Tough Mudder events are hardcore 10-12 mile obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. Not one to shy away from a challenge, I decided to take this on with a group of 10 friends. Sure, I’ve run long distances before, but this obstacle course requires fearlessness in addition to stamina. This is the first time that I ended a marathon type event where I was handed a beer in my hand instead of a Vitamin Water. But that’s the unique nature of the Tough Mudder.
Click image to learn more about Tough Mudder
After starting the event with the singing of the National Anthem and saluting the Wounded Warrior Project (Tough Mudder raises a lot money for the organization) you get through obstacles on a 12 mile course that include wading through ice water (there is literally ice in the water!) running through burning fields and climbing over vertical walls. The finale of the course is a final run through…live wires. You can’t help but feel pretty proud to compete such an event. So I’m definitely proud to say that I’m now a Tough Mudder. Check out some actions shots above from my experience. If YOU feel like taking on the challenge, you can sign up at toughmudder.com.
For the newest edition of “Selling Higher With Michael Meier” we filmed our life style photoshoot in TriBeCa, one of the most expensive zip codes in the United States. With the TriBeCa Film Festival running now and countless celebrities flocking to Manhattan to watch the best in film, its definitely an exciting time. TriBeCa is the perfect location for the film festival, with large converted pre-war commercial buildings providing great lofty layouts in which to have screenings.
The layotus in TriBeCa properties also provide for dramatic homes. We listed a beautiful loft at 105 Hudson St.,just upstairs from Robert DeNiro’s Noburestaurant. The loft is located in a historic pre-war building that used to be the home of Baker’s Chocolate Factory in the 1800s. When we heard “chocolate” we decided to feature Richart Chocolates in our photoshoot, who are French gourmet chocolatiers since 1925. Their chocolates are hardly “just chocolate,” but more like miniature chocolate masterpieces that also are made from the finest organic ingredients.
With 3 gorgeous models dressed in couture such as Gucci, Versace and Fendi to name a few, surrounded by chocolates and the perfect House music in the background, the filming fun began. The trio had a great time with various life style scenarios in the home, and I can’t wait for you to watch it and see for yourself. We even poured melted chocolate on the female model, Ulla Lauska. She was a great sport, and it made for a very interesting shot to say the least.
The shoot was so amazing that we took the still shots and put together another featured spread in Manhattan Magazine! Its in the May issue which you can sneak peak below, or click here to see it online. The positive feedback and increased viewership for “Selling Higher With Michael Meier” and our print campaigns has been very rewarding and exciting. We look forward to our next production.
I was honored to attend a private and intimate gathering hosted by Manhattan Magazine for their Six Degrees of Manhattan dinner celebrating its Men of Style. The evening featured a cocktail hour followed by an intimate dinner at Mr. Chow in Tribeca. Guests enjoyed Chivas cocktails and Camacho Cigars. The magazine honored men with exceptional achievements in their field who epitomize a style in line with the essence of Manhattan.
Here are the 8 honorees:
Chris Benz: CFDA awar winning- designer of his eponymous women’s fashion line.
Adam Kirsch: Co-owner of the Blind Barber, a barbershop and bar with speakeasy charm in the East Village and a location in L.A.’s Culver City opening this Spring.
CK Swett: Phillips de Pury & Company senior proposal writer and auctioneer on the national charity circuit.
The Meier Group was invited to Lexus First Lookby Manhattan Magazinelast night, and it was so much fun! We got the chance to meet some really great people. There was an open bar, and no one gave us a breathalyzer test before we got into any of these beautiful vehicles. The music at the event was also amazing, with electronic violinist Caitlin Moe and DJ Mia Moretti.
When a property comes on the market it requires an effective presentation to find it the right buyer. When you have a unique property like the 4,500 Square Foot full floor loftwe have listed in Chelsea, the marketing campaign becomes as unique as the space itself. This spectacular Loft is sexy, spacious and has the perfect framework for a keen designer ready to create from it a masterpiece.
We recently brought in a crew to the Loft and shot a Lifestyle photoshoot depicting the possibilities this home has to offer. We had beautiful models posing as couples in various rooms, and they truly brought out how sexy this space is. We used the photos in a two page ad for The Meier Group in this month’s Manhattan Magazine! Check it out!
