Third broker swap at Mayflower House this year

Renovated townhouse is on the market for $11M more than 2009 purchase price

From left: Louise Beit (inset), 120 East 71st Street and Carrie Chiang (inset)
From left: Louise Beit (inset), 120 East 71st Street and Carrie Chiang (inset)

The owners of the so-called Mayflower House, a historic townhouse at 120 East 71st Street, are having trouble finding a satisfactory broker, it seems. Louise Beit of Sotheby’s International Realty now has the listing; she’s the third broker to market the property this year and the fourth since the home hit the market in November 2011, StreetEasy shows.

The mystery owners — identified as Sayvon Gimel LLC in city property records — are not hiring any slouches either.

When they first listed the 6,600-square-foot home, they hired Jed Garfield and Matthew Pravda of Leslie J. Garfield & Company, the boutique brokerage known for its focus on tony townhouses, who listed the property for $18.9 million.

About six months later, independent broker Dolly Lenz, then with Douglas Elliman, took over the listing, and the owners cut the price to $18 million. (Exclusive listing contracts typically run for six months.)

Lenz, who recently started her own firm, lasted almost a year. This past March, Carrie Chiang of the Corcoran Group replaced Lenz and dropped the price once again to $16.9 million, as The Real Deal reported.

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Beit, who did not tinker with that price, emphasized that there is “no backstory” to the revolving door of brokers.

“It’s a wonderful listing,” she told TRD. “Hopefully this new marketing will bring lots of great buyers.”

She declined to comment on Chiang and Lenz’s departures. Chiang did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Savyon Gimel bought the property in 2009 for just $5.7 million, city records show, but undertook a three-year renovation that involved adding a new limestone façade. The five-bedroom home includes five bathrooms, three powder rooms, a media room, a 1,000-bottle wine cellar and an elevator.

The townhouse was built in 1879 by architect John Payne and was once owned by the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of New York, a lineage group, various listings said.