AVENUE
DECEMBER 2013
10 SOCIAL SABOTEURS Don’t let them ruin your holiday fun
LEAVING A LEGACY
The Rockefellers show us how it’s done WHO’S GOING INTO THE HISTORY BOOKS THIS YEAR? Mayors Bloomberg, de Blasio and Koch; Prince George, Nicolas Ghesquière, Steve Cohen, Jimmy Fallon and more
THE LEGACY ISSUE
Introducing Ariana Rockefeller
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AVENUE
DECEMBER 2013
VOL. 37 NO. 12
FEATURES 52
SOLID AS A ROCK
With a burgeoning fashion line and her own philanthropic ties, Ariana Rockefeller is a down-to-earth oil scion who’s upholding the legacy of her family’s name.
by suzanne weinstock klein photographs by carlos ruiz
60
THE INDUSTRIAL STANDARD
We pore over Standard Oil titan (and the world’s first billionaire) John D. Rockefeller’s insurmountable legacy.
by kat huang
66
TOTING THE PRIVILEGED LOAD
For those who are “to the manor born,” the financial freedom of inordinate wealth can come with a hefty price tag of responsibility.
by alina tugend
68
WHO’S LEAVING A LEGACY THIS YEAR? We bid farewell to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and said hello to the royal baby—here’s a look back on which people left their mark on 2013.
by haley friedlich
72
SOCIAL SABOTEURS
74
MIAMI’S FINEST
52
this page Pictured on the West Terrace of The Cloisters museum and garden, Rockefeller wears a Trinada Jumpsuit by Escada and LM Cuir Black T-Strap Sandals by Longchamp.
8 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
A discussion with South Florida’s real estate movers and shakers.
moderated by len dugow
COLUMNS 29
on the cover
Shot on the West Terrace of The Cloisters, Rockefeller wears a Preen by Thornton Bregazzi Rhia Digital Leopard Dress, “Lotus” Earrings featuring diamonds set in 18k white gold by Van Cleef & Arpels and a Diamond and Carved Rock Crystal Ring set in 18k yellow gold and platinum by David Webb. Photographed by Carlos Ruiz, styled by Laura Solin-Valdina of NYCSTYLIST, and hair and makeup by Ralf Marzouki.
We’ve singled out the party-going perpetrators destined to make waves at your next holiday soirée.
CHRONICLES
Toasting TV milestones and new tomes set forth by the city’s social set.
by debbie bancroft
36
LAST-MINUTE GIFT GUIDE
Our foolproof guide, which will make those holiday shopping forays a breeze—instead of a mad dash.
by haley friedlich
MADISON AV ENUE I PP O LI TA .C O M
AVENUE
DECEMBER 2013 40
VOL. 37 NO. 12
cocktail on the avenue
A drink at the Algonquin with biographer Amanda Foreman.
by daisy prince
44
unreal estate
Listed for a record-breaking $130 million, the 83-year old River House mansion is making a modern-day splash.
by michael gross
48
Postcards from . . .
It’s off to Italy with the luxury leather goods purveyors of Fairchild Baldwin.
by haley friedlich
100 SS
Social Safari
Fall benefits have been in full swing, from the New York Women’s Foundation, to the Rita Hayworth Gala.
by r. couri hay
104
World According To . . .
Kate Baldwin of Broadway’s Big Fish shares her lifestyle in and around the Theater District.
introduction by charlotte ross
DEPARTMENTS
FF
19
on the avenue
32
arts calendar
The best parties of the month, from events at the NYPL, the American Ballet Theatre and beyond. A look at what’s on view at museums, galleries and auction houses.
AVENUE online
For the latest on people and parties, visit www.avenuemagazine.com
correction
JJ
Pendants For more information please call: 212 996 6217 sandi@sandimillerburrowsdesigns.com
10 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
In the Men’s Gift Guide in the November issue, the tequila gift set was misidentified. The proper credit for it is: Handcrafted Crystal Bottle of Casa Dragones Tequila with Two Custom Crystal Tequila Glasses, $275 for a box set. Available at Bottle and Soul, NYC, 212.628.0100
letters to the editor
AVENUE welcomes “Letters to the Editor” Please address to: Editor Daisy Prince 72 Madison Avenue, 11th Floor New York, NY 10016 dprince@manhattanmedia.com
Editor Daisy Prince dprince@manhattanmedia.com Art Director Jessica Ju-Hyun Lee Ho jlee@manhattanmedia.com SENIOR Editor Haley Friedlich hfriedlich@manhattanmedia.com Managing Editor Charlotte Ross cross@manhattanmedia.com Real estate Editor Michael Gross mgross@manhattanmedia.com KK
CONTRIBUTING Editor Christopher Lawrence Contributing Writers Debbie Bancroft ■ Melissa Berkelhammer ■ R. Couri Hay ■ Peggy Siegal ■ Suzanne Weinstock Klein ■ Alexandria Symonds Contributing fASHION EditorS Casey Brooks ■ Rory McDonough palm beach editor Christine K. Schott
MM
Special Projects Editor Helena Gautier Contributing photographers Ben Fink Shapiro ■ Billy Farrell ■ Carlos Ruiz ■ Jessica Nash ■ Patrick McMullan ■ Tiffany Walling McGarity & John McGarity Advertising Designer Rachael Tucker rtucker@manhattanmedia.com copy editoR Joan Oleck
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Cufflinks For more information please call: 212 996 6217 sandi@sandimillerburrowsdesigns.com
12 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
Kat Huang
INTERNS ■ Kristin Tablang
Avenue Media, LLC 72 Madison Avenue, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10016 Subscriptions are $100 in U.S., $150 overseas Tel: 212.268.8600 Fax: 212.268.0577 E-mail: avenue@manhattanmedia.com www.avenuemagazine.com
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14 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
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manhattan media | Chairman of the board Richard Burns rburns@manhattanmedia.com Chief Executive Officer Joanne Harras jharras@manhattanmedia.com Director of Digital Dennis Rodriguez dennis@danspapers.com
letter from the editor
KEITH MAJOR
Dear Readers,
“When it comes to leaving your mark on New York City, it would be hard to find a family more entrenched with the history of Manhattan than the Rockefeller family.” Right: Ariana Rockefeller’s Spring/Summer 2014 collection. From left to right: Mini Diana Cotton/Linen V-Neck Halter Dress With Organza Neckline; Simi Crepe de Chine and Chiffon Crew Neck Tee and Colombier Printed Silk Twill Palazzo Pant; Muffy Printed Silk Twill V-Neck Sleeve Dress; Nadia Printed Silk Twill Sleeve Crew Neck Tunic.
16 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
WELCOME TO OUR Legacy Issue! As 2013 comes to a close, we take a look back at some of the biggest stories of the year that we believe will leave a lasting impact on the city for years to come. When it comes to leaving your mark on New York City, it would be hard to find a family more entrenched with the history of Manhattan than the Rockefeller family. To that end, we are delighted to have Ariana Rockefeller on our December cover. A burgeoning fashion designer, she wears her family’s name with grace and humility and looks spectacular in our photo shoot at The Cloisters museum. We are incredibly grateful to The Metropolitan Museum for letting us shoot inside The Cloisters. The Rockefeller family also has a longstanding association with the Metropolitan, dating back to 1924. When John D. Rockefeller provided the funds to allow the Metropolitan Museum of Art to purchase architectural fragments from sculptor George Grey Barnard’s collection of medieval sculptures, and architectural elements for the medieval structures we enjoy today, he also had the foresight to purchase the 66.5 acres of land just north of The Cloisters. This ensured that the view from the museum would not be marred by development. The result of his largesse is one of the most peaceful and spectacular spots on the island of Manhattan. Inheriting a big name or a large fortune comes with a great deal of responsibility, and some children may quail under the pressure. New York Times writer Alina Tugend has written about how some of the most successful people of our day have tried to pass along the values that will help their children lead productive lives. Sometimes, even those with great legacies behind them need a little steering toward the future. Happy reading and check out a sneak peek of Ariana’s Spring/Summer 2014 collection below! Daisy Prince
Editor
OPENING
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On the
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BFANYC.COM
photographed by Joe Schildhorn
Daniel Cappello, Alan Cumming, Marcelo Gomes, James Whiteside and Bronson van Wyck in front of van Wyck’s tempest-inspired event design for the American Ballet Theatre’s opening night gala, held at the David H. Koch Theatre.
on the avenue
Barry Diller, Veronica and Ray Kelly and Christine Schwarzman (Host)
Diana Taylor and David Koch
POWER PLAYERS Christine Schwarzman and AVENUE toast October cover girl Diana Taylor and the A-List
Vera Wang and Barbara Walters
Carolina Herrera Marina Rust Connor
M
anhattan’s big-wigs made their way to 740 Park Avenue to fête New York’s unofficial first lady, Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s partner, Diana Taylor. Media magnates, including Barbara Walters, Deborah Norville and Bob Colacello, mingled while Schwarzman welcomed the likes of Pepe and Emilia Fanjul, Carolina Herrera and David Koch. Taylor was all smiles, in a dress by Oscar de la Renta, saying hello to Commissioner Ray Kelly, his wife Veronica and Barry Diller. MARION CURTIS/STARTRAKSPHOTO.COM
Deborah Norville
Pepe and Emilia Fanjul
Angel Sanchez and Amy Fine Collins
Catherine Malandrino, Sy Rappaport and Jerry Lauren
Lucy Sykes Rellie and Yaz Hernandez
THAT’S ALL, FOLKS
Daphne Guinness and Laudomia Pucci
The American Folk Art Museum hosts Folk Couture Benefit Gala
F Elizabeth Kneiling and Abigail Stone
ashion insiders and art enthusiasts gathered at the TriBeCa Rooftop to celebrate the museum’s upcoming exhibition Folk Couture: Fashion and Folk Art. Lucy Sykes Rellie and Dr. Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of The Museum at FIT, accepted awards for their involvement in fostering fashion and education. Amy Fine Collins and Daphne Guinness showed their support for the museum that champions “outsider art” works by contemporary self-taught artists.
Hayley, Berry and Jane Bloomingdale
20 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
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on the avenue Marjorie Gubelmann
Eli Mizrahi and Crystal Renn
Caryn Zucker and Nathalie Kaplan
ON POINTE
Anh Duong and Hamish Bowles
The American Ballet Theatre’s fall opening night gala heats up the David H. Koch Theatre
S
ociety swans and notable New Yorkers mingled under a tornado-inspired visual feast by event designer Bronson van Wyck. Transforming the Theatre’s promenade, van Wyck paid tribute to ballet producer Alexei Ratmansky’s rendition of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. David and Julia Koch, Charles Rockefeller, Sigourney Weaver and Alan Cumming were among the supporters who helped raise $1.65 million at the cultural event.
David and Julia Koch
Thom Browne
JOE SCHILDHORN/BFANYC.COM
Genevieve Jones
John Meeks, Andrea Stark and James Aman
Ellie Cullman and Mario Buatta
Donald and Melania Trump
RUNNING THE SHOW The AVENUE Antiques, Art & Design Show fêtes its opening night at the Park Avenue Armory
Audrey Gruss
U
pper East Siders and art and antique enthusiasts flocked to the Park Avenue Armory for an invitation-only preview of the AVENUE show, which featured 65 distinguished exhibitors. Design chairs Ellie Cullman and Mario Buatta welcomed guests, including Donald and Melania Trump, Maggie Norris and Audrey Gruss, while Andrea Stark and Liliana Cavendish surveyed the plethora of booths. Big-name interior decorators such as Geoffrey Bradfield, Bunny Williams and James Aman filled the room, which showcased a wide range of works—from 17th century fine furniture to modern and contemporary art.
John Rosselli and Bunny Williams Bill Cunningham 22 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
SHANAE NAE/BFANYC.COM
Geoffrey Bradfield
Henry Kissinger and Marie-Josée Kravis
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Catie Marron Bee Shaffer and Allison Williams
LITERARY LIONS
Susan Fales Hill and Crystal McCrary
The New York Public Library annual gala honors five Library Lions
H
eld at the Stephen A. Schwarzman landmark building, the evening of venerable fundraising welcomed a mix of New York notables and literary scenesters alike. This year’s class of honorees included Michael Bloomberg, journalist Katherine Boo, novelists Junot Diaz and Marilynne Robinson and composer Stephen Sondheim. Among those who stepped out for the Young Lions afterparty were co-chairs Bee Shaffer and Nick Brown, Claire Distenfeld and Bella Slagsvol.
Steve Schwarzman Annette de la Renta and Lally Weymouth
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Anna Scott Carter and Graydon Carter
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Tel: 973-429-2106 | www.RichardBaileyInteriors.com DECEMBER 2013 • AVENUE MAGAZINE | 23
on the avenue
Elyse Newhouse, Gillian Miniter and Karen LeFrak
Sharon Jacob, Paige Hardy and Suzie Aijala
Isaac Mizrahi and Joanna Coles
PARKS AND RECREATION The Central Park Conservancy hosts its Women’s Committee Fall Luncheon with Van Cleef & Arpels
C
onservationists and well-heeled ladies-who-lunch stepped out in support of New York’s greenest pasture, Central Park. Karen LeFrak, Dara O’Hara and co-chairmen Suzie Aijala, Paige Hardy and Sharon Jacob were among those who gathered at The Mandarin Oriental for an afternoon of environmentally-minded fundraising. With Fe Fendi, Marcia Mishaan and Eleanora Kennedy looking on, Cosmopolitan editor Joanna Coles and designer Isaac Mizrahi engaged in a lively discussion for all to enjoy. By the end of the day, the luncheon had raised over $165,000 for the park.
BENJAMIN LOZOVSKY/BFANYC.COM
Eleanora Kennedy and Karen Karlsrud
Michel David-Weill
Marcia Mishaan, Fe Fendi and Felicia Taylor
Coco and Arie Kopelman Oscar de la Renta, Hélène David-Weill and Annette de la Renta
DOWN TO A FINE ART The Frick Collection Autumn Dinner honors philanthropist Michel David-Weill
A
rt collectors and notable philanthropists donned their black-tie finest for an evening reminiscent of the great society dinners of New York’s Gilded Age. Oscar and Annette de la Renta, Arie and Coco Kopelman, Lynn Nesbit and Beatrice Santo Domingo mingled in the neoclassical Garden Court for cocktails before a seated dinner in the galleries. The evening, which honored Michel David-Weill, a prominent banker, collector, philanthropist and supporter of the arts, raised more than $1 million for The Frick Collection and the Frick Art Reference Library. BENJAMIN LOZOVSKY/BFANYC.COM
Lynn Nesbit
Russell Grant and Barbara de Portago
Erika and Wouter Han
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•
NANTUCKET
chronicles
by
DEBBIE BANCROFT
Deborah Norville
We’ll Toast to That
Celebrating good reads, great authors, a television triumph and artistic ability
GETTY IMAGES
B
y now, you will perhaps have had your fill of attending grand galas: supporting the opera and ballet, preserving antiques and curing diseases . . . it’s a full and frantic season, with great work heavily documented; I needn’t remind you of all that. But when you come home and peel off your couture dresses and/or opera pumps, don’t you want to sink into the deepest chair in your library, stoke the fire and lose yourself in a good read? Actually, wouldn’t you rather have done that in the first place? Happily, several of our friends have written books that will rivet, challenge, soothe and entertain you, and they’ve had fêtes to celebrate them. Perri Peltz, Danielle Ganek and Samantha Boardman (have you seen Samantha’s blog, Positive Prescription?—you must!) teamed up to give Lea Carpenter a cocktail party for the publication of her book, Eleven Days (Borzoi/Alfred A Knopf), the story of the bond between a mother and her Navy SEAL son, who goes missing during an overseas mission. Lea’s military upbringing and literary creds (Paris Review and more), are on display in this acclaimed first novel. When Danielle (no slouch in the literary department, what with two novels to her credit, and another on the way) joins with husband David to host a party, you know everything will be wonderful, the first indication being the 8-foot-long 1940s bar in the living room. Other accomplished folks gathered to toast Lea included Minnie Dubilier, Rachel Hovnanian, Deeda Blair, Electra Toub, Jill Kargman, Alexandra Kotur, Holly
Peterson, Marina Rust, Stephen and Kitty Sherrill, Lea’s husband Cliff Brokaw and her editor, Shelley Wanger. Lea said, with characteristic modesty and grace, “It’s humbling to have friends celebrate the novel. [John F.] Kennedy’s advisors were called his Ministry of Talent. If I had a ministry, Danielle, Perri and Sam would be in it. They believe in books.” Meanwhile, William (Billy) Rayner, whose new book, Notes and Sketches; Travel Journals of William P. Rayner (Glitterati), was feted—where else but the New York Public Library’s Trustees Room—by hosts Darren Walker, (the newly appointed and much heralded new president of the Ford Foundation) Jane Stanton Hitchcock, Amanda Foreman, Jonathan Burnham and Robert Silvers; and that is as clever a quintet as one could ask for. Billy’s book chronicles his travels over the last 40 years, through musings, menus, wine labels, photographs and stamps (his favorite and most illuminating comes from the Libyans, who had “Bomb America” on theirs), plus his watercolors, which appeared at The Royal Academy this summer. During the post-cocktail discussion, Billy told Jonathan Burnham that he had found Calcutta the most fascinating city: “desperate, tortured, controversial but beautiful,” and in answer to a query from Amanda Foreman, “What do you want people to take away from this diary, 100 years from now?” Billy replied, “That we had another form of communication in this era.” He himself communicated, via his gentle, thoughtful, detailed and loving observations and images. DECEMBER 2013 • AVENUE MAGAZINE | 29
chronicles
Lea Carpenter
JULIE SKARRATT
Bill Cunningham photographing Raymond J. McGuire, Thelma Golden, Gary Simmons
Listening with rapt attention while holding the two-volume set, were: Kathy Rayner, Catie and Donald Marron, Susan Cheever, Sir Evelyn and Lady de Rothschild, Peter and Virginia Duchin, Louise Grunwald, Nina Griscom, Annette de la Renta, David and Shelley Mortimer and Gayfryd Steinberg. At yet another event, Deborah Norville told me recently, “Not many shows make it to 25! I’m thrilled to see Inside Edition hit this milestone, especially since I’ve been anchoring it for 18 of those years!” The birthday celebration we were at was capped off by the publication of Deborah’s new book, The Way We Are: Heroes, Scoundrels and Oddballs from 25 Years of Inside Edition (Inside Edition Inc.). IE is the longest running news magazine on TV, and do you remember it was also hosted by David Frost and Bill O’Reilly? Neither did I. I only know Deborah, whose other fans at the event included Leonard Lauder, Joan Rivers, Bill Bratton and Rikki Klieman, Sherrell and Muffie
Billy Rayner
JULIE SKARRATT
Ogunlesi 30 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
Sienna Shields and Chuck Close
JULIE SKARRATT
Kenneth and Kathryn Chenault
”
JULIE SKARRATT
JULIE SKARRATT
Lise and Michael Evans
Amelia and Adebayo
diary, 100 years from now?’ Billy Rayner replied, ‘That we had another form of communication in this era.’
