Crown Building penthouse in contract for whopping $180M: sources

UPDATED, MARCH 15, 4:30 p.m.: An unknown buyer has entered contract to buy the five-story penthouse at the Crown Building for $180 million, The Real Deal has learned. If a deal is finalized at that price, it would surpass the priciest closed home deal in New York City — a $100.5 million penthouse sold in 2014 — by roughly $80 million.

At $14,358 per foot, the price would also set a new record on a per foot basis, even when held up against the city’s most ambitious luxury developments. A source familiar with the project confirmed the unit was in contract, but declined to comment further.

Sitting atop 730 Fifth Avenue, the 12,536-square-foot residence is one of 26 condominium units being developed by Russian billionaire Vladislav Doronin at 730 Fifth Avenue, which will include 20 private residences and six staff suites. Doronin is also bringing an 83-key Aman-branded hotel to the building. He purchased the fourth through 24th floors of the building with Michael Shvo for $475 million.

Representatives for OKO Group, Doronin’s development company, could not be reached. A recent amendment to the offering plan, viewed by TRD, lists the unit priced at $180 million. The price for the condos were not included in the original offering plan, an increasingly common tactic among developers of top-shelf product who now tend to list prices for individual units once they are spoken for.

Last year, Doronin touted the project’s lack of competition. “This is a unique product,” he told Bloomberg in October. “I don’t see any competition, because for the moment, we don’t have any similar buildings.”

According to the amended offering plan, a 1,150-square-foot one-bedroom is asking $5.9 million, or over $5,100 a foot. A three-bedroom with 4,384 square feet is priced at $26.6 million, or just over $6,000 a foot, and a 6,287-square-foot four-bedroom will ask $58.3 million, or over $9,200 a foot.

The penthouse features a piano lounge and gallery, game room, two kitchens, a wraparound terrace and two swimming pools, floor plans show.

The price would eclipse the record set at Extell Development’s One57, where a penthouse closed in 2014 for $100.5 million. Last month, Michael Dell was revealed as the mystery buyer. Dell paid $9,198 per foot.

There are, however, units said to be in contract around the city that could surpass the $180 million price at the Crown. At Vornado Realty Trust’s 220 Central Park South, for example, hedge funder Ken Griffin is reportedly the buyer of a $200 million-plus penthouse there, and there has also been talk of a big-ticket Qatari buyer. A 23,000-square-foot penthouse at 220 CPS is priced at $11,000 per foot.

In September, Alchemy Properties listed the unfinished penthouse at the Woolworth Building for $110 million, or $11,328 per foot. And Zeckendorf Development is asking $130 million for its top penthouse at 520 Park Avenue, a 12,400-square-foot triplex.

Shvo was sidelined from the Crown project after being indicted on tax evasion charges in 2016. Sources said he retained a stake in the development.