Wearren Beatty only phoned once. But when Bruce Springsteen was in Manhattan making an album in June he sublet two bachelor apartments at once on opposite sides of town. "I never asked why" said Jill Senter. Stevie Nicks was trying to come up with a "huge" park Avenue townhouse for Fleetwood Mac. Just the average rock-superstar pieed-a-terre- a place in the city for a quick tune-up

 

In the office of J. Senter Realty designed by Melinda Bonk in functional gray-and-white wall to wall desks and carpeting twenty telephones are blasting off the hook. Business in the otherwise static market of apartment rentals is up to 200 percent in the past eighteen months. " The living arrangement of the 2000s" shrewdly smiles Jill Senter "is sublets"

 

When Jill Senter broke in at the ground level of real estate in Manhattan, furnished sublets were about as much in demand as designer bomb shelters, "but rental apartments were becoming scarcer and scarcer, says Senter 'I could foresee that there would be almost no places for people to rent." The vacant rate in Manhattan was falling to a point where it was almost scary.

So I sat behind my desk, chewing on my fingernails and trying to come up with a way of filling the the growing need for rentals" Three month later, Senter was queen of the furnished-sublet empire-. reigning over a kingdom that had yet to be discovered. Across her desk began a procession of elegant listings at just the right Manhattan addresses: breath-taking apartments overlooking Central Park on Fifth Avenue or spacious townhouses right off Madison Avenue, mere steps from the art galleries. "They came equipped with Yves St.Laurant sheets, Limoge china and ultrasuede walls," recalls Senter. "Sometimes they included hot tubs, health clubs and even greenhouses. I remember one apartment where the maid came in to change the sheets twice a day.

Word spread that J. Senter realty became hotter than hot. Now with trendy offices in the design center a half block away from Bloomingdales. Senter handles about a hundred listings a week and has rented thousands upon thousands of New York Sublets. " In the beginning she reflects "the owners didn't even care about the money. They'd take off for their winter chateaux in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico or Gstaad Switzerland, not wanting to leave behind an empty apartment. So they were on the lookout for temporary tenants who would water the plants and scare off the thieves."

 

My, how things change. Today for her standard fee of one months rent or two thirds of a month for leases under three months, or 15% of a year, Senter is dealing with sublets at highly competitive price Her listings go from a cozy $2650 a month for a comfortably furnished studio, to a whopping $7,500 a month for a breathtaking penthouse-with-a-view.

 

 

 

 

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J. Senter Realty