Potter Aston, Hilary and Wilbur Ross, and of course, Deborah’s hubby, Karl Wellner. Then there is My Lost Cuba (East End Press), the first novel penned by Celso Gonzalez, and based on his life in Cuba, on the verge of the Cuban Revolution. Publishers Weekly called it “an exploration of universal hopes, dreams and family ties,” set in a time and place few of us ever knew. Kasper hosted the celebration in his art-filled home (many of whose pieces have travelled back from a show at The Morgan). Great pals, including Agnes Gund, Beth DeWoody, Emily Fisher Landau, George and Mariana Kaufman and Shelby White, toasted Celso, and expressed hopes for a sequel—once Celso can go home again. Of course one must put his or her book down sometime, and I did so to attend one of my favorite parties of the year, honoring The Studio Museum in Harlem. Over 700 people gathered at Cipriani Downtown, under designer Sondra Park’s fabulous flora and fauna, and cheered the Museum’s wondrous director and chief curator, Thelma Golden, and its eighth annual Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize winner, Gary Simmons. Hard-working co-chairs Kathryn Chenault and Carol Sutton Lewis, and vice chairs Amelia Ogunlesi, Jacqueline Bradley and Terri Trotter raised over $1.6 million dollars. And the burrata cheese at this event was guilt free because nobody doesn’t dance at this party. Then I went home and read. ✦
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arts calendar
Feasting the Eyes This month’s selection of art and antiques on view, for sale and on stage
DOYLE NEW YORK Dec. 4: Doyle at Home and Holiday Gifts Dec. 12: Important Jewelry 175 East 87th Street 212.427.2730
COURTESY FRICK COLLECTION
SOTHEBY’S Dec. 7: Finest and Rarest Wines Dec. 10: Important Watches Dec. 11: Magnificent Jewels 1334 York Avenue 212.606.7000
Rare Egyptian-Revival Faience and Jeweled Brooch, Cartier, London, 1923. Estimate $300,000/500,000.
COURTESY SOTHEBY'S
GALLERIES GAGOSIAN GALLERY Through Jan. 25: Richard Serra: New Sculpture (at West 24th Street location) Through Dec. 21: David Smith: The Forgings Through Dec. 21: Willem de Kooning: Ten Paintings, 1983–1985 980 Madison Avenue 212.744.2313
Johannes Vermeer, Girl with a Pearl Earring, 1665. Oil on canvas. The Frick Collection.
HAUSER & WIRTH Through Dec. 21: Martin Creed Through Jan. 11: Roni Horn: Everything was sleeping as if the universe were a mistake 511 West 18th Street 212.790.3900
AUCTIONS
EXHIBITIONS
CHRISTIE’S Dec. 2–10: Luxury Handbags (online only) Dec.11–12: Interiors Dec. 13: Antiquities Dec. 13: Ancient Jewelry 20 Rockefeller Plaza 212.636.2000 32 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
COURTESY WHITNEY MUSEUM
BONHAMS NEW YORK Dec. 4: American Art Dec. 9–10: Fine Books & Manuscripts Dec. 16: 20th Century Decorative Arts 580 Madison Avenue 212.644.9001
Robert Indiana, The Figure Five, 1963. Oil on canvas. © 2013 Morgan Art Foundation, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART Dec. 11–April 6: Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China Dec.18–April 13: The American West in Bronze, 1850–1925 1000 Fifth Avenue 212.535.7710 THE FRICK COLLECTION Through Jan.19: Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Hals: Masterpieces of Dutch Painting from the Mauritshuis 1 East 70th Street 212.288.0700
Upcoming Auctions New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco December 4 December 9 December 9 December 9 December 10 December 10 December 11 December 12 December 16 December 17 December 17 December 18
American Art Native American Art Fine European Furniture Fine Jewelry Gems, Minerals and Opals Judaica Fine Books and Manuscripts Fine Watches 20th Century Decorative Arts Coins and Medals Fine Asian Works of Art Fine Writing Instruments
+1 (212) 644 9001 consignNY@bonhams.com An important pear-shaped diamond 17.82 Carats, D color, VS1 clarity, Type IIA $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
International Auctioneers and Appraisers – bonhams.com/newyork Š2013 Bonhams & Butterfields Auctioneers Corp. All rights reserved. Principal Auctioneer: Malcolm Barber. NYC License No. 1183017
arts calendar
Mona Hatoum, Impenetrable, 2009. Black finished steel and finished wire. © Mona Hatoum
GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM Through Jan. 12: Lasting Images Through Jan. 22: Christopher Wool 1071 Fifth Avenue 212.423.3500 MUSEUM OF MODERN ART Through Feb. 2: Mike Kelley: Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #1 Through March 10: Isa Genzken: Retrospective 11 West 53rd Street 212.708.9400
PERFORMANCES THE METROPOLITAN OPERA Dec. 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 28: Tosca Dec. 16, 21, 24, 26, 28, 30: The Magic Flute 10 Lincoln Center Plaza 212.362.6000 THE METROPOLITAN ORCHESTRA Dec. 22: The Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium 881 Seventh Avenue 212.247.7800 NEW YORK CITY BALLET Dec.1, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19: Balanchine’s The Nutcracker 20 Lincoln Center 212.496.0600 ✦ Isa Genzken, Hospital (Ground Zero), 2008. Artificial flowers, plastic, metal, glass, acrylic, spray-paint, mirror foil, MDF and casters. © Isa Genzken
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34 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
COURTESY MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
COURTESY GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM
WHITNEY MUSEUM Through Jan. 5: Robert Indiana: Beyond Love Through Feb. 9: T.J. Wilcox: In the Air Through Feb. 2: Rituals of Rented Island: Object Theater, Loft Performance, and the New Psychodrama—Manhattan, 1970–1980 Dec. 6: Steichen in the 1920s and 1930s: A Recent Acquisition 945 Madison Avenue 212.570.3600
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last minute gift guide
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HALEY FRIEDLICH
by
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HOLIDAY GLITZ
Just because you waited until now doesn’t mean your gifts shouldn’t glitter
6 36 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
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last minute gift guide
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1. Crocodile Sable Cross Body Handbag by BOTTEGA VENETA, price upon request. Available at Bottega Veneta, 699 Fifth Avenue, 212.371.5511 2. CozyChic Ribbed Throw in ocean by BAREFOOT DREAMS, $137. Available at barefootdreams.com 3. Engraved Nutcracker Gift Enclosures by PICKETT’S PRESS, $25. Available at Pickett’s Press, 146 East 74th Street, 2nd floor, 917.742.5388
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4. Stella Bangle in Mother-of-Pearl and Diamonds by IPPOLITA, $1,995. Available at Ippolita, 796 Madison Avenue, 646.664.4240 5. Pump by CHANEL, $875. Available at select Chanel boutiques, 212.535.5505 6. Christmas Cracker by JO MALONE, $40. Available at Jo Malone, 946 Madison Avenue, 212.472.0074 7. Reality Bank in Form of Pig by HARRY ALLEN, $275. Available at areaware.com 8. Émotion Lumineuse Ring by FABERGÉ, $39,193. Available at Fabergé, 694 Madison Avenue, 646.559.8848 9. Grey Pearl Clutch by VALENTINO, $4,245. Available at Valentino, 821 Madison Avenue, 212.772.6969 10. Foiled Pullovers by SKIN, $245. Available at Barneys New York, 660 Madison Avenue, 212.826.8900 11. Lace Combo Sweater, $445, and Leather Combo Pants, $995, by MARCHESA VOYAGE. Available at Saks, 611 Fifth Avenue, 212.940.2818
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12. Snow Globe Ornament by HENRI BENDEL, $18. Available at Henri Bendel, 712 Fifth Avenue, 212.247.1100 13. Blue Jays by SWAROVSKI, $1,700. Available at Swarovski, 625 Madison Avenue, 212.308.1710
17 18 38 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
14. Guy Bourdin Promiscous Gift Set by NARS, $45. Available at Sephora.com 15. White Gold and Diamond Love Necklace by EMMA&ME, $1,000. Available at emmaandme.com 16. Finley Cocktail Picks by RALPH LAUREN, $195. Available at Ralph Lauren, 888 Madison Avenue, 212.434.8000 17. Drop Earrings in turquoise and aquamarine by TAMSEN Z, $9,900. Available at Tamsen Z, 783 Madison Avenue, 212.360.7840 18. Wool Clutches and Tote by KATRINA TRE, $105—$365. Available from katrinatre.com 19. De Ville Ladymatic Watch by OMEGA, price upon request. Available at Omega, 711 Fifth Avenue, 212.207.3333 20. Jean Esin Confetti Clutch by EDIE PARKER, $1,195. Also available at Barneys 21. Vest by MONCLER, $560. Available at Moncler, 90 Prince Street, 646.350.3620
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Oral representations cannot be relied upon as correctly stating representations of the developer. For correct representations, make reference to the documents required by section 718.503, Florida statutes, to be furnished by the developer to a buyer or lessee. Obtain the property report required by federal law and read it before signing anything. No federal agency has judged the merits or value, if any, of this property. We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing throughout the Nation. We encourage and support an affirmative advertising and marketing program in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing because of race, color, sex, religion, handicap, familial status or national origin. This ad does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy a unit in the condominium. No solicitation, offer or sale of a unit in the condominium will be made in any jurisdiction in which such activity would be unlawful prior to any required registration therein.
cocktail on the avenue
by
DAISY PRINCE
Bringing back the SpeakEasy Amanda Foreman is a renowned historian, is starring in a new documentary, has five children and is reinventing how authors will connect with their audiences
F
The Algonquin Hotel 59 West 44th Street New York, NY 10036 212.840.6800 algonquinhotel.com
40 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
or some reason, whenever it’s time for my Cocktail on the AVENUE, the date seems to fall on a day when I’m desperate for a drink. So, it was with relief that I slid into one of the velvet chairs at the Algonquin Hotel to wait for the British-American biographer Dr. Amanda Foreman to join me. The location couldn’t have been more fitting for my meeting with Foreman, as the Algonquin is famous for its association with New York’s Queen of Wit, Dorothy Parker. Amanda herself is no slouch in the literary arena, having published the Whitbread Prize-winning Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire at the tender age of 27, and more recently, A World on Fire: Britain’s Crucial Role in the American Civil War. She writes a biweekly column for The Wall Street Journal called, “Historically Speaking,” on world affairs and history. Additionally, she is filming a documentary for the BBC on the history of women called The World Made by Women and writing a book with the same title for Random House. Oh, and did I mention that she has five children (ages 5 to 11, including a set of twins) and a fabulous husband, financier Jonathan Barton? (Who decided to join us for a drink.) Basically, Amanda’s superhuman. She is also one of the few women I know who is a genuine connoisseur of cocktails, so much so that I’m incredibly nervous that I will put her drink order in wrong, after she calls to say she’s running a few minutes late. As Amanda walks through the double doors, she is resplendent in a chocolate-brown velvet dress trimmed with gold, her leonine hair falling in soft waves around her shoulders. She sits down and takes a sip of her St. Germain and citron vodka martini (the waiter and I both exhale when Amanda pronounces it “delicious”). Looking at the glamorous creature in front of me, it’s impossible to imagine that Amanda has ever faced any difficulties in her life, but she’s had her share of troubles, including a moment of crisis about four years ago when her husband was diagnosed with what the couple initially thought was untreatable cancer. Amanda remembers the day the biopsy was performed—on Christmas Eve, “I picked him up from the hospital and we went to our house in the country. It just so happens we had always planned for all the nannies to be away. I realized I needed someone to help me, so we found someone—a friend of a friend—who said she was a nanny but actually turned out to be a secretary for the manager of a glasses factory in Dubai. We get to the house, and my husband is feeling so sick from the biopsy and the treatment. I get him to bed—get everyone to bed—and it’s now around 11 at night, when suddenly there’s a scream from the fake nanny. I went to her and asked what the matter was and realized there was water pouring through the ceiling. So I run upstairs and saw there was now water pouring through the 1-year-old twins’ bedroom. They thought it was hilarious.” Turns out, because Amanda and Jonathan were fixing their roof, there was a tarpaulin there, and a massive storm had dislodged it, creating a gaping hole. A large icicle slid over the hole, and as the snow turned to rain, the icicle began melting, pouring water into the house. “It wasn’t a trickle; it was like the bath was running!” Amanda says. “I started putting buckets out, and they were filling so quickly, I realized that I would have to spend all night emptying those damn buckets
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cocktail on the avenue until the rain stopped. And I go back to the bedroom and started to cry to my husband: “Look—I can take the leak in the bedroom and the dining room; I can do all that. I can take the fact that you have cancer, and it looks terminal. I can take the fact that it’s Christmas Eve and it’s 2 in the morning and I’m stuffing the stockings, and I’m going to be up all night and I’m going to have to somehow be up and happy and fantastic tomorrow morning—it’s doing all three at the same time that’s killing me!” Thankfully, this story ends happily. On New Year’s Eve, Amanda got a call letting them know that her husband’s cancer was treatable. “When you face the worst possible thing in your life, it makes you start thinking about what is important,” she says: “If you were going to die, what would your legacy be—what could you do to make a difference.” Still thinking about her legacy, Amanda and Jonathan have since joined forces with and Lucas Wittmann, literary editor of The Daily Beast, as well as a number of other prominent writers and literary professionals, to launch a new initiative, “The House of SpeakEasy.” They want to raise awareness of great writing and provide the public with entertaining ways to connect with the literary arts. To that end they will host monthly meetings of great writers reading to the public from their and others’ works, in a dinner-theater style. The programs will take place at the City Winery and so far the founders have managed to secure quite a stable of talent: Adam Gopnik, Simon Winchester, Susan Orlean, Katie Roiphe and actor Ralph Fiennes have all signed up to participate. Amanda adds that in starting the initiative, she has partly been motivated by the plight of younger writers. She says, “The generations
ESTATE AND TAX PLANNING STRATEGIES
below me are struggling—and they have no way of achieving the financial stability and access that I had when I started out at 24, because it doesn’t exist anymore. We have to find a different economic model. You cannot only rely—if you are a writer—on your loyalties. So what can we do with SpeakEasy? We can promote the hell out of them, we can sell their works online, we can sell our books at SpeakEasy events. We can hook up with our Internet companies that want short-form content, so that the writers involved get royalties and fees from this. It’s not rocket science; it’s thinking outside the box.” But, I ask, writers are solitary creatures, how will you change them into social animals? Foreman says, “These are simple techniques, I mean, actors are often very shy people, too. But they have trained how to express themselves in front of media, a camera. If you want to be, you can be trained. There are millions of great writers out there, and if thirty percent don’t want it, that leaves you seventy percent who do. You don’t need every writer on board; you just need a few really great ones.” At this point, Amanda has drunk about two-thirds of her cocktail but refuses another, saying she wants to be sharp for her next appointment, which, fittingly, is the annual Library Lions gala at the New York Public Library. I’m sure that much of what she will talk about at dinner will be this new endeavor. We wish her well, because Foreman’s new plan may just be what the literary community needs to kick it into the 21st century. Heaven knows, they need the help. ✦ For more information please contact: www.houseofspeakeasy.org.
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unreal estate
by
MICHAEL GROSS
Down by the River Does the new Glasnost Regime at capitalist cocoon River House really expect to sell the premises of the august River Club to an Oligarch for $130 million?
L
ate in September, the Wall Street Journal broke the news that the august River House cooperative was about to stun the world of trophy realty by listing a brand-new apartment within the 83-year-old building which, if sold at the asking price of $130 million, would set a new residential record in the city. But was this both “astounding” and “a bargain” as the Journal had it? Or was it, as the New York Observer’s Kim Velsey noted, a “desperate bid for relevance”? Back in February, when 13 River House apartments were languishing on the market (one since sold to Uma Thurman), this column exclusively revealed that the slumbering giant on River House just prior to the construction of the FDR Drive. the East River at East 52nd Street had woken up to the modern world. Ever since, it’s been apparent that the board of directors family among its partners, “to look at all the possibilities.” The noted of the co-op meant what it said when its then-new president, asset manager John Allison, and board member Nancy Lieberman, designer Anthony Ingrao was hired “to design a vision for what a a partner at Skadden Arps, breaking with the board’s long tradition potential buyer could do with the space,” Ingrao says. Then, six of the of silence, spoke to AVENUE and revealed some of their plans to city’s top real estate brokerages were interviewed to determine how shake the dust off their faded rose of a building, by rebuilding and to sell “the single largest and most important future residence in refreshing its gardens, façade and public spaces. They’d yet to conceive New York,” says Burger. “We’ve never seen anything of this size on the of the Hail Mary pass they hope will supercharge that process. market—ever.” But after a pause, Burger allows, “A lot of it is still in play.” It was revealed this fall when Brown Harris Stevens brokers Kyle Not for the first time. River House and River Club have long had Blackmon and John Burger were about to put that 62,000-square-foot their ups and downs. Plans for the building they share were first apartment-mansion on the market. The key to unlocking the co-op’s hidden store of value had, until announced 11 days before Black Thursday, the start of the Great then, been hidden within River Club, the ultra-exclusive club formed Depression. Developer James Stewart and architect William Bottomly in spring 1930, when River House was still being designed. Ever since, conceived of a spectacular plan for the lot. Ingeniously, they sought the club has occupied four stories and a mezzanine in the base of the a private club to occupy its lower floors since, due to a 30-foot drop larger structure, and been both a selling point for the co-op and a thorn between 52nd and 53rd streets, the lower floors of the building would in the side of those of its residents who were allowed into the building have window views only to the north and east. The club’s organizers, led by Kermit Roosevelt, a son of President but not the club. Allison now explains that the club’s 25-year lease is set to expire in March 2014, and that the co-op only began Theodore, and including members of the Astor, Iselin, Field, Vanderconsidering alternatives after negotiations over River Club’s future, bilt, Howe, Ladenburg, Pyne, Williams, Webb, Whitney and Pratt initiated by the club’s board in April 2009, stalled three years later clans, agreed to invest $1 million in the building. Dorothy Draper was when the club offered to buy its premises for a sum “meaningfully hired to decorate. Despite the ongoing economic catastrophe, New below a floor price we’d contemplated” of $32.5 million. At that point, York’s wealthy were expected to appreciate the allure of 25 stories of nine-to 18-room apartments attached to a club with a gym, swimming says Allison, “we had a fiduciary duty to explore alternatives.” So the River House board spoke to developers and engaged pool, two tennis and three squash courts, 21 bedrooms, dining and The Georgetown Group, a real estate development, investment, and entertainment facilities and a private yacht landing and pier, all operating firm, which counts two members of New York realty’s Rose reserved for members. It was the 15 Central Park West of its day. 44 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
Š 2013. Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
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View from a penthouse terrace at River House.
