432 Park penthouse asking $76.5M finds buyer

Identity of purchaser at PH88 still unclear

432 Park Avenue (Renderings: DBOX for CIM Group/Macklowe Properties)
432 Park Avenue (Renderings: DBOX for CIM Group/Macklowe Properties)

A penthouse at 432 Park Avenue that was asking $76.5 million is now in contract, The Real Deal has learned, in a deal that is likely to give developers of ultra-pricey product a pick-me-up.

The five-bedroom, seven-bathroom, 8,055-square-foot aerie, PH 88, is being purchased by a mystery buyer. A spokesperson for the developers, Macklowe Properties and CIM Group, declined to comment on the final contract price or on the identity of the buyer.

The price for the unit – which was first listed in May of 2014, according to StreetEasy – amounts to an astonishing $9,497 per square foot.

Other buyers at the building include Douglas Elliman chair Howard Lorber and his business partner Bennett LeBow of the Vector Group, Elliman’s parent company. LeBow paid $45 million, or more than $5,562 per foot, for his condo — a combination of two half-floor pads on the 64th floor. Lorber shelled out just over $15 million, or $3,750 per foot, for his half-floor apartment on the 67th floor.

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PH 88 was one of the last — if not the last — full-floor condos for sale at 432 Park, not including units combined by individual buyers. Saudi retail magnate Fawaz Al Hokair is reportedly paying $95 million, or $11,300 per foot, for the loftiest perch at 432 Park. The 8,255-square-foot penthouse went into contract in 2013, and hasn’t yet closed.

This fall, CIM and Macklowe divided some of the full-floor units at the top of the building into smaller units in a bid to attract a wider pool of buyers. The building’s 91st through 95th floors now have two units, one measuring 4,400 square feet and 3,600 square feet. Instead of $50-million-plus, they’re asking $40.25 million and $39.75 million, respectively.

A Macklowe spokesperson said sales velocity has been up at the property over the last several months. In November, Elliman was brought in as the in-house agent for the property, which is about 75 percent sold. The brokerage previously had a co-exclusive on the building but sales were primarily managed in house by Macklowe.