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A Boston restaurateur who banked on the allure of Donald Trump’s name in deciding to buy a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., condominium-hotel unit alleges in a lawsuit that he is the victim of misleading marketing.

In the lawsuit filed Monday in Broward Circuit Court, John Taglieri also contends the developer of the project violated state securities and condo laws.

SB Hotel Associates LLC failed to register Taglieri’s unit at the beachfront Trump International Hotel & Tower as a security, though it was marketed as an investment opportunity, and wrongly promoted the project as a Trump development, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims marketing material indicated the units would be worth 36 percent more with the Trump name.

Trump is not the developer and does not have any agreement to indicate the project will operate under the Trump name when it is completed, according to the suit.

Taglieri put down $146,000 in December 2005 for a $730,000 unit in the 298-unit tower under construction at 551 N. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd. (A1A). He was told the 24-story development would be complete in 2007.

“The impetus for the lawsuit is frustration with purchasing a product he thought he was getting that was heavily promoted in a certain way by the developer and realizing that’s not the project that will be delivered,” said Taglieri’s attorney, Jared Beck of Beck & Lee in Miami.

“In this market, misrepresentation and failure to deliver what’s promised are things a developer cannot afford to get away with,” he said.  Continued…

Source: Law.com

More Blogs on:  Condo-Hotel | Trump

Hip, ultra lux, condo developments with on-site sales and marketing programs are getting rid of the typical “Sales Center” or “Presentation Center”…. they are now called “Sales Lounge’s,” well only if its an ultra cool building with an attitude ofcourse.

One of the newest Sales Lounges to hit the market is the Sales Lounge for the all new Condo Hotel project in New York - The Setai (Yes the same as the one in Miami).

The Setai Group and Zamir Equities, co-developers of The Setai, New York, have opened the New York City luxury condo building’s on-site sales lounge. The firms have also announced the sale of over 35 percent of its units after two months of pre-sales.

Kanessa Tixe, project spokesperson, tells MHN that The Setai, New York is being developed in an old commercial building. The project should be completed within eight months, and occupancy is slated for early 2008.

Located at 40 Broad Street in Manhattan’s Financial District, the 34-unit building will include 167 studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom units ranging from 475 to 3,424 square feet and from about $700,000 to $6.75 million. Continued…

Haute Living, the one-of-a-kind true luxury living lifestyle magazine gets new skins today. Operating out of Miami and New York, this “High Gloss” read uncovers the ultimate in the highest end amenities that money can buy. (Maybe the guys from Haute will read my blog post and send me a free subscription: condoDomain.com LLC, 81 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02116)

Anyway check out their new site @ www.HAUTELIVING.com (blog to follow shortly).

Also feel free to browse celebrity status estates on their search page: Haute Portfolio .

From Dubai to New York and LA to Beijing, the hottest of hot in luxury living products, homes, condos & styles are always found @ Haute Living. Check it out….its Ballinnnn!

$2000 per square foot and you can’t even live in it year round!  Gotta love NY!

Now that the long-awaited plans for Trump SoHo have finally been approved by the city, the next question is: How much are these suckers going to cost? Although the sales office has yet to open (the offering plan will be ready “imminently,” we’re told) and our requests for specific pricing information have been unsuccessful, the parties involved predict the numbers will be unprecedented below 14th Street.

“The demand is going to create a price point that will set the benchmark for pricing downtown,” says Shaun Osher of Core Group Marketing, which will be selling the hotel-condo units. “It will be well in excess of $2,000 a square foot.”

Though Donald Trump Jr. notes that “$2,000 a square foot doesn’t have the shock factor it used to” (especially to foreign buyers taking advantage of the weak dollar), that price point is still high compared to the new Hudson Square buildings a stone’s throw west of Trump SoHo.  Continued…

Source: New York Post

For the same money of one of their high-end units, you could visit our SOHO fav - 25 Bond (with only one unit left).  Also, visit other NY Condos and condo-hotels here.

The past 2 weeks we have been flying around a lot of topics surrounding the “so called” discount brokerage model (and the 60/16 Minutes Piece that aired recently) and since then there have been some heated blog posts on it here @ the Condo Blog, Barbara Corcoran’s Blog, Inman’s Blog among others.

Well, in my own writings I thought to myself who has a unique place in this market, thats been through the thin & thick of it, an expert and yet can honestly open up and give a great opinion — The Queen of Real Estate herself — Barbara Corcoran of course! Below is her response posted on the Barbara Corcoran blog today.

The way I see it, the only thing wrong with discount brokerages is the word “discount”. Most people associate discount with poor quality, and that’s just not true of the many discount firms that have sprung up in the last 5 years.

