Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

• Washington power lobbyists and Democratic insiders Tony and Heather Podesta have been busy bees since Barack Obama was elected last fall. According to a report earlier this week, the couple's separate lobbying firms have racked up $25 million in fees thus far in 2009. Now they're spending some of their earnings, it seems: The couple has picked up New York pied-à-terre, paying $3.247 million for a sixth-floor apartment at the Sohmer Piano Building at 170 Fifth Avenue. [Cityfile]
• Four months after it was pulled off the market, the Sloane Mansion on 68th Street has a new listing and a new broker. The 104-year-old mansion, which was purchased by bankers Joseph Ingrassia and John Rice III for $20 million in 2007 and was offered for $64 million last year, is now in the hands of Corcoran's Leighton Candler. And it's almost half the price it was a year ago. The new listing has it priced at $39 million. [NYO, Corcoran]
• A one-bedroom co-op at the Sherry-Netherland has gone on the market for $9.5 million with Brown Harris Stevens broker Richard Wallgren. [NYO]

• It turns out Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick aren't moving to Brooklyn after all. Shooting down a story that first appeared in the Post, the Times reports that the mystery buyers behind the $8.45 million purchase of Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany's townhouse at 17 Prospect Park West are actually "a wealthy Google engineer and his wife," who bought the home through a company called Harken Pretty and "asked that their names not be published." [NYT]
• Philanthropists Amnon and Caren Heller Barness, who paid $12 million for a penthouse at Trump Park Avenue last year, have sold their former apartment at 1016 Fifth. The two-bedroom co-op was purchased for $4.2 million by attorney Peter Sloane and his wife, real estate agent Jaar-mel Sloane. [Cityfile]
• After more than a year on the market (and a $10 million price cut), the Sloane Mansion is officially off the market. The 18,500-square-foot home had been listed with Paula Del Nunzio for or $54 million. [NYO, previously]

• Several top brokers have reportedly visited Bernie and Ruth Madoff's penthouse at 133 East 64th Street to assess its value in anticipation of a sale. The four-bedroom, five-bathroom apartment could go for $8 million or so. [NYP]
• The Sloane Mansion has undergone a $10 million price cut. It's now listed with Paula Del Nunzio for $54 million. [NYO, BHS]
• Investor Amit Ben-Haim's penthouse at 15 CPW, which was listed at $80 million last year before it was taken off the market, is now sporting a much more modest $47.5 million price tag. [Real Estalker, Sotheby's]

The Daily News has "exclusive" photos of the Sloane Mansion, the lavish townhouse on East 68th Street, which is now on the market for a mere $64 million. The 19,000-square foot manse has 30 rooms and a ballroom. But good luck getting broker Paula del Nunzio to show it to you. "'There are people out there entertained by pretending that they can purchase large mansions in New York City,' says Del Nunzio. 'I need to be sure I am not speaking to one of them.'" (Like who doesn't spend their weekends pretending to be a Russian oligarch and visiting nine-figure townhouses on the Upper East Side?) So how does del Nunzio separate the haves from the have-nots? "Buyers go through credit checks, Google searches and other identity-establishing procedures." Oh, yes! If it comes up on Google, it must be true! More photos of the Sloane Mansion below. More