As 2022 draws to a close, we take a look at New York City's biggest celebrity real estate deals over the past 12 months. The Upper East Side remains a popular home for the rich and famous, but hip downtown neighborhoods and new supertalls have also begun to emerge as new status symbols.
Certainly it is possible to live like a star in New York, but not necessarily easy. Not only are prices extremely high at the sites of these sales and purchases, but availabilities in the buildings are few and far between.
Certainly it is possible to live like a star in New York, but not necessarily easy. Not only are prices extremely high at the sites of these sales and purchases, but availabilities in the buildings are few and far between.
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Nearly four years after the closing, Ken Griffin's $239 million purchase at 220 Central Park South has held onto its status as the most expensive home ever sold in America. However, another sale in the building is nipping at its heels: Hedge fund billionaire Daniel Och sold his penthouse in the building for $190 million, or approximately double what he paid for it in August 2019, at the beginning of the year.
1 Available Listing for Sale for $34,500,000
At the tail end of the second quarter of 2022, the estate of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sold a penthouse and lower-floor unit at the J.E. Carpenter-designed 4 East 66th Street at a price that set a new record as the most expensive cooperative ever sold in New York City. Page Six identified the buyer as philanthropist Julia Koch, who quietly listed the home at 740 Park Avenue she shared with her late husband, David Koch, in February 2022.
1 Available Listing for Sale for $55,000,000
In September 2022, real estate investor Keith Rubenstein made a tidy profit on the Upper East Side penthouse he bought for $35 million in 2007. Fifteen years and a major renovation later, he sold it amidst a move to the Hudson Yards area. The buyer was identified only as being from overseas, and Mr. Rubenstein said in a statement that the property was now "in good hands."
Months after Daniel Och offloaded his apartment at 220 Central Park South, another mogul moved into the building. Katz Group founder and Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Koch bought an apartment on the 54th floor in an off-market deal in summer 2022.
1 Available Listing for Sale for $34,500,000
While it didn't sell in the time it takes to assemble a burrito at Chipotle, Steve Ells, founder and former CEO of the fast-casual chain nevertheless flipped his Greenwich Village townhouse fairly quickly (eight months, per the New York Post). The sale comes less than a year after Mr. Ells sold his Fifth Avenue pied-a-terre to Eleven Madison Park chef/owner Daniel Humm.
At the beginning of 2022, power couple Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel sold their Tribeca penthouse in an off-market deal and made a decent profit on it, having purchased it for $20.2 million in spring 2017. However, the new investor owner was quick to say "bye bye bye" — barely two months later, it was put back on the market for $35 million.
Alex Blavatnik is a vice chairman at his brother Len's investment company Access Industries. Perhaps this was a factor in his purchase of a penthouse near the top of the Jean Nouvel-designed 53W53 — the building is a short distance from Access Industries' New York offices.
Less than five years after buying it from the sponsor for $18.9 million, rock star Jon Bon Jovi sold his apartment to former Disney president Michael Ovitz, who bought the apartment in an all-cash deal. However, it would appear Mr. Ovitz bought it to flip it — it came back on the market for $25 million less than six months after the closing.
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1 Available Listing for Sale for $25,000,000
The Music Man's Broadway run is drawing down to the last few weeks, but star Hugh Jackman does not appear to be taking a final bow from New York, not after his purchase of a penthouse in Jean Nouvel's West Chelsea tower. He and his wife, Deborra-Lee Furness, made the purchase a few months after listing their West Village penthouse (it remains on the market for $38,900,000).
1 Available Listing for Rent for $40,000/month
This year, 834 Fifth Avenue was dethroned as the home of New York's most expensive co-op sale by Paul Allen's penthouse at 4 East 66th Street (see above). However, the building does rank among the top celebrity sales of 2022: Author Suzy Welch has sold the apartment she shared with her late husband, former General Electric CEO Jack Welch. When it came on the market, The Wall Street Journal revealed that this was came in the wake of her purchase of an Upper East Side townhouse.
Entrepreneur/publisher Peter Brant and supermodel Stephanie Seymour have long been fixtures of New York's downtown art and social scenes. However, the power couple has moved uptown following their purchase of a pair of Upper East Side townhouses in February 2022.
Aerin Lauder is a granddaughter of cosmetics powerhouse Estee Lauder, but brings her own eye for style and beauty to AERIN, her lifestyle brand, and her Upper East Side apartment in a building where Oscar de la Renta was once a resident. She has spoken warmly of her time there and decorated the apartment to her taste, but told Elle Decor, "A new chapter is always exciting and fun" when she listed the apartment.
During his tenure at auction house Christie's, The Guardian dubbed Philippe Ségalot one of the most powerful people in the art world. He brought his eye for art to his Upper East Side apartment, which the listing describes as having "ample wall space to display one’s art collection to full advantage." Mr. Ségalot has since become a private art dealer and sold his apartment to a buyer who conducted the transaction through an LLC.
1 Available Listing for Sale for $23,500,000
Between his production and hosting duties at Bravo, his upcoming gig hosting CNN's New Year's Eve Live with Anderson Cooper, and welcoming a second child, it would seem the action never stopped for Andy Cohen this year. Somewhere amidst all this, he found time to buy a new West Village apartment from attorneys/philanthropists Willard Taylor and Virginia Davies.
1 Available Listing for Sale for $1,250,000
15 (tie). Norman Lear — Sold for $17.5 Million
Norman Lear has received Emmy Awards and Kennedy Center Honors for his work as a producer and screenwriter, but television is not his only talent. He displayed excellent real estate savvy, having bought an apartment at the Robert A.M. Stern-designed 15 Central Park West from the sponsor for $10 million in 2008 and making a $7.5 million profit on it after selling at the beginning of the year.
In April 2008, business executive and former United States Ambassador to Belgium Bruce Gelb listed the Fifth Avenue apartment he shared with his late wife of 63 years, Lueza Gelb, for $65 million. Over six years and several price reductions later, the apartment has found a buyer.
3 Available Listings for Sale from $4,450,000
Would you like to tour any of these properties?
Just complete the info below.
Or call us at (212) 755-5544
Would you like to tour any of these properties?
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