NY developer Joseph Moinian pays $12.5M for Leon Black’s Faena House unit

New York real estate developer Joseph Moinian and his wife Nazee just bought billionaire Leon Black’s condo at Faena House for $12.5 million.

That’s a steep discount from the $16.5 million Black had paid and was asking for the Miami Beach unit, as the slump in luxury sales continues.

Miami-Dade property records show the Moinians bought unit 9-A at 3315 Collins Avenue from a Delaware entity, OFH LLC. The entity’s address is Elysium Management, 445 Park Avenue, Suite 1401 in New York, which links to Leon Black.

Joseph Moinian is the founder and CEO of the real estate development and investment firm the Moinian Group. Among the firm’s projects is a Zaha Hadid-designed condominium project in Chelsea that Hadid had designed before her death. Overall, the Moinian Group has a 20 million-square-foot portfolio in the United States, including in New York, Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles, according to its website.

Oren Alexander of Douglas Elliman told The Real Deal he represented both sides of the deal, but declined to comment further, citing a confidentiality agreement.

Alexander originally listed Black’s 4,730-square-foot unit in May 2016 for $18.5 million or $3,911 per square foot. The price then dropped to $16.5 million or $3,488 per square foot in June 2016.

Black, the founder of New York-based private equity firm Apollo Global Management, had paid $16.5 million for the unit in September 2015. Forbes currently pegs Black’s net worth at $5.3 billion, making him the 105th richest man in the U.S.

The $12.5 million sale — a 24 percent discount from both the asking price and Black’s purchase price — equates to $2,643 per square foot. The five-bedroom, six-and-a-half bathroom condo features white Venetian terrazzo flooring and Thassos marble countertops. It was sold unfurnished.

Faena House, an ultra-luxe Mid-Beach tower, has drawn a slew of Wall Street risk-takers and other financiers. In September 2015, hedge fund manager and billionaire Ken Griffin closed on his $60 million purchase of its two penthouse units — which were originally planned to be combined — and put them back on the market a few months later after for a combined $73 million.

Griffin’s units for sale amid the slowdown in the luxury condo market, as a strong U.S. dollar and foreign economic turmoil continue to dampen sales. Near Faena House and part of Faena District, developer Alan Faena has placed his Versailles planned condo project on hold and is considering building another hotel instead. Estates at Acqualina in Sunny Isles Beach has also put sales and construction of its second planned tower on hold, and Auberge Residences & Spa Miami, a planned condo tower just north of downtown Miami is delaying construction until 2018.