There’s room for lots of different ways for sellers to sell real estate. And thanks to the Internet much control has been put into the hands of the consumer. Sellers today can employ any of the exceptional full-service firms to appraise, stage, negotiate, advertise and show their home. Many sellers are very happy to pay a full 5 or 6 percent commission for the full service; not everyone is a born salesperson. Some sellers are eager to do a portion of the work and they like to choose from the a la carte menu of services offered by the discount brokerage firms. I expect that more full service firms will begin to offer a la carte menus.

And that’s what always makes the Real Estate business so exciting. There’s lots of houses to sell and many commissions to earn. There’s one thing you can count on. The business as we know it today, will continue to change tomorrow. And that, for me, is what always keeps me interested.”

Rumor has it that one of the buyers of one of the $50 million-plus condo at The Plaza is Italian real-estate tycoon Luigi Zunino, the CEO of Milan-based Risanamento S.p.A., one of Italy’s largest real-estate development companies.

The Plaza Residences Website

The Math:  9100 sq/ft X $6100 per sq/ft = $56,120,000 (bonus = free 500 sq.ft terrace)

Sources: The Real Estate Bloggers, Observer, NYTimes

Developer and philanthropist Steven Belkin is well known about town for his business acumen, incredible generosity and ownership of the Atlanta Hawks. Belkin was the sole bidder last fall when Boston mayor Tom Menino was looking for someone to develop a skyline-changing building. If all goes as planned the building at 111 Federal Street will be 1,000 feet tall and 80 stories with 1.3 million square feet of office space and 40,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. It will also include an enclosed one-acre Town Green on the ground floor and a rooftop garden complete with trees.

Source: Greater Boston TV.com

Steve - Don’t forget a residential component.

Zillow founder Rich Barton reports in the company’s blog that there is a pending sale on his Seattle home.

“I’m sure thousands of you have been following the saga of my attempts to sell my house in Seattle (OK, maybe not thousands, but it certainly feels that way),” he writes.

In fact, his home sale was the subject of a Wall Street Journal, and his home’s Zillow page has collected more than 5,800 views.

The newspaper reported that Barton had originally priced his 3,740-square-foot, four-bedroom, 3.5-bath home at $3.48 million when it hit the market last summer, which was about $1 million more than he paid for the home in 2002. But the listing price has been reduced.  Continued… (Source:  Inman News)
See The Listing 

Barton’s Blog Post 

Pro Footbal Hall of Fame Michael Irvin JV’s with Tetra for new condominiums developments in lower-income neighborhoods.

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The Tetra Cos., a Virginia Beach, Va.-based real estate development and management firm, announced today that it is teaming up with pro football star and television personality Michael Irvin to form TMI Group (Tetra Michael Irvin).

The joint venture will serve as a private equity fund to finance and promote Tetra’s mixed-use real estate developments–many of which will be in poor areas–throughout the southeastern United States.

“I found the Tetra Cos. through my attorney,” Irvin, who was recently inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, tells MHN. “I told him that I wanted to find some good people—people who I could work with; people with the same intentions and goals as me.”

Irvin, who grew up in a poor neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., says that he decided to get involved in real estate because he is determined to help low- and middle-income people obtain housing and feel proud of where they live.  Continued…

Source:  Multi-Housing News

There he was in Us Weekly, handsome Orlando Bloom. His left hand cradled a folder, the word ATELIER—as in the 46-story condo tower on way-west 42nd Street—printed on the front. Paparazzi moment or genius product placement?

It’s hard to tell, as projects entering the market are now linked with boldface names almost as frequently as Lindsay Lohan is with partying. (Lohan herself, in fact, is said to have poked around Atelier.) It’s a way to generate buzz for a new building, especially in a crowded field. Leonardo DiCaprio has been connected with Hudson Blue, Naomi Campbell with the Cipriani Club Residences, Scarlett Johansson with the Chelsea Club on West 19th Street.

Sometimes, developers give celebrities price breaks in return for cachet, says publicist Stephen Larkin. He says discounts can reach 20 percent. If celebrities are hosting condo launch parties, or lending their creative vision to the project, they’re probably getting paid outright. Continued…

See Atelier Condos 627 West 42nd (Triple Mint)

See more New York Condos

Source: NYTimes

Other Recent Movie Star Discounts:  Lindsay Lohan 1, Lindsay Lohan 2

Real-estate mogul Donald Trump continues to move forward on plans for a megadevelopment in Charlotte that could include the tallest building in the city, local officials said.

“It’s a very serious effort,” Charlotte’s economic-development director Tom Flynn said this week. “It’s not just a flash in a pan.”

City and county staff members have had preliminary discussions with Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., about the plans to build luxury condominiums, a five-star hotel and an office tower. The complex could include a 60-plus-story building on the southern edge of downtown, on Tryon Street.

To date, the tallest building in Charlotte is the 60-story Bank of America Corporate Center. 

Source:  Journal Now

We asked Barbara, the queen of real estaet brokerage, “the question.”  Hopefully we will hear back soon.  Stay tuned for results here or follow the post on Barbara Corcoran’s blog.

