Big Ticket - Perched at the Pinnacle: Upper East Side Penthouse for $22.7 Million
A sun-drenched duplex penthouse at the pinnacle of 135 East 79th Street, the stylish limestone-and-brick condominium developed by the Brodsky Organization and designed by William Sofield, sold for $22,705,312.50 and was the most expensive sale of the week, according to city records. The monthly carrying costs for the 5,429-square-foot residence, PH19W, originally listed at $26.5 million, are $16,562.
The five-bedroom four-and-a-half-bath apartment has south, north and west exposures and a 31-foot-long south-facing terrace off the living room with views of Central Park. The lower level has a 17-by-23-foot living room with white oak herringbone floors, a dining room with a built-in bar, a library and an eat-in kitchen with statuary stone slab counters and hand-painted white oak cabinetry by Christopher Peacock.
On the upper level, the master suite has a Bleu de Savoie stone slab bath and a separate dressing area; there are three additional guest bedrooms and a study. A smaller bedroom with an en-suite bath on the main level is a potential maid’s room. This was the first foray into exterior design for Mr. Sofield, who is noted for his chic interiors for the Tom Ford and Gucci stores. His myriad personal touches begin at the front entrance, which is flanked by pear trees carved from Indiana limestone.
Leighton C. Candler of the Corcoran Group negotiated on behalf of the sponsor. The broker for the anonymous buyer, who used a limited liability company, Oddnumbers, also requested anonymity because of a confidentiality agreement.
“This is such an exceptional building, and now that all of the interior amenity spaces are completed, I can see it becoming a destination building in the years to come,” said Ms. Candler, referring to the condo’s private wine cellars, family club room facing the garden, and residents’ lounge with a decorative fireplace. Ms. Candler is the listing agent for the two remaining units in the building, both of them penthouses, and both recently reduced in price: PH17E at $17.75 million and PH19E at $14.95 million.
This week’s runner-up, at $20,161,350, was a duplex penthouse downtown at the Whitman, a luxurious four-unit conversion at 21 East 26th Street that faces south on Madison Square Park. The original listing price for the grandly proportioned 6,540-square-foot residence, enhanced by outdoor spaces that total 3,106 square feet, was $25 million, reduced in May to $22.25 million. The monthly carrying charges are $22,522.
Like the other three apartments in the building, all of which stretch a full block between East 26th and 27th Streets and have soaring arched living room windows that overlook the park, the penthouse has its own private entrance foyer off a keyed elevator. There are four bedrooms, six full baths, two living rooms and two powder rooms. The master suite on the top floor is distinctive for its outdoor options — a putting green off the bath and a croquet pitch off the bedroom. Both living rooms have south-facing terraces, and the upstairs living room looks onto its own gardens as well as the park.
Melanie Lazenby and Dina Lewis of Douglas Elliman Real Estate handled all four Whitman units for the sponsor/developer, Mitchell Holdings, which paid around $13 million for the 1924 Georgian-style brick-and-limestone building in 2011.
Fredrik Eklund and John Gomes, also of Elliman, brought the buyer, who used a limited liability company, 21 East 26th Street, with a Santa Monica, Calif., address; online speculation and a report in the New York Daily News have it that the new owner is the singer/actress Jennifer Lopez. The confirmed boldface residents at the Whitman include the Nascar star Jeff Gordon and Chelsea Clinton and her husband, Marc Mezvinsky.
According to Ms. Lazenby, the penthouse “is a clean contemporary space with prewar details that is 1,000 percent unique. It has the size of a townhouse and the width of a mansion and it looked like nothing else on the market. People bought here because they loved the area and loved this building; it’s like a full-service townhouse/condo hybrid.”
Copyright © 2014 The New York Times Company. Reprinted with Permission. Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times.
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