Month: February 2018

Compute this: Michael Dell revealed as buyer of record $100.5M One57 penthouse

Deal remains NYC’s priciest-ever closed sale
February 22, 2018 08:22AM

One57, Michael Dell and Gary Barnett (Credit: Getty Images)

It’s been one of the greatest mysteries in the residential world for three years: Who was the buyer behind the city’s most expensive closed residential deal, the $100.5 million penthouse at One57?

The code – no pun intended – has now been cracked. It is Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, according to the Wall Street Journal. The nine-figure deal puts the technology mogul in a club of one – until far pricier deals at 220 Central Park close.

The sale at the Extell Development property was announced in May 2012, but closed in December 2014, city records show, at about $9,200 a foot. Department of Buildings filings spotted by the Journal show that Dell tapped Miró Rivera Architects to oversee a renovation of the 10,923-square-foot penthouse, which spans the 89th and 90th floors. The deal broke a 2012 record set by the $88 million purchase of Sanford Weill’s 15 Central Park West penthouse in 2012 by fertilizer tycoon Dmitry Rybolovlev’s daughter, Ekaterina Rybolovleva.

Dell, 52, has a net worth of $23.3 billion, according to Forbes. Earlier this month, he confirmed chatter that he was considering taking Dell Technologies public again, after going private in 2013.  Dell’s private investment firm, MSD Capital, is an active real estate investor, backing projects such as Sharif El-Gamal’s 45 Park Place and picking up stakes in properties such as  Grand Central Terminal. And Dell is no stranger to fancy personal real estate either. In November, he entered contract to buy a penthouse at what will become Boston’s tallest residential tower. That deal, too, could set a new record in the city. He also owns the so-called Raptor Residence in Hawaii, a three-lot property recently assessed at $64.7 million.

Leighton Candler represented Dell in the One57 deal, according to the newspaper. That gives the Corcoran Group broker the distinction of handling the city’s record sale, though the deal is expected to be topped by one or more deals at Vornado Realty Trust’s 220 Central Park South. A penthouse there is reportedly in contract to sell for over $200 million to hedge funder Ken Griffin.

It’s apt that Dell has been outed now. Tomorrow is his birthday.  [WSJ] — Hiten Samtani

See retail’s shattered dreams in the West Village: MAP

Editors note: in the interest of keeping a fair and unbiased assessment of real estate values and market conditions throughout the NY/NJ Metropolitan area, we post this story which largely and negatively depicts conditions in the West Village. Of course, opinions and circumstances vary, but we post for our readers to discern.
Ed.
Vacant storefronts are spreading in once-vibrant neighborhood

February 02, 2018 04:00PM

If sections of Bleecker and Christopher streets look a little post-apocalyptic, you can blame the retail real estate market.

Amid skyrocketing rents and competition from e-commerce giants like Amazon, a growing number of stores and restaurants in the West Village shut down in recent years. Photojournalist Ben Fractenberg walked through the neighborhood to map vacant storefronts, which seem to be everywhere.

“Everything is gone. I don’t know how a business could spend that much money,” one resident told Fractenberg. “This whole area used to be more little shops. It’s sad.”

The New York Times broke down Bleecker Street’s retail vacancies last year, but the epidemic is also spreading to nearby Sixth and Seventh avenues and other side streets.

The Real Deal previously mapped retail vacancies on the Upper East Side and in Soho. [Medium] — Konrad Putzier