Its never easy for buyers to envision what their life could be like in a new home and/or location until they see the potential in unique ways. This is why The Meier Group began shooting Life Style photo-shoots. Choosing a new home has a lot to do with how you will create a life there, in addition to the usual factors of location, price and monthly dues. We understand the challenge, and so we met it by SHOWING it to you. Stay tuned to the next photo-shoot, and remember to check out our web series “Selling Higher With Michael Meier” right here on this site. A new segment is coming soon!
After our lifestyle photoshoot the other week, various media outlets reached out to us, wrote articles about our production and posted links to it for their audiences. We received a lot of feedback and praise for how entertaining the show was, and we look forward to producing the next lifestyle shoot! So far, all the media attention has increased viewership of our series, “Selling Higher With Michael Meier,” and it has recieved over 20,000 views in the last 2 weeks.
The tremendous marketing campaign we launched for 109 W 26th Street
certainly got the word out about the unit. The response was that the Loft is amazing with huge potential, however we needed to make room in the price for renovation costs. The amount of time it would take to gather such critical feedback about pricing a unit correctly was drastically reduced because of the scope of our campaign. What would normally take around 2 months, we did in 2 weeks!
So we listened to buyer feedback on price and dropped the price by over 10%! We’re now offering this approximately 4,500 SF Loft at $3.495M. If you didn’t pull that calculator out yet that’s WAY less than $800 a SF. I challenge you to find a comparable Loft in prime Chelsea at such a price. You won’t. But now you have, and this is the one. We are not looking for just any buyer anymore. We are looking for the most qualified buyer, one who can easily see how valuable this apartment is as a user OR investor at this price.
With all the buzz we’ve generated for this listing with our Lifestyle photoshoot, we’re now going to launch the second leg of our marketing campaign. Stay tuned as we release the photo stills from our photoshoot. You will find them right here on the Meier Group website as well as some national publications in print and online.
You always hear people say “Think out of the box.” I think sometimes its more fun to just throw the box away completely. This is why the Meier Group started a new marketing campaign to show-case real estate in a different light. We always see brokers showing clients their properties as inventory. But when do they show their clients the lifestyle that’s possible to live in a property? When people choose to purchase a new home they don’t only focus on the “bones” and features of a property. Buyers want to imagine and almost experience the new life they can live at their new home. Imagine seeing an empty apartment with no furniture? Can you imagine the furniture there, a party going on perhaps or the experience of food cooking on the stove?
We wanted to take our advertising to the next level and present real-life experiences for our buyers to get a feel of the new lifestyles that are possible in a home. We love to not only finding the perfect location for our clients, but also assisting them practically with the major transition in their lives of moving to a new home.
So we chose one of our amazing listings to do just that. We got together a group of models to create and shoot a representation of what life can be like in a 4500 SF loft on 26th Street in Chelsea. This is the same space where Tiffany created their velvet blue bags, and the artist Jack Brusca painted his paintings that were eventually sold to the Whitney Museum. We even had some of his work hanging inthe background of the shoot.
We shot lifestyle scenes with professional models posing as couples in various situations. It was a LOT of fun and the pictures are amazing. Watch the next segment of “Selling Higher With Michael Meier” to see exclusive behind the scenes footage of this sexy shoot!
We salute our incredible team who worked with us on this project:
New York has some of the best nightlife in the world. But there are certain venues that are real showstoppers! I recently attended an incredible event hosted by the UJA at Capitale located on the Lower East Side. This gorgeous Beaux Arts landmark formerly housed the Bowery Savings Bank. The space is amazing to say the least, with its original details of the bank such as the 65 foot ceiling and marble Corinthian columns utilized so well to create a stunning event space. The perfect lighting bouncing off the marble mosaic floors seems to dance with you to the music, and there is truly eye candy everywhere.
