Barbara Corcoran

Barbara Corcoran was on Larry King Live last night as part of a panel on the mortgage mess (transcript here). The founder of the Corcoran Group, now an author and TV personality, couldn't understand why more people weren't now buying homes and quickly:

I think you ought to be out there shopping the market now. You have three times more inventory. Prices have been reduced by over 15 percent in many markets, some markets 66 percent. And there's cheap money still. Why wouldn't you be shopping right now? I can't imagine why people are sitting at home in their La-Z-Boy chairs.

Barely a few minutes later, though, in response to a question about the origins of the mortgage crisis, Ms.  read more »

Gossip Girl actress Blake Lively is so just one of the people, while Helena Christensen is categorically not. Ms. Lively went to Café Habana over the weekend and waited in line! For more than half an hour! Meanwhile, Ms. Christensen walked up to the eatery but kept on walking when she saw there was a wait. [P6]  read more »

Even if real estate is New York's version of the movie biz, and even if Barbara Corcoran and Louise Sunshine are the grand dames of high-end realty, you wouldn't expect they'd sell out an "Advance Business and Communications" class for brokers.

But The Observer has learned that there's no space left in the Real Estate Board of New York class that's being taught next Monday by the ladies, plus Clark Halstead (who started his own eponymous brokerage after co-founding Sotheby's International Realty).

If you're an ambitious agent, show up at REBNY's Lexington Avenue headquarters at 5:30, and push your way in. Ms. Corcoran (whose first book is called If You Don't Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons in Your Pigtails & Other Lessons I Learned from My Mom) might give some hints about her new work. And Ms. Sunshine, according to a publicist, will be talking about "how she transformed new condominium development into an upscale lifestyle approach." Sounds awesome.

What kind of person is Barbara Corcoran? She founded New York City’s most gargantuan realty brokerage (which she sold on September 9, 2001 for about $70 million) and has written a best-selling business book, If You Don’t Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails. Plus, she’s a pixie-like TV personality with an upcoming CNBC star vehicle.

And she knows just what kind of person you are.  read more »

• Are the Clintons the First Family of Manhattan? They've left their presidential mark on fancy restaurants (Tavern on the Green), hip restaurants (Spotted Pig), quasi-hip clubs (Crobar), karao, and even karaoke bars (2nd on 2nd). [Gridskipper]
• The Atlantic Yards project is hard to wrap one's arms around (it's 22 acres big), but Curbed has an omniscient guide to understanding the ins and outs. But it goes to show that even the experts don't know how much it will cost, or how long it'll take. [Curbed]
• Realty queen bee Barbara Corcoran thinks the above-mentioned Web site is "always so very sweet" to her. Does she read it? [B.C.]
• If you're a broker, and you photoshop a listing for a house that's eventually bought by the city's most important real-estate appraiser, you're probably going to get caught. [Matrix] - Max Abelson
  • 0 comments

A state judge threw out Barbara Corcoran's lawsuit Monday that tried to collect $1.3 million in commissions for introducing him to the investors who salvaged his Riverside South project.

In the suit, Corcoran claimed that the sale of the high rises to Extell and the Carlyle Group last year triggered the payment of the outstanding portion of the $4 million commission that Trump had promised. But Judge Richard Lowe III wrote tha, according to their contract, the commission was only due when Trump sold his share in the Hudson Waterfront partnership, and not when the partnership sold off the land.

In the meantime, Trump will pay 2.5 percent of the distributions received from his investment, and, unless an appeal changes anything, Corcoran will pay Trump his legal fees.

-Matthew Schuerman

Honestly, we haven't been reading much of The Press lately, ever since the cartoon debacle. But "The 50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers" issue remains a classic.

However, this year's list is quite different, with an influx of real estate big wigs. Bruce Ratner, Larry Silverstein, David Walentas, Shaya Boymelgreen, and Michael Shvo all make the list. Barbara Corcoran and Steven Roth--who were on last year's-- are spared.

Considering that none of these guy made the list in 2005, why are they now so loathesome in 2006? Perhaps, the ever-changing editorial team at The Press is now filled with more avid Curbed readers, rather than critics of downtown hipster DJs.

