CPW chapel-turned-condo sells for half of initial ask

Banker’s five-bedroom apartment, listed in 2008 for $17.5M, trades for $8M

From left: the Lufkins' unit at 455 Central Park West and Dan and Cynthia Lufkin
From left: the Lufkins' unit at 455 Central Park West and Dan and Cynthia Lufkin

Dan Lufkin — the prominent banker who rose from humble beginnings — initially set the price for his five-bedroom spread at 455 Central Park West at an unhumble $17.5 million. But that ask, in 2008, was halved in the end. The apartment went for about $8.5 million, to a buyer identified only as “455 CPW APT LLC,” according to city records filed today.

The seller, who commanded now-defunct investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in his earlier years, did not spend much time at the apartment he shared with wife Cynthia, 30 years his junior, according to a 2008 report in the New York Times. The Lufkins resided more regularly on Prince Edward Island and at their Connecticut estate, and decided to sell the apartment because Cynthia Lufkin needed to get away from city air for health reasons.

Sotheby’s International’s Nikki Field had the listing, she said.

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The home, a converted chapel, has been on and off the market since 2008. The $17.5 million price may have been a reflection of those frothy pre-Lehman times, in addition to a reported $5 million renovation. Lufkin paid $5.8 million for the triplex chapel unit when the building, formerly the New York Cancer Hospital, was converted to 17 condominiums by MCL Companies in 2005.

The apartment boasts 38-foot ceilings and “touches of gold leaf,” per previous reports.