Entrance at River House.
The Lounge at the Indoor Swimming Pool of the River Club.
But in 1932, one year after it opened, River House found itself underwater, and the co-op began renting empty apartments at cost. In 1936, those renters either had to buy their apartments A vintage view of the Reception Hall of River House. The Fountain at River House. or suffer an increase to market rents. Then, in 1940, River Club lost its yacht landing when the city began building the FDR Drive. Though River House THE FACT IS, CO-OPS ARE NO LONGER UNDERPRICED gained a larger garden in exchange for UNDERDOGS-THEY’VE BECOME BIG BARGAINS, its river access, it also lost some of its allure. A year later, the building’s lend- AT LEAST IN THESE WANING DAYS OF MIKE er foreclosed on its four consolidated BLOOMBERG’S ISLE OF OFFSHORE BILLIONAIRES. mortgages (which totaled $4.2 million, the equivalent of $67 million today). By 1948, both residents and club members faced eviction when the building’s latest owner, Tishman Realty, imaginary mansion “are not a dime a dozen,” even though Hall F. decided to turn its 79 apartments and clubhouse into 170 four-to-six- Wilkie, president of Brown Harris Stevens, points out that at $2,100 room apartments. The 450 residents and 700 club members organized, per square foot, the prospective residence at River House is a steal compared to, say, the rear-facing condo at 15 Central Park West that fought and eventually won the right to remain. What will happen next remains an open question. According to one recently sold for a sum in excess of $5,000 per square foot. The fact is, version of the Rashomon-like saga, in 2009, River House gave River co-ops remain unfashionable, underpriced underdogs—some might Club an option to buy its space for $32.5 million, and its failure to raise even say bargains—at least in these last days of Mike Bloomberg’s Isle the money created the current impasse. In another version, River Club of Offshore Billionaires. Meantime, River Club has given its staff 90 days notice, and its offered less than that, so even though it agreed to admit all residents of River House as members, its offer was spurned. Charles G. Berry, River friends have gone into mourning, alternately nitpicking Ingrao’s design Club’s president since March 2012, disputes all that, saying, “There (which includes a windowless “entertainment level,” a new pool and was never any failure to raise money. We’ve never had a deal we could a blank space below sidewalk level, where a private six-car garage specifically shoot for. And we’re confident we can raise funds.” Just not may one day be allowed to replace its ballroom), and hoping the club $130 million. “If they want to sell for that,” Berry concludes, “God bless board somehow rises to the occasion, perhaps even merging with the them. I think it would be short-sighted. We believe the club is a valuable new-money Core Club and taking the Core Club to the river. They also wonder, if someone actually wants a $130 million asset for River House. How you quantify that is subject to debate.” John Allison denies that the club space listing is “a negotiating ploy,” apartment, will the River House board, even granted its new glasnost but adds that talks with River Club continue and could be resolved, regime, accept such a person? And will others want to move to a River “if they came back tomorrow and made a compelling offer.” He House stripped of a prime amenity? “It will be a balancing act,” Allison admits, too, that buyers capable of paying the asking price for the admits. “It’s a very nuanced situation.” ✦ 46 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
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ORAL REPRESENTATIONS CANNOT BE RELIED UPON AS CORRECTLY STATING REPRESENTATIONS OF THE DEVELOPER. FOR CORRECT REPRESENTATIONS, MAKE REFERENCE TO THIS BROCHURE AND TO THE DOCUMENTS REQUIRED BY SECTION 718.503, FLORIDA STATUTES, TO BE FURNISHED BY A DEVELOPER TO A BUYER OR LESSEE. OBTAIN THE PROPERTY REPORT REQUIRED BY FEDERAL LAW AND READ IT BEFORE SIGNING ANYTHING. NO FEDERAL AGENCY HAS JUDGED THE MERITS OR VALUE, IF ANY, OF THIS PROPERTY. All artist’s or architectural conceptual renderings, plans, specifications, features, dimensions, amenities, existing or future views and photos depicted or otherwise described herein are based upon preliminary development plans, and all and are subject to architectural revisions and other changes, without notice, in the manner provided in the purchase agreement and the offering circular. All features listed for the residences are representative only, and the Developer reserves the right, without notice to or approval by the Buyer, to make changes or substitutions of equal or better quality for any features, materials and equipment which are included with the unit. The dimensions of units stated or shown in brochures will vary from the dimensions that would be determined based upon the description of the Unit boundaries set forth in the Declaration of Condominium. Certain access to and rights to use recreational and other amenities within the development may be provided to the South Island, as described in the offering circular. This brochure does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy a unit in the condominium. No solicitation, offer or sale of a unit in the condominium will be made in any jurisdiction in which such activity would be unlawful prior to any required registration therein. We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing throughout the Nation. We encourage and support an affirmative advertising and marketing program in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing because of race, color, sex, religion, handicap, familial status or national origin. Neither BH3 nor Gary Cohen is the project developer and this Condominium is being developed by an affiliated entity formed for such purpose, which is known as Prive Developers LLC, a Florida limited liability company (the “Developer”).
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postcards from . . .
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HALEY FRIEDLICH
, E U N E V A Dear The Fairchild Baldwin designers take on a different part of Italy
Jill Fairchild and Karen Baldwin both come from rich fashion backgrounds, but the buck doesn’t stop there. The two teamed up to create Fairchild Baldwin, a handbag line carried by Fivestory and Calypso, that captures their jetset lifestyle. The women pinpoint Forte dei Marmi, Italy as the perfect place to hunt for inspiration, ride around on blinged-out bikes and find your fall footwear.
Italian secret
We are reluctant to share our favorite place because it’s becoming more of a destination, but it is Forte dei Marmi. Think “Santa Barbara meets Saint-Tropez,” but even better! Forte is one of the oldest beach resorts in all of Italy.
Classic accommodations
Villa Roma Imperiale is defined by Italian discretion and simplicity that’s über chic. The whole experience is close to perfection, with an incredible breakfast made up of delicious fruit and incredible cakes and pastries, and phenomenal lunches, especially the tuna sandwich. We are obsessed. Teatime is also a delight, with wonderful exotic teas and a staff that makes you want to stay forever. In short, this hotel is an Italian jewel!
The scene
Lots of fashion designers are there, looking for inspiration just like we are at Fairchild Baldwin.
48 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
Wechic-ercamebecause back . . . Caut i o n: unevsurfaceen
. . . of our Forte boots. We are addicted and have multiple pairs.
Not all who wander are lost
We live for the flea market every Sunday and Wednesday. It’s all about hunting for treasure. We love sitting on the beach ensconced at the Impero Beach club—a locale which offers us the chance to get in henna tattoos, a quiet Thai massage and then a little beach shopping from all the vendors wandering the sand peddling their wares.
to travel by bicycle; everyone gets around by bike, and it’s not about fancy bikes, but who has the best-dressed bike basket! In terms of dining: Al Bocconcino has the greatest pizza on the planet. We adore Tre Stelle, a streetside trattoria with chic people.
Ideal itinerary Go up to Pietrasanta, a fantastic picturesque village filled with the artsy set, including the painter Fernando Botero. Make sure
Beware of the cobblestones in Italy. We vote wedges, not spike heels. ✦
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Ready to
Rock
Ariana Rockefeller talks candidly about her lineage, her quiet upbringing and her step into the spotlight
by Suzanne Weinstock Klein ■ photographed by Carlos Ruiz
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location The Cloisters museum and garden styled by Laura Solin-Valdina of NYCSTYLIST, nycstylist.com style assistance by Alexis Ambrosino, Melissa Barrett and Whitney Whiten hair and makeup by Ralf Marzouki hair and makeup products by Redken and MAKE UP FOR EVER
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ucked into an armchair at New York’s Soho House, John D. Rockefeller’s great-great granddaughter Ariana is poised yet strikingly down to earth with an understated beauty and elegance. Clad in fitted jeans, a cream-colored cashmere sweater and pointy-toed houndstooth-check flats, she nurses a latte and speaks frankly about being ready to step into the spotlight: Already, she’s taken a step in that direction by founding an eponymous fashion line and taking a more public stewardship of the family’s philanthropic interests. Now 31 years old, Ariana took her time finding her footing within the Rockefeller clan. Early in life, she was purposefully sheltered from the gravitas of her famous surname. Her father, David Rockefeller, for instance, chose a lengthy commute to work in Rockefeller Center four days a week in order to live in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he could raise his two daughters, Ariana and Camilla, outside the spotlight. “I think it was an important decision for our family,” Ariana says. “Growing up in Cambridge let us be a little more low key and under the radar.” Yet she acknowledges that her parents ensured she was still very much steeped in the values the Rockefeller name has come to stand for. She always had to set aside a small percentage of her allowance each week in order to have something to give back.
“Growing up in Cambridge let us be a little more low key and under the radar.” “There was a sense of responsibility but it was never a burden,” Ariana says. “It was matter of fact and the way we live our lives.” Ariana’s younger sister Camilla concurs. “Our parents didn’t really talk about the Rockefeller family history when we were kids, but some of my earliest memories are of their involvement with various causes—my mom [Diana Newell-Rowan] with Free Tibet, and my dad with promoting arts programs in schools,” Camilla says. “We saw that they were giving careful thought and love towards their causes, not just sending a check. As we’ve grown up and learned more about the Rockefeller tradition of philanthropy, we’ve both felt really humbled and inspired by those who came before.” Ariana’s down-to-earth nature is also a family trait. They are a blue-jeans-wearing, outdoorsy crew who summer on Mount Desert Island in Maine’s Acadia National Park, which John D. Rockefeller Jr. helped create and develop. Although “socialite” is practically a profession in modern New York, it is not one the Rockefellers pursue. Even the most public figures in the family keep a low profile in comparison to their peers. “Ariana is wonderfully charming and vivacious,” says childhood friend and Daily Beast literary editor Lucas Wittmann. “She’s the kind of person you want at every party and along when you go for a muddy hike.” Ariana’s father, David Rockefeller, expresses pride in his daughter’s grounded nature, a characteristic he clearly worked hard to foster. “Her grandparents are down to earth and I’d like to think her parents are that way,” he says. “I am not a proponent of gated communities that shut people off from the rest of society, and I think Ari grew up in an environment where those were the values, and it’s great to see her espousing them.”
Previous spread: On the West Terrace of The Cloisters museum and garden, Rockefeller wears a Trinada Jumpsuit by Escada. 7 East 55th Street, 212.755.2200. Blue Sapphire and White, Black and Yellow Diamonds set in pink and yellow gold Necklace by de Grisogono. 824 Madison Avenue, 212.439.4220. Pavé Diamond Armor Ring. Available at Sola Showroom, 45 East 20th Street, 212.620.0988. Opposite page: Rockefeller sits in the Unicorn Tapestries room, in front of The Unicorn in Captivity tapestry (1495—1505; South Netherlandish) given to The Cloisters by John D. Rockefeller Jr. in 1937. Embellished Neckline Silk Caftan Gown in Bordeaux by Ports 1961. 3 Ninth Avenue, 917.475.1022. Rhodium Double Pavé Diamond Ring. Available at Sola Showroom, 212.620.0988.
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Another value characterizing Ariana’s adult life has been her refusal to be rushed. Instead, she’s tended to take her time finding a steady footing in all areas of her life, beginning with her choice of a husband. Ariana began dating lifelong “Maine-r” Matthew Bucklin in 2005. The family relationship goes back generations to when Bucklin’s great-grandfather’s construction company executed projects for Ariana’s grandparents. Knowing she wasn’t ready for the serious relationship that Matthew initially wanted, Ariana broke things off and the two spent four years as friends before returning to each other in 2009 and marrying in 2010. Roughly during the same period, Ariana was studying international relations and visual arts at Columbia University, but punctuated her time there with several asides. She taught in Brazil, lived in a surf shack in Hawaii and worked in the Secretary General’s Office at the United Nations. “I think it was perfect growing up in Cambridge, but I am who I am and I know where I come from and it was time to move to New York and embrace everything that comes with being a Rockefeller,” she says. “But I took my time and crafted my own experience, which was an important decision for me.” Both Ariana and Matthew experimented with different career paths before launching their own individual companies from California, where the two sought to enjoy the early years of their marriage outside of their respective family bubbles. “We felt very protective of our time together,” she says.
“As we’ve grown up and learned more about the Rockefeller tradition of philanthropy, we’ve both felt really humbled and inspired by those who came before.” —Camilla Rockefeller Bucklin launched Quit Tea, an herbal aid to help quit smoking, and Ariana began her own fashion line. “I always thought I would go more in the direction of being involved in politics and charitable work, but the design business is what speaks to my soul and what I’m most passionate about,” she says. The move into fashion wasn’t a completely obvious one for Ariana. “You know, she always liked to be turned out well, but I never spotted a high-fashion orientation,” her father says. “She liked to look good in simple clothes. She didn’t especially draw attention to herself, but she had a really good eye.” However, it’s that precise sensibility that she infuses into the Ariana Rockefeller line. “In my line of work it’s not too often that I meet someone as genuinely sweet and elegant as Ariana is,” says friend and supermodel Coco Rocha. “So it came as no surprise to me that her clothing line is just like her—demure, sweet and elegant. Ariana has been very excited about venturing into fashion and I think she’s doing so with a very clear vision and take on the world around her.” “I was around so many elegant people growing up and I always took note of their outfits,” Ariana recalls. “I remember Mrs. Astor coming to lunch one day at my grandfather’s and she was, of course, the icon of elegance. She always had her white gloves and her jewels and her hat. It was the end of the era but I appreciate what it represented. I like to think of my style as a modern-day version of classic, put-together elegance.” Once again, Ariana took her time. She spent two years building a clientele and gathering feedback while selling through private trunk shows in locations like Northeast Harbor, Maine; New York; Martha’s Vineyard; and Nantucket. All the while, she split her time between California and New York’s Garment District, where she remains committed to producing her line. “I also wanted to start this company in a way that was manageable for me to be in charge of it and to have my finger on the pulse of what was going on at all times,” she adds.
Standing in The Cloisters’ Pontaut Chapter House, Rockefeller wears a Gold-sequined Dress with Cape by Lorry Newhouse. Available at LorryNewhouse.com or 917.213.9566. Elba Black Suede Pumps by Rupert Sanderson. Available at Barneys New York, 660 Madison Avenue, 212.826.8900. Nail Ring in hammered 18k yellow gold by David Webb. 942 Madison Avenue, 212.421.3030.
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In 2013, Matthew and Ariana finally moved back to New York, where she officially launched the Ariana Rockefeller line, with a capsule collection of her greatest hits from the previous two years for Fall/Winter 2013, followed by her first full collection for Spring/Summer 2014. It’s Americana from the most authentic of perspectives. “I’ve always thought that the American spirit is defined by our versatility, our ability to be many things and in many places at once, and Ariana and her new line embody that ideal,” says Wittmann. “She’s able to mix the classic and the distinguished with a lively sense of fun.” “There’s no fuss,” Ariana agrees. The line is made up of simple but beautifully cut basics like shift dresses, palazzo pants and blouses largely in neutrals, navies and ivories with pops of color. “I really believe in designing for yourself. I think fashion is about trusting your own instincts and knowing what you feel most beautiful in and how you feel comfortable presenting yourself to the world on a daily basis, and that’s how I want to dress,” she says. Now settled into the Upper East Side, Ariana is also focused on charitable work with both her family’s causes and her own. She serves on the board of the David Rockefeller Fund, which allocates Rockefeller family money to organizations in New York and Maine across the arts, criminal justice, the environment and social welfare. But her personal cause is the Shriners Hospitals for Children, which her husband’s family is especially connected with. Ariana’s
“I am who I am and I know where I come from and it was time to move to New York and embrace everything that comes with being a Rockefeller.” father-in-law is a Shriner (a secretive sub-group within the Masons); her husband is a Mason; and her brother-in-law was once treated for a mild case of cerebral palsy at a Shriners hospital. “The Shriners Hospitals give free health care to families without resources, when they have a disabled child,” she says. “It’s amazing to me that a lot of people don’t know about the Shiners, and part of my goal is to gain exposure for it because it’s such an amazing organization, especially in this time when health care is such an issue.” In her spare time, Ariana has also returned to horseback riding five days a week, an activity she grew up sharing with her mother whom she describes as a “hardcore” fox hunter. However, Ariana prefers show-jumping and aspires to compete at the Hamptons Classic this summer with her Dutch Warmblood, Chogun II. In other words, this is one busy woman, but she still finds time to entertain at home and throw dinner parties favoring a menu of simple green salad, lots of red wine, roast chicken and rosemary potatoes followed by a bananas flambé of which she’s proud: “I love setting it on fire. It’s like a show!” Her family is behind her 100 percent.“I absolutely believe that each member of the family has to find their own path,” David Rockefeller says about his daughter. “I’ve never said that ‘this is what you need to do in order to be a good citizen or a good representative of the family.’ She is identifying her own passions, following her curiosity, keeping true to many of the values of her mother’s and her father’s family but doing things in her own way. Ariana definitely marches to the beat of her own drummer and I think that’s just right.” She may have taken her time getting here, but Ariana Rockefeller has officially arrived. ✦
Pictured inside Cuxa Cloister, Rockefeller stands before a Door (13th century; French) made in Ile-de-France from the The Cloisters Collection, 1925. Panne Velvet Taupe Gown by Marc Jacobs. Available at Bloomingdale’s, 1000 Third Avenue, 212.705.2000. Diane Coton Mirrored Glass Necklace with Deer Skin Embellishment and Mirrored Glass Necklace with Silk Tassel. Both available at Wynn Las Vegas. Rhodium Black Diamond Handlet. Available at Sola Showroom, 212.620.0988.
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When the
Rockefellers
Ruled the World
American Dynasty: the Rockefellers create a remarkable cultural legacy by Kat Huang
S
ynonymous with raw ingenuity, power and wealth, the Rockefeller surname has been seared into every history textbook across the globe, embedded into the American psyche alongside Manifest Destiny and apple pie. Naturally, no discussion of legacy would be complete without a brief history lesson on the polarizing family patriarch who amassed dynastic wealth, the heirs to his astounding oil fortune and, as of late, a quirky new generation eager to write a history all its own. What is the source of the Rockefeller family fortune? Olives. Only kidding. Though family members have long maintained an interest in and association with Chase Manhattan Bank (now part of JPMorgan Chase), the Rockefeller fortune was primarily amassed through oil. The petroleum kind. Already worth $1 million at its founding in 1870, the monopolistic Standard Oil dominated the petroleum industry for over four decades—controlling 91 percent of production and 85 percent of kerosene sales in the United States! Dismantled under the terms of the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1909, Standard Oil was forced, two years later, to break into 34 smaller companies, three of which (ExxonMobil, Chevron Corporation and BP) still have the right to bear the Standard name.