- Michael Calderone

It's been almost impossible to escape the Corcoran Group's rebranding effort, that began on the Internet and spread throughout the city. The new ad campaign appears in magazines, at bus stops, and on billboards. Photoserve.com takes a look at how the brokerage tapped photographer Tina Barney--who rarely does commercial work--for the campaign.

And also how it reflects the post-Barbara Corcoran transition.  read more »

"I really wanted all the photography to be original.," says [Christina Lowris, VP, marketing and advertising]. "In the past we've used stock images for our advertising --and then I've seen them later in some hotel magazines. This is a whole new branding exercise for us as Barbara [Corcoran] has sold the company and the advertising and the photography we use is reflecting that."

- Michael Calderone

In December, Barbara Corcoran told The Observer that if she wasn't invited to the Gods and Goddesses-themed holiday party, she would probably crash it.

We're actually not sure if Babs ever made it, but from the sound of this "event report," Corcoran CEO Pam Liebman was definitely in control of the festivities.

"Liebman then commanded everyone to “have the best time ever,” at which point New Kids on the Block’s “Hangin’ Tough” blared through the room. An intentional goof, the music stopped as soon as Liebman declared that the song did not belong at the party, and she needed the emperor to bring out a new DJ. Soon the emperor emerged (another actor), followed by a troupe of dancers, as the DJ switched the soundtrack to Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl.” Then dancers dressed in Roman garb performed onstage, and the guards handed out red feather fans to the Corcoran employees."

Yes, this is where all those broker commissions wind up at the end of the year. (BizBash via Gawker)  read more »

-Michael Calderone

After brisk sales, some billionaires are taking a step back from the 15 Central Park West, according to the New York Post. And at Trump Park Avenue, a prince moves into the apartment above A-Rod for $6.2 million.

Barbara Corcoran first joked about firing CEO Pam Liebman, and then rode off into the sunset.

The New York Post looks at what $1 million can buy you these days in Manhattan.

Richard Meier and Renzo Piano have a friendly chat in the New York Times. Piano: “The fact that art is robbery is well known--robbery without masks. In some ways that's good. It's robbery where you give back, like Robin Hood.”  read more »

And the Top of the Rock is ready to battle the Empire State Building.

-Michael Calderone

“I had become an expert at airbrushing,” said 56-year-old Barbara Corcoran.  read more »

“I had become an expert at airbrushing,” said 56-year-old Barbara Corcoran.  read more »

Go into television! So learned our admirably flat-chested Michael Calderone when he talked to Barbara Corcoran about her new TV venture; she's got lots of ideas, and only one is an elimination contest among people who want to work in real estate! Just what kind of security plan is Goldman Sachs pressing for at Ground Zero? Matthew Schuerman finds that almost anything will do--as long as the squabbling and jurisdictional chaos among the state agenices, private security forces and local police and emergency workers can be quelled.  read more »

Over the past year, the major Manhattan real-estate brokerages have released a fusillade of market r  read more »

"Oh my God, this is so much worse than I pictured!" said real-estate guru Barbara Corcoran, speaking  read more »

In the past year, Manhattan's top residential real-estate brokerages have been remade through a furi  read more »

Each October, the few female ginkgo trees in New York drop their horrid pods in a misguided attempt  read more »

Wednesday 12th Jitney alert!  read more »

Manhattan real-estate maven Barbara Corcoran has a reputation forparlaying her high–profile style  read more »

It was going to be a lavish affair: The 600 brokers of the Corcoran Group gathered on top of the ice  read more »

On Friday, Sept.  read more »

INDUSTRY SPLIT OVER HOW TO LIST ALL ITS PRICEY CITY PROPERTIES With the Internet sagging around the  read more »

The New York Times is using the word "assessment" to refer to its 1,662-word essay on its coverage o  read more »

On the morning of Feb.  read more »

Dan Leone was trying to stifle his sobs. It was 10 P.M. on Feb. 7, approximately 80 hours since Mr.  read more »