoran Sunshine and Corcoran took the top spot on TRD’s new development ranking by closed sales. The firm — which has long been the most dominating force on New York’s new-development brokerage scene — closed $9.13 billion in new-condo deals during the three-year stretch between June 1, 2014 and May 30, 2017. The firm also ranks number 1 in unsold volume, which is defined as in-contract, available, and pipeline units combined.

Some New York developers are working to capture buyers in the popular sub-$5 million market. At Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group, president Kelly Kennedy Mack said in some cases they are telling their developer clients to adjust their unit mixes to remain below certain prices — although it’s not a blanket approach. “There’s been an intelligent and necessary response to supply and demand dynamics,” she said. Corcoran Sunshine tracks when buildings open for sale, which the firm defines as when a sales office opens. Mack said five of the seven Manhattan developments that have become publicly available this year are targeting a mid-market price of between $1,800 and $2,400 per square foot. It’s now been a year since a development with an average asking price of $4,000 per square foot and above has opened.

Whether it’s in a supertall skyscraper, modern mid-rise or renovated pre-war structure, there are luxury buyers willing to shell out millions for their perfect property. And in each of these building types, in cities around the world, there’s a prized sub-market: the penthouse buyer. “When you adjust the price for these differences [fireplaces, floor-to-ceiling windows, extra parking spaces, expansive outdoor terraces, etc.] you still typically see a premium of 15% to 20% for penthouses, said Melissa Ziweslin, a managing director at Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group.

Online sales continue to grow, forcing the industry to rethink package rooms. “Lessons have certainly been learned from the previous cycle of luxury development,” said Elisa Orlanski Ours, a senior vice president of planning and design at Corcoran Sunshine. Developers and marketers are getting serious about strategizing their package storage approach very early in the pre-development planning process. “We often look to completed, operational condos and assess how effective their programming was. We’ll speak with management companies, brokers and buyers to understand how a building functions in its maturity.”

More and more high-end buyers are preferring condos, and are willing to pay extra for them. “Condominiums as compared to co-ops are a superior asset class,” said Beth Fisher, senior managing director at Corcoran Marketing Group. Condos have “outperformed co-ops in appreciation, allow for greater flexibility of ownership use, and there’s no shared liability for underlying debt or obligation as there is in a co-op.”

Brokers say the surge points to the growing popularity of lower Manhattan as a place to live. Some of the rebound is also being attributed to new deals signed in condo projects that have finally opened their doors. “It is a downtown a lot of us didn’t expect in 2007,” said Melissa Ziweslin, a managing director at Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group.

The closest parallel would be the “Mad Men”-era advertising business, when a huge account could set an agency up for years. But today’s brokerages aren’t dealing with executives from Pan Am or Philip Morris who might have been wooed by a killer Don Draper slogan. The masters of their fate are instead hard-nosed builders such as JDS Development Group, HFZ Capital Group and Extell Development Company that are looking for someone who buyers and lenders would be comfortable with. “Just as important as the firm we select to work with on a project are the specific individuals that make up the sales team from that firm,” said JDS Chief Executive Officer Michael Stern.

Corcoran Sunshine’s second CS Talks, a 10-day speaker series for the real estate brokerage community, has doubled to 21 events. The series, which will be held from Nov. 9 to Nov. 18, explores the different and sometimes unexpected ways in which art, architecture, culture, technology and retail are converging with design. The event offers a range of perspectives from leading architects and developers.

This ultra-rare city amenity offers privacy, security, and convenience. So to developers, it's worth sacrificing precious square feet of ground space. Jasmine Mir, CMO of Corcoran Sunshine weighs in. “Buying a penthouse at the top of a building is one thing, but the sense of extravagance and luxury associated with having space at street level in a congested place like New York? It gives an amazing sense of wow! to any arrival, a real grandeur,” she says by phone from her office.

