Ex-Cabby got $40M Townhouse
by Braden Keil and Kate Sheehy
He grew up in a cramped apartment in war-torn Russia, lived in a tiny Queens pad that rumbled from the nearby LIE -- and last week inked a record $40 million deal for the most expensive townhouse in Manhattan.
"It's a great country," eccentric cabby-turned-real-estate billionaire Tamir "Tom" Sapir, 58, crowed to The Post yesterday.
Sapir should know -- he's at the center of a sensation rags-to-riches tale that just grew larger with his stunning purchase of the famed Duke-Semans landmark townhouse across Fifth Avenue from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The townhouse -- originally divided into 12 bedrooms and 14 bathrooms -- features a two-level penthouse and enough space to house two other apartments.
When the Russian immigrant first moved to the city in the 70's, the most he and his wife could afford was a flimsy, sixth-floor rental on far-from-tony 108th Street in Forest Hills.
The apartment was in an aged brick building that boasts views of the Long Island Expressway rather than the lush, rolling hills of Central Park.
Russian immigrants doing their weekly shopping and rushing to dentist visits are more likely to be seen along the streets nearby, rather than the upper-crust businessmen and their well-manicured wives who call the area around the Met home.
Sapir's recent buying of the 1901 Beaux-Arts structure -- owned by kin of dead heiress Doris Duke -- was simply his latest opulent acquisition, which he moved to purchase Friday in his typical, flamboyant style, insiders said.
The gray-haired, bespectacled mogul spent a mere 20 minutes admiring the structure, then simply said "I want that building," said his broker Jed Garfield.
At $40 million, it is the highest price ever paid for a townhouse in the city.
"If that doesn't say, 'I've arrived,'" quipped his broker, Garfield, "I don't know what would."
TOWNHOUSES: A FAMILY AFFAIR
by Melissa Dehncke-McGill
Townhouses have always appealed to families, but in Manhattan's sizzling hot market, some brokers say there is growing awareness that you can get more for your money with a townhouse than an apartment.
Jed Garfield of Leslie J. Garfield & Co., a boutique firm that specializes in townhouses, said townhouses represent a much better deal per square foot for a single family on the Upper East Side than buying a co-op.
"At minimum, a house has four bedrooms, and with the traditional family moving from a classic six apartment, with two or three children, they need more space," he said. "The incremental increase in price to a spacious co-op is astronomical. It's not that a townhouse is more expensive, it's just more reasonable."
Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel says the appeal of townhouses to families has resulted in a higher level of sales activity over the last few years, with more three-to-five family houses converted to single-family homes.
"It is somewhat unique to the Manhattan market as opposed to Brooklyn, which also has a high number of townhouses," he said. "The idea of highest and best use is converting to a single-family rather than viewing these properties for their rental potential."
But converting multiple-family townhouses to a single-family townhouses is a difficult feat.
"It's a complicated and mythical task to convert multiple apartment townhouses back to single families," said Garfield. "People are under the impression that they can claim need in converting, and it's more difficult than they initially perceive to get tenants out."
Renovation of existing single family townhouses is more common, Garfield said.
"With single family houses, it seems lately that everything requires renovation, even if it was done a year ago," he said.
SELLING STARS
The 21 Who'll Take - And Market - Manhattan.
Leslie J. Garfield & Co., Inc.
2002 Sales: $58 million.
Biggest Deal: The Vanderbilt Fabbri mansion on East 62nd Street, sold to the Japanese
government for $21.5 million in 2000.
The Details: This low-key father-and-son team deals in high-end properties, especially Upper East Side townhouses, with a strong Wall Street client list. The late Ted Ammon was a client. "I'm not a big schmoozer," says Jed, "not one of those Hamptons types." The son is on the board of the New York Youth Symphony, and Leslie's on the board of MoMA. They win the Messrs. Congeniality prize from their fellow brokers - no small feat.
BIG SMALL FIRMS
Leslie J. Garfield & Co., Inc.
The Bosses: Leslie Garfield, Jed Garfield
2002 Transactions: $63 million; 17 sales
Agents: 8
Founded: 1972
Boutiques Thrive by Carving Out Specialty Niches to Compete with Industry Behemoths
Michele Kleier, owner of a boutique firm, likes to differentiate her company
from her larger competitors by drawing a comparison from the world of
retail. Department stores may have a large selection, but sometimes you get
lost amidst the shuffle and a boutique would be a better bet.
"A lot of people don't like to shop at Macy's," said Kleier. "They'd rather go to a store like Ralph Lauren where they offer you Perrier and more personal service."
More than mere numbers though, being among the best small to mid-sized boutique residential firms in the city is about filling a niche, whether it be focusing on luxury property or in making the townhouse buildings in Manhattan the entire focus of your business, as in the case of Leslie J. Garfield & Co.
Called the "Dean of Townhouse Brokers," Leslie J. Garfield & Co., Inc. is a true niche firm - its entire business revolves around the townhouse buildings in Manhattan. Managing partner Jed Garfield, who is Leslie's son, said people are always slightly taken aback when they call up and ask about a specific address. "I'll say, 'oh, that's Mr. Smith's place.' People are surprised. But there's not that many buildings to cover." The business was started by Leslie, who "in his own quiet way, still does $40 million a year. There's not a transaction he's not involved in," said Jed. Other family members also work for the firm, which has grown from two brokers seven years ago to eight brokers today. The key to success for the firm is "market coverage," with each broker given a different slice of Manhattan to specialize in, said Jed. "Everyone in the office comes in and just canvasses all day. Our business is not based on social connections." Not that they don't have them, of course.
Manhattan's Most Established Boutique Firms
Leslie J. Garfield & Co...............................1972
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