In a high-end game of musical chairs, socialite and philanthropist Lily Safra sold one cooperative apartment at 820 Fifth Avenue at 63rd Street for $40 million to a hedge fund manager and on the same day bought another in the same building for $33 million from home building CEO Ara Hovnanian.
Safra closed on the sale of the 12th-floor unit to Kenneth Griffin as well as the purchase of the fourth-floor unit from Hovnanian, CEO of Hovnanian Enterprises on Dec. 16, city property records published today show. Residential real estate Web site Coopsales.com first reported the $40 million Safra sale today.
Reports from October said Griffin, founder of the $13 billion hedge fund Citadel Investment Group, was going to buy Hovnanian’s fourth-floor unit, but instead he bought Safra’s, city records show. Safra is the widow of Edmond Safra, a billionaire banker.
Hovnanian Enterprises is in a difficult financial period, reporting this month its 13th consecutive quarterly loss.