Posted by Leonard Steinberg on March 12, 2011
4 East 80th Street, the house that belonged to Lucille Roberts, the notorious gym diva who passed away in 2003, has hit the market with a whopping $ 90 million asking price. Ms. Roberts bought the 18,000sf mansion for around $6 million in 1995 and the house underwent substantial renovations to convert it from a men’s gym back to a single family house as originally envisioned by its first owner, Frank Woolworth.
So the big question of the day: is this house worth $ 5,000/sf? Possibly yes, although it certainly would set a record, even for Manhattan mansions. Remember, the richest man in the world Carlos Slim purchased another little shack just down the road (The Duke Semans Mansion) for a mere $ 44 million. And in Euro’s,$ 90 million is only about 65 million….
My suspicion is that the asking price may be all about boosting its rental value: Maybe Mr. Gaddafi or Mr. Mugabe need a refuge from their ailing countries, and with all their hidden billions, this could be a solution, without those pesky co-op boards. Was the interior design a collaboration between Saddam Hussein and Donatella Versace maybe?
So who would buy this property besides the obvious Russian oligarch or Saudi prince (chump change with the recent oil prices!)? Personally I would love to see Charlie Sheen buy it and deliver a Manhattan-style playboy-mansion of our time. Then again, Donald Trump could convert it into ‘Limestone House’, the alternative to the White House when he becomes our next president, thereby saving taxpayer millions in commuting costs.
Lets face it, if this pricing is a gimmick, it has worked: Even if the house trades for half its asking price, a 400% return on investment (assuming it cost about $ 6million to renovate) in 16 years is not to be sneezed at!
Seriously, this house represents a growing international trend: We first identified it as LUXFLATION, but this could be a sign of HYPER LUXFLATION. We live in a world where the volume of super-wealthy keeps growing, and their demand for the very, very best outstips the supply.
The MANHATTAN BIDDING WAR has returned: Carlos Slim, reportedly the wealthiest man in the world, just won a bidding war on the Duke Semans Mansion at 1009 Fifth Avenue in New York City. His winning bid of $44 million outbid a Russian bidder whose bid was around $37 million. This is the largest multiple bid sale of 2010, and an indicator that the high end of the Manhattan luxury real estate market is alive and kicking. “This is an extraordinary sale,” says Leonard Steinberg, managing director of Prudential Douglas Elliman and head of the Luxuryloft team. “Then again, this is a really prized residence so it is not surprising that more than one person wanted to buy it…..especially two buyers who may have had great difficulty buying in the tough co-op’s on Fifth Avenue.” LUXURYLETTER has repeatedly reported on the demand by the super-wealthy for the best of the best, noting that there is actually a shortage of ridiculously expensive real estate in Manhattan.
I hope he makes it a one Family!
Carlos Slim reportedly has a net worth of 53.5B.
Seman mansion not the biggest sale however, in 2007 a three story flat in the Plaza overlooking Central park sold for 56m.