A 4,825-square-foot penthouse on the 77th floor of the Mandarin Oriental at Columbus Circle has hit the market for a whopping $42.5 million, according to data from Streeteasy.com, $7 million more than it asked in 2010.
The four-bedroom, five-and-a-half-bath unit, in the condominium and hotel at 80 Columbus Circle is listed with Elizabeth Sample and Brenda Powers of Sotheby’s International Realty. It is one of just two units available today at the sought-after building; the other, on the 65th floor, is asking just $6 million.
The unit has been on and off the market since 2010. It was first listed as a rental in August 2010, asking $50,000 per month, and later hit the sales market for $35.5 million in 2010. It was listed with Paula Del Nunzio and Shirley Mueller of Brown Harris Stevens at that time. The apartment was even at one point offered as a possible combination with a lower unit on the 76th floor for $73.5 million, though the two units did not have the same owner. In fact, the 76th floor unit was once rented by rapper and music mogul Jay-Z, who leased it from telecom mogul Michael Hirtenstein for $40,000 per month in 2006.
The seller of the property has remained a mystery despite extensive media coverage of the unit. The owner, who purchased the penthouse in 2006 for just $17 million, is listed on public records as an LLC called Red Cherry Worldwide represented by attorney G. Warren Whitaker of Day Pitney, who did not immediately return a call for comment.
Powers and Sample declined to comment, citing a confidentiality agreement, and Paula Del Nunzio did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In 2010, however, Del Nunzio told The Real Deal of the hefty asking price of the property compared with the original purchase price: “It has extremely tall ceilings… and that’s extraordinarily important. Some properties have tripled [in price] in the last few years and that’s just what happens.”
The apartment spans 65 feet along Central Park with panoramic views from all rooms, the listing indicates.
A floorplan of the unit