Who was John Davison Rockefeller, Sr.? Born of humble origins, John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (1839–1937) perpetuated the notion of the “American Dream” when he transformed a $4,000 investment in an oil refinery into the largest company in history. Jointly reviled and respected, Rockefeller employed a ruthless business stratagem that revolutionized the petroleum industry, made him the world’s first billionaire . . . and provoked a steady drumbeat of lawsuits from the American government. Public opinion splintered around the ruthless oil baron and munificent philanthropist, whose grand wealth was rivaled only by his charitable largesse and signature full mustache.
Left: Holiday in high gear: Ice skaters enjoy the seasonal ice rink at Rockefeller Center beneath its dazzling Christmas tree. December 13th, 2012.
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“. . . the oil tycoon boasts an adjusted personal fortune of $300 billion to $600 billion . . .”
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Just how rich was John D. Rockefeller? Rockefeller’s numbers may appear dwarfed by modern-day success stories. (As of last month, Facebook was valued at over $110 billion, and is projected to make around $7 billion in revenues this year alone.) However, unlike yesterday’s Rockefeller legacy, today’s dotcom fortunes and hasty start-ups are unlikely to continue to generate dynastic wealth over the next twenty years, much less into the next century. The coupling of deep foundations and vast manpower that rocketed the Standard Oil conglomerate into unforeseen riches produced a lasting infrastructure as well as a familial commitment to the business, which ensures the name Rockefeller—not Zuckerberg—will remain carved into the annals of time. Immortalized as the world’s first billionaire, the Gilded Age industrialist was earning about $192,000 a week by the late 19th century . . . when the average American brought home less than $10. Often regarded as the wealthiest person in history, the oil tycoon boasts an adjusted personal fortune of $300 billion to $600 billion—tantamount to buying out Gates, Buffet, Ellison and the entire Walton family (Wal-Mart Corporation). A devout Baptist, John D. Rockefeller often attributed his fortune to the Big Guy upstairs, typically stating, “God gave me my money.” (Woman's Home Companion, 1915)
has never been known with any precision. That said, the family’s trusts have been estimated to fall into the range of $5 billion to $10 billion. Not listed on any wealth list is David Sr.’s sustained philanthropic initiative. In 2005, he pledged $100 million dollars to MoMA and Rockefeller University . . . each. Three years later, he delegated another $100 million to Harvard University. To date, David Rockefeller’s charitable donations total around $900 million. As the senior member of the Rockefeller family, David is currently the principal beneficiary of the family fortune. Is the Rockefeller family wealth declining? Not declining per se, just dispersing. In recent years, pundits habitually claim the Rockefeller family name has surpassed its
governor, West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller is currently the only serving politician of the clan, as well as the only office-holding Democrat in the traditionally Republican family dynasty. Are the Rockefellers obsessed with philanthropy? Yes, like it’s going out of style. Instead of filling a pool with Benjamins and swimming around in it à la Scrooge McDuck, the Rockefellers have opted, instead, to give away much of the family fortune. Presently, the Rockefeller family donates around $200 million annually to various causes. In truth, the only thing John D. Rockefeller pursued with a vigor equal to what he expended on besting competitors— quivering in their oil-stained boots—was charity. From his first paycheck to his last, Rockefeller tithed 10 percent of his earnings to his church. The oil magnate also founded the University of Chicago, Rockefeller University and, in his silvered years, the Rockefeller Foundation, to carry out philanthropic objectives after his passing. To date, the Rockefeller Foundation has disseminated more wealth than the oil patriarch personally accumulated during his lifetime. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (1874–1960) continued his father’s philanthropic vision, donating $56 million to restore Colonial Williamsburg; six blocks of Midtown Manhattan, to house the United Nations (18 acres worth $8.5 million!); and 33,562 acres out West that would become the Grand Teton National Park (value: $1.4 million). Awarding the Metropolitan Museum of Art an endowment grant—as well as his personal collection of masonry—John D., Jr. facilitated construction of The Cloisters, a stunning cliff-side complex of medieval abbeys in Fort Tryon Park, overlooking the Hudson. And his wife, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, who was similarly inclined toward the arts, developed the original proposal for the Museum of Modern Art, urging her husband’s gifting of land and priceless objects to the museum. Junior’s foray into real estate further led to the construction of the winter holidaysynonymous Rockefeller Center, in 1939. Absorbing his investment of $250 million, the Center was the grandest commercial development of its time, the only large-scale private project executed between the start of the Great Depression and the end of the
“God gave me my money.”
How many Rockefellers are currently on the Forbes 400? Just one. At 98 years old, David Rockefeller, Sr. also holds the title of oldest member of the Forbes 400. Ranked #193, the former CEO and chairman of Chase National Bank boasts an estimated personal net worth of $2.8 billion. Wealth lists such as Forbes Billionaires or Forbes 400 rank individuals rather than large, multi-generational families who share fortunes. Ownership breakdown among siblings and relatives is often unclear, and, as is the case with the Rockefellers, records of the family archives relating to both the family's and individual members’ net worth may be closed to researchers. The true combined wealth of the Rockefeller family
actual net worth; they cite a dual drop in public influence and private wealth. Over time, the family has grown substantially and, naturally, in tandem with the number of claims to the family trusts. Quite noticeably, in the last 20 years, not a single Rockefeller has amassed a separate personal fortune from undertaking an entrepreneurial venture. Many speculate that merely collecting interest on family holdings may no longer be enough to sustain the entire Rockefeller clan, including members of the latest “fifthsixth” generation. Just how many Rockefellers are there? Many. There are currently between 150 and 200 living blood-relatives of John D. Rockefeller Sr. Are the Rockefellers politically active? In the past and present. Nelson Rockefeller, grandson to the original family patriarch, served as assistant secretary of state for inter-American (Latin American) affairs, as governor of New York and later as vice president under Gerald Ford. His brother Winthrop became the lieutenant governor of Arkansas.Previously having served as
Clockwise: The Museum of Modern Art; The landmark Standard Oil Building; John D. Rockefeller, Sr. and John D Rockefeller, Jr.; the Memorial Chapel at the University of Chicago; Eileen Rockefeller Growald and David Rockefeller, Sr.; Abby Aldrich Rockefeller; A family portrait: From left to right, David Rockefeller, Jr., Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Neva Rockefeller, Margaret Dulany Rockefeller, Richard Gilder Rockefeller and Eileen Rockefeller. Middle: At 13,775 feet, Grand Teton is the highest mountain in Grand Teton National Park, which was donated by John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
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Second World War. Taking a page from his father’s book, the next Rockefeller scion, John III, would donate $175 million toward the construction of Lincoln Center. Since when do oil heirs care about the environment? Historically active in the nonprofit arenas of arts and education, members of the prominent six-generation family have also claimed a vested interest in the environment. The oil-stained palms of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. seem a far cry from the green thumbs of any eco-doting conservationist. However, the commercial exploitation of petroleum actually created an energy replacement for whale oil—perhaps preventing the extinction of that species. Despite the depletive environmental legacy it bears today, kerosene was a more affordable and cleaner burning fuel at the time of its discovery. Five years ago, the Rockefeller Center was retrofitted to increase its eco-responsibility; its beloved Christmas tree now relies on rooftop solar panels to power its lights. That same year, 73 of 78 adult descendants of John D. Rockefeller signed resolutions beckoning Exxon—of which the family is still a shareholder—to adopt greener measures, among other stipulations. Though all four resolutions were defeated and business pundits dismissed the shareholder-activists, the Rockefellers continue to press for environmental change.
to members of the boating community and local children alike. Public in her support of the 2008 Exxon shareholder eco-resolutions, Neva Rockefeller Goodwin currently teaches at Tufts University, where she also co-directs the Global Development and Environment Institute and co-chairs the New Economics Institute. Co-founder of the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning, Eileen Rockefeller Growald recently published a memoir, Being a Rockefeller, Becoming Myself. Expounding on her childhood shyness and undiagnosed dyslexia, Eileen also details her passion for rustic living, specifically, in the rural Maine cabin she and her three youngest children built by themselves.
have amassed an abundant Asian art collection that includes rare Chinese bronzes, delicate Japanese screens, representations of sacred Indian animals, and a Thai copper alloy inlaid with silver-and-black stone, among other treasures. A longtime client manager at Sotheby’s, Charles has followed suit, serving as a prominent member and trustee of the Asia Society. Alternatively, then-newlywed fashion luminary Ariana Rockefeller launched her eponymous label in 2011 and showcased an early preview of her Spring 2014 collection just last month. Among the dinner party-ready frocks, silk gowns and chiffon slips she designs is a simple chevron print inspired by a blue housedress worn by the female figure in Picasso’s Femme et Chien Sous un Arbre—which hangs in the living room of her family’s Cambridge residence.
“I believe the power to make money is a gift of God . . . to be developed and used to the best of our ability for the good of mankind.”
Who are the prominent Rockefellers of today? The fourth generation of oil heirs, commonly referred to as “the Cousins,” brings a harvest of “green” Rockefellers—namely, a conscientious sailor, an eco-educator and an outdoorsy novelist. In 2009, Sailors for the Sea founder David Rockefeller, Jr. co-sponsored the first-ever sailing circumnavigation of the Americas—a 28,000-mile-long trip through the Northwest Passage, around Cape Horn and back to Seattle. Onboard, renowned scientists and educators performed climatic and oceanographic experiments: observing patterns in ocean currents, coral bleaching and seawater acidification. Upon docking, these shipmates delivered lectures promoting marine health and environmental protection 64 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
How did young upstarts of the fifth generation of Rockefellers branch into grassroots activism, Asian art and fashion? At the tender of age 25, Justin Aldrich Rockefeller —the youngest son of West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller—co-founded Generation Engage, a nonprofit that engenders engagement between politicians and community college students through grassroots activism and technology. As of late, Justin juggles dual professions as a venture partner at Richmond Management and director of Addepar, a special-relations group aimed at reinventing the tools used to aggregate and analyze financial data. His brother Charles, head of partnerships at LearnerX, a start-up learning technology company, is something of an Asian art buff. Prescient Asian art collectors, the Rockefellers
What is the legacy of the Rockefeller family? The Rockefellers can be compared to a Renaissance troupe, having forged inroads into banking, politics, real estate, education, environmental conservation, the arts, fashion and most notably, the oil industry. In short, the Rockefellers give the term “idle rich” a swift kick in the rear. However, the true Rockefeller legacy may be the multigenerational honoring of John D. Rockefeller’s philanthropic initiative. The oil oligarch once declared, “I believe the power to make money is a gift of God . . . to be developed and used to the best of our ability for the good of mankind.” (Interview with John T. Flynn, author of God’s Gold, 1932) As economies on the continents of Africa and Asia rapidly liberalize, the fortunes being made in real estate and infrastructure development are creating a new outcrop and, frankly, a new ballpark of the dynastic rich. For these newest members of the monied set, the philanthropic zeal of the Rockefeller family serves as a model of behavior, a six-generation repertoire of giving back that the new rich would do well to observe and, perhaps, try to outdo. ✦
Clockwise: The Cloisters museum and gardens at Fort Tryon Park; David Rockefeller, Jr., his late wife Peggy McGrath and their grandchildren; a portrait of young John D. Rockefeller, Sr.; David Rockefeller, Jr.; Lincoln Center; Charles Rockefeller, Indré Vengris Rockefeller and husband Justin Rockefeller; Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller from West Virginia. Middle top: United Nations Headquarters. Middle bottom: Rockefeller Plaza comprises 19 landmark commercial properties including GE, Bank of America and the Today Show studios.
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Termsof
Enrichment
Preparing your children for money is as important as preparing money for your children by Alina Tugend
A
ndrew Tisch—the son of Laurence Tisch of Loews Corp. and CBS—desperately wanted a Timex watch when he was seven years old. “My parents said, ‘Save for it,” Tisch remembers. And, as he told Fortune magazine, he accepted their mandate, at a very young age. Then, when he himself became an adult, and father, he similarly gave his own children modest sums: just $1 in allowance every week. And when his son wanted baseball cards just as desperately as Tisch had wanted that Timex, Father told Son to “save for it.” Most parents wonder how to teach their children about the value of a dollar, how to instill a work ethic and how to develop compassion for others. But for very wealthy parents, the problems can be amplified. Great fortunes combined with no purpose or responsibility toward others is the perfect recipe for selfish children and unhappy adults. What rules should parents follow? There is no one answer, but research and experience provide guidance and suggestions: like an allowance. As it turns out, Tisch was spot-on. “Counter-intuitively, allowances are especially important for children of wealth,” writes Kay Hymowitz in Philanthropy Magazine. “For one thing, [allowances] can lessen, in distracted parents, the temptation to act as their children’s ATM. Allowances also encourage children to become aware of the costs of things and to gain experience prioritizing their wants.” Psychiatrist Eric Collins agrees. “Teaching them the value of money is important. So is the value of work. says Col66 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
lins , who has many wealthy clients and is physician-in-chief at Silver Hill Hospital in Connecticut, which treats psychiatric and addictive disorders. “Families need to do a very careful, thoughtful job to make sure wealth doesn’t sap motivation,” Collins says. This is particularly essential, he says, for those who inherit wealth or receive it through some sort of windfall, because they often suffer from feelings of guilt that they don’t deserve their riches. Saying “no” is another skill parents must learn early on, Collins says. Yet it’s a move that can be especially tough for wealthy parents who can’t fall back on the “we can’t afford it” excuse. “In the short term, it’s easier to gratify a child’s request,” Collins says. “But parents need to learn to tolerate a child’s distress.” If parents give in to their children because it’s just too difficult to witness their unhappiness, those children will grow into adults who have never learned to cope with frustration or obstacles. And that may mean they are more likely to turn to drugs or alcohol as a crutch to help them handle life’s inevitable disappointments. Parents need to remember that “lots of little ‘no’s’ along the way build tolerance,” Collins says. Of course this doesn’t mean blanket denial. It’s okay to, say, buy a car for your teenager, but he or she should work to pay for the gas, the insurance and part of the down payment. In short, your teen should have some skin in the game. Howard Buffet, son of Warren, has recalled in interviews how, when he went to the movies as a kid, “you never knew” whether Dad was going to pay for the
ticket or not. “His attitude was, ‘Everybody pulls his own weight,’” the younger Buffet told New York magazine. Holly Peterson, daughter of Blackstone Group co-founder Pete Peterson, was raised with the same philosophy. “It’s simple: Either your parents are comfortable paying for everything in your twenties and letting you coast financially through that period, or they’re not,” she said in the same New York article, “Rich Kid Syndrome.” Peterson has worked in television and print journalism since graduating from college and authored the book The Manny, about a rich New York family that hires, yes, a male nanny. Back when she was making $32,000 a year as a researcher at ABC News, her father would subsidize her $600–a-month apartment so she could live in a place with a doorman instead of in a studio walk-up. Still, the two would argue a lot about how much he would give her. “I would point out that in the last 30 seconds, he had just earned in interest the amount I was asking for,” she says. “And he would lean across the table and say, “I know you don’t understand this now, but the greatest gift I can give you is your independence.” Today, she admits that he was right. Instilling a work ethic starts with chores for kids as young as 5 or 6 and then maybe a summer job or other employment. And don’t worry about what kind of job it is: The Buffett children were required to wash windows and mow the lawn. H. Ross Perot Jr. relates how he used to have to shovel holes for petunia blossoms at his father’s workplace, for a quarter a hole. Of course, ultimately the goal is not just to work for work’s sake, but to find an enterprise that is both meaningful and productive, which, as any therapist will tell you, is the key to a fulfilled life. In fact, some parents set up what are called “incentive trusts” that require their offspring to, for example, graduate from college or get a job before having access to the trust. “When a child gets a job, the trust might match the W2 income,” says Michael James, director of family wealth for Glenmede, an investment and wealth management company. Tony Guernsey, chief client advocate for Wilmington Trust, said such trusts can also be a good way to level the playing field between children. “If one becomes a teacher, the trust might pay $10 for every $1 earned,” he said, while it could pay less or be based on a different criteria if another child went into a high-paying profession. Imparting to a child lessons on how to give responsibly—and not just money, but time and energy—is also vital. Starting from a young age, children should be allowed a say in how to contribute money to a worthy cause, through a family meeting where everybody gets to vote on a target charity. If there’s a charity you the parent already work with—or a family foundation—find a way to involve your children. One pitfall for rich kids is that they often don’t know if people want to be their friends because of who they are or because of what they can buy. That’s always going to be a danger, but encouraging your son or daughter to find some real passion—be it music or human rights activism or stamp collecting—will create a way to connect to a group of people based on a mutual interest outside of money. Toby Neugebauer, co-founder of Quantum Energy Partners, and his wife, spent more than three months travelling the world with their 9- and 11-year-old sons, going to the slums of Mumbai, the orphan-
ages of China and the villages of Tanzania. One of their goals, as related in Philanthropy Magazine, was to visit some of the organizations their foundation, Matthew 6:20, funds. They wanted to get their boys thinking about the good they could do with the money they will inherit. The most basic advice—but perhaps the most difficult wisdom for many parents—is to be there for your children, both emotionally and physically. “We need connection,” says Richard Taite, founder and CEO of Cliffside Malibu, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center that caters to the very well known and very affluent—among them, the poster child for fame-gone-bad, Lindsay Lohan. “We’re not saying that every kid needs to win a first prize. We’re saying that all kids need to feel like they’re enough,” Taite says. Indeed, businessman Mark Cuban told Forbes magazine that his best advice for wealthy parents is “to spend as much time as possible,
“
They wanted to get their boys thinking about the good they could do with the money they will inherit.
”
with no one else around.” That’s why they spent often tried to spend weekends alone with their children—without even the help around. Significantly, studies show that a lot of parents don’t want to talk about their wealth with their kids until the latter are in their mid-20s. But that’s too late. “It should be done as early as possible,” says Glenmede’s James. Seven or 8 years old is not too soon if the discussion is handled in an age-appropriate manner That doesn’t mean spelling out all the numbers; but discussing the family’s values and ideas about money is very important—and the discussion should not happen just once, but intermittently as the kids grow up. “We spend way too much time preparing our money for our children and not enough time preparing our children for the money,” Guernsey said. After all, like information about sex and drugs, information about finances—if you don’t talk to your kids—will come from somewhere else. Don’t forget that teens have a sneaky way of finding out what they want online—like your net worth. Finally, it may not hurt to learn from some billionaires who have thought a lot about the impact of great wealth on their children: Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. They’ve taken the Giving Pledge, promising to donate half their fortune to philanthropy. As Buffett has often said, the perfect amount to leave your heirs is enough so “they feel they can do anything, but not so much they can do nothing.” ✦ —Alina Tugend writes the ShortCuts column for The New York Times and is the author of the book Better by Mistake: The Unexpected Benefits of Being Wrong. Her website is www.alinatugend.com DECEMBER 2013 • AVENUE MAGAZINE | 67
Rewind WHO’S LEAVING A LEGACY THIS YEAR? by Haley
Friedlich
Stephen Schwarzman Schwarzman, co-founder, CEO and chairman of the Blackstone Group, and a major philanthropist, has pledged $100 million to Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. The money is to be used for scholarships. Schwarzman is involved with a number of major charities in New York; and, most famously, the main building of the New York Public Library bears his name.
