Turns out the real-life inspiration for a minor character in Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” isn’t afraid to break away from the pack.
Entrepreneur and semi-professional race car driver Alan Wilzig, who is depicted in the pool-party scene from the 2013 movie introducing Leonardo DiCaprio’s character to his future wife, is shopping his tricked-out Tribeca condo/townhouse without the assistance of a broker.
The for-sale-by-owner listing posted on Zillow.com yesterday is asking $43.5 million for the two-story maisonette at 3 Hubert Street.
“Feel free to share this with your luxury real estate friends for anyone interested in a Manhattan super-residence,” Wilzig posted on his Facebook account. “All brokers protected. I have no problem paying or sharing in paying a commission(s) – but I’m not willing at the present time to grant an exclusive with any one broker or firm. (Especially since a dozen of my good friends are all NYC brokers.)”
Wilzig famously took to Facebook last year to rail against his “nerdy” portrayal in the movie. He criticized Scorsese for leaving out the fact that Wilzig had arrived at the party in his red Ferrari Testarossa.
The 7,500-square-foot Tribeca home is decked out with motorcycles and racing memorabilia and includes a 2,500-square-foot roof deck, private backyard, 6 bedrooms, 5 1/2 baths and an attached garage. Sandwiched in between two 17-story buildings, the home offers the privacy of a townhouse with the convenience of a doorman building.
But those are just the standard features. Inside, the finishing touches include an eight-person hot tub, alligator-wrapped hand rails, a lighting system that bathes the home in different-colored hues, tanning bed, 550-gallon fish tank and bullet-proof glass.
Those embellishments, however, may not fit every buyer’s fancy.
Douglas Elliman broker Toni Haber said that at $5,800 per square foot she thinks Wilzig’s pricing is “optimistic for what it is,” considering the home’s décor many not have universal appeal.
She also, maybe expectedly, advised Wilzig to enlist the services of a professional.
“Often times sellers feel they are saving on the commission and I can’t tell you how many times I have seen them take less or get less because it’s not their skill set,” Haber wrote via email. “So at the end of the day it’s penny wise and pound foolish, in most cases.”
Wilzig, who formerly ran his father’s New Jersey-based bank that was bought out in 2004, was co-owner of the former Kutsher’s Tribeca restaurant that was just a few blocks away from the condo.
The husband and father of two owns a second home in the town of Taghkanic in the Hudson River Valley, where he upset neighbors by building a race track. The family plans to move north and find a rental in the Soho area after selling in the city.
Wilzig bought his Tribeca home for $4.53 million back in 2005, and explained on Facebook that he’s ready to sell in part because “Tribeca has become so ‘fancy’ that it feels a lot more like the Upper East Side than 2000 when we moved down here.”
He added: “It’s time to let some hedge-fund guy who makes $40M every 6 months have it … or some Russian billionaire.”
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly identified the location of the Wilzig’s second home with a race track. It is in Taghkanic, N.Y.