CITY NOTES
CURATED BY PATRICIA GREENE ISEN
Happy Valentine's Day
February 2024
Welcome to 2024!
I took off January and February is this year's first edition of CityNotes. I hope everyone was able to enjoy their families over the holidays.
The real estate market has been incredibly busy and we have been going non stop!
For the February edition of CityNotes , as usual I am focusing a bit on Valentines Day.
I've included three different florists I like to reach out to when sending a thank you, birthday wish or a valentine! They are all quite different in their feel but each unique and beautiful. Ive also included one of my favorite destinations in new York which is going to the flower market bright and early ( before 8 am) and procuring the most unusual flowers from the Dutch Flower Company. An experience that everyone would enjoy!
I don't know about you but I never get tired of jewelry for Valentine's Day. I have included a few fun ideas.
For restaurants, I focused on the traditional french bistro in New York. They aren't new, but they are classics that never seem to get old. A casual night for an easy dinner is both cosy and romantic. I can't think of anything better!
I have also added theater. There are some great limited plays that have just opened and do not miss Hells Kitchen which is now coming to Broadway. I wrote about it when it was coming to the Public and now its hitting the big stage of Broadway.
A bit random but I was intrigued by four new television series that are just launching. They promise to be amazing! I am most interested in Capote & his Swans.
And Art........my FAVORITE category!!! Some wonderful new shows are opening....I booked tickets for the new show at the Brooklyn Museum as a surprise for my husband for Valentines Day...shhhh dont tell him.
I hope you have a great Valentines Day!
Feel free to email me any friends you would like to add to the distribution.
THEATER
HELLS KITCHEN
225 West 44th Street
Hell’s Kitchen, is a new musical created by 15-time Grammy Award winner Alicia Keys that’s about to make Broadway feel brand new. I wrote about Hells Kitchen in CityNotes in October I believe. It was at the Public Theater and sold out!
Don’t miss this exhilarating, joyful, coming-of-age story filled with that New York Grit about chasing your dreams, honoring your roots, your identity and your voice.
CABARET AT THE KIT KAT CLUB
August Wilson Theatre
245 West 52nd Street
Welcome to the Kit Kat Club. Home to an intimate and electrifying new production of CABARET.
Experience this groundbreaking musical like never before. The denizens of the Kit Kat Club have created a decadent sanctuary inside Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre.
This was London’s hottest ticket and its now arriving on Broadway with Academy and Tony Award winner Eddie Redmayne reprising his Olivier Award-winning performance as the Emcee.
APPROPRIATE
Hayes Theater
240 West 44th Street
Appropriate stars Sarah Paulson. the story is about It’s summer, the Lafayette family who has just returned to their late patriarch’s Arkansas home to deal with the remains of his estate. Toni (Paulson), the eldest daughter, hopes they’ll spend the weekend remembering and reconnecting over their beloved father. Suddenly, long-hidden secrets and buried resentments can’t be contained, and the family is forced to face the ghosts of their past.
DOUBT
American Airlines Theatre
227 West 42nd Street
John Patrick Shanley's celebrated, complex drama returns to Broadway with Tyne Daly and Liev Schreiber.
Emmy and Tony Award winner Daly stars as Aloysius, She stars opposite Schreiber as Father Flynn. Schreiber won the 2005 Tony for performing in Glengarry Glen Ross and is a five-time Golden Globe and three-time Emmy nominee for playing the title role on Ray Donovan.
FLOWERS
META FLOWERS
https://metafloranyc.com/
This is my go to for the ultimate in chic flowers!
METAFLORA is a New York City based floral design co created by Marisa Competello. Known for its minimal, sculptural and obscure juxtapositions of elements.
Arrangements with Delivery are available within the NYC area.
RANA FLORA
https://ranaflora.com/
Another favorite but much different is Rana kim, a new york-based floral designer. She blends sculptural simplicity and elegant aesthetics to create refined arrangements inspired by her korean heritage. These designs are a bit more wabi sabi in feel.
PLAZA FLOWERS
944 LEXINGTON AVE
https://www.plazaflowersnyc.com/
When wanting to send classic chic arrangements with beautiful classic glass container my go to is Plaza Flowers.
