Leave it to a master broker to get a good chunk of cash for her apartment — one that she seems to have picked up for free. Douglas Elliman’s new development chief, Susan De França, has inked a deal to sell her two-bedroom West Village apartment for close to $3,800 per square foot, or around $5 million, a source familiar with the deal told The Real Deal.
De França sold the pad – a 1,320-square-foot spread at Superior Ink, the high-end condominium development at 400 West 12th Street – in a hush-hush, off-market deal, the source said.
And it seems she netted quite a profit. De França and her daughter, Dylan Irene Irushalmi, purchased the unit in 2010 when she was heading up marketing of Superior Ink on behalf of developer the Related Companies. The purchase price? Zero dollars, according to public records.
De França apparently was not planning to sell — and, in fact, a listing did not appear on StreetEasy — but parted with the home when Brett Miles, a broker at Town Residential, connected her with a buyer willing to pay the magic price of $3,800 per square foot, the source said.
De França did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did Miles.
The marketing guru worked as an executive at Related before joining Elliman as president of its new development division in 2011.
When Superior Ink sold out in 2010, it achieved record prices. The penthouse, purchased by Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander, set a record for Downtown with a $31.5 million closing price. (He has since inked a new Downtown record with the $42 million purchase of the penthouse at Zeckendorf Development’s 18 Gramercy Park.) Other celebs that have lived in the building include fashion designer Marc Jacobs. Elliman superbroker Melanie Lazenby also has a pad there.