A glimpse into the future can be gleaned from real estate development and the technological advances implemented in new builds, said Elisa Orlanski Ours, a senior executive from Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group. During Luxury Interactive’s “Futuristic Lessons from Real Estate Development: How Technology is Transforming the Planning and Marketing of Luxury Residences” keynote on Oct. 19, Corcoran’s executive compared the George Jetson-like advertisements of the 1950s to today’s building projects to explain how elements of these blueprints offer a window into the future. Residential housing’s future rests on the technologies of today and their impact on architectural programming to exterior and interior design.

There is a behind-the-scenes back-and-forth between developers and their advisors and what can go awry if a wrong choice is made. Today, basic decisions like when to launch, how to price and how to configure units are suddenly up for debate. Kelly Kennedy Mack, president of new development marketing giant Corcoran Sunshine, said success in this market is “highly nuanced. There can be a tendency to categorize various segments in blanket terms — to say that we’re seeing issues in an entire price point or neighborhood, or that the entire market is down,” she said. “In reality, supply-and-demand dynamics vary from block to block, and each building is, in a way, its own ecosystem in the current market.”

The latest must-have is an oversized master closet. Look no further than The Chatsworth and 20 East End Avenue, which both have numerous residences with bedroom-size, windowed or double dressing rooms. Nicole Siciliano-Trazzera, sales director for 20 East End Avenue at Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group explains that closets can even reach buyers on an emotional level: “Custom closets are a very personal thing,” Siciliano-Trazzera explains.

From the Upper East Side down to Tribeca and all the way over to Brooklyn, the porte-cochère spirit is revived within the Corcoran Sunshine portfolio. Robert A.M. Stern designed impressive porte-cochères at both 20 East End Avenue and 70 Vestry. Reimagined by Messana O’Rorke, the entryway at 200 East 62nd is transformed into a freshly landscaped arrival. Even as 111 West 57th Street soars skyward over Central Park, the world’s thinnest skyscraper values the privacy of its future billionaire residents down below and with a sheltered and über secure porte cochère. In Park Slope, Baltic offers on-site parking via a covered entry that is exceedingly rare for Brooklyn.

Pools in new buildings go way beyond the basic. “A pool gives an aura to a building,” said James Lansill, a senior managing director at Corcoran Sunshine. 88 & 90 Lex is installing an L-shape pool for the joined buildings to share. At 53W53, the 14th-floor amenity “pavilion” will include a pool in a high-ceilinged space with a wall of south-facing windows and two walls of vertical gardens. Lastly, the pool at the Greenwich Lane is 25 meters.

Terra cotta is making a comeback in New York City. Corcoran Sunshine recently completed the 100% sellout of 10 Bond, where terra cotta is striking design element selected by architect Annebelle Selldorf. More than simply decorative, the material can block out heat, thus reducing the amount of energy it takes to cool the building.

A new generation of important artwork is coming to private buildings in Manhattan. Great art “can help make an already distinctive building an enduring one,” and a prime example is 56 Leonard, which will soon welcome an original Anish Kapoor sculpture at its base.

Now commonly referred to as “the setback law,” a 1916 zoning law imposed a mathematical formula for how tall a building could rise before it was forced to become progressively narrower. Today, condo conversions of “classic” skyscrapers with setbacks are among the city’s hottest properties. Two prime examples are 100 Barclay, an Art Deco-era office-to-condo conversion, and 101 Wall also downtown.

Brooklyn is seeing an influx of high-end residential development. Corcoran Sunshine is spearheading the sales and marketing for two of the most noteworthy developments coming to Brooklyn, Baltic and 550 Vanderbilt.

The pendulum has started to swing back toward enclosed kitchens. Several new residential buildings in Manhattan have offered separated kitchens — a nod to prewar apartment design, but also to the growing demand from potential buyers looking for separate cooking and entertaining spaces. Many of the residences at 53W53, 30 Park Place, and The Greenwich Lane feature a closed kitchen or the ability to separate kitchens by floor-to-ceiling sliding doors.

