Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

• Scott Bessent, the founder of the hedge fund Bessent Capital and a protégé of billionaire George Soros, has taken a loss on the sale on his duplex co-op at One Sutton Place South. The four-bedroom, 11-room spread, which Bessent bought for $12 million in 2007 and listed for $12.5 million last October, has been sold to Joshua and Juliet Berkowitz for $9.5 million. The apartment was once home to Patricia Kennedy Lawford, the younger sister of JFK. [Cityfile]
• Brian Brille, Bank of America's former head of investment banking and its newly appointed Asia-Pacific chief, has gone into contract to sell his apartment at Trump Park Avenue. The 5,473-square-foot pad, which Brille bought for $8.6 million in 2007 and put up for sale last month, had been listed for $14.75 million by Corcoran's Carrie Chiang and Loy Carlos. [Cityfile, Corcoran]
• Radio host Alan Colmes has put his triplex penthouse in the Silk Building on East 4th Street up for dale. Colmes first listed the two-bedroom apartment for $1.995 million in March, but pulled it off the market in September. It's now listed for $1.895 million. [NYM, Corcoran]
• New Jersey Nets rookie Terrence Williams has finally found himself a home. Williams is paying $7,000-a-month to live in the same Palisades, NJ, townhouse where Vince Carter formerly lived. [NYT]

• Theater and movie producer Marty Richards is still trying to unload his River House apartment. It's been 10 years now that the 14-room maisonette has been on and off the market—with prices ranging from $11.5 million (in 2003) to $29 million (in 2006)—but Richards is giving it another go. The Oscar-winning producer has given the listing to broker Kathy Sloane for a third time, and it's currently listed for $13.5 million. [NYO]
• Brian Brille, Bank of America's former head of investment banking who was named president of the bank's Asia-Pacific region three weeks ago, has put his 5,473-square-foot apartment at Trump Park Avenue on the market. The four-bedroom pad, which Brille and his wife Leslie picked up for $8.6 million back in 2007, is listed for $14.75 million with Corcoran's Carrie Chiang and Loy Carlos. [Cityfile, Corcoran]
• Russian real estate investor Janna Bullock sold her townhouse on East 67th Street in January for $24.925 million. Now she's looking to sell her 21-foot-wide manse at 14 East 82nd Street. The home is now on the market for $20 million with Sotheby's SVP Nikki Field. [Real Deal] More

• Nicolas Cage may have found a buyer for his 48th-floor apartment at the Olympic Tower on Fifth Avenue. Cage has reportedly received two offers on the 3,550-square-feet pad, which was most recently listed for $9.75 million. [NYP, BHS]
• Investment banker Tom Whalen and his wife Dana English have closed on the sale of their 8,000-square-foot townhouse at 34 West 10th Street. The 19th-century manse, which was rumored to be selling to an unidentified Texas banker for $15 million earlier this summer, sold for $15.4 million to an entity called Go Yard LLC. [Cityfile]
• Arvind and Shilpa Sanger have paid $11.98 million for a penthouse at 170 East End Avenue. Arvind, who founded Geosphere Capital in 2007, previously worked for Steve Cohen's Connecticut-based SAC Capital. [Cityfile]More

• Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Thani, a member of Qatar's royal family, appears to be turning bullish on the Manhattan real estate market: He just raised the price of his apartment at Trump Park Avenue by $4 million. The three-bedroom pad, which al-Thani bought for $6.1 million in 2005 and put on the market for $14 million in 2008, was reduced to $10 million in February. It's now priced at $14 million again with broker Carrie Chiang. [Cityfile, Corcoran]
• Developer Alexandre Bosoni and his wife, Maria, have closed on a penthouse at 170 East End Avenue that they went into contract to purchase in 2006. The couple paid $11.6 million for the 4,900-square-foot pad. [Cityfile]
• Valerie Rozen, the daughter of former Goldman Sachs partner Bob Mnuchin, paid $4.8 million for a sixth-floor apartment at 433 East 74th Street. [Cityfile]
• Actress Tuesday Weld has dropped the price of her mansion in Montauk. The 1.2-acre waterfront estate, which went on the market for $9.9 million two years ago, is now priced at $7.75 million. [Newsday, T&C]

