An anonymous buyer paid $157.5 million for two condos at New York’s 220 Central Park South in one of the biggest sales in the history of the city and the biggest in 2021.
As first reported by the Wall Street Journal, a 5,935-square-foot condo encompassing the entire 60th floor of the ultra-exclusive building sold for $82.5 million in conjunction with a $75 million full-floor unit on the floor above. The transaction also includes a studio on the 18th floor.
Limited liability companies have been used to shield the identities of both the buyers and the sellers of the separate condos. Property records show that the upper condo initially sold for $51.4 million while the lower condo sold for $50.9 million last year.
Built in 2018 by renowned architect Robert A.M. Stern, 220 Central Park South is known to attract some of the world’s most affluent buyers and regularly break most expensive sale records. Back in 2019, hedge fund manager Ken Griffin paid $238 million for the penthouse of the same building and it remains the most expensive residential sale in the United States to date.
Since the tower is so new, this sale also marks one of its first recorded resales — the first came from hedge fund manager Igor Tulchinsky when he bought a unit for $33 million in April.
Developer Vornado Realty Trust released data claiming that 91 percent of the building had been sold in transactions equaling a combined $2.86 billion. The jaw-dropping sales price is one indication that the drop in luxury sales observed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic is long over.
Real estate company Olshan Realty reported 31 contracts priced at $4 million and above signed in Manhattan last week. In the spring of 2020, that number was at 21. This January, it was at 27.