Last week, developers Arthur and William Zeckendorf announced they had sold all of the building’s 202 units, 15 of them for more than $20 million, including an eight-bedroom penthouse to hedge-fund executive Daniel Loeb for $45 million.  Bob Costas one of the latest buyers at 15CPW.
Visit their website at 15CPW.com if you want to see on what you missed out on! And if your looking to drop in the $20M range…we still recommend our NYC fav - 20 Bond, I think $19M will buy you the entire floor (last unit). For all other New York Condos visit www.NY.condoDomain.com

The Department of Buildings on Tuesday approved the plans and the application for a building permit for Donald Trump’s proposed 42-story condo-hotel on Spring St. in a manufacturing district in Hudson Square, a project that has roused intense opposition from preservation advocates.
The approval of the application for 242 Spring St. at Varick St. did not yet include the actual permit to continue construction on the site, where the foundation is nearly completed, according to a department spokesperson.
The developer, actually Bayrock/Sapir Organization, with the participation of Trump and his grown children, still had to submit nearly 20 technical documents before a permit could be issued, according to a Department of Buildings statement.

Continued….

or visit the DEV WEBSITE:  www.TRUMPSOHO.com 

Source: The Villager

Rudy and Joe from Sellsius (to no surprise) have raised the bar in real estate blogging one more time!

They are organizing the first every natiowide Blog Tour and they are doing it in an RV!  What could this entail?  Keg stands, camp-outs and of course, traffic!

“This summer, we are hitting the road to promote blogging, real estate bloggers, real estate agents, Sellsius°, the Inman Bloggers Connect and more. We will start Blog Tour USA in New York City and end in San Francisco at the Bloggers Connect July 31st, zigzagging our way to visit all our blogging brethren.”

Joe, Rudy - Boston better be on your map!

Our Pal Philippe Starck from London based design development firm YOO is on the loose again in New York City…this time in Gramercy Park!  After 2 super successful development (Downtown by Starck and the Jade), Starck is on to his third new condo development.  Victor Homes Development is behind this New York Condo.  Also, by the looks of the temp website, units will range from $500k to $2M+.  Contact Mr. SHVO for more questions (and let him know condoDomain sent ya).  Thx!

So for this new project on Gramercy Park - check out www.GramercyStarck.com

Grammy Award-winning, Puerto Rican pop singer Ricky Martin reportedly is again buying in New York City, paying about $7 million for a condo unit in a new development in the NoHo area, and also has listed his Miami Beach mansion for $16.9 million. Martin, 35, is a serial buyer and seller of real estate, so his New York purchase, reported this week by the New York Post’s fine celebrity real estate columnist Braden Keil, is just the latest in a string of properties he has owned. Public records don’t yet show that the deal has been recorded for the three-bedroom, 2,637-square-foot unit in the mixed-use development at 40 Bond Street. Continued…

Oh Ricky - you missed out! For just a bit more you could of had entered an entirely different living class at our NOHO FAV — 25 Bond!

The Globe today gave bloggers some praise on the front page of the real estate section. This is a big step in this very “traditional and NON-Real-Estate-and-Technology” town.

Bloggers headlined were: Our very own John. A Keith, Teresa Boardman, Dan Green, Jim Cronin, Stephen Meltzer, Joel Burslem, Brad Inman, Pat Kitano , us and two others in which we would much rather not give them the publicty.

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Agents are going online to get knowledge and information — and their opinions — out

That’s a definite no-no, Keith explained in his post, titled “How to annoy just about everyone.”

Over at condoDomain.com, another Boston-based real estate blog, Anthony Longo is writing about a warning issued by the Massachusetts Multiple Listing Service about using a new feature from website Zillow.com, which has emerged as an industry rival. Continued…

Source: Boston Globe

We took a few days off this week and kicked back at The Standard in Miami. Got to hook up with Kamal Hotchandani from the elite ever popular Haute Living Magazine, Joey Goldman from Goldman Properties Miami and also a blogging friend from Aventura, Peter Santiago.

Took a little cruise of downtown Miami’s waterfront and all the new condo development. Passed by one of my all time favorite buildings - Ten Museum Park. Enjoy the pic’s.

Ten Museum Park Rendering from website.

Actress Heather Locklear recently paid $1.1 million for a condominium unit in Beverly Hills. Locklear, who is in the midst of divorcing Richie Sambora, purchased the two-bedroom, 2,111 square-foot unit about a month ago, according to Big Time Listings.

The unit features two full baths, one partial bath, a large living/ dining room, an eat-in kitchen, and laundry room.

Locklear’s main residence to date is an 8,115 square-foot home on 3.8 acres at 4970 Summit View Drive, in Thousand Oaks, California. It is unknown whether the house will be part of the divorce settlement with Sambora.  More on LA Condos
Source: Celebrity Houses Blog

Congress Street or Summer Street — which will be the coolest?

