GM Building buyer drops $26M on UES townhouse

UPDATED, 10:40 a.m., Nov. 7: The billionaire Chinese developer who ponied up hundreds of millions just months ago for a stake in the GM Building is now forking over $26 million for an Upper East Side townhouse.

Zhang Xin, CEO of Beijing-based SOHO China and one of the world’s richest women, closed on the sale of the 19th-century home, at 45 East 74th Street, in late October. The property, between Park and Madison avenues, went on the market about a year ago at $33 million but had been priced at $30 million just before it sold, according to the Wall Street Journal. Town Residential’s Jason Karadus, Brett Miles and Robson Zanetti had the listing.

The seller was Valerio Morabito, an Italian real estate developer and movie producer who bought the home in 2009 for $10 million and then spent $10 million in renovations. Brown Harris Stevens’ Paula Del Nunzio represented Zhang.

Amenities of the five-bedroom, 7.5-bathroom townhouse, checked out in June by actor Leonardo DiCaprio, boasts a swimming pool, a waterfall and a sauna. [WSJ]  – Hiten Samtani