Goodbye, Bloomberg Era
MAYOR MIKE, NO MORE:
Mayor Michael Bloomberg will start his next chapter as a creative and influential philanthropist, and as chairman of the Serpentine Gallery—an art gallery in London.
Giving it all Away
Michael Bloomberg says that by the end of 2013, he plans to give away at least $400 million. In an October Time magazine cover story, the departing mayor said he plans to use his charitable and political donations to focus on issues that truly matter. “I want to work on those things that others aren’t working on,” he told Time. He named smoking, obesity, traffic deaths, innovative solutions to malaria and the global eradication of polio as issues on his roster. Bloomberg will also be the next chairman of London’s Serpentine Gallery—a post he will assume as soon as his mayoral term officially ends.
9-Figure Promises
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital received a gift of $100 million from David H. Koch to construct an ambulatory care center at its Upper East Side location in Manhattan. Koch has proved to be a major figure in New York’s cultural landscape—he is a key donor for Lincoln Center and the American Museum of Natural History. The former’s main theater was a gift of Koch’s and the latter boasts the David H. Koch Dinosaur Wing. 68 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
On November 5, Bill de Blasio was elected to become the first Democratic mayor of New York City in 20 years. Defeating Republican Joe Lhota by a landslide, de Blasio was not always a shoo-in for the seat. In the spring, de Blasio was holding fourth place in a crammed Democratic primary race until Anthony Weiner faced another sexting scandal and Christine Quinn began taking heat for her ties to Mayor Bloomberg, especially the self-benefit of approving his third term. In August, de Blasio started making his mixed-race family the public face of his campaign—which turned out to be a good campaign strategy. Voters began positively responding to his liberal agenda. His plans include raising taxes to fund mandatory pre-kindergarten and to bridge the gap between “haves” and “have-nots.” Scott Stringer (who defeated disgraced former governor Elliot Spitzer in the primary) will take office as city comptroller and Gale Brewer will replace Stringer as Manhattan borough president.
DE BLASIO FOR THE WIN:
Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio will be the first Democrat to helm New York City in 20 years.
The City’s Bikes Became Citi Bikes
Citibank paid $41 million to sponsor a controversial bike-sharing program rolled out by the Bloomberg administration. Citibank’s sponsorship of the program for the next five years allowed 6,000 blue logo-bearing Citi Bikes to be placed at docking stations around the city (though not above 59th Street); the bikes are available to be checked out by anyone with a credit card, for 45-minute intervals. But the bright blue blobs of bikes are distracting, many have argued—including Delia Ephron, who expressly voiced this point for the New York Times. The Plaza also disapproves and has filed a lawsuit to have the Citi Bike rack removed from its front block. Meanwhile, Leonardo DiCaprio, Seth Meyers and Bruce Willis are counted among Citi Bike’s high-profile users. The debate about the positive environmental impact, versus traffic safety concerns over inexperienced bike riders being let loose on city streets, will undoubtedly continue into 2014.
Gossip Column Gold
In the dog days of summer, New Yorkers—whether they admit it or not—love indulging in a good scandal. This year, music and entertainment mogul Simon Cowell and socialite Lauren Silverman had tongues wagging when their affair came to light. Cowell became friends with Lauren and her then-husband Andrew Silverman in 2004. The couple was often invited on Cowell’s yacht and to stay at his L.A. home. Then, in July, Andrew filed for divorce from Lauren, citing adultery and listing Cowell as a co-respondent. Soon after, it was revealed that the affair had spanned four years, that Lauren is pregnant with Cowell’s first child and they are officially together now.
BRIGHT BLUE:
Love them or hate them, Citi Bikes are making a splash. Above: Model Karolina Kurkova peddles a Citi Bike through the West Village.
Cronut Chaos
A little bakery down on Spring Street made a lot of ruckus this summer when pastry chef and owner Dominique Ansel introduced the Cronut. Part croissant, part doughnut—it’s layered, fried, rolled in sugar, filled with cream and glazed. This dessert went viral in May and sent New Yorkers into a tailspin, all trying to get their hands on an original Cronut. Months later, Cronut seekers still line up outside the bakery every morning—they say that if you arrive before 6 am on a weekday, you have a “great chance” of getting a Cronut (the bakery opens at 8 am and weekends are busier, so line up at 5!). Each month, the bakery rolls out a new flavor, and Ansel had the foresight to trademark the little treat, so don’t expect the Cronut phenomenon to die down too soon.
GOTHAM’S GUY: Mayor Ed Koch’s death brought back memories of his wide influence on the City.
A Mayor to Remember
GOTTA GETTA CRONUT: Thanks to a trademark and his one-flavor-per-month method, Dominique Ansel has kept the Cronut a hot commodity.
Ed Koch certainly ran the full professional gamut in his lifetime—as a U.S. congressman, a three-term New York City mayor and, in the nonpolitical sphere, a law partner, television judge, radio talk-show host, author, newspaper columnist, movie reviewer, professor, commercial pitchman and political persecutor. As New York mayor from 1978 to 1989, Koch is credited with leading the city back from near-bankruptcy and into prosperity—by holding down spending, restoring the city’s creditworthiness, implementing an effective budget, building the local economy, improving housing programs and education systems and much more. New Yorkers identified with his brash and vibrant demeanor, making him a symbol of the city itself. DECEMBER 2013 • AVENUE MAGAZINE | 69
Rewind
WELCOMING GEORGE:
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge introduce the royal baby to the world.
TEA PARTY:
Starbucks launched its tea takeover on the Upper
East Side
To a Tea
The Little Prince
Starbucks has acquired the tea company Teavana and opened its first tea bar on the Upper East Side. This is Starbucks’ initial push to mass-market tea bars the way it did coffee bars. The company says this is a $90 billion market opportunity—with tea being the world’s most consumed beverage after water. The opening of the Upper East Side location is Starbucks’ first attempt toward making tea a trendier and bigger part of American culture.
This may have happened across the Pond, but baby fever hit in December 2012 when St. James’ Palace announced that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were expecting their first child. By the time July rolled around, the world was on nonstop baby watch. Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge was introduced to the world July 22, 2013. He is third in line to succeed his great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, after his grandfather and father, meaning that for the first time in 150 years, there are four generations of living present and future British rulers.
River House Makes a Ruckus
Real estate sticker shock is a thing of the past, as we hear about more and more nine-digit listings, but one New York property made a splash in the market, and headlines, this past fall. In late September the River House Residence—which can be yours for a cool $130 million—became New York City’s most expensive listing ever. The Residence is the five-story building that formerly served as River House’s private club. The co-op board decided to put it on the block after the River Club, which has occupied the space since 1931, was unable to agree upon terms of a long-term lease renewal or sale of the building. It is being sold in its bare-bones, existing condition but being marketed with proposed renovation plans drawn up by interior architect Tony Ingrao. 70 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
A HUMBLE ABODE: The River House Residence hit the market with the most expensive price tag in New York City history. Above: Ingrao’s rendering of the kitchen.
Keeping up with Steve Cohen
In 2013, hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen just couldn’t stay out of the headlines. Less than two weeks after his hedge fund, SAC Capital, settled with the SEC in March for more than $600 million, following insider trading charges (then record-breaking), Cohen was back in the news for his personal financial decisions. Forget keeping a low profile following the SEC scandal; Cohen purchased a Pablo Picasso painting titled Le Rêve, for a reported $155 million from Vegas titan Steve Wynn. The transaction was supposed to be top secret, but the New York Post uncovered it and the story went viral. This was said to be the most expensive artwork ever purchased by a U.S. collector and put Cohen’s collection’s value at an estimated $1 billion. Cohen was supposed to buy the painting from Wynn back in 2006 when Wynn accidentally and infamously put his elbow through the piece. Cohen’s face splashed across the news again in July when the SEC brought another, separate case against Cohen himself, and then the Justice Department indicted the firm. In early November, SAC Capital agreed to plead guilty to insider trading violations from 1999 through the end of 2012 and will pay (another) record-breaking penalty of $1.2 billion. Cohen has agreed to pay the fine out of his own pocket and SAC will no longer manage outside money. The SEC’s civil lawsuit against Cohen (personally) continues.
LENO’S EXIT: Jay Leno’s late-night slot will go to Jimmy Fallon, whose time will be taken over by Seth Meyers.
Late-night Shuffle
Goodbye to 2013 will also mean goodbye to Jay Leno—likely for real this time. Ratings forced NBC to undo its previous Tonight Show takeover by Conan O’Brien, but this time the network seems to have a secure plan in place. Jimmy Fallon will step into Leno’s shoes, to host NBC’s Tonight Show. Meanwhile, SNL alum Seth Meyers will take over the Late Night slot for Fallon and has signed Anna Wintour’s daughter, Bee Shaffer, as a segment producer. While Leno’s retirement announcement spurred rumors about the same fate for David Letterman, the latter host’s contract with CBS was renewed for 2014.
CONTROVERSY FOR COHEN:
Hedge fund magnate Steve Cohen spent the better part of the year in the headlines.
Louis Vuitton Moves Forward
In early November Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury fashion brand, named French designer Nicolas Ghesquière as creative director. Ghesquière is the former Balenciaga designer (succeeded by Alexander Wang) and will take the helm of the label’s women’s fashion division. Hiring the avant-garde Ghesquière is a key move, as the brand pushes to reclaim its reputation as one of the world’s most prestigious brands and resuscitate sales. Ghesquière succeeds Marc Jacobs who resigned from Louis Vuitton after 16 years to focus on his own eponymous label. Ghesquière’s inaugural collection for Louis Vuitton will debut in March; a swift transition that prevented the company from missing a season and reflected nicely on the LVMH stock price at the time of the announcement. ✦
LOUIS LOUIS:
Nicolas Ghesquière finds his new fashion home
with Louis Vuitton.
DECEMBER 2013 • AVENUE MAGAZINE | 71
Social
Assassins
’Tis the season: Holiday parties come in all shapes and sizes, from intimate dinners and invite-only cocktail gatherings to large-scale benefits aplenty. Yet one thing remains the same: An interesting mix of characters will find their way into the equation, whether it be your living room or The Pierre’s Grand Ballroom. So, while the weather outside may be frightful, an unforeseen blizzard doesn’t hold a candle to the havoc wreaked by AVENUE’s handpicked social saboteurs.
“The Pill Popper” While the champagne hiccups and gurning jaw both had their moments in the aughts, this highmaintenance guest is a different breed. She’s replaced Cindy and Sally from Vanderbilt with her new best friends Lorazepam and Zoloft, from her medicine cabinet. It only takes one glass of Prosecco to open the floodgates of this overlymedicated, ticking time-bomb, as she holes up in the host’s bathroom on the marble floor, using your exboyfriend’s kerchief to soak up her clumpy mascara-laden tears. She starts sentences with, “Well, Dr. Z says . . .” and interrogates you as to why you aren’t “better friends,” considering that she did invite you to her birthday party at Bar and Books last March. As she departs, skirt tucked into her Wolford tights, she will divulge to the hostess that she really doesn’t “care for” the Clarence House wallpaper in her front entryway. 72 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
“The E-Cigarette Smoker” With a Loro Piana scarf tucked carefully beneath his Zegna lapels, this new age partygoer will choose the most unventilated and populated of areas, the narrow hallway between your dining room and sitting area, to brazenly vapor away. His charcoal-colored activitytracking bracelet, secured tightly around his wrist, will beep softly— an indication he’s been inactive for 30 minutes—as he alternates sips of Dewar’s with large puffs of his electronic plus-one. Art Basel is almost always the topic of conversation, when he’s not comparing Banksy’s latest installation on the Bowery to the unveiling of the Sistine Chapel. Following his seventh call to his Uber driver, he will wave good-bye to his hostess, still holding on to his slender e-date, as he swings on his winter coat, accidently knocking over her grandmother’s Steuben vase.
“The Close Talker” Ubiquitous at holiday soirées, this guest will invade your personal space to such a degree that it’s a miracle you don’t end up spilling your glass of Côtes du Rhône over the silk Pierre Frey pillows behind you. Be forewarned: A heavy waft of stale breath—infused with traces of warm brie and chutney pastries, smoked salmon and caper crostinis—will wash over you, filling the air until you ultimately pass them on to their next victim.
“The Private School Bore”” Whether this guest is a proud grandparent or a mother of two preschoolers, she will labor on about the trials and tribulations of the private school merry-goround. Flouncing a stem of Chablis and teetering in her pristine satin Manolos, she will dribble on ad nauseam about the many people you both know who have failed to get their child into kindergarten. She will also declare that some people “have even moved to Bedford or Greenwich” to educate their child. After relaying statistics that compare the chances of getting into a top school to reaching the top of Everest, she’ll then announce that her own progeny Charles Jr. aced his ERBs and is a burgeoning chess champion who will be matriculating at St. Bartleby’s in the fall.
“The Corner Dwellers” In behavior reminiscent of their school days at Pipecrest, there are always two or three partygoers lurking in the farthest removed area of the host’s Park Avenue abode. You will find them tucked away under the Ellsworth Kelly, gabbling away with all the intensity of nuclear physicists passing along state secrets. Huddled ear-to-ear, clutching the skirts of their embellished Miu Miu dresses, their eyes will occasionally scan the room, shooting daggers at anyone brave enough to approach. As they leave, they will smile sweetly at the hostess, having just cut her to pieces, and tell her it was “so lovely catching up with everyone.”
“The Uninvited Clinger” Just as your cocktail party is in full swing, this uninvited attendee will make a grand entrance, shoving guests right and left while blithely behaving as if his Paperless Post invitation got stuck in his junk mail. When you think you’ve managed to shake this crasher, he will interrupt an intimate conversation with your childhood friend, in order to bore you with a 20-minute lecture about his friends in Rajasthan, thereby monopolizing you until it’s time for everyone else to go home.
“The Photo Bomber” Just as an iPhone 5S is pulled from a Valentino evening bag, this social assassin will show impeccable timing, by ducking into the photo’s frame, squeezing into family shots and even saddling up to new “friends.” She possesses a sixth sense for knowing when to barge in, flashing a toothy, wide-mouthed smile or a sidearm cocked in a strong 45-degree angle placed on the hip. In a move Rita Wilson made famous—putting her cheek up against Tom Hanks’ whenever a flashbulb flickered—this guest will seek out the only celebrity or “it person” in the room so as to be in almost every photo on Patrick McMullan or Billy Farrell the following day.
“The Set of Wandering Eyes” The clock is always “on” for this unpleasant partygoer, as he works the room, stridently telling everyone he stumbles upon, “Let me tell you about my latest lifestyle/wellness/real estate/tech venture . . .” With the opportunistic vigor of a fake Rolex vendor in Times Square, he will tote an alligatorembossed card case plainly in his left hand, using his right to litter newly-minted business cards into the Paul Stuart breast pockets of his social casualties. He will appear to be listening, but his eyes will be fixated with a hawk-like fervor on the fresh faces scurrying in the door of Dorrian’s as he continues his search for the next vodka soda-drinking pickled heiress to prey upon.
“The Self-Revealing Social Media Stalker”
“The Constant Blanker”
In the age of social media, it can be hard to know where to draw the line between being politely informed about an acquaintance and just plain creepy. This eager beaver follows all party guests’ social media activity and, as an icebreaker, rambles on about the exact number of friends and followers you share in common on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. She will repeat, verbatim, a comment your Aunt Nonny made on a photo you posted three-and-ahalf months ago and start a neverending rant about John, whom she has just met (calling him by his full Facebook moniker, John “Philip” Anderson), noting how he uploads a sweaty “selfie” from SoulCycle each Tuesday.
You have met this social saboteur countless times and each time he looks right through you as he’s shaking your hand and reintroduces himself. It doesn’t matter that you had a long chat with him on your friend’s sailboat this summer on the Vineyard or that you were seated at the same table at the Museum of the City of New York party, this space cadet never remembers your name. As a result you try harder and harder to get his attention by being more and more outrageous, but the truth is that nothing short of streaking through The Racquet and Tennis Club will make this person remember you.
DECEMBER 2013 • AVENUE MAGAZINE | 73
miami roundtable Greg Freedman
Martin Z. Margulies
Len Dugow
Anthony Burns
Sunny Developments Our Miami experts talk about the state of real estate in their city moderated by Len
Dugow photographed by Michael Price
AVENUE: It has been reported that over 175 pre-construction condominium projects have been announced in South Florida. This robust development cycle has been driven by what is referenced as “progressive buyer deposits,” meaning as much as 50-70 percent of a unit’s full purchase price is being funded by the buyer, prior to closing the project. What do you believe will be the ramifications when the first (of possibly many) fails? GREG FREEDMAN: I think the protection that we all look for as developers, and the reason we support this buying model, is to have committed purchasers, the scaled deposit model means buyers are more committed to the product offering as a result of having more “skin in the game” and this also further eliminates the speculators that historically would make heavily leveraged financial commitments they couldn’t adhere to. However, this deposit model shouldn’t replace the necessity for developers to be well capitalized with substantial equity of their own, separate and apart from the deposits. There will certainly be an instance where an aggressive and/or inexperienced developer is under-capitalized and fails to deliver the finished product on time or on budget, either as a result of poor planning, or as a result of contracted purchasers failing to make their scheduled deposits on time. The ramifications in this instance are untested, hence buyers should go through due diligence on who their developer is, and look at his or her company’s track record. AVENUE: Martin, you’re the only exception in South Florida who chose not to embrace a progressive payment program for 74 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
your Bellini, Williams Island project; instead, you pledged tens of millions of dollars’ worth of your art collection to secure your construction financing. Why? MARTIN Z. MARGULIES: I believe the buyer has a lot more confidence when the developer is using his own money. On top of that, at the time I started financing, it was all but impossible to get it—especially for multiple projects—but construction costs were very low. I felt it was an opportune time to fund the project myself and reduce risks to buyers, as well as lower costs for the development. AVENUE: Anthony, regarding Martin’s point about increased costs: are you discovering this at your Marina Palms project? ANTHONY BURNS: Absolutely. We priced our project, which we just started construction on a couple of months ago, when we were running our RFP with three of the big general contractors. By the time we had finally selected our contractor, hard costs had already gone up 10 percent. We were able to beat those prices back down, but there is an extreme amount of upward pressure on the material, and soon, too, with labor pricing, which is just now starting to come back. AVENUE: Kevin, you came to market with Echo Aventura a year ago; are you now facing similar challenges? KEVIN MALONEY: Certainly. In 2010, when banking financing wasn’t available, the construction trades were abundant, and labor was
Matthew J. Allen
Kevin Maloney
abundant. Since that point, costs have probably gone up 100 percent. If you don’t have the liquidity to make your capital calls as a developer and you’re doing multiple projects, you’re going to be in trouble. Costs are going to continue to go up—we already have subs telling us they have had to push other projects aside, unable to get to some for six months or more. That’s when you know your prices are really going to increase.
qualified laborers back in so your product is what it should be, up to the standards that you set.
