A Manhattan co-op that’s been in the Rockefeller family since the 1960s has sold for $9.9 million.
The buyer was Ralph Nakash of the Nakash real estate family and co-founder of Jordache Enterprises, according to Compass broker Clayton Orrigo, who represented both sides in the deal.
The 15th-floor unit at 812 Fifth Avenue was purchased in 1963 by former U.S. vice president Nelson Rockefeller, who knocked through the building’s south wall to connect the unit with one he owned in the neighboring building.
The units were divided again after his death, and the co-op has remained in the family ever since, most recently belonging to Nelson Rockefeller Jr., the businessman and politician’s son.
Measuring 3,990 square feet, it features four bedrooms, four and a half bathrooms and a 295-square-foot terrace overlooking Central Park. It was listed in September for $11.5 million.
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Nakash, whose family business started as a clothing brand — Jordache was a pioneer of tight-fitting jeans in the late 1970s and 1908s — and later expanded into real estate, already lives in the building. He told The Real Deal he had been looking to move to an apartment on one of the higher levels, and went to view the home after it came to market.
“It’s magic, overlooking the park,” he said. “It’s beautiful.”
Nakash said he plans major renovations for the unit but will leave certain historical features, including the fireplace, intact. Once the work is finished, he expects to move in.
Compass’s Orrigo, who marketed the property with Kirsten Jordan, said he showed it roughly 30 times, but Nakash was the frontrunner from the start.
Still, brokering a deal during a pandemic can be complicated, particularly given the state of Manhattan’s luxury market, which recorded a 31 percent decline in deals last year. Sales of co-ops, which typically have fewer amenities than condos and a more complicated approval process, have been particularly slow, with just 133 contracts signed last year compared with 222 in 2019, according to Olshan Realty.
Orrigo said there was “significant back and forth” during the negotiations between Rockefeller and Nakash. But, he said, “both parties ended up happy with the outcome.”