Billionaire jeweler Nicola Bulgari wants his luxury duplex right now, but the mean condo board says he has to wait.
Bulgari is suing the Barbizon Hotel for “abuse” because he has to wait to combine his penthouse with another unit, the New York Post reported. The building at 140 East 63rd Street is undergoing a condo conversion, but the city prevents any major renovations — like combining two units to form a duplex — until all the units are converted.
This doesn’t sit well with Bulgari. He claims that he only bought the second apartment in the building because the board promised him that he could easily combine the unit with his penthouse.
“The second apartment is essentially rendered useless to [Bulgari] if it cannot be combined with the first apartment,” the mogul’s lawyers claim in the lawsuit. “Preventing a 75-year-old man from years of the full use of his residence is irreparable and this court has the power to stop this abuse.”
Property records show that Bulgari bought the penthouse for $12.8 million and the unit below it for $7.5 million.
The developer, Barbizone Hotel Associates L.P., asserts that progress at the building has been held up by an unsold unit and Second Avenue subway work. The condo conversion of the 23-story hotel began in 2007. [NYP] — Kathryn Brenzel