• Nascar driver Jimmie Johnson has put his 3,200-square-foot loft at 32 West 18th Street on the market for $4.395 million. Johnson and his wife Chandra picked up the three-bedroom pied-à-terre for $3.98 million in 2007. [WSJ, Halstead]
• Robert Cohen, the divorce attorney who counts Michael Bloomberg, Ivana Trump, Henry Kravis and Uma Thurman as clients, has picked up a new place. (He sold his apartment at 920 Fifth Avenue for $8.3 million last year.) Cohen and his wife, Stephanie Stiefel, paid $4.4 million for a two-bedroom apartment at One Beekman Place. [NYO]
• Philanthropists Amnon and Caren Heller Barness have cut the price of their penthouse at Trump Park Avenue for a second time since it was listed last year for $15 million. The four-bedroom is now $12.5 million. [Cityfile, PDE]

• 50 Cent has put his estate in Farmington, Conn. back on the market—for about $8 million less than what he was seeking two years ago when when he first listed it. The 51,000-square-foot house, which comes with 19 bedrooms, 37 bathrooms, and a fully-functional club with stripper poles, had been listed for $14.5 million when it was taken off the market last month. It now can be yours for the bargain basement price of $10.9 million. [NYP, NYDN, CB]
• The former home of the late novelist Mary Cantwell has sold after nearly two years on the market. The 3,720-square-foot townhouse at 21 Perry Street, which was first listed for $7.75 million in 2007, was purchased for $5.7 million by Brandon Haley, a portfolio manager at Ken Griffin's Chicago-based hedge fund, Citadel Investment Group, and his wife Anna. [Cityfile]More

• It's good news/bad news for Alex Rodriguez: The injured Yankees slugger has finally unloaded his Trump Park Avenue apartment for $9.9 million, nearly six months after first putting it on the market for $14 million. But he's been forced to cut the price of his Coral Gables mansion once again. Origiinally listed for $14.9 million last fall, A-Rod dropped the price down to $12.3 million in January. It's now available for $11 million. [P6, CB]
• Retired Avon CFO Robert Corti and his wife Joann have paid $2.075 million for a 28th-floor apartment at 300 East 54th Street. [Cityfile]
• Investment exec Duke Buchan III has gone into contract to sell his four-bedroom co-op at 840 Park, which he purchased for $9.55 million two years ago and put up for sale for $13.95 million last October. It had most recently been listed at $12.95 million. [NYT]

• Morgan Stanley exec Guy Metcalfe is finally on his way to unloading his five-bedroom apartment at 15 CPW, which he bought for $9.35 million in October and quickly re-listed for $16.5 million two-weeks later. After cutting the price to $13.75 million and then dropping it again to $12.5 million, he is now in contract to sell the 3,822-square-foot spread. [Cityfile, Corcoran]
• Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Thani of Qatar has lowered the price of his three-bedroom apartment at Trump Park Avenue, which he bought for $6.1 million in 2005 and listed for $14 million late last year. It's now on the market for $10 million. [Cityfile, Corcoran]
• It turns out Sting won't be listing his Central Park West duplex for $26 million with Claudine and Raphael De Niro after all. Halstead's Mark Friedman will be handling the honors, and the four-bedroom apartment will be offered for a much more modest $19 million. [NYT]More

It's been three months since we compiled a list of the 20 most expensive apartments for sale in Manhattan. So what's happened to them since then? Not surprisingly, most of them remain on the market, and several have been discounted substantially since they were first put up for sale. (Just one of the 20 sold successfully, an apartment at 176 Perry that went for 30 percent less than its initial asking price.) The grim market conditions haven't stopped several others from putting their exorbitant homes on the market. Since we put the list together, a 78th-floor penthouse at the Time Warner Center hit the market for $65 million and a $47.5 million listing at 15 CPW surfaced. But if you're interested in seeing what happened to the original 20—and get a glimpse for what's happening to the high-end real estate market as a whole—the results are below.More