Owned by Connie Plaissay and has been in the Plaissay Family for three generations.
Plaza Flowers has an established a great reputation in the Upper East Side.
The flagship boutique at 944 Lexington Avenue acts as an oasis full of vibrant colors and fragrances. This space is unparalleled in New York City.
DUTCH FLOWERS
150 WEST 28TH STREET
https://www.nyfg.nyc/
When having a dinner party or an event for my home my go to is Dutch Flowers! Maybe one of my favorite experiences in New York! This is in the flower market. They close early so you must start the day with an excursion here.
From Holland to Japan, New Zealand to France, they have every flower you could dream of!
JEWELRY
NINA RUNSDORF
THE ATELIER
20 EAST 69TH STREET
SUITE 3A
+1 212.382.1243
Nina Runsdorf
My dear friend and New York native Nina Runsdorf is known for her wearable, one-of-a-kind jewelry made from precious and semi-precious stones. Nina’s designs are elegant, modern, creative and never too precious to wear.
Nina has exquisite unique pieces and i LOVE going there for any gift!
MARY MACGILL
Mary Macgill
Mary MacGill is a jewelry designer whose pieces are based on organic nature. Mary was inspired when she had tea with her mentor Kazuko Oshima who instilled her design sense and desire to become a jewelry designer. Mary hasa wonderful store on Block Island, Rhode Island. Inspired by the ocean, grasses, and evolving coastline, she created her first collection and sold the designs at the local farmer’s marketin Block Island.
TORY BURCH
Tory Burch
I adore these fun earrings...with jeans or black tie they are perfect! The Crystal Chandelier Earring is a simple way to add sparkle for special events or every day.
SHAWN WARREN
Shawn Warren
To schedule a private showroom visit or to request a style consultation, please call us at (917) 940-1824
Again, a good friend Shawn and I have known eachother since 7th grade maybe if not longer! Shawn launched her jewelry line in 2003.
To create her designs, Shawn hand-selects each stone, finding inspiration in its color and cut. Natural materials like rough diamonds are mixed with vibrant sapphires to create a collage of colors and textures.
I love these wooden and gold earrings!
FRENCH BISTRO
ROMANTIC DINNER
CAFE LUXEMBOURG
200 WEST 70TH ST
https://cafeluxembourg.com/
We went back to Cafe Luxembourg the other night with friends and I have to say...theres nothing better then a cozy, busy french bistro!
The classic French bistro dishes at Cafe Luxembourg are the best! You may see Fran Lebowitz taking a meeting in a corner booth ( which of course i did last week!) . This classic Upper West Side restaurant (owned by the same team as The Odeon in Tribeca) is more about dining in a dim-lit, red-leather booth institution than it is about any singular plate of food. Having said that, you could order the French onion soup, steak frite, or profiteroles and be perfectly happy here.
PASTIS
52 GANSEVOORT ST
https://pastisnyc.com/
I wrote about Pastis 3 or more years ago in CityNotes. This was a classic all time favorite that reopened. The new Pastis features are similar to the original such as the restaurant’s classic curved zinc bar outfitted with signature subway tiles, vintage mirrors with handwritten daily specials, and a mosaic-tiled floor. Guests can expect to find the classic bistro fare Pastis is known for, with a menu that offers breakfast, weekend brunch, lunch and dinner. ITS YUMMY! but can be loud!
ODEON
145 WEST BROADWAY
https://www.theodeonrestaurant.com/
The Odeon is a New York City classic. I was going there as a senior in high school. This restaurant has been around since 1980.
As for the current state of affairs at The Odeon, it's still a beloved fixture of the neighborhood. It may not be the same downtown destination that it was thirty years ago, but they still serve very great bistro food. have definitely over ordered many a french frie when having dinner there!