The UJA really outdid themselves hosting the “Seventh Annual Generosity Signature Event” at Capitale. The event, aptly titled “Generosity,” was a social gathering to raise money and show support for the UJA, which is benefactor to more than 100 agencies around the world. Not only do they collect $200 from attendees on this night for financial aid towards these agencies, but they aim to make the agencies they support to be more self-sustainable. Even though they receive financial aid from the UJA, the beneficiaries are encouraged to keep their identities and continue to do their work without losing their names under the guise of their benefactor.
The event coordinators came up with some clever ways to educate attendees about why its so important to keep supporting the cause. They had people walking around with drink coupons who would request a few minutes of an attendees time and listen to some information about the UJA causes. Then they handed over the coupon to get a free shot-glass. There was also a large screen which showed information about the UJA and its work, followed by the opportunity for attendees to pledge their support by texting it! When they would send the text, the amount and their name showed up on the screen like a Twitter feed. Amazing!
The night couldn’t have ended better than a gorgeous candy bar with a spread of sweets and candy by Michael Scott Catering. It was a great night that I found to not only be about generosity, but gratitude as well. I am very proud to support the UJA and can’t wait to see what exciting things it will do next to help worthy causes in the world.
As everyone gears up for the holidays, we find the spirit of the season on faces, inplaces, on storefront windows and especially in homes in Manhattan. So my team and I were very excited to go see one of the most amazingly decorated apartments in NY. It is located at The Vermeer in Chelsea at 77 7th Avenue. I’m talking about a cornucopia of Christmas decorations, lights, tree, toy train set under the tree and so much for the eyes to see you don’t know where it all begins and ends. I brought over my professional photographer and had a photo shoot done of this amazing apartment.
From all of us at The Meier Group, we wish you a happy, healthy and safe holiday weekend with your friends and family!
Frank Gehry is one of the more prolific architects of our time. From the Disney Hall in LA, to The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao Spain, to the IAC building on the West Side Highway, Gehry has left his mark on modern architecture with his distinct style. An architect once described his technique to me as similar to the challenge of taking a sheet of paper, crumpling it up and then working with a team of designers and engineers to derive a viable structure out of the crumpled design. If you look at his structures it’s possible to imagine Gehry conceives of such an order within the randomness of chaos.
The Pritzker Prize winning Gehry has worked his magic yet again with a building he designed in the Financial District. The UJA-Federation of New York’s Real Estate & Allied Trades Division Sites and Sounds Programs recently provided an very exclusive tour of Gehry’s building at 8 Spruce Street, also known as “New York by Gehry.” Our group consisted of large UJA donors and included the likes of Martin Meyer, Vice Chairman of Colliers International, Andrew J. Singer, Chariman and CEO of The Singer & Bassuk Organization and Alfonso Kimche, Co-Founder of NHF.
“New York by Gehry” is a 76 story tower that has been classified as one of the tallest residential towers in the Western Hemisphere. In fact, when I looked at the 900 foot building I realized its the same height I descend from when I land my Cessna in New Jersey. With a frame of reinforced concrete, and wavelike stainless steel whose reflective light give it an appearance of almost moving in its place, 8 Spruce Street has been praised as the best thing to grace Downtown since the Woolworth building. With 1,000,000 SF of floor area, the New York by Gehry features a public elementary school within the first five floors of the building, a 903 unit luxury rentals residential tower above the school, as well as a hospital. It was fun getting private access to tour the residential units. If you are considering moving to the neighborhood and want to take a look at the residential units at 8 Spruce Street, please feel free to give me a call at 917-209-4300 or email me at mmeier@meiergroupnyc.com
Next time you are downtown, definitely take the time to check out 8 Spruce Street. Or at the very least, take the time to look at the changing Downtown New York skyline. We have come a long way since a decade ago, and clearly Downtown is looking up!
As everyone gears up for the holidays, we find the spirit of the season on faces, inplaces, on storefront windows and especially in homes in Manhattan. So my team and I were very excited to go see one of the most amazingly decorated apartments in NY. It is located at The Vermeer in Chelsea at 77 7th Avenue. I’m talking about a cornucopia of Christmas decorations, lights, tree, toy train set under the tree and so much for the eyes to see you don’t know where it all begins and ends. I brought over my professional photographer and had a photo shoot done of this amazing apartment.
