Big Ticket: Heat, Light and Height, Sold at $8.15 Million
A sun-glazed floor-through penthouse with a modernist mind-set in a Costas Kondylis-designed condominium tower at 279 Central Park West sold for $8.15 million and was the most expensive sale of the week, according to city records.
The apartment, PH21A, is on the top layer of five floors of terraced apartments designated as penthouses at the 1988 luxury building, at 88th Street, one of the rare condominiums on the avenue. Housing 36 units, it is distinguished by a limestone base and bold picture windows, and is described in the original listing as “a fortress of security and style.”
The prevailing aesthetic of the penthouse, which has three bedrooms plus a maid’s room (or home office) and three and a half baths, is sun-worshipers’ and plant-lovers’ nirvana. Light pours in so powerfully from all four sides that the amenities include an automated irrigation system on the wraparound terrace and a sun-shield system to protect furniture and artwork.
The residence is reached from a private elevator landing that opens onto a gallery leading to the corner living room, which has direct views of the reservoir and Central Park South. There is a formal dining room, as well as a butler’s pantry and a powder room. The kitchen has Poggenpohl cabinetry and Madura Gold granite countertops; most of the floors are herringbone teak.
The sequestered master suite has park views, a dressing room and a marble bath with two walls of windows. Each of the two bedrooms on the west wing has its own bath and city vistas.
The seller, identified as Lynx Properties Limited of Port Louis, Mauritius, had owned the unit since 2004 and was represented by Karen Kelley…of the Corcoran Group…in an exclusive listing with Michel Madie Real Estate. The buyers, New Yorkers who shielded their identity through a limited-liability company, EP 279CPW, were represented by Richard Pretsfelder of Leslie J. Garfield Real Estate.
The penthouse had been on the market for nearly two years at its previous asking price of $9.9 million. After two downward shifts in price, it sold for its most recent asking price; the buyer was also required to pay a 2 percent flip tax. The uptown location was simultaneously a drawback and a charm, according to Ms. Kelley, who described as “astounding” the in-your-face views of the Central Park reservoir, which looms outside like the unit’s own private swimming pool, and more distant ones of Central Park South. “It should have sold faster,” she said, “but the fact that it was above 86th Street kept some potential buyers away. But once you walk inside, it’s all about the views.”
Big Ticket includes closed sales from the previous week, ending Wednesday.
Copyright © 2013 The New York Times Company. Reprinted with Permission. Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times