J. Christopher Flowers lists UES co-op for $18M

Private equity giant recently purchased 640 Park Avenue home

66 East 79th Street and J. Christopher Flowers
66 East 79th Street and J. Christopher Flowers

Having recently forked out $20 million for a second floor-unit at 640 Park Avenue, billionaire private equity mogul J. Christopher Flowers may be trying to balance his books. Flowers, who founded J.C. Flowers & Co., has listed his six-bedroom, seven-bathroom spread at 66 East 79th Street for $18 million, according to Streeteasy.com. The price is $1 million less than what Flowers paid for the property in 2006. The unit is listed by Sami Hassoumi of Brown Harris Stevens, who was not immediately available for comment.

This is the first time that the duplex apartment, located on the 14th and 15th floors of the building, has been publicly offered for sale. The home, which was originally designed as the largest in the building, has traded only through privately marketed transactions in the past, according to the listing. It has a 30-foot drawing room, a formal dining room and a wood-paneled library.

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Flowers bought the unit in 2006 from old school ad man Martin Puris, who penned BMW’s signature tag line “the ultimate driving machine.” That was the same year he made records for paying out $53 million for the Harkness Mansion at 4 East 75th Street. The Harkness property later sold to art world powerhouse Larry Gagosian for a loss in 2011. Gagosian paid just $36.5 million for the property, which he may turn into an art gallery.

Flowers’ new digs on Park Avenue reportedly have six bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms as well as a gym and staff facilities.