#manhattan-rents

#manhattan-rents

"Promises made, not kept. His claim to fame was affordable housing. I'm not disappointed because I didn't expect him to keep his word. It is what it is."

Earlier this week, former Howard Hughes CEO David Weinreb agreed to rent his West Chelsea penthouse for $177,500 a month, an eye-popping figure that followed a $95,000-a-month lease at a Naftali Group building on the Upper East Side in December. Data on trophy rentals is tough to pin down, but this is likely among the most expensive leases ever inked in New York City. The two hefty leases came as inventory for Manhattan's trophy rentals—which appraiser Jonathan Miller defines as the top 1 percent of the market, with rates starting at $25,000 a month—was down more than 40 percent year-over-year in January, as new leases climbed (albeit, at a more modest pace).

"The expansion positions NYC Alliance for continued growth while strengthening its design, showroom and operational presence in the historic fashion corridor," Peter Braus said, according to the New York Post.

Nearly half of the apartments in the seven tallest towers in the area sit empty. At night the picture is even starker, with dozens of darkened floors turning the glittering status symbol into a vertical 'ghost neighborhood' scraping the sky.