Dr. Jay’s founder flips 15


At left: 15 Central Park West; Top right: Nautica founder David Chu, whose wife just closed on another apartment at the building; Bottom right: Listing agent Joanna Cutler

It’s New York Fashion Week, but models aren’t the only ones with quick-changes on the Upper West Side. A preppy makeover is also likely in store for a two-bedroom, 28th-floor apartment at Robert A.M. Stern’s 15 Central Park West, which just sold for $11.39 million to philanthropist Gina Lin Chu, wife of Nautica founder David Chu, according to deed filed today with the city.

The seller of the 2,367-square-foot spread was another clothing mogul with a decidedly different style: Joseph Betesh, founder of hip-hop retailer Dr. Jay’s. The urban fashion maven, and now, apartment flipper, paid just $5.7 million for the apartment in April 2008.

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The Chus actually already live at 15 Central Park West — in a sixth-floor, 1,605-square-foot condo they bought for $2.99 million in August 2008. But it’s their duplex penthouse at the former Mayfair Hotel that’s drawn the most intrigue.

The 7,700-square-foot condo hit the market in March for $32.8 million, placing it among the top 10 most expensive condo listings in the city at the time. It has since lost a little luster, undergoing two rounds of price cuts that brought it to its current asking price of $25.8 million, but garnered some star power when the Post reported earlier this summer that Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick had been eyeing the place.

The Chus were not immediately available for comment, nor was Joanna Cutler, of her eponymous brokerage, who had the listing for the new spread.