BALTHAZAR
80 SPRING STREET
https://balthazarny.com/
Keith McNally is the creator of the french bistro in NYC! He was born in London and moved to New York in 1975, where he worked in a series of restaurant jobs from oyster shucker to busboy to general layabout. In 1980 he opened his first restaurant, The Odeon. Since then he’s opened Café Luxembourg, Nell’s, Lucky Strike, Pravda, Balthazar, Pastis, Schiller’s, Morandi, Minetta Tavern, Cherche Midi, and Augustine, as well as Balthazar in London. He’s written and directed two feature films, End of the Night and Far from Berlin. In 2010 he was mistakenly given the James Beard Award for Outstanding U.S. Restaurateur.
ART
THEASTER GATES:
HOLD ME, HOLD ME, HOLD ME
WHITE CUBE
1002 MADISON AVENUE
26 January – 2 March 2024
White Cube New York presents ‘Hold Me, Hold Me, Hold Me’, a solo exhibition by Theaster Gates, in which the artist creates a series of material pairings - across painting, sculpture and archival installation - indicative of musical harmonic devices. Shifting the ideology of art from visually based to metronomic, Gates explores how sound holds pain and suffering, joy, temporality, memory and contingency.
SIMON HANTAI: UNFOLDING
TIMOTHY TAYLOR
74 LEONARD
25 January — 2 March 2024
TIMOTHY TAYLOR
Timothy Taylor is pleased to present Unfolding, an exhibition of paintings by Simon Hantaï (1922–2008), many of which have not been previously shown in the United States. Curated by Molly Warnock in our New York gallery, this presentation features eleven canvases spanning more than two decades, offering a nuanced and comprehensive view of the Hungarian-born French painter's innovative body of work.
Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys
BROOKLYN MUSEUM OF ART
200 EASTERN PARKWAY
February 10–July 7, 2024
BROOKLYN MUSEUM
This exhibition is based on the incredible collection Swizz Beatz (Kasseem Dean) and Alicia Keys have created over the years. Expansive in their collecting habits, the Deans, both born and raised in New York, champion a philosophy of “artists supporting artists.” The first major exhibition of the Dean Collection, Giants showcases a focused selection from the couple’s world-class holdings. The Brooklyn Museum’s presentation spotlights works by Black diasporic artists, part of our ongoing efforts to expand the art-historical narrative.
“Giants” refers to several aspects of the Dean Collection: the renown of legendary artists, the impact of canon-expanding contemporary artists, and the monumental works by such creators as Derrick Adams, Arthur Jafa, and Meleko Mokgosi.
The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
1000 FIFTH AVENUE
February 25–July 28, 2024
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
In February 2024, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present the groundbreaking exhibition The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism. Through some 160 works of painting, sculpture, photography, film, and ephemera, it will explore the comprehensive and far-reaching ways in which Black artists portrayed everyday modern life in the new Black cities that took shape in the 1920s–40s in New York City’s Harlem and nationwide in the early decades of the Great Migration when millions of African Americans began to move away from the segregated rural South. The first art museum survey of the subject in New York City since 1987, the exhibition will establish the Harlem Renaissance and its radically new development of the modern Black subject as central to the development of international modern art.
A significant percentage of the paintings, sculpture, and works on paper on view in the exhibition come from the extensive collections of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), including Clark Atlanta University Art Museum, Fisk University Galleries, Hampton University Art Museum, and Howard University Gallery of Art.
LIFESTYLE
CAPOTE VS THE SWANS
HULU
The eight-episode season is based on the bestselling book Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era by Laurence Leamer. It is expected to premiere its first two episodes on January 31, 2024 with each episode available on Hulu the day after broadcast.
Acclaimed writer Truman Capote destroys his friendships with the jet setting socialites of New York City high society by writing a thinly-fictionalized account of their scandalous and hedonistic personal lives in his novel Answered Prayers. This causes them all to vow to ruin his life in revenge.
The cast is insane!
Naomi Watts as Babe Paley
Diane Lane as Slim Keith
Chloë Sevigny as C. Z. Guest
Calista Flockhart as Lee Radziwill
Demi Moore as Ann Woodward
Molly Ringwald as Joanne Carson
Tom Hollander as Truman Capote
Jessica Lange as Lillie Mae Faulk
THE BUCANEERS
APPPLE TV+
In the 1870s, the "Buccaneers" are five ambitious women and daughters of the American nouveau riche Nan and Jinny St. George, Conchita Closson, and Lizzy and Mabel Elmsworth. Following Conchita's wedding to Lord Richard Marable, the women are invited to London in the midst of debutante season in the hopes of securing husbands and titles.
