Russian-born technology mogul and Bay Area resident Nahum Guzik spent $4.2 million on Unit 10L at 15 Central Park West, according to a property deed filed today. Mr. Guzik is also an arts patron. According to the Web site of Chamber Music San Fransciso, he funds a sort of American Idol for the classical set:  read more »

Michael Holtz, the owner of the upscale travel agency Smart Flyer and one of the first owners in Richard Meier's Perry Street Tower, bought a $4.86 million condo at 15 Central Park West on Thursday, according to city records.

Mr. Holtz signed the contract for Unit 14K in August 2005, just a few months after he sold his 66th-floor, three-bedroom condo in yet another star-studded building, the Park Imperial, to P. Diddy for almost $4 million. Mr.  read more »

Goldman Sachs partner Alan Shuch paid $8.2 million for a condo at Fifteen Central Park West, according to city records on Thursday. Mr. Shuch, who is head of assett management at the firm, and Leslie Wohlman are listed as the buyers of apartment 26D on the Jan. 4 property deed.

Another Goldman partner, Ashok Varadhan, purchased a $16.03 million condo at the Zeckendorf brothers' famed buidling just two days earlier.

Sports announcer Bob Costas has closed on his purchase of a condo at the Zeckendorf brothers' Fifteen Central Park West. Mr. Costas paid over $11 million for Unit 8C, according to a city deed filed on Wednesday.

He and wife Jill Sutton are the latest celebrity buyers to officially close on one of the 202 condos.  read more »

Wall Street executive Richard Cantor paid $13.9 million for an apartment in the star-studded Fifteen Central Park West, according to city records. The deed lists Mr. Cantor and wife Pamela as the buyers of apartment 12C in the Robert A.M. Stern-designed building.

According to a New York Times story in March 2000, Mr. Cantor had recently retired from active management of money-management firm Neuberger Berman Inc. He served as vice chairman once retired. Ms. Cantor, according to the Times, is a psychiatrist.

The best place to come from, if you want a fair crack at buying really immense Manhattan condos, is either the United Arab Emirates or the Internet.

City records filed this week show that Sultan Ahmed Al-Qassimi, who apparently belongs to the ruling family of Sharjah--Dubai's neighboring emirate--spent $4.95 million late last month on a low-floor apartment at the Robert A.M. Stern-designed Fifteen Central Park West. (Tune into this week's Manhattan Transfers column to read about a haute broker who bought a place one flight up.)

But across the park, that was overshadowed by a mystery buyer named CPW EXODUS REALTY, LLC, whose October deed for a $16.6 million apartment purchase was filed in city records four minutes later than Mr. Al-Qassimi's.  read more »

Together, the newly converted Plaza Hotel and the newly constructed Fifteen Central Park West represent the pinnacle of Manhattan’s luxury development boom this decade—amenity-laden condos with sweeping views of Central Park and hoity buyer rosters to rival any building’s in the city. But only one can be No. 1 in price and it looks like, so far, the Plaza has a slight edge.

The Plaza’s most expensive condos have sold for $6,400 a square foot, said Elizabeth Stribling, whose Stribling Marketing Associates is the exclusive sales agent for the building owned by Elad Properties. That's roughly $100 greater than the highest per-foot price attained at Fifteen Central Park West, developed by William and Arthur Lie Zeckendorf. That price is $6,288, according to Terra Holdings, the holding company where the Zeckendorf brothers are co-chairmen.  read more »

Not every buyer at Fifteen Central Park West, the development du anneé, has ready cash to put down. Evelyne and Arthur Estey, recent buyers of Unit 7D, took out a $9 million mortgage to help pay for their $16.85 million condo, according to city records.

Both Mr. and Ms. Estey, of Bedford, NY, have raised funds for Yale (Mr. Estey is a '78 alum). And when he donated money to a Republican congressional candidate last year, Mr. Estey listed his occupation as a managing director at Lehman Brothers. We couldn't find a record of him at the firm now, though.  read more »

New York's newest Best Buy is scheduled to open tomorrow in the unlikeliest of places: the base of uber-luxurious condo Fifteen Central Park West. The store will unfold over at least 46,000 square feet, and Best Buy reportedly paid $75 million for a 15-year lease.

As The New York Times noted late last year, the store marks another sign of Columbus Circle's transformation:

Brokers said the retail space at 15 Central Park West, scheduled for occupancy a year from now, was the final slice that would complete a radical transformation of Columbus Circle over the last decade.

“This is definitely the last piece of the urban streetscape puzzle in that area,” said Gene Spiegelman, an executive director at Cushman & Wakefield, which is marketing the space. “It’s just so alive now. Think back 15 years ago — this was a dust bowl.”

The store, of course, will front on Broadway and not on Central Park West. The building's condo owners--including Denzel Washington, Sandy Weill and Norman Lear, as well as 15CPW's developers, William and Arthur Zeckendorf--will not have to mix with the shoppers below.

The Observer's Chris Shott will have more on the opening on Friday.