The New York Observer, June 5th, 2007
There are so many glistening, newfangled multimillion-dollar condos being built this century, with so many toddler playrooms and golf simulators and private squash courts, that you’d think supply would maybe outstretch demand. You’d be wrong.
170 East End Avenue, a soon-to-open condo designed by Madison Avenue Armani boutique veteran Peter Marino, has lured three massive buyers.
According to a source, the contemporary art dealer Dominique Lévy—who set a record for Damien Hirst’s work last year by paying $3.3 million for a lengthwise-sliced sheep in formaldehyde—paid about $12 million for a combined-unit duplex on the eighth floor.
The living room has 21-foot ceiling heights, which, of course, is convenient for canvases, and also for wall-mounted postmodern taxidermy. Ms. Lévy’s gallery, L & M Arts, is about 10 blocks southward, at East 78th Street.
The developer Eric Hadar—who must’ve had funds lying around from the $100 million sale of his stake in Lexington Avenue’s Citigroup Center last year—bought a mirror-image 5,000-square-foot duplex for around the same amount. According to floor plans, he and Ms. Lévy will each have six bedrooms, 1,926-square-foot terraces, plus about 260 extra square feet of balcony space.
But that’s strictly for the hoi polloi when compared with the monarchic 17th-floor spread that Vornado Realty Trust president Michael Fascitelli bought for around $16 million. His 7,000-square-foot space naturally includes a two-hoop basketball court.
Then there’s the 11-foot-long wine storage, the 16-foot-long computer room, the built-in bar and the kitchen suite, which includes a breakfast area and a TV/video room. The master bedroom alone has his-and-her walk-in closets (hers is bigger), his-and-her baths (his is bigger), a balcony and a dressing room.
Orin Wilf, 170 East End Avenue’s developer, is probably flattered by his peers’ purchases. And his buyers are surely happy that there’s a golf simulator downstairs.
