N.J. Nicholas Jr. and the interior of his former apartment at 88 Central Park West

A former chief executive of Time Warner Inc. has sold his Central Park West apartment for $19.5 million, according to public records filed with the city today.

N.J. Nicholas Jr. and his wife, Llewellyn, who list their current address as 190 Riverside Drive, first listed the property at 88 Central Park West for sale in January with Kirk Henckels of Stribling & Associates. The deal closed on June 27, records show. The home, which lingered on the market for just 90 days, had been asking $22 million. [more]

1414 Avenue of the Americas (creidt: PropertyShark)

Starwood Capital, led by hospitality icon Barry Sternlicht, is scheduled to face off in court against a boutique Manhattan dental practice amid allegations that the doctors are standing in the way of converting 1414 Avenue of the Americas, at West 58th Street, into a luxury hotel.

In court papers, filed June 29 in Manhattan Supreme Court, Starwood claims it served Manhattan Endodontic Group, which occupies a penthouse space in the building, with an 18-month eviction notice. That was back in January 2011, when the hospitality firm paid $72 million for the building. The dental practice is the only tenant left in the building above the ground floor. But when the practice refused to vacate their 19th floor penthouse suite overlooking Central Park, Starwood filed suit — claiming that the dentists are digging in for a potential payout. [more]

From left: Rose's Robert Scaglion and a rendering of the Larstrand

New luxury rental developments are continuing to outdo one another in amenities in an effort to charge ever higher rents. The New York Times reported that Friedland Properties and Rose Associates plan to charge between $80 and $90 per foot for the Larstrand, a building at 227 West 77th Street, on Broadway, that broke ground last year. That’s far above the neighborhood average of $60 per square-foot, as recorded by MNS.

What warrants the astronomical rents at the $135 million, 181-unit building? Kitchens with quartz counters, Bosch appliances and Bertazzoni ovens and bathrooms tricked out with defoggable mirrors with built in televisions. The developers are also committing to building highly coveted common areas, including a 4,800-square-foot roof deck with an outdoor movie theater. [more]

A Nordstrom store (left), Gary Barnett (center) and Bloomberg with Peter Nordstrom (right)

Additional details on Nordstrom’s agreement with Extell Development to take seven floors — some 285,000 square feet — at a planned mixed-use tower on West 57th Street were released today.

The tower, which will be completed in 2017 or 2018, and sits between Seventh Avenue and Broadway, was just “better” for Nordstrom than the Hudson Yards, where Nordstrom also considered putting a Manhattan store, Nordstrom’s director of merchandizing, Peter Nordstrom said. [more]

From left: Michael Hirtenstein (credit: Hamptons Magazine), a listing shot of his TWC unit and the building exterior

Technology titan and nightlife impresario Michael Hirtenstein may have moved out of the Time Warner Center, but the condominium board claims he’s still on the hook for common charges — for an unsold storage unit.

Hirtenstein made a fortune with the sale of his Wall Street technology firm WestCom Corp., and later teamed up with Eugene Remm and Mark Birnbaum to found EMM Group, a nightlife and events company that operates the Meatpacking District hotspots Tenjune and Abe & Arthur’s. [more]

Kyle Blackmon, the Esteys' apartment

In view of the strength of the luxury market, one couple is trying to more than double its money on an apartment at 15 Central Park West.

Arthur and Evelyne Estey, who bought a four-bedroom, 5.5-bath apartment in the building for $16.9 million in 2007, have put the unit on the market for $36 million, according to data from Streeteasy.com. The listing agent is Kyle Blackmon of Brown Harris Stevens, who also lives at 15 Central Park West, and who brokered the famed $88 million deal last year for Sanford Weill’s apartment in the same building. [more]

Upper West Side new developments, from left: the Laureate, the Rushmore, the Aldyn and 846 West End Avenue

The median listing price for new development apartments in Manhattan is up 10 percent year-over-year to $1.486 million in May, according to Streeteasy.com’s new development May market report. Contract activity and median sales prices for new homes in Manhattan and Brooklyn have increased significantly year-over-year. Meanwhile inventory has declined, most significantly in Brooklyn, where it was 33 percent lower than it was a year ago, and 19 percent lower than six months ago. [more]

From left: Jay Walder, Jeffrey Stockwell, Shallini Mehra and Alan Shaker of Stribling and a shot of the interior.

Hollywood producer Kelli Konop is the buyer of former Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Jay Walder’s Upper West Side co-op, according to public records filed with the city. Konop’s co-producer credits include the surprise hit, “Juno,” as well as the cancer comedy “50/50,” Drew Barrymore’s “Whip It,” and the “Harold and Kumar” comedy franchise. She and David Weintraub, also listed on the deed, paid $1.61 million for the three-bedroom unit at 65 West 95th Street, records show. [more]

Daniel Loeb and 15 Central Park West

There’s another penthouse in 15 Central Park West that’s quietly on the market whose ultimate purchase price could shatter the record set by Dmitriy Rybolovlev, the New York Times reported, and that tops the list of homes high-end brokers would show buyers shopping in the $30 million-and-up apartment aisle.

There are only 28 current condo listings asking at least $30 million in the city right now — co-ops were excluded because foreign buyers likely wouldn’t be interested — and 15 of them are in Extell Development’s One57. The Times asked brokers and industry insiders which of those units would they first show a luxury buyer. [more]

Metro Theater

The long closed Upper West Side Metro Theater is returning to its roots and reopening as the Alamo Drafthouse theater, according to Eater which had new details on the project from an interview with West Side Rag (note: clarification appended). The original Art Deco theater, located at 2626 Broadway, between 99th and 100th streets, was open from 1933 until 2005 and Alamo’ renovation plans to restore the gutted building’s façade and neon marquee, and bring a cinema back to the site. [more]