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Residential
New York

Shipping magnate’s widow won’t leave Pierre Hotel apartment

Apartment was sold for $10M in 2016

The Pierre Hotel (Credit: Taj Hotels)
The Pierre Hotel (Credit: Taj Hotels)

A woman is refusing to leave her late husband’s Pierre Hotel apartment, even though it’s been sold for $10 million, the New York Daily News reported.

Tara Kulukundis’ husband, Greek shipping magnate Michael Kulukundis, died in 2010, leaving behind $81 million worth of real estate saddled with debt. Though the executors of Michael’s estate sold the apartment in September 2016, the 73-year-old widow has refused to turn over the ultra-luxury pad, according to a petition filed in Manhattan’s Surrogate’s Court on Friday.

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This is not Kulukundis’ first stand-off. In 2013, she allegedly changed the locks on her husband’s $25 million mansion in Southampton while it was in contract to be sold, according to court documents. And last year, Kulukundis’ son, Manuel, sued her over the family’s art collection, which includes pieces by Henri Matisse and Edgar Degas. Tara, who kept the art in her Pierre Hotel apartment, according to the New York Post, countersued, claiming her husband had left the artwork to her.

In their petition, the executors claimed the estate will go bankrupt if Kulukundis doesn’t move out, and assured the court she would not be left homeless. Kulukundis owns an apartment in Sutton House in Tudor City but sees it as a “giant walk-in closet” and not a suitable home, according to the executors. [NY Daily News] — Chava Gourarie