Gone are the days of flickering fluorescent light bulbs, blank walls and hand-me-down toys. Like the luxury apartments that surround them, playrooms have become carefully designed and curated affairs. For example, in Battery Park City, at River & Warren, children will be able to play inside a lighthouse and frolic in the carpeted surf. Additionally, the playroom at 70 Vestry in TriBeCa has hundreds of blocks inspired by the neighborhood’s cobblestone streets.

This year, the Corcoran Group with new development arm Corcoran Sunshine surged ahead of all other brokerages to the no. 1 spot, with $6.13 billion worth of closed listings in Manhattan — up a stunning 43 percent from a year earlier. The firm also said it helped to sell an additional $1 billion that were not included in TRD’s ranking. “Corcoran served as an advisor to Extell Development on One57 and the Carlton House, two of Manhattan’s highest-grossing projects,” said company President and CEO Pamela Liebman.

A snapshot moment with the top power players in luxury real estate.

Condominium construction hit record highs in Manhattan over the past year and developers need top broker talent to help sell all these pricey residences. So, which new development marketing firms are talking the best game and scoring the biggest projects? Corcoran Sunshine, long at the top of the new development heap, still reigns supreme when it comes to scoring new business. Corcoran Sunshine president Kelly Kennedy Mack’s marketing strategy has been to use dedicated in-house sales teams rather than relying on big name resale brokers.

It's an exciting time for Beth Fisher, senior managing director at Corcoran Sunshine, to be working with luxury agents and developers in NYC. “The development you see going on now is reshaping New York City for the 21st century and beyond,” said Fisher. “The combination of public and private investment — including the private residential development of the Hudson Yards, and adaptive re-use of the Piers and expansive Hudson River Park, are among the most vibrant areas of development and will re-define New York,” she said.

Kelly Kennedy Mack’s office, which sits at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and 57th Street, is tucked in the shadow of Billionaires’ Row. To the left there’s the under-construction 220 Central Park South and to the right there’s the recently completed One57. And that could not be more apropos. As president of the new development marketing powerhouse Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group, Mack has worked on both of those projects as well as many of New York’s other priciest condos.

Thanks to an influx of new condo inventory hitting the market — and what some describe as a potential glut of high-end inventory — onsite agents are playing an increasingly important role for developers. And the stakes are serious, given the exorbitant price tags that developers are looking to achieve. “We’re not the brand; the building is the brand,” said Liz Unger, a senior sales director at Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group.

In the realm of New York City real estate, what goes up just keeps going up, and up. But the record books are almost certain to be rewritten in the months ahead as new “billionaire bunkers” are added to the city’s ever-evolving skyline, like 220 Central Park South, 432 and 520 Park, and 56 Leonard, to name just a few. “With the inventory out there, the extraordinary amount of wealth, and the continued demand for New York real estate, we will continue to see robust sales in the superluxury market,” said Pamela Liebman, the chief executive of the Corcoran Group.

On the morning of Nov. 4, 2015 I met a quintessential New Yorker: Larry Silverstein of Silverstein Properties. This was part of a week-long talk named “CS Talks” organized by Corcoran Sunshine to unite the brokerage community and the brightest minds with architects and developers. The talk was held at 7 World Trade Center, the sales gallery of 30 Park Place – Four Seasons Private Residences.

"I always tell my kids 'When I'm no longer here, remember one thing: Don't Sell!'" - Mega-developer Larry Silverstein speaking at CS Talks, a Corcoran-Sunshine hosted event at the sales office of 30 Park Place, his latest condo project.

Corcoran Sunshine's first-ever CS Talks series sparks conversation across the city.

Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group brought together over a thousand real estate professionals through events and discussions during its weeklong speaker series, CS Talks. Designer Jeffrey Beers and Scavolini creative director Daniele Busca discussed the art of hospitality at one of the properties, One West End. In terms of kitchen design, Beers says, “Being a host is showing love for your guests. The kitchen has to be genuine, true and thoughtful.” At another talk down along the High Line, architect Thomas Juul-Hansen noted, “Everything should be built with integrity, because buildings aren’t just made for people, they are made for the city.” Vicente Wolf revealed his new Penthouse Collection at Manhattan House and explained how “simplicity can be elaborate.”

