Connecticut real estate bigwig finds buyer for 15 CPW condo

From left: Charles Berman, 15 Central Park West exterior and Kyle Blackmon of Brown Harris Stevens and interior of unit 3A

A three-bedroom, 3.5-bathroom condominium unit at 15 Central Park West has been pulled from the market after going into contract with an unidentified buyer, data from Streeteasy.com shows. The 2,909-square foot apartment is located on the third floor on the southeast corner of the uber-exclusive condo, which has become the residential building of choice for hotshot celebrities like actor Denzel Washington and musician Sting, and finance bigwigs such as Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and Citigroup Chairman Emeritus Sanford Weill.

The condo was put on the market by another financial honcho — Charles Berman, a managing principal and vice chairman with MacFarlane Partners, a real estate investment management firm in New Canaan, Conn. Berman and his wife Melanie purchased the low-floor unit, number 3A, from developer Zeckendorf Development Company in the fall of 2008 for just $6.7 million, according to public records.
The official sales price wasn’t immediately clear, but the unit was initially listed for $20.5 million in April before seeing an 18 percent price cut in May.

Berman was previously president of Avalon Properties, a real estate investment trust that became Avalon Bay Communities, the third-largest residential investment trust in the U.S.

Neither Berman nor Kyle Blackmon, an associate broker at Brown Harris Stevens, who was marketing the listing, was immediately available for comment.