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New York Post

Gimme Shelter: Jackie O Set To Go

By: Braden Keil
Published: 5/18/2006Source: New York Post

The former Fifth Avenue residence of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis has a buyer. The unidentified purchaser, described by our sources as a leader in the financial industry, has emerged from a group of deep-pocketed bidders clamoring to pay the $32 million asking price for the notable piece of history.

The current owner, billionare industrialist David Koch, bought the 15th-floor residence at 1040 Fifth Ave. from the Onassis estate for a then-staggering $9.5 million in 1995, a year after the former First Lady died there at age 64.

Koch then renovated the co-op apartment for an additional $10 million and moved in his bride, Julia.

Although the 12-room apartment is listed as having five bedrooms and 5 1/2 baths, two of the bedrooms have been re-configured into a large master bedroom with two dressing rooms and two bathrooms. There's also a library, dining room and living room - all with wood-burning fireplaces - a chef's kitchen, wine cellar, conservatory, 25-foot-long gallery, three separate terraces and self-contained staff quarters.

Koch told The New York Times that the apartment is too small for his growing family, now that he and his wife are expecting a third child. For a while, he said he could feel the presence of Onassis' spirit in the apartment.

The Kochs are moving to a larger duplex at 740 Park Ave., which they bought two years ago for $18 million, and where they have just completed renovations.

Broker Leighton Candler of the Corcoran Group referred our calls to a spokeswoman who said a contract has not yet been signed.

 

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