An Apartment at 220 Central Park South Sells for $75 Million
A flurry of big sales closed in New York City during October, including one of the year’s priciest, a full-floor aerie at 220 Central Park South purchased in a private deal for $75 million.
The sellers, David Littman, who runs a lighting business, and his wife, Constance Littman, earned a huge profit in the transaction, having paid $55.5 million for the brand-new, 45th-floor unit just four years ago. The buyer was anonymous.
Other mega sales took place along nearby Billionaires’ Row. A 79th-floor apartment at 432 Park Avenue sold for $65.6 million; a new penthouse at Steinway Tower, at 111 West 57th Street, for just under $53 million; and a high-floor sponsor unit at 217 West 57th Street, a.k.a. Central Park Tower, for $46.2 million.
On the Upper East Side, at 768 Fifth Avenue, better known as the Plaza Condominium and Residences, an apartment sold for $65.8 million. The mansion once owned by the banker David Rockefeller, at 144-146 East 65th Street, sold for $47 million. And a few blocks away, the townhouse used in the film “The Devil Wears Prada,” as the home of Meryl Streep’s imperious character Miranda Priestly, sold for $26.5 million.
Also in October, the media executive Perry A. Sook and his wife, Sandy Sook, a retired teacher, bought a duplex penthouse on Central Park West. And two notable Park Avenue co-op duplexes closed — one sold by Marc E. Kasowitz, a trial lawyer who had represented former President Donald J. Trump, the other by the estate of Jeffrey Paley, the son of William S. Paley, the founder of CBS.
The $75 million sale of the 45th floor at 220 Central Park South is the city’s second-biggest in 2023 (so far), surpassed only by another purchase in the limestone complex: a duplex in the villa portion that sold for $80 million in August.
But the buyer in the more recent deal, using the limited liability company 220 CPS Parkview, actually spent more in total. The entity also acquired a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit on the 19th floor in May for $5 million.
Elizabeth Sahlman of Compass represented the sellers in both of those closings.
Mr. Litton is the founder and chief executive of the Hudson Valley Lighting Group, a purveyor of high-end home lighting products based in Wappingers Falls, N.Y.
The 45th-floor apartment encompasses 6,591 square feet and includes five bedrooms, six full bathrooms and two powder rooms, along with two 48-square-foot balconies that provide panoramic park views.
The 70-story Central Park South skyscraper, near Columbus Circle, remains the city’s most expensive residential building, and arguably the world’s most profitable. It is home to the nation’s highest-priced single residence: four full floors that were bought by the hedge fund manager Kenneth C. Griffin in early 2019 for nearly $240 million.
And while some Manhattan luxury buildings have seen resales going for less than the original sale price, or at modest increases, 220 Central Park South apartments have more than held their value — the 45th-floor unit sold for 35 percent more than the original sale price — in large part because of the skyscraper’s desirable proximity to the park.
On Billionaires’ Row, the apartment at 432 Park Avenue sold for around 11 percent more than what the anonymous seller had paid to the building’s sponsor in 2016 — $65.6 million vs. $59.1 million.
Still, this was a lot less than the $135 million initially sought when it was re-listed in 2021; the price was lowered to $92 million this past summer. Also, it’s not known how much money the seller had to put into the apartment, having bought it as a “white box,” according to the listing, devoid of interior walls or finishes.
Measuring 8,055 square feet, it now has seven bedrooms, eight full bathrooms and two powder rooms, plus a home office, den and a tearoom designed by the Japanese architect Hiroshi Sugimoto. It’s best feature, though, may be the spectacular cityscape and park views it gets from the 79th floor of the 96-story building, between East 56th and 57th Streets.
The new owner used the limited liability company, August 79.
At 111 West 57th Street, at the Avenue of the Americas, the penthouse that closed at just under $53 million was also discounted. It had been listed for $58 million. The 7,175-square-foot apartment has three bedrooms and four and a half bathrooms. The buyer was Worldstar West L.L.C.
The 118th floor of 217 West 57th Street, which sold for $46.2 million, has 7,074 square feet, with five bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms. It’s anonymous buyer used the limited liability company Sunshine MF II.
Armadillo Re, L.L.C. was listed as the buyer of the Plaza Condominium & Residence apartment, unit 1109, that closed at $65.8 million, giving the seller, which used the limited liability company Kayhil Holdings, a nice profit. The entity purchased it in 2008 for $45.9 million. The deal appears to have been done privately so there is little information available about the place.
The priciest townhouse, at $47 million, was the former Rockefeller mansion on East 65th Street, a red brick Colonial Revival with limestone details, standing four stories high and 40 feet wide.
Mr. Rockefeller, a grandson of the oil magnate John D. Rockefeller, had raised his family in the house and lived there until his death in 2017. His estate sold the property in 2018 for $20 million, reportedly to Doug Band, an adviser to former President Bill Clinton, and his wife, Lily Rafi, a handbag designer. The new owner used the limited liability company 144 East 65 in the transaction.
Built in 1924 between Lexington and Third Avenues, the mansion was part of the Upper East Side Historic District extension. The house encompasses roughly 9,777 square feet of interior space that includes eight bedrooms, eight full baths and three half baths, in addition to six smaller staff bedrooms.
Another pricey townhouse sale, at $26.5 million, took place at 129 East 73rd Street, between Lexington and Park Avenues in the Lenox Hill neighborhood. Movie buffs will know the 1907 neo-Italian Renaissance building as the stylish home of Ms. Priestly, the editor in chief of the fictional fashion magazine Runway in “The Devil Wears Prada.”
The real owners were Craig Effron, a founding partner of the Scoggin Capital Management hedge fund, and his wife, Caryn Effron, an angel investor. The two had bought the house in 2003 for $8.8 million, then had a full renovation a couple of years later. They placed it back on the market last spring for $27.5 million.
The buyer was the 129 East 73rd Street Corporation.
The limestone and marble structure — 22 feet wide and six stories high — has 12,000 square feet of interior space, which features seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms, two powder rooms, a home gym and a library. There are also six fireplaces, and tons of outdoor space, including a rear garden off the main kitchen (not to be confused with the service kitchen), terraces off two bedrooms and the dining room.
At the top floor, used for storage, is a terrace with a hot tub and a custom basketball court.
Among the duplex deals, the Sooks paid almost $15.1 million for their penthouse at 360 Central Park West, a 16-story, neo-Renaissance building designed by the architect Rosario Candela in the late 1920s.
Their new apartment has 4,354 square feet of interior space, plus a 1,065-square-foot wraparound terrace off the main entertaining space at the top level — a great spot to see the fall foliage in the park. On the lower level are four bedrooms, as well as a media room with a wet bar and a den. The home also has three and a half bathrooms.
Mr. Sook is the chairman and chief executive of the Nexstar Media Group, which owns TV stations around the country.
At 1160 Park Avenue, at East 92nd Street, Mr. Kasowitz got $8 million for his six-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom duplex. He sold it through a trust; the buyer was Robin Swid, an actress. Mr. Kasowitz, a longtime lawyer for Mr. Trump, had represented him during the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections.
And the estate of Jeffrey Paley, who died in 2021 at age 82 of complications from the coronavirus, sold his duplex at 812 Park Avenue and East 75th Street for $9 million. The building, another late-1920s classic, was designed by the architect J. E.R. Carpenter. The apartment has four bedrooms, each with an en suite bathroom, a library and two powder rooms.
Mr. Paley’s wide-ranging career included work as a columnist in Paris, an art gallery owner in SoHo and a private investor. The buyers were listed as Eli A. Kraicer, an investment analyst, and Jordana P. Fribourg, a philanthropist.
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