Thessaloniki native Dimitrios Alevizos joined one of New York City’s most well-regarded real estate teams last year and is already listing a historic multimillion-dollar townhouse on the Upper East Side — not a bad start.
This young realtor is upending expectations and facing the city’s COVID-era real estate market head-on as he and his colleagues from the Sukenik Glazer Team reveal a fresh face for the late 19th century, five-story home and the former residence of U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
The 8,500-square-foot property became available on Monday, March 8, for a price tag of $16 million and is being handled by Alevizos and Benjamin Glazer of the Manhattan-based Compass-affiliated team ranked number one in the United States by The Wall Street Journal Real Trends.
Alevizos joined the six-member team during the summer of 2020 after his passions for public relations, networking and architecture led him into the real estate field.
“Ben Glazer was by far my first choice because I’ve known him from the real estate news and I know that he’s a true professional,” Alevizos tells The Pappas Post. “Ben and Darren have an exceptional name in the industry and I felt that if I were able to join their team then it would be a guaranteed success.”
The Sukenik Glazer Team has completed $5 billion in sales during the past five years with 91% of its deals sold at or within 5% of the asking price. The six-bed, five-and-a-half bath Upper East Side townhouse could be the next sale to add to those numbers.
Built in 1898 by Buchman and Deisler, the limestone home has hosted cultural and political figures including John F. Kennedy, Nikita Khrushchev, Prince Edward and Leonard Bernstein.
Each floor spans approximately 1200 square feet giving the home capacity to accommodate as many as 500 guests. This home has exceptional outdoor space including a rooftop garden with views of the Carlyle Hotel and Central Park. Full details, photographs and a virtual tour of the townhouse are available on its official listing.
Alevizos, who immigrated to the U.S. in 2017 to finish his college studies at the Parsons School of Design, says he feels driven to sell the townhouse not only because of its quality and amenities, but also for personal reasons — namely its history and the humanitarian legacy of Eleanor Roosevelt, its former owner.
The former first lady advocated for issues ranging from female rights in the workplace, civil rights of African and Asian Americans and the rights of post-World War II refugees. She was the first in her role to hold routine press conferences, write a daily newspaper and monthly magazine column, host a weekly radio show and speak at a national party convention.
“Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the most famous philanthropists in the world. She was deeply involved in human rights and social justice-related issues,” he says. “I’m an immigrant myself and she helped immigrants from Europe travel to America, which is why it’s such a sensitive topic for me.”
Roosevelt especially supported the people of Greece — Alevizos’ native country — which was decimated by the Nazi invasion of WWII. Among other activities, the late diplomat attended charitable events in New York City in January and April of 1941 and brought national media attention to the Greek War Relief effort.
During their years in the White House, Roosevelt and her husband — president Franklin D. Roosevelt — even befriended an immigrant man named Stefanos “Steve” Vasilakos.
Vasilakos was a peanut vendor who became a Washington D.C. landmark and a fierce patriot for his native Greece, as well as his adopted United States. After decades of working at his cart outside the White House and raising funds for his home country, Vasilakos died penniless in 1943. President and Mrs. Roosevelt were among those who left flowers at his grave in Cedar Hill Cemetery.
Alevizos says these stories about the Manhattan townhouse’s former owner separate the property from others on the market.
“In today’s real estate market, there are definitely plenty of beautiful, renovated properties but they don’t have the same sense of history that this townhouse has,” he says. “It’s that much more of an honor to be working on a house that’s so historic and deeply meaningful.”
The Sukenik Glazer Team agent says the city’s current real estate market favors buyers but townhouse sales have “thrived” due to the pandemic.
“We see a lot of people who used to want a penthouse in Tribeca, for example, but now want a townhouse on the Upper East Side,” Alevizos says. “They say they want to have more privacy and safety given COVID. The bonus with this home is that it offers modern finishes in the kitchen and master bath—great for those used to the downtown aesthetic.”
These client demands are consistent with reported statistics such as a January 5 report by The New York Times which says that the average size of sold apartments increased to 1,217 square feet in 2020, up from 1,148 in 2019. The report also says that properties listed between $5 million and $20 million saw their value increase more than 20% in the pandemic year.
“A lot of people think that this current market is going to stay for a long time,” Alevizos says. “But I think that the bottom has been seen and that from now on prices will only go higher.”
Alevizos says that he and his colleagues closed the same volume of deals in 2020 even though real estate outsiders might have expected business to decline.
“No matter what happens in real estate, there will always be transactions,” he says. “Sometimes it will be buyers and investors, sometimes sellers, but there will always be people that need to move. It’s New York City, after all.”
For more information about Dimitrios Alevizos and the Sukenik Glazer Team, visit their website.
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