Palazzo Chupi

Location: This is a horribly anxious time to be in New York real estate, especially if you’re one of the city’s biggest builders. What keeps you up at night?

Mr. Sciame: I like to say that I sleep like a baby: I sleep for two hours and I cry for two hours. Only kidding. … Any major builder in this town in 2008 is having a very good year. And we’re having a very good year.

How is that possible? It’s been incredibly unsteady; apartments are going unsold.

It has been, but as the builder, we are building that building, and the apartments that you’re trying to sell have been paid for … which is why my year has been good.  read more »

Julian Schnabel's foray into residential real estate in Manhattan has not been as smooth as the artist might have hoped. First, locals labeled Palazzo Chupi the "Pink Building." Immediately after Madonna bailed out of buying a unit in the decidedly unchild-friendly building, Mr. Schnabel lost his anchor celebrity tenant when Richard Gere put his custom-designed pad on the market for $18 million.  read more »

Still reeling from getting dissed by the Material Girl herself, Julian Schnabel's "Pompeii Red" Pallazzo Chupi in the West Village is losing one of its biggest celebrities (heck, it's only celebrity, really). Richard Gere has been quietly marketing his "massive 4BR, 4BA spread in the Chupster for about a month now, through Sotheby's broker Debbie Korb," Curbed reported today.

Mr.  read more »