THE REGIME
HBO
The six-episode HBO Original limited series The Regime, starring Academy Award® winner Kate Winslet, tells the story of a year within the palace of a modern European authoritarian regime as it unravels.
The cast includes Kate Winslet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Guillaume Gallienne, Andrea Riseborough, Martha Plimpton, and Hugh Grant.
THE EXPATS
AMAZON PRIME
Expats, starring Ncole Kidman, follows "the vibrant lives of a close-knit expatriate community: where affluence is celebrated, friendships are intense but knowingly temporary, and personal lives, deaths and marriages are played out publicly—then retold with glee.
EXCLUSIVES
No matter what your needs or neighborhood preferences are, we will work tirelessly to find what you want and make it happen for you.
My mother, Betsy S. Green and I are partners at Douglas Elliman. Together we represent clients in NYC, the Hamptons and Palm Beach. So when looking for real estate—whether you are expanding a family, downsizing, changing residences or relocating from another city—we would be thrilled to be involved in your journey and work with you.
41 Central Park West
11
$17,900,000
6 beds, 4.5 baths
56,000 sf (approx.)
elliman.com/22442532
150 Central Park South
29W
$13,900,000
Bring your Architect
3000+ sf (approx.)
820 Park Avenue
10/11S
$7,250,000
3 beds, 3.5 baths
elliman.com/22731475
15 Renwick Street
504
$3,450,000
2 beds, 2.5 baths
1774 sf (approx.)
elliman.com/22481512
563 Park Avenue
10E
$2,980,000
3 beds, 3 baths
elliman.com/22285779
136 Waverly Place
12A
$2,750,000
2 beds, 2 baths
elliman.com/22848712
808 Broadway
PHF
$2,450,000
2 beds, 2 baths
elliman.com/22664033
475 Park Avenue
14B
$995,000
1 beds, 2 baths
elliman.com/22855132
MARKET REPORT
Sales and listing inventory in the Manhattan co-op and condo market continued to fall as prices increased. Median sales price rose year over year for the first time in five quarters to the second-highest fourth quarter on record. Listing inventory declined annually for the third consecutive quarter as sales continued to fall at a diminishing rate. Cash sales surged to exceed two-thirds of all sales to reach a record-high market share. While resales slipped year over year, sales at or above the $5 million threshold surged. Co-op sales increased annually for the first time in six quarters, while the condo median sales price edged higher year over year for the first time in five quarters. Luxury median sales price increased annually for the third time and remained significantly above pre-pandemic levels, as luxury listing inventory fell annually for the third consecutive quarter. New development listing inventory declined year over year for the fourth consecutive quarter, and their sales declined year over year for the sixth time as excess supply was sold off during the pandemic.
MANHATTAN Q4 MARKET HIGHLIGHTS
In the Hamptons, quarterly sales expanded annually for the first time in two and a half years. Price trend indicators surged to record highs and were more than double pre-pandemic levels. Sales increased year over year for the first time in ten quarters. Listing inventory increased annually for the fourth consecutive quarter as bidding war market share rose year over year to one in four sales.
Most Florida markets we cover are seeing that listing inventory is up modestly year over year but still down about 50% from pre-pandemic levels (4Q-2019). Lower rates will help supply trickle in, but it won’t satisfy demand. Lower mortgage rates will raise demand and sell off much of the new inventory to enter, keeping pricing fairly firm. Inventory will come in as the spread reduces from what the prevailing market rate is and what someone locked in during the pandemic (80% of US mortgage holders in the US have a 5% rate or less). 2024 will likely see a modest uptick in sales, a slight increase in supply, and rising prices.
PALM BEACH Q4 MARKET HIGHLIGHTS
CONTACT
I hope you have enjoyed the first 2024 City Notes!
Patricia Greene Isen
Licensed Real Estate Salesperson
Office: 212.303-5227 | Mobile:610.209.3831
