Going, Going, Back Again

IF you thought that those grand apartments at the sold-out 15 Central Park West were gone forever, think again.

Fewer than a third of the 201 coveted apartments in Robert A. M. Stern’s limestone-clad complex near the foot of Central Park, at West 61st Street, have now closed. But of those, five apartments were put back on the market almost as soon as the ink on the deeds was dry, most even before the closing documents appeared in public records. As more apartments close, more listings are likely.

Brokers say the new listings — some from investors who bet on the project’s success, others from buyers whose family circumstances changed — have generated a huge wave of interest, even though many units being resold don’t have the prized unobstructed Central Park views. A deal was recently reached on the most luxurious unit being resold, on a high floor with park views, after five days on the market, for about $1 million more than the asking price.

Michael Holtz, a real estate investor and the owner of a luxury travel company called the Smart Flyer, closed on a sprawling three-bedroom on the ninth floor (2,526 square feet, including a dining room and master bedroom with a floor-to-ceiling bay window) on Dec. 11 for about $4.8 million. Three days later, he had it back on the market for $8.5 million, or more than $3,300 a square foot, according to his broker, Jon Capobianco of the Corcoran Group.

Since then, Mr. Capobianco said, he and his team have been showing the apartment three or four times a day, even though it is in the 43-story tower on the Broadway side of the project rather than the 20-story “house” building closer to the park. Rather than facing the park, the living room faces west toward Broadway and beyond, while the master bedroom faces an interior garden rather than a full view of the park. The park is visible from several angles, he said.

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Dorothy Somekh, a broker at Halstead Property, is offering a two-bedroom on the seventh floor for $4.75 million, or $3,200 a square foot. She is both the broker and a co-owner. She closed on the apartment, with a partner, last month, more than two years after she signed a contract, soon after the project came on the market. Her apartment (also listed for rent at $16,000 a month) faces west toward Broadway.

She said that her partner was eager to sell, but she would have preferred to wait, at least until the opening of the building’s 75-foot lap pool, restaurant and other amenities, which far exceed those available in traditional prewar co-ops that the project seeks to emulate.

“I wouldn’t sell it now if it was up to me,” she said. “Prices will be higher then.”

On Dec. 14, a three-bedroom with 2,750 square feet of space on the 29th floor of the tower closed for about $7.4 million and was put back on the market the same day, with the father-and-son brokerage team of Doug and Matthew Russell at Brown Harris Stevens. They listed it at $12.5 million. The buyers had planned to move in, the brokers said, but decided they no longer needed the huge apartment.

The listing generated “six to eight” showings a day, according to the brokers, and by early the next week they had two offers at the asking price of $12.5 million. The apartment has park views from the living room, dining room and a bedroom, and partial river views from the master bedroom.

With so much interest, the brokers decided to step up the pace. They notified buyers and their brokers that they would have to present a sealed bid with their “best and final offer” by noon on Wednesday. One couple flew in to view the apartment that morning, and stood by at a Brown Harris Stevens office when the three final bids were opened. According to several brokers, the couple won the right to sign a contract with a bid of roughly $13.5 million.

In all the hubbub, the selling brokers never had time to post pictures of the place on their Web site.