It turns out $50 million was just too high. Amid a softer luxury market, a mystery buyer just snagged a penthouse at the Mandarin Oriental for $38.9 million — $11.1 million below asking price.
The buyer — identified as 80CC77B Inc. in public records — paid $38.9 million for PH 77B, which hit the market in 2015 asking $10,362 per square foot.
The purchase price works out to a more reasonable $8,062 per square foot. Elizabeth Sample and Brenda Powers of Sotheby’s International Realty [TRDataCustom] had the listing.
The seller, a corporation known as Red Cherry Worldwide Inc., paid $17.3 million for the apartment at 80 Columbus Circle in 2006, property records show.
Red Cherry, an entity registered in the British Virgin Islands, is linked to Japanese businessman Shozo Ohtani, founder of Zentek Technology, according to the Offshore Leaks database, which is published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
After buying the apartment, Red Cherry listed it briefly in 2010 for $35.5 million.
The discount is in line with the softening high-end market.
In December, Extell sold a full-floor unit at One57 for $45.8 million, $12.7 million below the last asking price of $58.5 million. At 432 Park Avenue, buyers who signed contracts and closed on units in 2016 got an average discount of 10 percent. Lewis Sanders, former CEO of AllianceBernstein, paid $60.9 million for his 88th-floor penthouse, 10 percent less than the $76.5 million initial price.