Newsday (Nassau Edition) from Hempstead, New York • 59

DEVELOPS NTS I spw IS hji rpi I I I 4 Ml Building Takes Billing Margaret Dumont a fictitious Park Avenue socialite is seen leaving her uptown apartment house with poodle in tow She is leaving for good in search of a new apartment and bids farewell to her concierge We next see her arriving at the Metropolitan Tower an apartment house under construction where a female construction chief shows her around They come to the health club and Ms Dumont succumbs to a fantasy She imagines that she and her dog are having a massage and realizes that the Metropolitan Tower is for her It may sound like the turn of events of a soap-opera character but these are scenes in a 10-minute film that will be used as a marketing tool in the sales office for Metropolitan Tower a new 78-story condominium apartment building on West 57th Street that will be open to its first residents in April While film used as a real estate marketing tool is nothing new the elaborateness of this production is unusual Shot on location in Manhattan Long Island and New Jersey the plot includes scenarios for an English earl Texas rancher Greek tycoon and yes three Russian spies The spies are there for comic effect but all their adventures serve to underscore the amenities "We want to get across that we are creating a lifestyle a complete said Sheldon Werdiger vice president of Harry Macklowe Real Estate Co the builders of the property Built at a cost of about $170 million Metropolitan Tower is the latest entry in the seemingly endless race for the most superlative apartment house At a height of 716 feet it is the tallest residential building in New York on show Grandma how smart you are tell her the difference between a condo and a Finally Montauk Manor Is Brought Back to Life in Housing Groove An jmmml forecast of the construction industry predicts that residential building will continue at a brisk clip in 1986 George A Christie McGraw-Hill Information Systems Co vice president and chief economist said that favorable interest rates will spur home-building while a sluggish economy and the probability of tax reform will slow commercial industrial construction "Since 1983 housing starts have settled into a remarkably steady groove at close to 175 million units per Christie noted "And there is a very good chance that this three-year stretch of strong housing will go to four in Christie expects that total residential building will top $1126 billion in 1986 up 7 percent from this year1 anticipated level The five-year building boom in commercial construction Christie said should come to an end with the passage of a diluted tax reform package next year er before said Lewis "We also waited because the recession in the early 1980s was not the right time to go into the market with This is the sixth time Sybedon has renovated an historic landmark property and Lewis says his firm has chosen the niche for its tax benefits Investors or those who intend to rent the apartment are eligible for an investment tax credit of approximately 15 percent of the purchase price The credit is only available on historic properties "The tax credit was a good incentive for said Lewis "We reacted the way the government expected us to Most of the inquiries have come from people interested in acquiring a second home Lewis said For those who buy in order to rent the developers have arranged that furnish their apartments in one of three styles "They are the basic hotel-type inexpensive' said Eileen Joyce the director of interior design not the With renovations based on existing conditions in the building many of the apartments follow different floor plans There are simplex and duplex apartments some with balconies or terraces and all have water views Prices range from $73900 for a studio to a high of $346400 for a three-bedroom unit One of the unique qualities of the building is the ratio of public to private space Of the total 120000 square met a third is taken up by common space "The building is Lewis said "You couldn't build anything like it today Money was no object in that era It was the time of no taxes and a terrific good The most striking feature of the manor is a great hall with vaulted arch ceilings slate floors and wood paneling Other hotel-like qualities that will be retained are a grand lobby restaurant and front desk that takes phone messages There is also a pool nd health club Robert Moses who was no small thinker himself called ideas for Montauk "wild an opinion that Supervisor Hope says most residents would agree with But Fisher follows in the footsteps of some other visionaries who saw great promise in the eastern extreme of Long Island In 1879 one land buyer wanted to convert the area into a vast cattle range A developer asked Congress in 1886 to designate Montauk as America's main port of entry for trans-Atlantic shipping And dream was prompted by "magnificent highlands and rolling Perhaps the rebirth of the manor would have been some consolation to Fisher as it is today for the people of Montauk "With the development boom under way in Montauk says Hope "We are very pleased to see the manor back rather than the groundbreaking of new hotel complexes she added "would not be nearly as By Braden Phillips AN AMERICAN-MADE visionary Carl Graham Fisher had the kind of dreams that at least in size would seem to do justice to great wealth He built the Indianapolis Speedway He filled the swamps of South Florida and created Miami Beach He moved to Montauk and envisioned a northern version of his luxurious southern resort The destructive Miami hurricane of 1926 and the stock market crash that followed forced his Montauk Beach Development Corp into bankruptcy Of the Gilo fields yacht clubs casinos office buildings and gh-speed trains to New York that he planned a seven-story and Montauk Manor are the most conspicuous remains A monumental tudor-style building and the centerpiece of his vision the manor was a 200-room hotel that thrived on its own as a resort for the very well-to-do until a slump in tourism hit the area in the early 1960s Since then the manor has been dosed despite assarted attempts to revive it as health spa hotel and co-op or condo facility It is in the condominium incarnation that Montauk Manor will finally reopen LS Ventures a development entity affiliated with Sybedon Carp a Manhattan-based investment banking firm specializing in real estate has spent 615 million renovating the four-story building into 140 condominium apartments that are to be completed by April according to Bertram Lewis chairman The apartments first went on sale in January he said and more than 35 percent have been sold Lewis does not antidpate having much trouble selling the rest "I think the return of Montauk Manor is a great symbol of the resurgence of said Judith Hope East Hampton Town supervisor "What Fisher envisioned has essentially happened without the fnainmi and showier development of Miami Beach Luckily he mended his ways in the architectural style he used Sybedon purchased the manor in 1980 for an undisclosed amount in cadi from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp The FDIC had acquired the building when it took over the Franklin National Bank in 1974 the year it declared insolvency Shortly before that time Franklin National had foreclosed on the manor's mortgage when the loan to a previous developer went into default The process of renovating into condominiums that had already started suddenly came to a halt The current work began in the summer of last year after delays causedby local rezoning various construction surveys changes in architectural plans and the time needed to get on the National Register for Historic Places "When we came in after 10 years the hammer and nails were waiting from the work of the develop NEWSDAY SATURDAY OCTOBER 28 1985 Real Estate 3 Queens Conference It was postponed once by Hurricane Gloria but the Home Buyers Conference shall go on Sponsored by the City Commission on Human Rights and the Neighborhood Stabilization Commission the conference will be held on Nov 2 at 9 am and Nov 6 at 7 pm The meetings which are free will be held at Queens Boro Hall 120-55 Queens Blvd Kew Gardens Room 213 The first workshop will deal with budgeting and mortgages At the second one the subjects are home inspections the broker and discrimination If interested in attending call the Queens Technical Assistance Office at (718) 886-6162 Braden Phillips.