search

The Real Deal Logo

Trending

H-E-B snags 21 acres in Celina, hinting at development boomH-E-B snags 21 acres in Celina, hinting at development boomTrump accused of making false statements about $50M Chicago tower loanTrump accused of making false statements about $50M Chicago tower loanLawmakers reach sweeping housing deal with “good cause eviction,” new 421aLawmakers reach sweeping housing deal with “good cause eviction,” new 421aMacerich faces “imminent” default on $300M Santa Monica Place loanMacerich faces “imminent” default on $300M Santa Monica Place loan
Popular
New York

Hedge funder’s estate slashes asking price of UES townhouse

The late Charles Murphy paid $33M for 7 E. 67th in 2007

7 East 67th Street and the late Charles Murphy
7 East 67th Street and the late Charles Murphy

The estate of the late hedge funder Charles Murphy is writing down the value of his Upper East Side townhouse.

Murphy, who was a partner at investment management firm Paulson & Co., died last year after jumping from the 24th floor of the Sofitel hotel in Midtown. This week, his estate slashed the asking price of his limestone house to $29.95 million — a steep discount from the $50 million that Murphy sought in March 2016, and about $3 million less than he paid for the property in 2007.

Located at 7 East 67th Street, the 11,500-square-foot limestone house was once owned by the Foundation for Depression and Manic Depression, which sold it to Seagram heir Matthew Bronfman for $3 million in 1994. Bronfman, who gutted the 25-foot-wide townhouse, sold it to Murphy in 2007 for a then-record price of $33 million. (Before that, no townhouse narrower than 26 feet traded for more than $30 million.)

Murphy had less luck turning a profit.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

He first tried to sell the home in 2009, after it was discovered that the hedge fund he worked for, Fairfield Greenwich Group, lost $7 billion with Bernie Madoff. Upon learning a neighbor was about to sell her townhouse for $25 million, Murphy tried to poach the would-be buyer. When a deal didn’t pan out, he listed the home for $37 million.

Murphy re-listed it in March 2016 asking $49.5 million, or $4,385 per foot. At $29.95 million, the current asking price works out to $2,593 per foot. Since May, Brown Harris Stevens’ Paula Del Nunzio has had the listing, along with the Corcoran Group’s Deborah Grubman, Markus Buchmeier and David Adler. Corcoran’s Carrie Chiang previously had the listing.

In general, the townhouse market had been limping along for more than a year. But a recent slew of pricey deals signaled a possible thaw in the high-end of the market.

Last month, billionaire Vincent Viola reportedly found a buyer willing to shell out $80 million for his 40-foot townhouse, located at 12 East 69th Street.
And in April 2017, an entity affiliated with HNA Holdings paid a record $79.5 million for the Wildenstein mansion at 19 East 64th Street.

Tags
Price CutsTownhouse Market