Friday, May 18, 2012

The Big Deals Keep Rolling In...

Buckle your real estate safety belts, butter beans...

On the heels of knee-buckling news that legally blind casino tycoon Steve Wynn dropped a staggering $70,000,000 on an almost 11,000 square foot duplex spread on New York City's swank Central Park South comes new news about an as-yet unidentified buyer agreeing to pay between ninety and $100,000,000 for the not-yet-finished, nearly 11,000 square foot duplex penthouse that sprawls across the 89th and 90th floors of One57, a gleaming 1,000-foot tall tower going up at 157 West 57th Street designed by Moroccan-born and Paris-based architect (and 1994 Pritzker Prize winner) Christian de Portzamparc.

The Midtown tower's developer Gary Barnett, president of Extell Development Corporation, told The New York Times the penthouse was not sold to someone from Russia, the Ukraine or "'any other part of the former  Soviet Union.'" He went on to hint the obviously very rich buyer is "'someone that people would recognize'" and plans to use the penthouse as a private residence for his "'very nice family.'"

Little is known about the two-floor penthouse—the developer has kept most of the details of the building's larger units out of the press—but is said to have a "grand salon" with 23-foot ceilings and extraordinarily 360-degree views.

Mister Barnett further expounded that a different buyer, a foreign buyer, was earlier this year interested in combining a 13,500 square foot lower floor duplex (with separate solarium) with another full floor apartment that would have brought the total size to around 20,000 square feet. Alas, the deal fell through but the developer said but that stomach-churner of deal would have been worth between $100-150 million.

Even with all the humongous deals that have gone done recently in New York—the $88 million purchase at 15 Central Park West by Russian billionaire, Dmitry Rybolovlev, the $52.5 million dollar deal at 740 Park and Mister Wynn's $70 million real estate bauble atop the Ritz Carlton—the numbers still pale in comparison to London where, as noted in the New York Post, Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov reportedly paid somewhere around $230 million for his palatial pied-a-terre at the punishingly pricey One Hyde Park.
 
Maybe the buyer at One57 is one of those very young and very rich Ecclestone heiresses who have been snatching up exorbitantly high-priced properties in both London and Los Angeles over the last couple of years and were rather reverently profiled in The Wall Street Journal this morning? We doubt it but stranger things have happened.

How's that taste with your morning coffee?


12 comments:

Anonymous said...

100milionwhaaaat!?

*spits out coffee*

Glad to see the .0001% is still kicking....

Anonymous said...

According to the NYTimes, this isn't even the bigger penthouse. There is one remaining penthouse listed for $115 million. 13,000 sq ft with a solarium.

Anonymous said...

The other "penthouse" is 20 floors lower though.. and it's not a solarium, it's a "winter garden."

Carla Ridge said...

Ellll Laaay is where I'd rahther stay...LOL. But, as Mama knows, I sure *DO* adore a penthouse view. That 360-degree view widget is a lot of fun -- i don't miss NYC at all but that view of Central Park unrolled like the worlds most expensive carpet at one's feet never fails to make my heart skip a little beat. Fascinating to see all the changes that have come to the skyline since I left 15 years ago (except for one still-painful gap on Manhattan's Southern tip).

Anonymous said...

9:27 AM,

I just dug deeper and see the larger "winter garden" penthouse is actually only one floor below. The building is tall but it doesn't have that many stories.
"90 story" is just marketing. The building is only 70something stories.

Anonymous said...

I'd kill to live there. My life would be complete. Should have purchased Facebook Stock when I had the chance. FML.

Anonymous said...

I DIE!

Literally I died opening that website! Soo fabulous! I had no idea of this building and just scoured the Internet! There's a floor plan on curbed.com!!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like MZ purchased it for his "very nice family" ...

BillinMI said...

Unbelievable - but I am sad that in looking up at this building in the promo materials, I found myself imagining an airplane slicing into it. But yes, incredibly beautiful and awesome views.

Anonymous said...

These prices no longer shock me. As you said 100 million dollars in london for a property doesnt even make the news. Bernie ecclestone sold his heap on kensington garden for around 100 million 5 years ago and it is now worth.......400 million dollars!!!! fucking insane really

Anonymous said...

^^^I don't care how wealthy one is I would never pay a certain amount for a personal home.

A commercial building in the right location where I can lease out space, yes.

John said...

Sounds like MZ purchased it for his "very nice family" ...