♦  Natalie Portman has closed on the sale of her three-bedroom condo at 165 Charles Street for $6.55 million, two months after it was first reported that the apartment had gone into contract. The buyer is listed in property records at Monkway Properties Inc. [Cityfile] 
♦  Alex Rodriguez has lowered the price of his Trump Park Avenue condo for the second time since first listing it for $14 million back in September. The 4,600-square-foot spread can now be yours for the bargain basement price of $10 million. [Page Six, Modlin Group]
♦  Philip Morris vice president Charles Wall paid $4.42 million for a 10th-floor apartment at 170 East End Avenue, the same building where art dealer Dominique Lévy picked up an eighth-floor spread in October. [Cityfile]

Yesterday we shared with you New York City's most expensive apartment rentals, just in case you haven't been killed in the market these past few weeks (or maybe you won the Powerball a few weeks ago?) and have been looking to upgrade to a fantastic apartment without making a long-term commitment. Today we've rounded up the 20 most expensive apartments for sale in the city. Pick up an overpriced co-op on Park Avenue for $30 million and you'll sleep better at night knowing you played a key role in boosting the city's ailing economy! (At the very least, you'll know you paid for a few years of private school for some lucky real estate broker.) One note: This list only includes "official" listings, which means apartments that are only rumored to be for sale (such as Richard Ullman's $75 million penthouse at 15 CPW or Courtney Sale Ross' duplex at 740 Park) aren't represented. But there's plenty of overpriced property to choose from regardless! More

The stock market is down nearly 500 points this afternoon, we're in the middle of a deep recession, and tens of thousands of New Yorkers have lost their jobs. But if by some crazy chance you've managed to avoid the pain and suffering and you're looking for, say, a five-bedroom penthouse in Midtown, it's never been a better time to swoop down and make an offer. The prices of dozens of luxe apartments have been slashed in recent weeks. And while the rental market hasn't been crushed just yet, prices are very, very negotiable. That $60,000-a-month rental? You might just be able to offer up $30K a month and walk away with a deal. After the jump, the 20 most expensive apartment rentals in Manhattan, including Donald Trump's insanely overpriced $200,000-a-month penthouse at 502 Park, and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's equally ridiculous $47,500-a-month West Village spread. More

♦  Alex Rodriguez has already lowered the price of his Trump Park Avenue condo by $1.5 million, just a month after first putting it on the market. It's now listed for $12.5 million, although A-Rod is also willing to rent it out instead, assuming there's anyone willing to pay $50,000 a month for an unfurnished apartment. [NYP, Modlin Group]
♦  Divorce attorney Zoltan Hankovszky has sold his townhouse at 88 Remsen Street in Brooklyn Heights for $10.8 million. That makes it the most expensive sale ever recorded in the neighborhood. [Brownstoner]
♦  The West 9th Street townhouse once occupied by Elizabeth Jagger—she rented one of the five apartments in the building until recently—is now on the market for $7.95 million. [NYP, Corcoran]

• Real estate developer Christopher Jeffries, whose Millennium Partners turned the St. Moritz on Central Park South into a Ritz-Carlton with 277 rooms and 11 full-floor condos, has sold his 29th floor, 5,954-square-foot apartment in the building for $28.5 million. [Cityfile]
• American Ballet Theatre dancers Maxim Beloserkovsky and Irina Dvorovenko paid $1.8 million for a 28th floor apartment at 161 West 61st Street. [Cityfile]
• Alex Rodriguez is about to put his Trump Park Avenue apartment on the market, and he's already quietly taking offers beginning at $13 million. [NYO]
• There's only one penthouse left at 15 Central Park West, now that a unit has sold to a buyer listed as Martima Holdings LLC for $26.625 million. [NYO]
  

• Donald Trump has listed a penthouse at Trump Park Avenue with a Russian broker in hopes of selling the pad to "a different type of buyer," namely, a newly-rich Russian who pays in cash. (One of these perhaps?) The apartment (pictured) is currently on the market for $45 million. [NYT, Prudential Douglas Elliman]
• Eugene McQuade, the former Freddie Mac exec who joined Merrill Lynch earlier this year, has paid $3.175 million for a two-bedroom condo on the 30th floor of the Museum Tower in midtown. His new neighbors will include Carl Icahn, Sirio Maccioni, Katherine Oliver, Glenn Lowry, and John Demsey. [CF]