“The goal of CS Talks was to offer the brokerage community a totally new level of insight into development,” explains Kelly Kennedy Mack, President of Corcoran Sunshine. “CS Talks offered extraordinary access to each property, but also aimed to entertain and educate.” Inspired in part by TED Talks, TimesTalks, and Live from the NYPL, but unique to the world of real estate, the inaugural series featured renowned architects, influential developers, cutting edge designers, and some of the brightest minds in the industry.

In a first for the real estate industry, Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group held a week-long speaker series featuring compelling industry personalities including Larry Silverstein, Thomas Juul-Hansen, and Bill Rudin. Spanning November 2 to 6, CS Talks brought more than 1,000 real estate professionals to unique events and dialogues at 12 developments represented by the marketing and sales firm.

If Larry Silverstein could go back in time, he’d keep all of his Manhattan holdings off the block. “Every time I’ve sold anything – and I’ve only sold at very high prices – five years later, I’ve thrown my hands up and said, ‘I’ve done a dumb thing,’” the developer said Wednesday, speaking at a Corcoran Sunshine event at the sales office for his latest condo project, 30 Park Place. “I always tell my kids, ‘When I’m no longer here, remember one thing: Don’t sell!’” Silverstein’s talk, moderated by The Real Deal’s Katherine Clarke as part of a series of industry discussions dubbed CS Talks, also touched on the mogul’s long-term vision for Lower Manhattan.

We hear… That Corcoran Sunshine, inspired by TED Talks, launched “CS Talks” this week. Series speakers include World Trade Center site developer Larry Silverstein and Danish architect Thomas Juul-Hansen.

A wave of new condominium projects is coming to Manhattan by the end of the year, bringing the annual total to a whopping 5,300 according to data provided to the Daily News by new development marketing firm Corcoran Sunshine. “After several years of extremely limited new development introductions, the market really opened up in 2015, offering buyers an incredible amount of choice across neighborhoods and price points,” said Kelly Kennedy Mack, president of Corcoran Sunshine.

Big names. Big projects. Big price tags. Despite being New York City’s smallest borough, Manhattan development has clearly grown to outsized proportions during the current construction craze. The top 10 developers on TRD’s list have each filed plans for north of 1 million square feet since 2011 — a serious feat, given high land prices and the scarcity of development sites. “The scale is so much bigger than it once was, in terms of master plans at Hudson Yards and Riverside Center, as well as large-scale properties,” said Kelly Kennedy Mack, president of the Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group.

An Interview with Kelly Kennedy Mack, president, Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group. “We are living in a golden age of new development, with a level of quality and caliber of design never before seen in New York or perhaps anywhere in the world,” says Mack.

Brokers, developers and some of the richest and most influential landlords in the city (strike that—in the world) have been fascinated with Commercial Observer’s yearly ranking of the top dogs of the business.

45. Pamela Liebman and Kelly Kennedy Mack (43) President and CEO of The Corcoran Group and President of Corcoran Sunshine

Springtime is generally a period when the real estate sales market picks up, driven by a multitude of factors, perhaps most significantly bonus season, when financial firms dole out cash to employees. It is also a time when more sellers and new developments come to market, and buyers emerge from hibernation as the weather warms. But another critical factor driving the uptick, brokers say, is the so-called private school bump.

Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group held its annual awards celebration recognizing the company’s performance in 2014. At the event, Corcoran Sunshine President Kelly Kennedy Mack announced that the organization sold over $3 billion in new residential development for the second consecutive year. Corcoran Sunshine again broke several records in 2014, with an average sales price of $4.6 million and average price per square foot of $2,387, both the highest in company history and the industry.

Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group sold $3 billion in 2014, the firm told The Real Deal today, buoyed by a flood of new inventory and sky-high prices. It is the second consecutive year in the row that the firm has eclipsed the $3 billion mark. The average sales price and average price per square foot, $4.6 million and $2,387 respectively, were the highest in the company’s 25-year history. The firm “outperformed the new development market as a whole,” Kelly Kennedy Mack, Corcoran Sunshine’s president said.

