Barnett splits $37.5M penthouse where he once planned to live

Extell Development has split the $37.5 million penthouse of 535 West End Avenue originally intended for the firm’s head into two apartments asking a combined $45 million, the Wall Street Journal reported.

When the 22-unit building hit the market in 2008, brokers were told the unit was being held for Extell President Gary Barnett, who was considering a move to the Upper West Side from Queens. But in July it went on the market with Raphael De Niro of Prudential Douglas Elliman. By November it had been pulled.

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Plans filed with the Department of Buildings and the attorney general show each floor of the formerly 13,779-square-foot penthouse duplex in the 21-story building at 86th Street will be sold separately. Barnett said he split the unit after he got an offer to buy the top-floor apartment, which is now listed for $25.5 million and reportedly in contract.

Brokers and appraisers cited by the Journal said the initial price was too high and the unit was too big for the typical Upper West Side buyer, and even at the modified price, $25.5 million would be one of just seven units above West 63rd Street that sold for at least $20 million — and the only one not along Central Park West. [WSJ]