In the final weeks before the presidential election, real estate closings slowed in New York City, but there were still several big transactions, including a record purchase in SoHo and another king-size sale at 220 Central Park South.
An anonymous buyer paid $35.1 million for a meticulously renovated triplex atop 419-421 Broome Street, the 19th-century cast-iron building where the actor Heath Ledger had been renting a loft when he died in 2008. This was the highest price paid for a single residence in the SoHo neighborhood, according to the real estate appraiser Jonathan J. Miller, though far below the unit’s $65 million initial price tag two years ago.
In Chelsea, the financier Wes Edens, who is an owner of the Milwaukee Bucks N.B.A. team, scored a hefty discount, too. He bought a triplex at the apex of the High Line-hugging 520 West 28th Street for $20.2 million. The original asking price in 2016 was $50 million.
Sales activity throughout New York has lagged for much of the year because of uncertainty surrounding the election and the coronavirus pandemic, though listings and signed contracts are now on the rise. For the month of October, the city’s highest sale was, once again, at 220 Central Park South, the Midtown condominium that in 2019 set the national record for the most expensive home sold in the U.S. A duplex in the villa building of the complex that had been under contract since February 2018 closed at $65.6 million.
Among the month’s other noteworthy transactions, David Lubars, the chief creative officer of the advertising agency BBDO Worldwide (think Snickers and Betty White), and his wife, Cindy Lubars, sold their fully renovated Upper West Side brownstone.
The SoHo penthouse, near Crosby Street in the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District Extension, was sold by David Matlin, a distressed-asset investor, and his wife, Lisa Matlin. The buyer was listed in property records as MF. Nemshov1tz NY Realty Inc.
The Matlins had purchased the Broome Street apartment, encompassing nearly 8,000 square feet on the fifth through seventh floors, for $17.8 million in April 2011. They then spent the next four-plus years on extensive renovations, painstakingly selecting wood, stone and other high-end materials, before putting it back on the market in June 2018. Their most recent asking price was $43.75 million.
The loft-like unit includes three bedrooms and five full and two half bathrooms, along with two kitchens, a gym and a media room. Outdoor space totals 3,800 square feet and features six landscaped terraces, one with a hot tub, and an unfinished roof deck, where there are staff quarters.
The 1873 building at 419-421 Broome has four residences and commercial space on the ground level. Mr. Ledger, the actor, had been renting a 4,400-square-foot loft on the condo’s fourth floor at the time of his death.
The Chelsea triplex purchased for $20.2 million by Mr. Edens, a founder of the Fortress Investment Group private equity firm, has been described as the crown jewel of 520 West 28th Street — the 11-story futuristic condo of curved glass and steel bands abutting the High Line. It was one of the final projects of the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid and her only residential building in Manhattan. She died in 2016, almost two years before the building opened.
The apartment, known as Penthouse 37, measures 6,853 square feet inside, with an additional 2,552 square feet of outdoor space. It contains five bedrooms and six and a half bathrooms, as well as a library and an enormous great room. The primary bedroom suite, on the lower level, features dual baths, a sizable dressing room and a balcony, one of two in the unit. A distinctive sculptural staircase connects all three floors.
On the roof level is a 2,000-square-foot terrace that wraps around an interior lounge and pavilion and provides stunning views of the city skyline, the Empire State Building and, of course, the High Line.
The apartment’s most recent asking price was just under $25 million, or half its original price.
The duplex at 220 Central Park South encompasses the eighth and ninth floors of the 10-unit, 18-story villa building, which faces the park and sits adjacent to the main tower. It was bought through the New York-based limited liability company Enka Residence.
The apartment extends 7,911 square feet, with six bedrooms and seven and a half baths, and has 1,095 square feet of outdoor space, according to the latest amended offering plan filed by the developer, Vornado Realty Trust.
The limestone-clad complex, near Columbus Circle, opened in 2018 and is now nearly sold out. Early last year it set the record for the nation’s most expensive single residence when Kenneth C. Griffin, a hedge fund manager, closed on four unfinished floors in the tower, paying almost $240 million.
The brownstone owned by the Lubars, at 138 West 88th Street, between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues, closed at $7 million. It had been under contract since August and sold for just below the $7.7 million list price. The couple had bought the home in 2004 for $4.2 million.
The four-story house has 5,500 square feet that feature five bedrooms, five full baths, a family room, home office and library. The finished basement has a gym with a sauna. There is also ample outdoor space that includes a landscaped rear garden off the dining area and a terrace on the fourth floor.
The buyer was the limited liability company Townhouse 88th Street.
Mr. Lubars, who is also the chairman of BBDO North America, has been behind a number of memorable advertising campaigns, including Snickers’ “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry,” featuring Ms. White and other veteran actors.
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