Condo linked to China’s missing magnate sells at 432 Park Avenue

The Park Avenue apartment linked to Whitney Duan, the Chinese magnate who was detained by Beijing in 2017, sold for $19.1 million, property records showed.

The company used to purchase the 432 Park Avenue unit, Jardin 432 LLC, veiled the identity of the buyer, who paid about the same as Duan’s associates paid in 2016, close to the last peak of New York’s luxury condo market.

No financing documents, such as a mortgage loan secured by the property, have been filed for the 2,600 square-foot, three-bedroom, three-bathroom unit. That suggests the apartment changed hands in all-cash purchases or that loans were secured by equity in the company buying the unit, commonly known as a mezzanine loan.

Sales documents list the address of the seller, 432 Park 80A LLC, as a modest condominium unit in Dyker Heights that was bought for $450,000 in 2007. Because LLCs have few public reporting requirements, they can effectively shield a buyer’s identity from the public.

Duan’s ex-husband, Desmond Shum, published a book this week on the circumstances of her disappearance, saying she was caught up in the highest level of Chinese politics. He said in an interview with National Public Radio that she called him on the eve of publication, seeking to block the book’s release.

As The Real Deal previously reported, property records show that Duan transferred at least partial ownership of units 80A and 72A to offshore entities. A lawsuit brought by Maverick Real Estate partners against the company which owns unit 72A hasn’t been resolved.