A $90 million luxury New York City apartment has been stripped of its title as America’s most expensive home – but its fat cat owners are having the last laugh.
The wildly expensive penthouse, which was sold off-the-plan to a mystery buyer in May, is ‘already partly blocking’ the $100 million Central Park views of its rival, according to The New York Times.
The big apple’s newest most expensive pad, a ridiculously lavish Manhattan apartment atop the City Spire building on West 56th street, boasts three floors, 8,000sqft, an elevator, a wine closet storing up to 1,000 bottles, 3,000 square feet of wraparound terrace and 135 windows.
The octagonal-shaped penthouse, on the market with Prudential Douglas Elliman, has six bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a media room, 20-person dining room, a formal gallery, a conference room and a master suite, which comprises the entire top floor of the 75-floor high rise.
But according to The Times, One57, the nearby up-and-coming luxury condo tower, is already beginning to impede upon some of the penthouse’s spectacular views of the park. It is still under construction but will tower 90 floors into the air on West 57th street.
The nine-figure apartment is being sold by Long Island real estate tycoon Steven Klar, who paid just $4.5 million for it in 1993.
He told The Times he spent about the same amount renovating the home, which now works out at a whopping $12,500 per square foot.
The listing comes after a raft of record-breaking trophy apartment sales in New York.
Former Citigroup chairman Sandy Weill pocketed a staggering $88 million in February, selling his penthouse at 15 Central Park West to the 22-year-old daughter of Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev.
Meanwhile, the decadent apartment atop the Ritz Carlton commanded a hefty $70 million recently when it was bought by casino billionaire Steve Wynn.
Mr Klar, president of Klar Organization property developers, told the newspaper he was moving out of the luxurious apartment he’s lived in for 17 years for family reasons. His 5-year-old son ‘could potentially get out on the terraces,’ he said.
Explaining why someone would pay such an exorbitant sum for an apartment, Mr Klar said: ‘Art is what people are willing to pay for, and an apartment like this is like a piece of art.’