This seven-story $53M penthouse has been broken up into six units. The first just hit the market for $16M.

The residential portion of the mixed-use building has been divided up

219 East 44th Street (Credit: StreetEasy and iStock)
219 East 44th Street (Credit: StreetEasy and iStock)

In 2017, the seven-story mansion atop the Even Hotel in Turtle Bay hit the market, asking a whopping $53 million.

Two years later, that sprawling penthouse at 219 East 44th Street has been carved up into six separate units, instead of being marketed as one nearly 16,600-square-foot pad asking about $3,200 per square foot.

The first of the six homes — the duplex penthouse — was listed on Thursday asking $15.8 million. It spans 4,321 square feet, about a quarter of its original size. That works out to roughly $3,700 per square foot.

The city’s residential market is working to absorb a glut of luxury condominiums. Many high-end units are taking listing price cuts as a result. Meanwhile, some developers are quietly splitting up penthouses at other developments. The $130 million mansion at 520 Park Avenue was split into a simplex and duplex earlier this year.

Douglas Elliman’s Aaron Ross, who has the Even Hotel penthouse listing alongside Fredrik Eklund and John Gomes, said the original plan for the project was to split up the residential portion that sits above the hotel into six distinct apartments. But while the building was under construction, the team shifted strategies to try selling those seven stories in bulk to an investor, developer or end-user who might want to live in a mansion in the sky, he said.

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“It was more a matter of giving ourselves a chance to get a return on investment before completing the unit,” Ross said.

Developers Frank Chan and Lance Steinberg did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The five-bedroom penthouse comes with 1,500 square feet of outdoor space, floor-to-ceiling windows and private elevator landings on each level.

The remaining five full-floor units are also complete but have yet to hit the market, Ross said.