Manhattan’s luxury home market has been experiencing a strong spring, witnessing consistently high sale activity and now, the priciest deal made in the past year. There were 37 contracts signed on homes asking $4 million or more in Manhattan in the week ending Sunday, four fewer than the prior week, according to Monday’s report from Olshan Realty. The total sales volume was $339.38 million, which included contracts signed for 22 condos, nine co-ops and six townhouses. The median asking price was around $6 million. [Source: TRD]
The average discount from original asking price was 11%—up from the previous week’s 0% negotiability average—as the most expensive contracts last week both saw price reductions of $10 million or more. “In the uber-luxury market, very often, the sellers start at fantasy pricing and eventually, even they have to come down to reality,” said Donna Olshan, president of Olshan Realty and the report’s author.
The No. 1 contract last week, and this year, was a full-floor condo at 432 Park Avenue, asking $79 million, which was reduced from $90 million when it was listed in 2020. The final sale price is expected to be approximately $70 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. The seller, a limited partnership named Blessings Investments, bought two units on the 82nd floor for close to $62 million in 2016 and combined them. Spanning 8,054 square feet, the apartment has 360-degree views of the Manhattan skyline and Central Park with five bedrooms, six bathrooms and two powder rooms.
Designed by Rafael Viñoly, 432 Park is a 96-story condo building on Billionaires’ Row, featuring amenities such as a fitness center with a spa, a 75-foot pool, a garden, parking, a private dining room, a library, a billiards room, a screening and performance venue, a conference room and a children’s playroom.
The buyers are reportedly Yossi Benchetrit and his wife, Gaëlle Pereira Benchetrit, who own an apartment on a lower floor of the building, according to The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Benchetrit is the chief procurement and programming officer at the cable television company Altice USA, and Mrs. Benchetrit is the founder and owner of the cosmetics clinic Clinique des Champs Elysées New York.
The building’s developer CIM Group has been involved in a $125 million lawsuit against the building’s condominium board over alleged construction defects at the tower including allegations of severe flooding, elevator malfunctions and noise issues, according to The Wall Street Journal.
“What’s extraordinary about the sale is not just the price, but that people in the building bought it in the face of an amazing lawsuit, the biggest lawsuit I’ve ever seen against a developer in New York,” Ms. Olshan told Mansion Global. “So obviously, these buyers who live in the building must be convinced that the building will be okay and that the issues will be resolved.”
The second most expensive contract was a duplex condo at the Woolworth Tower in Tribeca asking $23.355 million, reduced from $33.35 million when it was listed in 2019. The 6,711-square foot home features five bedrooms, four bathrooms, two powder rooms and a rooftop terrace totaling 2,770 square feet. The building offers amenities such as doorman, a fitness center, a pool, onsite parking and a wine room.