AVENUE: Matthew, with the multiple projects that Related has going in various degrees of pre-selling and under construction, how do you begin to look at the landscape when reviewing the upward pressure on cost?
GREG: I think the shift is that developers today have really listened to what buyers from other markets are seeking and are designing projects around buyers’ lifestyles. An example of this is the dramatic increased shift in average unit size in markets such as Aventura and Sunny Isles where the average unit size is now 3,000-plus square feet whereas 10 years ago it was 1,800 square feet. This is a result of those locations catering to a family buyer, whereas Downtown is vibrant with singles or couples seeking smaller unit sizes. Regardless of location, the higher-end product is definitively expanding its product offering to include more robust amenities and services to appeal to the discerning buyer.
MATTHEW J. ALLEN: We’re somewhat lucky because we have a loyal sub-base. We’re established, and there’s never been a sub that’s not been paid from one of our projects, so we’ve built good relationships where we have their loyalty, and they know they’re going to keep our pricing a little tighter than a developer they haven’t worked with before. A considerable number of laborers left the market following the downturn. They went back to their home state or country to find work, and I think our contractors now need to make sure they get those
ROUNDTABLE PARTICIPANTS
AVENUE: On that note, let’s talk about what’s going on today with the luxury market. Is there a new definition of luxury today? And therefore, do developers have to amp up their features, amenities, services and overall quality?
MARTIN: I have a different thought on that. My thinking is that when the market is good, the buyer comes in and says, “How much per
GREG FREEDMAN, Principal, BH III: Developers of Prive Residences
MATTHEW J. ALLEN, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, The Related Group: Developers of One Ocean, SLS Hotel & Residences, Paraiso Bay
MARTIN Z. MARGULIES, Developer of Bellini Williams Island
ANTHONY BURNS, Principal, The DevStar Group: Developers of Marina Palms Yacht Club & Residences
KEVIN MALONEY, Principal, Property Markets Group : Developers of Echo Aventura and Echo Brickell
DECEMBER 2013 • AVENUE MAGAZINE | 75
miami roundtable
square foot?” When the market is bad, they say, “Well I don’t like the layout of this and I don’t like the kitchen and . . .” It’s all the timing of the market. You can gear it any way you want, but if the timing is not right and the market isn’t there, it doesn’t matter what you do; you’re going to have to discount that apartment.
“By default everyone from the northeast eventually comes down to South Florida at some point.” –Greg Freedman
AVENUE: Anthony, at Marina Palms, one of the distinguishing features is that the project has the first yacht club to come to the Miami area in 25-plus years. How did you begin to put that into your plan as far as pricing, features and services? ANTHONY: As Greg said, we’re all really listening to what buyers want. In our case, we discovered in our research there was a significant pent-up demand for buyers wanting marina slips. What’s unique about this market and its current buyer is that I don’t think this model is sustainable over the long term. But that’s our job as developers—to get the timing just right and deliver quickly on what has the most demand. AVENUE: On the subject of timing, Kevin, I understand that the numbers that you’re getting now at Echo Brickell are somewhere in the $800-plus per square foot [range]. Everyone at this table two to three years ago would have said, “No way, that’s a dream.” KEVIN: Well, ask me in two years. It still may be a dream. Our lowerpriced units traded at $700 to $800 per square foot. But you must understand: It’s all reservations, and frankly, where the rubber meets the road is trying to convert reservations to the hard contract. But it does give you an indication in terms of absorption and push-back and price point; and we really had no push-back, and we absorbed the first 140 units in 30 days.
76 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
AVENUE: Matthew, we’re sitting at Related’s One Ocean on South Beach and it’s been sold out for a while, with prices over $1,500 per square foot, correct? MATTHEW: Yes, north of $1,500 per foot, but there are a few things to note here. While the market has gone up 30 percent, on average if you look at certain projects in Brickell downtown corridor, we’re selling between $500 and $600 a foot, and we’re getting ready to launch Brickell Heights, which will be right around $600 a foot. I think certain projects like Kevin’s are a specialty lot; it’s a niche lot in a niche location where he’s building to that demand, but that’s not everybody. The local market is still very segmented. AVENUE: We are all well aware of how the South American buyer has fueled this growth. In terms of buyers, what are you seeing regarding New Yorkers and the Northeast in general? GREG: By default everyone from the northeast eventually comes down to South Florida at some point. We’ve actually seen an uptick in the New Yorkers and the Northeasters coming into the market in the past 12 months, specifically for the upper-end oceanfront/waterfront exclusive offerings. However what’s fascinating is if you go sit at a restaurant no one really “belongs.” It used to be that in Miami you were either Caucasian or Latino. Now, there are people from everywhere. At Trump
Armin B. Allen
David Anderson
DUPLEX PENTHOUSE AT 15 CPW
PARK AVENUE PH DUPLEX WITH TERRACE
CANDELA PARK AVENUE 14
CPW. 5,610SF duplex penthouse with 392SF terrace overlooking Central Park in 15 CPW condo. 4BR, 5.5 bath with private elevator and working fireplace. White glove building. $62.5M. WEB# 9230070. Kyle Blackmon 212-588-5648
Park Ave. Co-Excl. Prewar palatial PH w/ 5BR, 5 full baths, 2 pwdr rms, LR, libr, FDR, wndwd EIK, brkfst rm, 2 wbfps, city & river views, wrap terr, brand-new renov. $27.5M. WEB# 9161453. Cathy Franklin 212-906-9236 Alexis Bodenheimer 212-906-9230
East 70s/Park Avenue. High floor, 100 feet fronting Park Avenue, sun flooded and sprawling. Perfect move- in condition. 33’ corner living room. 4 fireplaces. Chef’s eat-in kitchen. 5 bedrooms, 6.5 baths. $25M. WEB# 9043731. John Burger 212-906-9274
Paula Del Nunzio
Avideh Ghaffari
Curtis Jackson
IMPORTANT PARK BLOCK HOUSE
SPECTACULAR CANDELA DUPLEX
FLAWLESS PARK AVENUE DUPLEX
UWS. Formerly home to Perry Ellis, 5-story, 20’ wide, 7,200SF single family with elevator. Art Deco baths, a French country kitchen and dreamy garden. $17.95M. WEB# 4038723. Wolf Jakubowski 212-588-5630
UES. Sun-filled prewar 11 into 10 rooms in premier Co-op off 5th Avenue, brand new renov, 4BR, 4.5 baths, LR, FDR, libr, WEIK, maid’s rm, wine cellar, CAC. $14.5M. WEB# 9224141. Cathy Franklin 212-906-9236 Alexis Bodenheimer 212-906-9230
East 76th Street/Park Ave. Co-Excl. Exceptional, grandly scaled 9-room, mint, light-filled corner apt in prestigious bldg. 3BR + dressing room, libr, formal dining rm, huge chef’s eat-in kitchen, 3 fireplaces. Unique. $9.5M. WEB# 9081539. Kathryn Steinberg 212-396-5868
Mike Lubin
Sophie Ravet
Daniela Rivoir
A LANDMARK OFF CENTRAL PARK
FOUR BEDROOM CONDOMINIUM
TRIBECA LOFT
Midtown West. Impeccable, recently renovated 2BR, 2 bath. Nearly 30-foot living rm, 10.5’-foot ceilings, parquet floors, wood burning fireplace, 9 West-facing windows, 24-hour doorman, pet friendly. $2.875M. WEB# 9248219. Martha Kramer 212-906-9371
Lenox Hill. High floor. 4BR, 3.5 bath classic custom designed home. Balc. New eat-in kit. Grand living. River and city views. Lux white glove bldg. Health club. $4M. WEB# 9069064. Elaine Clayman 212-906-9353 Justine Bray 212-906-9253
Walker St. Stunning, approx 1,625SF loft in the heart of TriBeCa. Keyed elevator, 9.5’ ceil, oak flrs, 2 zen baths, chef kit and laundry rm, CAC. Boutique condop. $2.695M. WEB# 9279452. Joseph Lorino 212-452-4513 Richard F. Ferrari 212-396-5885
All information is from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, prior sale or withdrawal without notice. All rights to content, photographs and graphics reserved to Broker. Equal Housing Opportunity Broker.
Bill Roche
Edith F. Tuckerman
miami roundtable
Hollywood, we had buyers from 20 different countries and 12 different States. Diversity is thriving and Miami has become a truly international destination.
“I think everyone at this table hopes the market continues at its current pace.” —Matthew J. Allen
AVENUE: In the last few years South Florida has been introduced to the “star-architect,” on multiple developments, global names of extraordinary creativity . . . How early in your development process do you determine if one of these firms will be right for your project and substantially help in the branding?
MATTHEW: I think now art, design, branding is very important to create your competitive advantage. But I also think at the end of the day you still need a great local architect to manage the codes and the cities and the municipalities who have their relationships here and are familiar with the processes involved. If you choose to go with a “star-architect,” it’s really a joint effort between them and your local architect that can get you through to the finish line; they’re both very important. KEVIN: I think it also goes back to, what are you designing? Are you designing something to win awards that’s beautiful from the outside but not really functional on the inside? Or are you designing something that’s going to be fairly easy to build and that you’re going to deliver on time and on budget? And all that goes back into that box and package you are trying to sell. MARTIN: I agree with Kevin. I’ve always used the same architect for the last 30 some-odd years because he’s a great, great functional architect. When you hire any of these “star-architects,” they do the design and you might have a conflict between the functions versus the design. In the end everything comes down to how functional and livable your project is.
78 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
AVENUE: So, where does it go from there? Is there any reason to believe we won’t be at $1,250 or even $1,500 a square foot soon in an area like downtown Miami? GREG: Anything too fast in this world isn’t sustainable in the long term—Anthony said that as well. Cycles are going to get shorter, especially in this environment, and I think that modest growth is always better than rapid growth and rapid decline. MATTHEW: I think everybody at this table hopes the market continues at its current pace but we are all well aware the market will have some price resistance at some point. ✦
Len Dugow is President & Chief Creative Officer of LGD Communications, a full-service branding, marketing, and advertising agency. For more than 25 years LGD has been at the forefront of affluent marketing, specializing in branding luxury, real estate, hospitality and lifestyle across all marketing platforms. Under Dugow’s leadership, LGD has marketed over $25 billion in residential real estate worldwide and currently represents over 50 hotels and resorts around the globe. LGD is based in Miami, with satellite offices in New York and Dubai. To learn more or see LGD’s award-winning work, visit www.lgdcom.com
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PREWAR 6 RM CONDO, PARK VIEWS 70s off 5th Excl. Elegant, spac, dbl MBR. Wndw chef’s kit, brkfst rm. Premiere loc. $8.495M. Web#9182520. Eloise Johnson 212.381.3224
VILLA IN THE SKY Sutton Place Excl. Unique spacious 4BR/4BA home. Huge landscaped terraces with spectacular city and river views. Designed in an elegant timeless European style by a former Metropolitan Opera star for gracious living and entertaining. Eat-in kitchen, W/D, gas fireplace. White glove full-service bldg. $5.5M. Web#9174569 Lori Carlis 212.317.7856
NEW 2BR W/23’ BALC UES Excl. Spacious. High-end kit, baths, hdwd flrs, W/D, city/river views. Top lux condo HC/pool. $1.575M. Web#9072088. Bruce Silverman 212.317.7873
CONVERTIBLE 2BR 70s/5th Avenue Excl. Generous living space, DA, wndw kit, 1.5BA. Perfect as pied-a-terre. F/S w/elev men. $1.35M. Web#9174109. Lynn A. Scheck 212.381.3346
LOFTY AMBITIONS Chelsea North Excl. Approx 1,400SF. 10’ beamed ceils, wall of windows, renov kit & bath. W/D. $1.199M. Web#9194258. Todd Buchanan 212.381.4204
PERFECT LOCATION, LAND AND HOUSE New Canaan, CT. Country estate built by Alex Kaali-Nagy on 4+ pristine acres. Custom gourmet kit, 7 en suite BRs, elev, 10’ ceils, timeless moldings and millwork, antique chestnut flrs in paneled libr, 7 fps, billiard rm, outdoor entertaining area, slate roof + antique barn. Gorgeous. $5.895M. Web#99044570. Patti Fieber 203.979.8320
Halstead Property, LLC We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. We encourage and support an affirmative advertising and marketing program in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin. All information is from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, prior sale or withdrawal without notice. No representation is made as to the accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footages are approximate and all information should be confirmed by customer. All rights to content, photographs and graphics reserved to Broker.
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61 FiFth avEnuE | $12,975,000 - $28,500,000 New Developement | Web ID: 0018902 Serena Boardman, 212.606.7611
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East End rivErFront | $3,550,000 9 rm, 4 br, 4 ba | Web ID: 0019173 Melinda G. Nix, 212.606.7719
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201 East 66th strEEt | $1,549,000 4 rm, 2 br, 2 ba | Web ID: 0019188 Austin B. Schuster, 212.606.7797
East sidE manhattan brokEragE 38 East 61st Street, New York, NY 10065 | 212.606.7660 | sothebyshomes.com/nyc Operated by Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc.
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CRISTINA CONDON | 561.301.2211 cristina.condon@sothebyshomes.com
PALM BEACH BROKERAGE | 340 Royal Poinciana Way, Ste 337 | Palm Beach, FL 33480 | 561.659.3555 Operated by Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc.
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Driving Success Meet the “& Company”
Left to right: Michael S. Grant, Alicia Speight and Todd Yomtov.
C
rystal & Company, a top strategic risk and insurance advisor, is currently celebrating its 80th year. Contributing to the firm’s continued success is its commitment to find the industry’s best minds, who provide thought leadership and new insight while maintaining the high-touch service standards that are the hallmark of the firm. Michael S. Grant, executive managing director of employee benefits services; Alicia Speight, senior managing director and Florida regional leader; and Todd Yomtov, senior managing director and Houston regional leader, offer their perspectives into what it means to be part of the “& Company” of Crystal & Company.
Tell us about the “& Company” part of the Crystal brand. MICHAEL S. GRANT: The “& Company” has become increasingly important in terms of our service-delivery model. We are able to meet, and more importantly, exceed the expectations of the different clients we have. As companies become more demanding and expect more from strategic partners, we have had to expand the resources we have to ensure we please our clients. The days of being a generalist as an insurance broker consultant are over; it’s about individual focus and expertise, and we have expanded the “& Company” to meet the demands of those individual clients. It not only represents the 400 tough-minded, results-oriented individuals that comprise our firm, but also our business partners.
C R Y S TA L & C O M PA N Y The integrity of independence.
82 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
As an executive in a family-owned company, how have you integrated your vision and values with those of the firm?
What are the advantages to leading a regional office of an independent firm vs. a public company?
MG: Everything we do as the “& Company” [part of the organization] starts with the principles surrounding the Crystal name. For 80 years, the Crystal family has built a reputation for high integrity, high service standards and responsiveness. Today, we take that reputation and expand upon it. I’m very proud of that because it’s the foundation and cornerstone in doing business with clients and prospects. The fact that there really is a family behind the company that we interact with every day makes it that much more of an accountable model and—also—it makes it personal.
AS: It’s a wonderful thing to be able to set our own regional, and also personal, goals. My own personal goals include client and employee satisfaction, as well as growth for our offices. Our regional leaders here each have more than 30 years’ experience in their fields, but [also] in this region. We handle hurricanes, the large influx of international companies, seasonal residents. We understand the buyers in the Southeast, and abroad.
How do you maintain the level of service synonymous with the Crystal & Company brand on a regional basis?
TODD YOMTOV: Crystal is a full-service brokerage, representing several areas of expertise, including private client services, employee benefits and commercial insurance services. Our ability to work as an integrated organization allows me to be involved with every aspect of our services with full support. That approach has contributed to our growth and success in the Houston region.
ALICIA SPEIGHT: We’re one company, across all of our operations. This structure is built into our DNA and allows us to deliver a consistent level of service and expertise across the country, and globally. We have grown organically, one professional at a time, which has given us the ability us to achieve a professional services culture that is unique to our company, yet reflects each of the geographic markets we serve.
Financial Square ◆ 32 Old Slip ◆ New York, NY 10005 ◆ 212.344.2444 ◆ www.crystalco.com
How has your experience leading Crystal & Company’s Houston regional office been compared to your past leadership roles?
What was it about Crystal & Company that attracted you to the firm? TY: The fact that we’re independent. We do what is right for our clients, as opposed to catering to shareholders. This firm is still run by the Crystal family, without any outside influences. Our executive committee gives their regional leaders the autonomy they need in order to grow effectively in their regions. I appreciate that trust and I think it says a lot about the company as a whole. ✦
© 2013 Citibank, N.A. equal housing lender, member FDIC. NMLS #412915. Citi, Citibank, Arc Design and Citi with Arc Design are registered service marks of Citigroup Inc.
