gramercy park

Coco Rocha Drops The Price Of Her Gramercy Park Apartment

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

Young model Coca Rocha is looking to make a deal. The 22-year-old cover girl listed her two-bedroom apartment in New York's Gramercy Park-area back in August for $1.65 million. The unit on East 23rd Street is now listed at $1.59 million with Jared Seligman of Prudential Douglas Elliman. The NY Times reports that Rocha would like to sell so she and her husband, artist James Conran, can move to Brooklyn. They are looking for a loft in Williamsburg.

The corner apartment has two bathrooms and two outdoor spaces, a 464 square-foot planted terrace and a 67 square-foot balcony. A windowed kitchen with views onto the expansive terrace has stainless steel appliances The south/east exposures and oversized windows fill the kitchen and living room with light. The master bedroom has a large closet. Building amenities include a full-time doorman, concierge, residents' lounge with patio terrace, bike storage and a fitness center.

Gallery: Coco Rocha in Gramercy Park

Tags: celebrity real estate, coco rocha, gramercy park, manhattan real estate, new york real estate

New Restaurant Plays Stock Exchange Games With Menu Prices

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Imagine walking into a bar and ordering a beer. You order and pay the price. Then a little while later you see someone else order the same beer and paying less. What's going on? You're at the The Exchange Bar & Grill restaurant in New York City. As Reuters reports, The Exchange is a new restaurant where the prices for food and drink can change at any minute. The restaurant in the Gramercy Park neighborhood, has a ticker tape menu flashing prices in red lettering as demand forces them to fluctuate. Prices will rise and fall in 25¢ increments and will plateau at around $2 in either direction-- a glass of Guinness could cost you as much as $8 or as little as $4 depending on how popular it is. Demand increases the price but lowers the prices of similar products. It's a gimmick but it's a cool gimmick. I wonder if it will be possible to game the system. I suppose if you are not too choosy about what you order you could save a little cash by ordering the less popular items but if too many people followed your lead you'd be out of luck. The restaurant's grand opening is planned for April Fool's Day.

Tags: gramercy park, new york city, the exchange, the exchange bar and grill

Abbijane's Townhouse, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

Sometimes when exuberance trumps elegance it can be delightful. Case in point the New York City townhouse belonging to the late designer Abbijane Schifrin. The NY Times Big Deal column reports that Schifrin loved her Gramercy Park townhouse and held fashion shows there as well as drawing her designs on the kitchen table. The townhouse was built in the mid 19th century and rebuilt in 1910 and 1911 by Frederick J. Sterner. Much of his work including oak paneling, stone and brick fireplaces and Arts-and-Crafts style leaded windows is still preserved in the home. Details include a latticework of oak on the dining room ceiling, a barrel-ceilinged living room and a small formal rear garden.

The home is vibrantly colorful on the upper floors including an otherworldly blue bathroom and a hot pink bedroom that another designer, Betsy Johnson, might go mad for. The single-family house was turned into a two-unit condominium six years ago and the upper two stories were sold off. Now Schifrin's heirs and her upstairs neighbor are putting it on the market as a single home. It is listed at $8.75 million.

Gallery: Abbijane's Townhouse

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Tags: abbijane schifrin, AbbijaneSchifrin, estate of the day, EstateOfTheDay, gramercy park, GramercyPark, new york city, NewYorkCity, town house, townhouse

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The Marcel at Gramercy Gets Set for Summer

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Luxury Travel & Hotels

Manhattan's The Marcel at Gramercy, which unveiled a luxe new makeover a few months back transforming the quaint 3 star hotel into a chic and stylish 4 star standout, is putting the finishing touches on its much-awaited rooftop bar in preparation for the warmer weather. We hear it's going to be open by June, and while the chic watering hole with a stunning view of the Empire State Building will officially only be open to hotel guests, we're told a select number of civilians will be allowed to pass the portals each evening as well. It should make a welcome respite from the extremely over-the-top Gramercy Park Hotel nearby.

Meanwhile, a new restaurant / bar has opened in the hotel's ground floor space with its massive windows affording a great view of the street scene. It now houses a branch of hip Lower East Side fave 'inoteca, the prized panini-and-vino specialist, with fresh-squeezed juice at the bar. The vibe is very Milan Fashion Week, and the wine list has over 600 selections representing every wine making region in Italy. Now housing 135 rooms, the Marcel's new amenities include Frette linens, marble bathrooms, iPod docking stations and LCD TVs. A spa and gym are also in the works.

Gallery: The Marcel at Gramercy

Tags: bar, boutique hotel, BoutiqueHotel, Frette, Gramercy Park, GramercyPark, inoteca, Manhattan, New York, NewYork

The New Marcel at Gramercy

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Manhattan's The Marcel at Gramercy just unveiled a luxe new makeover, transforming the quaint 3 star hotel into a chic and stylish 4 star standout. The Gramercy Park fixture's upgrades include the addition of several new floors, a complete modern redesign of the guestrooms and lobby with a stylish fireplace (above), and a hip new Northern Italian restaurant / wine bar, Bar Milano. Now housing 135 rooms, the Marcel's new amenities include Frette linens, marble bathrooms, iPod docking stations and LCD TVs. A rooftop deck, spa and gym are also in the works.

Tags: Bar Milano, BarMilano, Frette, Gramercy Park, GramercyPark, Hotel, New York, New York City, NewYork, NewYorkCity, The Marcel at Gramercy, TheMarcelAtGramercy

The Classicist: Bespoke by David Chu

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Apparel, Men's Style, The Classicist

Last month we wrote about the timeless appeal of classic men's tailoring as epitomized by Savile Row, especially during times of economic uncertainty. There's no need to travel all the way to London however to indulge in custom-tailoring of the highest quality and style that transcends trends and fads, if you know where to look. In New York City, David Chu, founder of the Nautica brand who has since gone on to revitalize luggage maker Tumi, operates an ultra-chic Bespoke shop at his gorgeous Townhouse in Gramercy Park.

The Bespoke shop (above) is located in the penthouse of the Townhouse, which is home to Chu's design studio and other businesses. Ebonized and limestone floors, marble fixtures and a collection of contemporary artwork and Chinese antiquities create an elegant, polished and modern atmosphere. French doors open out from the shop onto a landscaped roof deck with captivating city and park views. "The bespoke experience is about understated elegance," Chu tells Luxist. "It's more for yourself. You put it on, it feels great, and that's the most important thing."

David Chu Bespoke "blends the best of Savile Row and Neapolitan tailoring, marrying craftsmanship with modernity." Garments are hand-cut and stitched by a master tailor based in Naples. A gentleman can order anything he requires to be custom made, from suits, overcoats, tuxedos, and sport jackets to trousers, shoes, scarves, and 12-fold ties. The emphasis is on classic, luxurious fabrics such as super 150's wool, worsted spun cashmere and vicuna sourced from the world's best mills.

Gallery: David Chu Bespoke