One57 seller hopes for $2.5M profit on one-bedroom

Brenda Sample, Elizabeth Powers snag first resale in Extell tower

From left: Brenda Powers, Elizabeth Sample and 157 West 57th Street
From left: Brenda Powers, Elizabeth Sample and 157 West 57th Street

Closings have begun at Extell Development’s One57, and at least one early buyer is hoping to make a significant chunk of change by offering a one-bedroom condominium for sale.

Power broker duo Brenda Powers and Elizabeth Sample of Sotheby’s International Realty are marketing the 39th-floor pad, at 157 West 57th Street. The apartment is a rare find among trophy condos, Power said, and the owner is looking to either sell the unit for $6 million or rent it out for as much as $18,000 per month.

“At 80 Columbus Circle, there are only three one-bedrooms, and here at One57 there are only three,” Powers said, referring to one of the condo towers at the Time Warner Center. “And, it has park views. You can’t find a one-bedroom with park views — normally, when these buildings are designed, the one-bedrooms always face the back.”

The apartment belongs to Tao Liu, who is based in Shanghai, according to city records filed today. Liu paid $3.56 million for the apartment in April 2012; the deal closed last month, the deed says. The unit was priced at $3.5 million — a slight 3 percent increase over the initial asking price in September 2011 — or $3,333 per square foot, according to documents Extell filed with the New York Attorney General’s office, which The Real Deal obtained in July. The new price clocks in at about $5,700 per square foot.

A spokesperson for Extell was not immediately able to provide comment. Liu could not immediately be reached.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

The condo came on the market just before the New Year, and Power said they already have an interested home seeker, though that person has not yet decided whether to buy or rent. A buyer is preferred, she said.

The 1,050-square-foot home, located on one of the building’s lower floors (One57’s lower 30 levels are occupied by a Park Hyatt hotel), boasts floor-to-ceiling windows, a gourmet kitchen and bathroom with a marbled shower and separate tub.

The unit is currently the duo’s only listing in the building, though Powers said they hope to get more.

Extell marketed the 1,004-foot-tall building in-house, with Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group advising on marketing.

Other buyers in the building include a Bill Ackman-led investor group that purchased the so-called Winter Garden penthouse for more than $90 million, and Chinese parents who snapped up a condominium unit for their child who is currently a toddler.