Penthouse of 419 Broome Street, where Heath Ledger rented, sold for $17 million

The penthouse of 419-421 Broome Street, the building in which Heath Ledger rented at the time of his death, has sold for $17.8 million, according to city records.

 

The Palm Beach, Fla.-based investor Donald Burns purchased the building in 2004 and converted it into a condo. Units came on the market last November. A spokeswoman for Burns confirmed the sale and had no comment.

 

The buyer, which paid under the $20 million asking price, was 421 Broome St. LLC, represented by attorney Steven Loeb of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP.

 

Darren Kearns and Jim Farah of the Corcoran Group were the listing brokers.

 

Kearns said that the first three floors of the building sold in around two and a half weeks, and the entire project took seven weeks to sell out. Buyers included financial services professionals and one foreign buyer, all of whom will live in the building. Kearns attributed the velocity of sales to the traditional, cast-iron nature of the building and its 55-foot width, which was unusual for the neighborhood.

 

Developers added two floors to create 419 Broome’s penthouse in 2003, combining the “traditional grandeur of a traditional Soho loft” with a “more modern sensibility,” said Kearns. Griffith Thomas designed the original building, which was built in 1873.

 

“You not only have these huge expanses of oversized windows,” said Kearns, “But you have the volume of each floor.” He added that, at around 4,500 s/f each, the units likely would have been split into two apartments in the current market.

 

The penthouse closed at around $2,300 per s/f, while the other floors were priced at $1,200 per s/f.

 

According to the Corcoran listing, the fifth floor penthouse has a 7,634 s/f interior and 3,445 outdoor terrace. The 10-room home includes two kitchens, two offices, two bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms.

 

Heath Ledger was renting a 4,400 s/f loft on the fourth floor of the building, where he paid around $25,000 a month, at the time of his death in 2008.

 

However, the building’s past didn’t appear to dampen sales.