Two development teams are competing to create the new “main street” in a reinvigorated neighborhood of old wharf buildings across the Fort Point Channel from downtown Boston.”Summer Street is the spine,” insisted Tony Goldman, who has done stylish urban redevelopment before, in New York’s Soho and Miami’s South Beach, and now has a portfolio of 11 brick buildings, clustered around Summer, that he’s intending to develop.

A block to the north is Congress, the center of a chunk of buildings owned by Berkeley Investments Inc.

“Congress is going to be where a lot of restaurants and stores are — the heart of the whole district, where people want to hang out,” said Young K. Park, Berkeley’s president. “Summer is much too wide, much too trafficked,” he said. Continued…

Source: Boston Globe

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We are so excited to see this development neighborhood built…in our opinion it is all going to be awesome! Each property has put up their temporary website. Goldman’s - www.BostonWharf.com and Park’s - www.fp3boston.com. Park does though have his fair share of work cut out for him to stand next to Goldman’s not only experience in leading neighbohoods such as SOHO and South Beach to worldwide status….but his creativity & passion that he put into every pieces of his product will be tough to top. Hes wanted to do a project like this in Boston his whole life…and now he finally has got his shot.

Above Left to Right - RG Kahoe, Kelly Chase, Tony Goldman from the  Goldman Properties team and Tony Longo from condoDomain

Got a sneak peak email from Goldman Properties Managing Partner Albert Price today. He shared with us that the 25 Bond Street website is live as of right now!

If you are truly looking for a ‘one of a kind’ home in Manhattan 25 Bond has just 2 units left. Check it out at www.25bond.com and if you have discrete inquiries about the property which spans 100′ of street frontage on Bond Street in New York ….then contact them!

More to come 25 Bond soon!

[ Schrager Goldman Dance on Bond Street ]

(From Left to Right - Christian Major, VP West Coast, Matt Busby, Lead Web Architect, Anthony Longo, Founder & Nick Sudano, SVP Market Development)

Missing from the photo: Pete Flint, Richard Barton, Fergie, Brand Inman and Glenn Kelman (j/k)

Looking for a new condo in Minneapolis? Maybe you should check out the W Minneapolis …

As you can clearly see above we got a new T’s from our blog pal Derrik Dyka @ Flippin Rich who is marketing the all new W Minneapolis. Now that your on the Condo Blog, your worldwide baby!

Click here to check out some new photos of the property or visit their website at www.wminneapolis.com
Other Posts:

Minneapolis Condos | Chicago T-Shirt Post | Minneapolis T-Shirt Post

HBO’s “Entourage” has invaded a Hollywood condo complex, and the residents aren’t happy.

The condos, located at the foot of celeb-hiker favorite Runyon Canyon, has become home to the boys of “Entourage,” along with a large crew, lights and cameras.

At first, residents of the complex, including porn king Ron Jeremy, were told that shooting would go on for a week or so, and that their daily lives wouldn’t be affected. But a TMZ source inside the complex reveals that the group has been anything but unnoticeable. Our source said that crew dudes can be found lounging in a top-floor gym, and that the pool area has become a smoking section for the show’s grips and cameramen. “It has definitely made a huge impact having the crew roaming around,” said the source.

For those who watch the show, the reason for the new location is that the new season finds “Johnny Drama” finally getting his own place. The residents at this condo just wish it wasn’t in their building!

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See, living in LA isn’t always that great and Boston has its pluses. (Not to mention it is supposed to snow tomorrow!)

Source: TMZ

OH, and because we love him. Here is an all time clip from Entourage!  Just imagine ARI GOLD crusing your lobby & sundeck!

Donald Trump is using his assistant-grooming reality show to sell units in his second Las Vegas condominium tower.

For a one-hour episode of “The Apprentice” scheduled to air Sunday, contestants were tasked with devising a marketing plan for Trump Tower II, which like its predecessor will be 64 stories of gold glass just off the Las Vegas Strip, developers said.

The challenge is formidable. Las Vegas’ once-hot condo market has cooled in the past year, leaving dozens of projects stalled in blueprint stages and many condo buyers wanting out.

Trump’s Las Vegas projects are partnerships with casino owner Philip Ruffin, owner of the New Frontier hotel-casino next door.

Both towers include about 1,300 luxury condominium units, with a hotel rental option, at prices ranging from $700,000 to $7 million.

Tower I is expected to cost $600 million and be completed in early 2008. Tower II, targeted for completion two years later, is estimated to cost $700 million. Gross sales on the towers are projected to reach $2.5 billion, making it Trump’s largest project to date, said Jack Wishna, a dealmaker involved in the project.

Shop all Las Vegas Condos

Source:  Hollywood Reporter