Apthorp developer buys Laureate penthouse


Developer Maurice Mann and the interior and exterior of a penthouse unit at the Laureate

Maurice Mann, the original developer of the Apthorp condominium conversion, has purchased a penthouse unit at the Laureate, the Stahl Organization’s new luxury condominium at 2150 Broadway, for over $7 million, according to public records filed with the city today.

Mann closed on the 2,532-square-foot, three-bedroom residence at the Laureate on Nov. 18, according to records, with a price of $7.37 million. Though he was not immediately available for comment, a person who answered the phone at his office confirmed the purchase.

The unit, which boasts “a great room with extra large windows and a set of French doors that open to a Juliet balcony at the [front] of the building,” was last listed with Shlomi Reuveni, a broker and head of the Brown Harris Stevens Select team, for $7.7 million, according to Streeteasy.com. Reuveni declined to comment on the transaction.

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Mann may have begun actively apartment hunting after he was denied a unit in the Apthorp earlier this year. The developer filed a lawsuit in April in the New York Supreme Court alleging that his former development partners, Apthorp Associates and Broadwall Management, agreed to sell him apartment 2C at the building, but then refused and offered him apartment 6A for undisclosed reasons.

As The Real Deal previously reported, Mann joined forces with Africa Israel in 2007 to buy the landmark rental building for a record $426 million, and later decided to convert the 163-unit building into condominiums. Africa Israel later filed suit to remove Mann as managing partner in the conversion after Apollo Real Estate, the project’s mezzanine lender, and Anglo Irish Bank, the mortgage lender, threatened to foreclose on the property.

Other well-known persons to have bought in the Laureate include Eric Weiner, the co-creator of bilingual cartoon character “Dora the Explorer”. Earlier this year, the condo was declared the “top-selling new luxury condo,” by the Wall Street Journal.