PARK AVE • 9 ROOMS • NET#1201083 LIVING GRACIOUSLY ON PARK AVE Excellent building with doorman and attended elevator. Full floor apt. LR, library, master bedroom views on Park Ave. Wonderful light and openness. DR, EIK, 2 additional BRs, 4.5 baths, maid’s rm. Fabulous closets. $7.995M. Andrea Daniels 212 439 4539
5TH AVE/MAD • NET#767426 30 EAST 85TH STREET 3,400 plus sf condo in great location. Currently has 2 bedrooms and a wood paneled library, but can easily be 3 or 4 bedrooms. Living room and dining area with balcony, windowed EIK and a maid’s/bath. Asks $7.9M. Arlene Reed 212 439 5180
PARK AVE/70TH- 71ST • NET#1158421 LARGE FULL FLOOR ON PARK 3 bedroom plus maid’s, 4.5 bath, full floor open views. Oversized eat-inkitchen, abundant closet space. N/S/W exposures. Great light. 9’ ceilings. Full service coop with concierge, gym, wine cellar and storage bins. Asks $7.995M. Richard Steinberg 212 439 5183
FIFTH AVE • NET#1264532 FIFTH AVE PREWAR PENTHOUSE Equal square footage indoors and out! PH jewel features wrap terraces with 360 degree fab vus incl the Reservoir. 1 BR, office/BR, sunroom and more. Needs TLC. FSB in prime loc. $6.250M. Bonnie Chajet 212 439 4540 Ronnie Lane 212 439 4541
PARK AVE • 1ST OFFER • NET#1252573 ELEGANT HI FLOOR 3 BEDROOM NEW TO MARKET! Three apartments combined at the fabulous Ritz Tower on 57th and Park. Flexible 6.5 room layout with three exposures South, North and East. Must be seen. $5.750M. Christine Miller Martin 212 439 5194 Frederick W. Peters 212 439 4502
RSD/WEA • NET#1267206 RENOVATED PRE WAR 3-4 BEDROOM Thoughtfully renovated, 8 into 7 room spacious home with light and bright, open living room/dining room plan, chef’s kitchen with breakfast area, white glove services, pets allowed. Asks $3.999M. Camille Duvall-Hero 212 300 1833
BROOME/ELIZABETH • NET#1259176 THE ICE HOUSE CONDOMINIUM 1,725 sf loft, 18’ceils, wide planked oak flrs, S-facing light, Freedom Tower vus. Main flr: huge LR & DA; opn kit, brkfst bar; 2nd sleeping; small rm perfect for office. 2nd level: spacious MBR overlooks the LR, custom clsts. $2.799M. Karen Gastiaburo 212 380 2401
86TH/MAD • NET#1261646 CARNEGIE HILL CLASSIC 5 Mint condition 2 BR, 2 bath, LR/WBF, FDR plus renovated kitchen. PW details include beamed ceilings, fine moldings, herringbone floors. Top building. Low Mt. Asks $2.295M. Must see! Christine Miller Martin 212 439 5194 Lisa I. Larson 212 439 5188
Mortgage Financing Available Ken Evans | 212 559 2783 | Ken.Evans@citi.com NMLS #33390
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The New Face in Face-lifts
AVENUE asks Dr. Marc Zimbler, facial plastic surgery expert, his top-secret plastic surgery tips
What is the best age to have a facelift? Wow, that’s a tough question to answer because there are many factors that contribute to facial aging. Age, genetics, skin type, sun exposure, bone structure and general health and fitness all play a critical role. I definitely think that with all the amazing things dermatologists can do today with fillers, Botox and lasers, the line has been blurred. For me, I start to think about surgery when the jaw-line starts to fall and the neck starts to sag. Unfortunately, fillers and lasers can’t help those problems and that’s when the scalpel prevails. For many women this typically occurs in their mid-fifties. That being said, I am a strong believer in smaller surgical procedures at a younger age rather than more dramatic operations later on. Early rejuvenation typically lasts longer, has a quicker recovery, is less stressful for the patient and looks more natural. I want to restore my patient’s youthful beauty without any trace of surgery. Cosmetic surgery should always enhance natural beauty while preserving one’s individual character. Your natural necklines are the talk of the Upper East Side. Is your technique different from that of other surgeons? Traditional lifts pull the skin too tight and leave unsightly scars. We have all seen these people walking down Park Avenue with wind-blown faces that can be spotted a mile away. My technique is not based on pulling skin; instead, it tightens the fascia and muscle. This re-draping of deeper structures gives a more natural look, with less over-tightening. Youthful and natural restoration with sharp jaw-lines is my goal. And with the new short-scar techniques, incisions are almost invisible. With each patient I take an individualized and customized approach to achieve beautiful and balanced faces. My office is totally committed to our patients’ well-being while providing an environment of trust, professionalism and the highest level of medical expertise. People today don’t want to look like they’ve had surgery; they just want to look like themselves, but refreshed and rested. My job is to make them look fantastic for their age. Other than facelifts, what surgery do you enjoy the most? Since I’m a facial plastic surgeon, everything I do is focused on the face. I don’t perform breast or body surgery, so my practice is very specific. Before becoming board certified in facial plastic surgery, I trained in ear, nose and throat surgery. So for me, nasal surgery and rhinoplasty are second nature, and a large part of my practice. In my operating room the functional nasal airway is as paramount as nasal aesthetics. No one wants a pretty nose they can’t breathe out of. Again, when it comes to rhinoplasty, no one wants to look like they’ve had surgery. The nose should look natural, balanced and in harmony with the rest of the face. ✦ 84 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
“With each patient I take an individualized and customized approach to achieve beautiful and balanced faces . . . People today don’t want to look like they’ve had surgery; they just want to look like themselves, but refreshed and rested. My job is to make them look fantastic for their age.” Dr. Zimbler is a native of Manhattan, who trained at the Mount Sinai Hospital and NYU Medical Center. He is board certified in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery and is a diplomat of the American Board of Facial Plastic Surgery. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery. He has been named in New York magazine’s Best Doctors, the New York Times’ Superdoctors and Castle Connolly’s Top Doctors in New York.
MARC S. ZIMBLER, MD, FACS 990 Fifth Avenue ◆ New York, NY 10075 ◆ 212.570.9900 ◆ marczimblermd.com
• • •
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Two apartments combined with unobstructed direct Central Park Views. (East, North, South and West).The “Century” is a stunning art deco designed condominium built in 1931 and retains all of its Original Art Deco charm. 3 Bedrooms/ 3Baths/ Double Living room and Separate Maids Room: $9,250,000 For Private showing call Laura Gruber, Exclusive Broker: 917 912 2023
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WALDREALESTATE.COM On site at The LOMBARDY HOTEL
real estate
Real Estate Meets Art Susan de França, President and CEO of Douglas Elliman Development Marketing, introduces the firm’s Penthouse Collection of artfully designed residences in New York and South Florida at Art Basel Miami Beach (December 5–8) Where do you see the intersection between art and real estate? The worlds of art and real estate are actually quite interconnected, so participating in Art Basel was a logical endeavor for us. In one sense, luxury real estate has become something of a collector’s item, similar to vintage cars, watches and, of course, fine art. These high-end properties at the upper echelons of the market have been proven to appreciate in value over time, and investors around the world have taken to acquiring them in the same manner as they do other fine goods and tangible assets. Beyond that, developers are collaborating with some of the top architects and designers in the world, whose true artistry lies in elevating the caliber of property on the market, exponentially. They’re applying their inspiration, vision and meticulous craftsmanship to properties the way a painter takes his brush to canvas, and these developers are creating one-of-a-kind works of art.
Is this overlap reflected in the design of these residences? Our developers are able to anticipate the logistical needs of art collectors so well because a great number of them are collectors, themselves. Paul Pariser of Taconic Investment Partners, for example, whom we’re currently working with on The Sterling Mason in TriBeCa, also serves on the Aspen Art Museum Board. The overlap between art collectors and purchasers of luxury real estate is something that we bear in mind throughout the entire design process. We emphasize galleries and hallways with generous wall space intended t o showcase large collections. High ceilings and large windows are encouraged, as they allow homeowners to present each piece in the best possible light; several of our properties have been designed to include special backing behind residential walls that allows those walls to bear the weight of significant pieces of art, which is something that our purchasers have responded to strongly.
What is it about Art Basel that makes this the ideal venue to explore this connection? Developers and purchasers of real estate are so often avid art collectors that a significant overlap occurs between the individuals who attend such highly curated art shows as Art Basel Miami Beach, and those who are interested in the top-tier properties that we represent. There’s a level of discernment that carries over—a taste level, an eye for design and an attention to detail—and informs the search and decision-making process when it comes to both art and real estate. These individuals not only recognize and appreciate but require inspired architecture, high quality finishes and thoughtfully-conceived spaces. Whether their objective is their next home or the painting that will grace its entryway, they are looking for something that they connect with and that they feel reflects who they are.
How has the convergence of art and real estate impacted the partnerships and collaborations behind these properties? In addition to the “starchitects” and world-class interior designers that developers have brought on to their projects, they have made a point of hiring veritable artists to bring their respective expertise to every facet of a property—no stone is left unturned. For example, the interiors at 36 Bleecker [The Schumacher] were designed by Cristina Grajales, who runs a renowned art gallery in Soho. Leveraging her in-depth grasp on the current art world, she infused the lobby and common spaces with pieces by established and up-and-coming artists alike, including José Parlé and Christophe Comê, which have garnered much attention among the art crowd. Additionally, at 36 Bleecker, Ken Smith, famous for his work on the gardens at MoMA, designed a magnificent vertical garden in the building’s courtyard, featuring hanging vines and an
extraordinary selection of horticulture, which is a verdant masterpiece, one that only a true artist could have envisioned and brought to life. Tico Mugrabi, the world-renowned art dealer, has purchased an apartment here. Having taken note of the building’s strong artistic character, Mugrabi will actually be featuring some of his sculptures in the garden for all residents to enjoy. Are the properties that you’re featuring at Art Basel limited to the New York market? Given both its physical location and audience demographic, Art Basel presented the ideal opportunity to showcase our exceptional portfolio of penthouses in both the New York and South Florida markets. Among the South Florida developments we will be showcasing are The Residences at The Miami Beach EDITION, a collection of 26 residences conceived by Ian Schrager and designed by John Pawson, which have reinvigorated the Miami market and introduced a new caliber of living to the area. Another groundbreaking development is Faena House, the residential property envisioned by Alan Faena and designed by Foster+Partners. Across from Faena House, Alan and his team are simultaneously working with Rem Koolhaas and OMA to develop the Faena Arts Center, an institution dedicated to celebrating contemporary art in all its forms. The portfolio of projects we’ll be representing is diverse, yet there is a common thread of excellence and artistry that weaves them all together. ✦
Douglas Elliman ◆ 575 Madison Avenue ◆ 4th Floor ◆ New York, NY 10022 ◆ www.elliman.com 86 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
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DeLucie’s Top Dish Crown’s executive chef John DeLucie reveals, for all to enjoy, one of his secret recipes—for his favorite wintertime meal—whether it’s to be enjoyed in the restaurant or cooked at home this holiday season
SILK HANDKERCHIEF PASTA WITH WHITE BOLOGNESE INGREDIENTS: 1 onion, coarsely chopped 1 bulb fennel, trimmed and coarsely chopped 1/2 bunch celery, trimmed and coarsely chopped 3 parsnips, coarsely chopped 8 cloves garlic, chopped 3 tablespoons duck fat 1 1/2 pounds ground pork 1 1/2 pounds ground veal 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 (1.5-liter) bottle dry white wine 4 cups homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock 1 cup milk 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage, plus more for garnish Silk Handkerchief Pasta Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving Celery leaves or fresh parsley sprigs, for garnish (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
C
rown features contemporary cuisine served in an elegant, sophisticated and art-filled setting. Located on the ground floor of an Upper East Side townhouse, the restaurant boasts an award-winning wine list and a menu of seasonal fare including fresh pasta seafood and meats. The setting is also refined: Crown opens up into a wood-paneled dining room with a fireplace, and an atelier with windows overlooking the gardens of the neighboring brownstones. Downstairs, a secret room hidden behind a swinging bookshelf may be used for private events. According to executive chef DeLucie, “We pride ourselves on providing a warm and convivial atmosphere perfect for bringing friends and families together, especially for the holidays. Whether you plan to celebrate in a small intimate setting or with a large group—Crown offers an environment to suit all needs.” One of chef DeLucie’s favorite dishes for the holidays is Crown’s Silk Handkerchief Pasta with White Bolognese. Here, he reveals the recipe for all to make this season with family and friends. ✦
1. Place onion, fennel, celery, parsnips and garlic in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely chopped; set aside. 2. Heat duck fat in a large high-sided skillet over medium heat. Add pork and veal to skillet, cook until meat is no longer pink, but not browned. Transfer meat to a large mesh sieve placed over a large bowl. 3. Return strained liquid to skillet and heat over medium heat. Add chopped vegetable mixture and season with red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until soft and translucent. 4. Return meat to skillet; stir to combine. Add wine and cook until skillet is almost dry. Add chicken stock and reduce until skillet is almost dry. Add milk and sage and simmer until very thick, about 10 minutes. 5. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Generously salt water and add pasta. Cook until al dente, about 2 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup pasta water. 6. Add pasta to skillet with enough reserved pasta water to reach desired consistency; season with pepper and gently toss to coat. Divide evenly among serving bowls; drizzle with olive oil and garnish with freshly grated Parmesan, sage and parsley sprigs. Serve.
CROWN 24 East 81st Street ◆ New York, NY 10028 ◆ 646.559.4880 ◆ www.crown81.com 88 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
200 11TH AVENUE PENTHOUSE IN THE SKY - PH 1 |
$23,000,000
Brought to you by Young Woo & Associates in collaboration with world-renowned Dutch architecture firm MVRDV. Completely redesigned, this 3,598 square foot 3 bedroom, 3 and a half bathroom duplex retains 80 feet of frontage over the Hudson River, with protected panoramic views from the 12th and 13th floors. Boasting 22 foot ceiling heights and sheathed in windows—with 668 sq ft of exterior space spread over two loggias and access to the en suite “Sky Garage”. web # 66571 RYAN SERHANT 646 443 3739
465 PARK AVENUE
223 EAST 62ND STREET
TOWNHOUSE ON TREE LINE BLOCK
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NEW DESIGN LARGE HOME WITH TERRACE - Apt 402/3/4/5
$6,000,000
This 1874 Neo-Grecian 3,750sf townhouse was designed by classical architect Richard Morris Hunt, famous for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s grand façade and many Fifth Avenue mansions. Located in Treadwell Farms Historic District, it features a 19’x16’ private outdoor patio with a planted garden, a second floor 15’x10’ slate balcony. web # 68394 REGIS ROUMILA 646 325 7173 | VERONIKA KHEN 347 856 9909
MIDTOWN EAST HOME WITH VIEWS - Apt 45 CDE
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$8,421,000
The Ritz Tower, 4 apartments designed to attract a new generation of wealth. Features a landscaped terrace overlooking Park Avenue, with approximately 2,947 sq. ft. of total space. Renovations will start soon, with a design that will bring this beautiful Park Avenue landmark to an elegant home of the 21st Century. web # 65873 WENDY JACKSON 917 679 1211
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BENJAMIN LIEBLEIN 917-679-5652
117 EAST 57TH STREET
$6,995,000
The Galleria - high floor large home with entrance gallery, grand living/dining room and a paneled library (or 3rd bedroom) all with spectacular open city and park views. Great corner apartment with triple exposure, North, South and West, in excellent condition with new hardwood floors, Onyx trim, custom mill work, new air conditioners. Located in the corner of Park Ave and 57th Street, walk to Central Park and more. web # 67663 WENDY JACKSON 917 679 1211 | BENJAMIN LIEBLEIN 917-679-5652
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Animal People Bideawee, one of the country’s most respected animal welfare and pet adoption organizations, celebrates 110 years of cultivating lifelong relationships between pets and the people who love them
A
s most dog or cat owners can attest to, caring for a pet is a daily commitment, and a reward, which often lasts for more than a decade. For more than a century, Bideawee has provided full lifecycle care and support for pets and the people who love them throughout the New York City metro area. “We are animal people for people who love animals,” says Bideawee CEO Nancy Taylor. “One of the unique aspects of Bideawee is that the scope of services we offer enables us to stay with a pet throughout its lifetime.” Taylor means that, literally. “We can help adopt a pet, train it, provide vet care, coach it to become a pet therapy animal and, at the end of the pet’s life, we can memorialize it and offer counseling for grieving pet parents.” Bideawee, which means “stay a while” in Scottish, is one of the country’s oldest and most respected animal welfare and pet adoption organizations. Founded in 1903, Bideawee, a not-for-profit 501(c) 3 humane animal organization, has grown from a one-woman operation to an industry leader that includes more than 100 employees and 500 volunteers who run a variety of programs for dogs, cats and their human families.
Bideawee provides an array of handson services, including adoption centers, full-service animal hospitals, pet memorial parks, bereavement services and pet therapy programs that serve more than 100 locations like schools, hospitals and nursing homes. Plus, Bideawee offers behavior and training classes, and boasts three properties in the New York City metro area. “In the last year we held more than 100 off-site events in the community, including adoption events, informational sessions at libraries, dog walks at wineries and more,” says Taylor. Throughout its rich history, Bideawee has stayed committed to the New York community, evolving with the lifestyles and needs of both New Yorkers and their pets. An example of that evolution includes Bideawee’s “Loving Legacy” program, which provides pet owners with a plan to ensure that their dogs or cats are cared for, should they no longer be able to. “Loving Legacy can arrange for Bideawee to take care of your pets, so that owners can have peace of mind that they are cared for by a loving family,” Taylor says. “We gather specific data about pets,
including what food they eat, how they like to play, where they like to sleep, their medical history. So you can rest assured that your pets are being cared for as you’d see fit. Also, we are 100 percent responsible for the pet’s medical needs throughout its life, and make periodic home visits with its new family.” In addition to growing its Loving Legacy program, Bideawee, in the future, aims to increase its adoption services. “We’re making an effort to bring our mobile adoption vans to locations with higher concentrations of people,” says Taylor, adding that Bideawee facilitates approximately 1,000 dog and cat adoptions each year. “At least twice a week we’re making stops and hosting events all over the city.” The adoption commitment, like the Loving Legacy program, ties into the organization’s long-standing mission to provide lifelong care for pets and support for their human families. “We’re on a journey for life with pets and the people who love them,” continues Taylor. “It’s been our commitment for 110 years, and we look forward to continuing that mission for the long-term future.” ✦
BIDEAWEE 410 East 38th Street ◆ New York, NY 10016 ◆ 866.262.8133 ◆ bideawee@bideawee.org ◆ www.bideawee.org 90 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
LAWRENCE A. MOENS ASSOCIATES, INC. “Specializing in palm Beach’S FineSt ReSidential pRopeRtieS.”
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A spectacular 1925 landmarked estate once owned by Marjorie Post. Five bedrooms plus ample staff accommodations. Just one block from Worth Avenue. Large and gracious rooms with tranquil golf course views are available at this remarkable property. This is truly one of the Island’s most glamorous and important estates. $12,500,000. Exclusive
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Anything But Garden Variety The McKittrick Hotel, home of the much talked-about show Sleep No More, is an all-encompassing nightlife destination unlike any other in New York City—a multipurpose arts facility that boasts a rooftop garden, hip dining and a vast array of entertainment to suit anyone’s cultural needs
T
ucked away on 530 West 27th Street, the six-story McKittrick sprawls across 100,000 square feet, housing over 100 rooms themed to different eras and, on a good night, filled with up to a thousand drinking, dancing, awestruck New Yorkers. Most notably, the hotel is home to Punchdrunk’s off-Broadway production Sleep No More—an engaging noir-retelling of Macbeth that requires audience members to navigate its dark-woodwork rooms, in pursuit of roving, nonspeaking and, sometimes, undressed actors. Beyond this must-see, must-do, the hotel offers its rooftop cocktail-garden Gallow Green; the smoky, red-hued Manderley Bar (named after the house in Hitchcock’s Rebecca); an 800-person plus ballroom; and a lively cabaret venue, The Heath. The McKittrick is something of an interactive rite for the hip New Yorker; certainly it is the most experiential, all-encompassing hotel ever . . . and actually it isn’t even a hotel. Instead, The McKittrick offers a top-floor, boisterous train-car restaurant, The Heath, which is furnished with period wallpaper, blushing lamps and intimate wooden banquettes.
