A trust affiliated with Philip Kirsh and Linda Mirels, the son and daughter of South African businessman Nathan Kirsh, bought their fourth unit in the Trump International Hotel & Tower, paying nearly $6.5 million for an apartment adjacent to one they already own.
With the purchase of the 44th floor unit, revealed in city property records filed today, the NY APT Trust, managed by trustees Mirels and Philip Kirsh, has spent at least $56.45 million acquiring apartments at the building at 1 Central Park West between 60th and 61st streets.
The Kirsh family is involved in a wide range of businesses and philanthropic efforts. Nathan Kirsh founded the Kirsh Group, an investment company with interests in real estate, food distribution and other industries, according to news reports.
Philip is the founder of Hot & Crusty, a chain of New York City bakeries, while Mirels sits on the executive committee of the UJA Federation of New York and is an advisory member of the Metropolitan Opera board of directors.
The Kirsh siblings have a short but costly history of acquisitions at the Trump International, the 52-story office tower that was converted to residences in 1996. The building houses a hotel on its first 22 stories and 166 condos on its upper floors.
The NY APT Trust bought what appears to be the family’s first unit in the building in January 2010, spending $16 million for a 4,415-square-foot four-bedroom on the 44th floor, according to city property records.
In December 2010, a different trust managed by Philip and Mirels named WF NYC Home Trust purchased a 5,500-square-foot penthouse on the top floor of the tower for $30 million, records show.
The WF NYC Home Trust bought the penthouse from One Central Park West (NYC) LLC, an entity reportedly connected to Malaysian financier Taek Jho Low, that snagged the unit for $33.2 million as part of a bankruptcy auction in early 2010.
That same day, the NY APT Trust closed on the purchase of a condo on the 28th floor, for which they paid $3.825 million, records show. The 1,444-square-foot unit doesn’t appear to have been listed publicly.
The latest purchase, which also appears to be an off-market deal, closed Feb. 9. The 2,115-square-foot unit is next door to the first apartment they bought in the building. The seller was North Cove Investments, an LLC based in Coral Gables, Fla.
The family also has a storage unit in the tower, which they acquired for $150,000, records show.
It’s not clear whether either Philip or Mirels live in the building, but the WF NYC Home Trust listed the Trump penthouse as its address in property records. The NY APT Trust listed a College Points, N.Y. address.
An attorney who has represented the trust in the deals did not immediately return a call seeking comment, nor did Susan James, the broker specialist at the Trump International.