Home, it would appear, is where the hamam is. At least for the superrich. For along with the Olympic-size pools, children’s playrooms designed by experts in early-childhood development, basketball courts, demonstration and catering kitchens, lounges or “great rooms” with fireplaces, curated libraries, guest rooms, full-size gyms, spinning rooms and yoga studios, the hamam (pronounced hah-MOM) has joined the amenity package, as the brokers say, of the luxury development market. Or “super luxury” market, which is to say buildings where the price per square foot begins at about $3,000.

At least twice as many new condominium units are scheduled to hit the Manhattan market this year as in 2014, the most since 2007. That means more choice for buyers and some welcome competition among developers, according to the Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group, which tracks new development.

Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group recently held its annual awards celebration recognizing the company’s industry-leading performance in 2013. At the event, Corcoran Sunshine President Kelly Kennedy Mack announced that the organization sold a grand total of $3.2 billion in new residential development in 2013. Corcoran Sunshine broke several records in 2013 as well, with an average sales price of $4.3 million and average price per square foot of $2,365, both the highest in company history. “We have truly solidified our position as the strongest new development organization in the market,” Mack said to the more than 100 Corcoran Sunshine employees in attendance.

The wave of new developments hitting the market is changing more than just the skyline. It’s also shifting the fortunes of the firms that specialize in planning and selling those projects. This month, TRD surveyed more than a dozen new development firms and compiled a ranking based on the condo and rental projects they launched since the beginning of 2013, as well as those set to come to market through the end of this year. The historically dominant Corcoran Group, along with its new development arm Corcoran Sunshine, came out the clear winner in the rankings, with 2,722 units across 61 projects

“There’s a whole segment of the market that’s been largely ignored,” says Kelly Mack, president of Corcoran Sunshine, “and that’s the mid- to entry-level offerings. There’s a new generation of buildings that’s not just for the super rich; 60 percent [of the new market is] priced below $2,200 per foot.” She adds, “I realize that sounds a little nuts, but that’s the reality.”

Another condo development wave is rising, but this time it might actually benefit real people. More than half of the 2,500 new apartments slated to hit the market in Manhattan this fall will be geared toward first-time and price-sensitive buyers, according to data from real estate firm Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group. “Luxury new development remains a hot topic and a highly successful market segment, but in the next few months entry- and mid-level buildings will rejoin the conversation in a big way,” said Kelly Kennedy Mack, president of Corcoran Sunshine. “This is fantastic news for buyers in this severely undersupplied segment.”

Data from Corcoran Sunshine show a massive number of new units are set to hit the market in the coming months. Mack projected 2,500 new development units would come online by the end of the year, and that 6,000 would hit the market in 2015. That’s still a far cry from the 8,000 new development units launched in 2007, but it’s a 151 percent increase from 2013. Mack said the average asking price for all new development units rose 38 percent from last year’s second quarter, to an “astounding” $7.5 million. “It’s a larger, more glam unit,” she said, but added that “as much as the demand still exists in those categories, the higher up the chain, the buying pool gets smaller.”

More women than ever are applying to become architects, but far fewer attain their license or reach leadership positions in their firms, according to two industry reports. The percentage of female applicants to the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, the organization that administers the architecture exam, has hovered at 40% since 2012, the highest rate in the group's history. Less than 10% of applicants were women 30 years ago, the report shows.

New York City’s new development condos have been breaking price records and making headlines for their over-the-top, boom-time-like amenities. But there is still concern about just how sustainable the market for these new luxury condos actually is.
In this month’s Q&A, The Real Deal talked to new development marketing brokers and developers about the residential development landscape, including whether there’s an emerging oversupply of luxury condos after a long spell of tight inventory.

Leveraging their strongest assets—expertise in banking, investment-return modeling, trust law and tax shelters—some Wall Street executives have quit their jobs to sell luxury real estate. Tricia Hayes Cole, formerly in equity-derivative trading and sales at Lehman Brothers and Bankers Trust, holds an M.B.A. from University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. Today she is the executive managing director of Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group, the new-development division of Manhattan brokerage Corcoran Group.

