In New York, $100 million gets you spectacular views of Central Park, high ceilings, rosewood floors, and Italian marble baths—but more importantly, the bragging rights of breaking a record for the first single-family home in the city’s history to change hands for such an insane amount of money.
A buyer has bought the penthouse—the entire 89th and 90th floors—of the new One57 building, at 157 West 57th Street for $100.47 million. The buyer hasn’t yet been revealed but the people who have been playing in this price range give some clue as to the kind of person that will pay that much for one home.
The New York record was at one point held by Ekaterina Rybolovleva, the daughter of a Russian fertilizer billionaire, who paid $88 million for a place at 15 Central Park West in 2012. She actually got less value than the new record holder—she paid $13,000 per square foot, compared to $9,000 a square foot for her new Central Park jogging buddy.
Her apartment was cheap by the standards of her father, Dmitry, who bought Donald Trump’s Palm Beach mansion for $95 million in 2008—when there was a global financial crisis going on for everyone else—and apparently paid more than $300 million for a penthouse in Monaco.
Her record had reportedly been broken anyway by hedge fund mogul Bill Ackman, who has bought an apartment in the same One57 building for $90 million “which he plans to flip for sport with a few close friends,” the New York Daily News reports. Ackman’s deal has not yet been officially recorded by the city—but it would mean that one building holds the two highest prices ever paid for homes in New York.
Another new addition to the city that all these people may bump into at a dinner party is Roman Abramovich, who has finally managed to buy a home in the city.
The Russian oil baron and owner of Chelsea soccer club apparently bid $75 million bid for a home overlooking the park, which was turned down. That was a record for a co-op. Undeterred, Abramovich instead has spent $70 million buying townhouses on East 75h Street, in the Upper East Side, to turn into one super-mansion.
Though Abramovich may find it awfully quiet. Apartments in some of New York’s toniest precincts are vacant at least ten months out of the year, according to the US Census Bureau.
Last year, Quartz wrote that for these new super-towers to break even, they need to sell at prices of $5,000 per square foot throughout the building—some 30% higher than the record price paid for a penthouse a decade ago. We wondered if that was even possible. So far, the answer still seems to be yes.