Weekly, the indoor space is transformed into a 1940s-style New Orleans jazz club, through the help of the artist-in-residence, the Grammywinning Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Along with Sleep No More, the arts venue also plays host to a variety of other performers who have included Flight of the Conchords, Jim James, Neil Patrick Harris, Lady Antebellum and singers Björk, Florence Welch and Sara Bareilles. “We did not anticipate the interest level that so many interesting, creative musicians and artists would take to [the McKittrick],” says Sleep No More producer Jonathan Hochwald, “So, even though it’s this kind of hidden space, there has been a huge outpouring of interest from the music and arts community to perform here.” The jazz club fades seamlessly—down a hallway and up stairs—into a verdant, rooftop watering hole, with stunning views of the Hudson River. “It’s a beautiful space truly unlike any other in the city,” Hochwald continues, “very overgrown, an almost Grey Gardens-like, lush city environment, where you really feel like you escape when stepping out onto the roof.” With a capacity for a 100-person seated dinner, or 200-guest cocktail reception, and
THE MCKITTRICK HOTEL Home of Sleep No More 542 West 27th Street New York, NY 10001 212.564.1662 mckittrickhotel.com
92 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
with two reclaimed wood bars, Gallow Green is surprisingly large. Twinkling trees and vined pergolas transport visitors into another time perhaps, reminiscent of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. “What has been really exciting for us has been the continuing evolution of the space,” Hochwald says., “We [initially] created Gallow Green as this kind of oasis for the attendees of Sleep No More so they could come relax or have dinner and drinks before or after the show . . . now we are finding people coming again and again either en route to the show or because they’ve been in the past and want to return to hang out with friends.” Beautiful, intense and ever-evolving, The McKittrick is a new species of event space: part theatrical supper-club, part feet-thumping jazz fest, part magic. It makes New York seem romantic again and makes guests marvel at how much botany can be lured onto a West Chelsea rooftop. “It’s a theater, dance, nightlife, art installation-arts destination,” says Hochwald. “It offers a diverse array of things happening every night; I think that’s why so many people find themselves there on a nightly basis.”✦ —Kat Huang
real estate
Properties of the Month A selection of deluxe residences
Nest Seekers International
Town Residential
PARK AVENUE VIEWS
PARK VIEWS
First-time offering at the Ritz Tower: four apartments combined. Roughly 2,947 square feet total space with landscaped 1,057-squarefoot terrace overlooking Park Avenue. Built in 1925 by Emery Roth as the city’s most elegant building at one of the best addresses, Park Avenue and 57th Street. Gut renovations have commenced. A gracious entry foyer, large living and dining room, library/den, two spacious bedrooms, two full marble baths, top-of-the-line kitchen, washer/dryer, hardwood floors and great closet space. Foreign buyers and pied-a-terre arrangements are permitted. $8,421,000. Web# 65873. Contact Wendy Jackson @ 917.679.1211 or Ben Lieblein @ 917.679.5652
This 12-room residence is located on the sun-drenched northeastern corner, on the 19th floor of the aptly-named Majestic—the iconic art deco residential building whose soaring twin towers have long defined the Central Park West skyline. The residence boasts two stunning terraces, one of which spans the entire northern perimeter of the residence, and one privately designated for the master suite—a spectacular 107 feet of frontage that squarely faces the most famous metropolitan park in the world. $39 million. Contact Patty Larocco @ 917.696.0699
Sotheby’s International Realty
The Corcoran Group
PALM BEACH OASIS
WATER MILL WONDER
This wonderful estate-section, Monterey-style home, built in 1930, was thoughtfully renovated in 2001, giving the home the highest-quality finishes while preserving the charm of its original design. Located only two blocks from Worth Avenue, the residence is situated on a large lot, approximately 150 feet by 125 feet, with two 2-car garages, two spacious outdoor loggias, a summer kitchen and a brick patio with a large pool and spa. The home features five bedrooms, seven-and-a-half baths, with a total of about 8,384 total square feet. Contact Cris Condon @ 561. 301.2211
This spectacular Cobb Road compound is sequestered behind stone walls through a gated entry. This 8,500-square-foot-plus residence anchors a gated 2-acre compound in an estate setting. Grand spaces are warmed by fireplaces and radiant heat throughout, and spectacular landscaping ensures ultimate privacy and peace of mind. Exclusive. Price upon request. WEB#34350. Contact Gary R. DePersia @ 516.380.0538
94 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
Mark Harmon, Stand Up To Cancer Ambassador
I AM MY OWN
SECRET WEAPON. To learn more go to StandUp2Cancer.org or CancerResearch.org/Dream-Team
Stand Up To Cancer is a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization.
Photo by Kevin Lynch
The battle against cancer is hard fought and hard won, and often treatments are as debilitating as the disease itself. But inside each of us is the power to fight cancer: our immune system. Stand Up To Cancer and the Cancer Research Institute have joined forces in one of the most promising new research areas, using the science of immunology to get our bodies’ own natural defenses to fight the disease. Immunotherapy has the potential to significantly change the treatment of cancer as we know it. Stand Up with us. Together, we can impact millions of lives.
There is no time more fitting to say Thank You to our Customers and to wish you a Happy Holiday Season and a New Year of Health, Happiness and Prosperity. Artwork by: Lee Erikson
From all of us at Liverpool Carting Co., Inc.
The Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine Zev Rosenwaks, M.D. Director
Owen Davis, M.D. • Ina Cholst, M.D. Pak Chung, M.D • Rony T. Elias, M.D. Dan Goldschlag, M.D. • Hey-Joo Kang, M.D. Isaac Kligman, M.D. • Glenn Schattman, M.D. Steven Spandorfer, M.D.
Psychologists Linda Applegarth, Ed.D. • Elizabeth Grill, Psy.D. Laura Josephs, Ph.D. Weill Cornell Medical College 1305 York Avenue NY, NY 10021 (646) 962-2764 Weill Cornell Medical College 2315 Broadway, 2nd Floor NY, NY 10024 (646) 962-3767 Northern Westchester 657 Main Street Mount Kisco, NY 10549 (914) 242-3700 Garden City, Long Island 1300 Franklin Avenue Garden City, NY 11530 (516) 742-4100 Flushing Hospital Medical Center 146 -01 45th Avenue Flushing, NY 11355 (646) 962-5626
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Trying to have a baby? We can help. At the Center for Reproductive Medicine, Dr. Zev Rosenwaks and his outstanding team of physicians offer couples the most advanced and effective treatments for infertility. With multiple offices located conveniently for patients in the tri-state area, we provide comprehensive and compassionate care. For more than two decades we have made your desire to build a family our main priority. If you or someone you know is experiencing infertility, contact us at (646) 962-CRMI or visit us on the web at www.ivf.org. We accept UnitedHealthcare, Oxford Health and Cigna insurance plans for most fertility treatments.
Turning Patients into Parents The Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen The Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine Center for Reproductive Medicine
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WALLY TURNER | 561.301.2060 wally.turner@sothebyshomes.com
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THE BILTMORE, PALM BEACH 150 BRADLEY PLACE, PENTHOUSE EAST UNIT - 1002
Gorgeous 2 BR/2.2BA Penthouse and cabana in exclusive Palm Beach Biltmore Condominium. Beautiful Ocean and Intracoastal views, fireplace, built-in cabinetry in Library, marble and tile flooring, and crown molding. Luxury full service building with 24 hour doorman, security, pool, tennis courts, exercise room beach club and restaurant. Exclusive $8,400,000
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www.paddedwagon.com Though information is believed to be correct, offerings are subject to errors, omissions, prior sale and withdrawal without notice.
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THE PALM BEACH ISSUE: Kristy Hinze Clark The Australian-born beauty and former swimsuit model takes us for a walk around the Il Palmetto estate—with Intracoastal and ocean views— she shares with husband and Netscape founder Jim Clark.
Palm Beach A-list As temperatures drop in New York City, the social scene in Palm Beach heats up. We compile the who’s who of our favorite wintertime getaway.
Real Estate Roundtable Our distinguished panel of pros discusses the latest topics relevant to Palm Beach real estate.
Plus: The best parties of the month, culture guides, an Unreal Estate edition from Michael Gross and more.
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social safari Rachelle Scott, Princess Charlene and ABT’s Skylar Brandt @ Princess Grace Awards
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Steve Simon and Blaine Trump @ God’s Love We Deliver
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Celebrating the Holidays Princesses, actors, artists, ballerinas, designers, models and mothers
MICHAEL KORS DELIVERS GOD’S LOVE Introducing Hillary Clinton, Michael Kors started off by saying, “We have all witnessed her strong commitment to pantsuits and her ability to have fun with her hair.” He then turned serious and presented the former Secretary of State with the MK Community Service Award at the ever-glamorous God’s Love We Deliver benefit. Added Kors: “Hillary is strong, feminine, a true symbol of hope, and she travels more for work than I do.” Among those chuckling at his jokes were Ariana Rockefeller, John and Lizzie Tisch, Sigourney Weaver and Kors’ co-chairs, Anna Wintour, Iman, Jane Lauder, John Idol and Blaine Trump, who, along with the late Judy Peabody, has been a guiding angel of the organization since it was founded in 1985. Then it was Clinton’s turn to speak. She said, “Michael’s generosity and enthusiasm is infectious and I’m glad to be anywhere Bette Midler is; 100 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
Hilary Swank @ God’s Love We Deliver
she makes me want to stay and sing and dance.” The 2016 presidential front-runner then concluded by saying, “Do not give up; it’s in our DNA to deliver God’s love every day.” Kors and his husband Lance LePere recently gave $5 million to the organization, which delivers over 4,000 meals a day to people living with severe illnesses. The evening also honored Aerin Lauder, Jeff Gates and Mike Moran. Cheering the honorees were Hilary Swank, Olivia Munn, Julianna Margulies, Dr. Kenneth Mark, Hilary Rhoda, Karlie Kloss, DJs Alex Cecil and Alexandra Richards, Jennifer Hudson, Helena Christensen, Doutzen Kroes and Elegant Affairs’ Andrea Correale, who is the new spokesperson for “Lenox, where entertaining is @.” Sotheby’s debonair auctioneer extraordinaire Jamie Niven used his gavel to help raise a record-breaking $3 million. Niven told me that he’s close to reaching a record of his own: “I’m $13 million away from raising half a billion dollars for charity.” Bravo! glwd.org MOTHERS KNOW BEST Jay McInerney said, “My only regret is that I didn’t meet Anne early enough for us to have children of our own,” at the American Cancer Society’s Mother of the Year Luncheon, which honored his wife Anne Hearst and Dr. Elisa Port. The program included a tribute to the late and much missed Cynthia Lufkin, who was an honoree in 2008. Among those present were Dan Lufkin, Kimberly Rockefeller, Sharon Loeb, Nina Griscom, Barbara Bancroft, Valeseca GuerrandHermès, Carol Mack, Topsy Taylor, Milly de Cabrol, Laura Durning-Waters, Loraine Boyle, Charlotte Ford, Sharon Bush, Alison Mazzola and the events chair Muffie Potter Aston. cancer.org
©PATRICK MCMULLAN; ROB RICH
Tony Ingrao and Randy Kemper @ The Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Antique Show
Halstead’s Jessica Morgan @ NY Women’s Foundation
social safari
Patricia Duff, Diandra Douglas, Muffie Potter Aston, Deborah Norville, Brooke Shields and Princess Yasmin Aga Khan @ the Rita Hayworth Gala
Hillary Clinton and Michael Kors @ God’s Love We Deliver
Jean Shafiroff and Carolina Herrera @ NY Women’s Foundation Gala co-chair Michele Riggi @ Career Transition for Dancers
THE PRINCESS AND THE ARTISTS HSH Princess Charlene of Monaco won over a sophisticated crowd at the Princess Grace Awards when she confessed, “I’m just a little nervous right now and I’m really messing up my speech.” She regained her composure quickly and said, “Princess Grace was an icon, a princess with a big heart fiercely determined to make a difference. My husband cannot be here tonight but he sends his love.” Charlene has become a serious working princess and an elegant emissary for Monaco, as this is the first time since the founding of the awards in 1984 that her husband Prince Albert or his sisters Princesses Caroline and Stephanie have not been at the gala. Paula Zahn served as the night’s witty mistress of ceremonies. The honorees, representing theater, dance and film, included Cicely Tyson, who said, “The day you think you’ve arrived, you’re finished”; director Wendy Levy; New York City Ballet’s Tiler Peck; and American Ballet Theatre’s rising star Skylar Brandt. Earlier in the night, Skylar was dancing in the premiere of ABT’s The Tempest and literally wiped off her blue makeup in the car as she raced from Lincoln Center to Cipriani in time to take her bow. “This is a dream come true; it feels like a fairy tale. I’m grateful for the chance to represent ABT,” she said. Leading the applause were Susan Stroman, Lynn Wyatt, Bill T. Jones, Pamela O’Connor, Leesa Rowland, Victor Garber, Sharon Bush, Barbara and Gary Brandt and Yves Piaget. The Foundation awarded more than $1 million to artists this year; the night’s Crown Sponsor was Lily Safra. pgfusa.com THE THREE W’S OF PHILANTHROPY Diana Taylor had some sage words to lend at Le Cirque: “A wise man told me that you need two of the three w’s to serve on a philanthropic board: wealth, wisdom or work,” she said, adding, “You also need to be passionate about the cause and realize you can’t serve on all the worthy boards you would like to because people will get mad at you if you can’t 102 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
Valeseca Guerrand-Hermès and Cece Cord @ American Cancer Society
give enough time.” She shared this advice at the New York Women’s Foundation forum and lunch hosted by board member Jean Shafiroff, who said, “The greatest gift is to be able to give.” Carolina Herrera, Jean and Diana also discussed the different ways the organization could address the problem of human trafficking. Herrera was honored at the Foundation’s 26th Anniversary Gala at the Waldorf, which raised funds for foundation programs that promote economic security, safety and health for women and girls in New York. Guests included Anne Delaney, Ana Oliveira, Valerie Steele, Karen Klopp, Lucia Hwong Gordon, Michele Gerber Klein, Anne Rapp and CNBC’s Melissa Lee, who acted as the discussion’s moderator. nywf.org RITA HAYWORTH TURNS 30 Princess Yasmin Aga Khan established the Rita Hayworth Gala as a tribute to her mother, who lived with Alzheimer’s for many years before the disease took her life in 1987. Over the last three decades, the Gala has raised more than $60 million to support the Alzheimer’s Association research programs. The Princess confided that one day her mother looked at her and asked, “Who are you?” and that that was “the day I became committed to finding a cure.” Brooke Shields, a longtime supporter of ALZ, told me that for the last years of her mother Teri’s life, “I was the only person she recognized. My mother had dementia.” She added: “It is a privilege to celebrate the work and help raise funds for the Foundation.” Other supporters included Dr. Sherrell Aston, Andrea Stark, Tommy Hilfiger, Padma Lakshmi, John McEnroe, Alexandra Lebenthal, Somers and Jonathan Farkas, Nikki Haskell, Regis Philbin, Deborah Norville and gala chair Nicole Sexton. The benefit was underwritten by Rolex, whose president and CEO, Stewart Wicht, was honored. The night raised $1.7 million, with help from an auction that included a ruby ring from Sintessi donated by the designer Michel Piranesi, an internship with Naeem Khan and a weekend at the Greenbrier in West Virginia. alz.org ✦
©PATRICK MCMULLAN; ROB RICH
Jay McInerney, Anne Hearst and Amanda Hearst @ American Cancer Society
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the world according to . . .
KATE BALDWIN AVENUE back-page column asks New York notables our AVENUE’s version of the questionnaire made famous by Marcel Proust
O
ne of the season’s most talked-about Broadway musicals, Big Fish, is a standout show for its collaboration of Tony-winning talent, its director and choreographer, leading male actor and costume designer. But audience members also point to a hidden gem in the theatrical equation: leading lady and Broadway veteran Kate Baldwin, who practically steals the show each night. Beyond her impressive résumé, which includes The Full Monty, Thoroughly Modern Millie and Wonderful Town, Baldwin possesses more than average vocal chops: She’s been a soloist with the New York Pops and has appeared at Feinstein’s and in Lincoln Center’s prestigious “Songbook Series.” Here, she reveals her Midwestern roots, behind-the-curtain secrets and ways in which she spends her free time when she’s not under bright stage lights, wearing many, many wigs. Big Fish at Neil Simon Theatre, though Dec. 29.
WHEN DID YOU FIRST FEEL LIKE A NEW YORKER? When I haggled the price of a gypsy cab ride down to half of what the driver first quoted me. I left that sweet Midwestern girl act behind. WHAT’S YOUR EARLIEST NEW YORK CITY MEMORY? A Fourth of July party on my friend’s roof. We watched the fireworks light up the sky, and I fell hard for New York City. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE NEW YORK DISCOVERIES? Food trucks, the Public Theater, a boutique in the West Village called Darling, Fleisher’s meats, Goorin Bros. hats, but most of all my friend and stylist George Brescia. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE WATERING HOLES? Bar Centrale. Dig Inn for lunch, Bar Americain for dinner and City Winery for a night out. For true comfort, I go to Otto in Greenwich Village. It has the right balance of easy, inviting setting and simple yet lovely food. The wine is good too. LAST BROADWAY SHOW YOU SAW? Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike. I laughed until I couldn’t breathe. 104 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2013
WHICH NEW YORKER DO YOU MOST ADMIRE? Phyllis Newman. She’s smart, charismatic, funny, philanthropic and has done so much for other actors, especially with her Women’s Health Initiative. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NEW YORK CLICHÉ? LEAST FAVORITE? I truly believe that the city never sleeps, and I love that. It is completely untrue that New Yorkers are rude. They are kind, but pressed for time. IF YOUR APARTMENT WERE ON FIRE, WHICH ONE OBJECT WOULD YOU RESCUE? My Chanel bag because it is the fanciest thing I own and represents a time in my life I never want to forget. WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PART OF BEING A BROADWAY STAR? Talking to young people at the stage door. They are full of hope and never miss a beat. Tonight, one told me which of my eyes shed more tears. They see it all. ANY BEHINDTHE-CURTAINS SECRETS YOU CAN SHARE? I wear five different wigs in the show. FIVE. That’s a lot of hair.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE ASPECT OF THE THEATER DISTRICT? I like that every waiter knows how to get his or her dining party to a show on time. I also love the camaraderie of the gals who keep their lashes on between shows on a Wednesday or Saturday when they go out to grab dinner. Wig hair-plus-lashes equals “showgirl.” WHAT’S YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE SHOW AND ACTORS? I absolutely love Sunday in the Park with George. I’ll see Cherry Jones, Mark Rylance, Bernadette Peters or Michael Cerveris in anything. WHAT’S YOUR MOST MEMORABLE NEW YORK MOMENT? I had been living in New York for six years when I became engaged to my husband. I went to the Diamond District to get my engagement ring resized, and in the elevator, a diamond dealer asked me where I was from. Proudly, I told him that I lived here. He reminded me that that didn’t mean I was from New York. And privately I thought, “Yeah, but I chose this place. And it made room for me.” WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? An apprentice to the world’s best chefs. ✦ —As told to Charlotte Ross
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