Since 2007, the average size of new buildings has shrunk by more than half, with an average of 38 units per building this year, compared to 80 units in 2007, according to data from Corcoran Sunshine. While there may be fewer and smaller buildings, the average apartment size in new condo developments has grown by around 23 percent. Perhaps reflecting the rising number of families choosing to stay in New York, the average size apartment now reaches 1,560 square feet, compared with 1,265 square feet in 2007, Corcoran Sunshine data show. “The velocity of sales has been historic,” said Kelly Kennedy Mack, the president of Corcoran Sunshine. “That is because so few properties were introduced to the market over the last couple of years, so there is a lot of pent-up demand.”

When $1 billion in condominiums goes on the market later this month at 30 Park Place, a tower halfway between City Hall and the World Trade Center site, it will mark another milestone in the rebirth of lower Manhattan.
Since the city housing market crashed in 2008, developers and lenders have been shelving plans to build and finance condominiums in what were considered riskier and less-fashionable stretches of downtown below Chambers Street.

Contracts signed at newly built properties between 34th Street and the Financial District almost doubled last year to 1,222, according to brokerage Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group. Buyers agreed to pay an average of $5.7 million in the fourth quarter, up 49 percent from a year earlier and a new record. The price per square foot of those deals rose 20 percent to a high of $2,915. “It’s a new class of luxury product that’s being introduced,” said Kelly Kennedy Mack, president of Corcoran Sunshine. “We are seeing buyers who historically were attracted to Midtown come downtown. They’re getting the same high level of design and spectacular views.”

Kelly Kennedy Mack, president of the new development marketing firm Corcoran Sunshine, said many developers jumped back into the market in 2013, encouraged by low residential inventory and rising prices. However, she noted, by all jumping in at once, they’re likely contributing to a stabilization of pricing. “Moving forward, the market may be moderated by growing new development inventory, which will increase the number of sales, but could potentially stabilize price growth,” she said. “With the limits of luxury pushing further upward, I believe there is a tremendous opportunity for developers looking to build mid-market luxury buildings in Manhattan,” Mack said.

In Brooklyn, the inventory shortage of for-sale product is reaching a crisis point, because developers there are building rentals in disproportionately higher numbers since the crash. Only 2,000 new condo units combined are slated to hit the market in the next three years in Brooklyn, according to Corcoran Sunshine’s data, compared with 20,000 new rental units. “All of Manhattan and Brooklyn are in need of product right now,” said Kelly Kennedy Mack, president of Corcoran Sunshine. “The most significant need is for residences below $5 million, as listings in this category have dropped by 24 percent in the past year alone.”

The foreign billionaire is the broker’s white whale. She (or he) is somewhere out there, willing to spend big, but very, very hard to find. Corcoran Sunshine’s director of sales Gordon Hoppe said his company gets much of its information on foreign buyers from prior experience, but also does research on market trends.“We look at lifestyles, what they are used to,” he explained, adding that Corcoran Sunshine has a research department with six employees. Hoppe said Corcoran Sunshine also relies on brokers travelling overseas and participating in trade shows, where they can cultivate contacts and gather information.

Rising demand and a record shortage of apartment listings set the stage for a seller’s market in 2013. But new development stole the spotlight. After a four-year dry spell, a crop of new luxury condominiums aimed at the superrich opened in Manhattan and were snapped up faster and at prices surpassing those attained before the recession. “Newly introduced development absorbed far faster than anyone could have predicted,” said Kelly Kennedy Mack, the president of Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group. “Extremely compelling properties, limited supply and a hungry pool of both domestic and international buyers drove rapid sales.”

From outdoor swimming pools to in-penthouse parking, how the pros are squaring NYC reality with L.A. dreams.
Kelly Kennedy Mack, Corcoran Sunshine
"Young Hollywood is gravitating toward downtown, and the No. 1 neighborhood is Tribeca. It has the best dining but is also more intimate-feeling, and cobblestone streets are less flocked by paparazzi. The 60-story 56 Leonard is the tallest building in Tribeca. Your only views are the birds and the clouds. There's something very king-of-the-world about it."

Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group is one of the leading firms for planning, design, marketing and sales throughout the country. What are they doing right? President Kelly Kennedy Mack clued us in. Since Ms. Mack took charge of the company in 2006, Corcoran Sunshine has achieved over $9 billion in sales and established itself as the market leader in New York. And now, they’re thinking small—in terms of details, and apartments.

Manhattan developers are building increasingly large condos, New York City's upscale answer to the suburban McMansion. At the peak of the Manhattan real-estate boom in 2007, the average new condo—from studios to penthouses—was 1,265 square feet. Now, new condos average 1,564 square feet, a 24% increase, said Kelly Kennedy Mack, president of Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group. One measure of the change: The average apartment size at One57, the huge tower on West 57th Street, was 3,600 square feet, about 70% larger than the average at another premier condo, the Time Warner Center, when it went on the market in 2001, Ms. Mack said. "In New York, space is the ultimate status symbol," she said.

In a bear market, most developers are not inclined to hibernate like bears as a strategy for selfpreservation. Be they a Macklowe, Zeckendorf, Trump or Barnett, their modus operandi borrows from feline superstition: if they have nine lives, they’re going to spend them all building or go bankrupt trying. According to Kelly Kennedy Mack, President of Corcoran Sunshine, today’s market “has little or nothing in common with what went on before, and that’s probably a good thing.” She explained: “It brought an end to gimmicks; credibility is being rewarded, and although we’re seeing a new generation of development trading for the highest prices ever, it’s rooted in a rationality that didn’t exist in the last cycle. People understand that in a market with so much more transparency and such tighter lending restrictions, only the best developers are still able to play the game.”

Traditionally, the fall is the start of real estate’s busy season, where brokers — well-rested from a summer in Sagaponack — are champing at the bit, ready to unveil the next big thing.
But it’s almost as if summer never even began. A busy spring just kept going and going. “There was no rest for the weary this summer,” says Wendy Maitland, managing director of Town.
According to Corcoran Sunshine, 3,400 contracts were signed in Manhattan in the third quarter of 2013 — a 17 percent jump from last year. And the second quarter was even better. The second “quarter there were $7.6 billion in sales,” says Kelly Mack, president of Corcoran Sunshine. “That was the second highest ever.”
And one can only expect it to get busier. “So far in 2013, we’ve seen 1,660 new development units enter the market,” says Mack. “We’re projecting another 1,000 by the end of the year.”

When architect Ralph Walker designed his office tower for the New York Telephone Company in the 1920s, it was unlikely he envisioned his art deco skyscraper in downtown Manhattan as a place that the wealthy called home.
Walker Tower is one of a number of buildings in New York City that has been converted, or built from scratch, into luxury residences over the past two years in response to growing demand from deeppocketed Americans and foreign investors seeking stable investments.

A slew of new luxury towers has pushed downtown New York City prices above those for their counterparts to the north.

Well-heeled New Yorkers are on their way down.

The average asking price for a downtown luxury apartment was $2,777 per square foot in the fourth quarter of 2012, compared to $2,685 per square foot in comparable units above 34th Street. The data, collected by the Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group and first reported by The Real Deal, is based on a survey of 140 luxury condo and co-op buildings in Manhattan. It showed a 28 percent jump in downtown prices from 2011, while uptown prices remained relatively flat.

The day Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy in 2008, Corcoran Sunshine president Kelly Kennedy Mack was in Tribeca, where her company had just launched sales at the new Herzog & de Meuron–designed condo 56 Leonard Street.

“I remember being in Tribeca on the phone with one of the senior members of my team, talking about what the ramifications were going to be,” recalled Mack, who was 34 at the time. “It took some time to set in.”

Things were about to change drastically for Mack, who had taken the company’s reins just two years before, at a time when the real estate market in New York was reaching new highs.