Top doc’s condo deal tips Vornado’s 220 Central Park South past $3B

NYU School of Medicine Dean Grossman has graduated to Billionaires Row

Top doc’s condo deal tips Vornado’s 220 Central Park South past $3B
Steven Roth, Robert Grossman and 220 Central Park South (Streeteasy, Getty, NYU.edu)

Robert Grossman, the dean of New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine, and his wife, Elisabeth Cohen, snapped up a $14.5 million apartment at 220 Central Park South.

Grossman’s move into the Billionaires Row building appears to have also marked a milestone for Vornado Realty Trust. The developer notched more than three billion dollars in sales in the building when Grossman signed on the dotted line.

Grossman, who has been at the school’s helm since 2007, oversaw a 10 million-square-foot expansion of NYU’s hospital system in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island. He also led efforts in 2018 to eliminate tuition for M.D. students at the school, which in 2019 was renamed in his honor. ​​

JPMorgan Chase provided an $8 million mortgage loan for the purchase.

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The Central Park South building has previously made headlines for its sales streaks. Vornado announced in a third quarter earnings call that it had closed sales on 104 of the 118 units as of Sept. 30, garnering net proceeds of $2.97 billion. A condo later sold in October for $27.4 million, pushing net proceeds up to $2.99 billion.

Grossman is far from the only buyer to splurge on luxury real estate in recent months. Data from appraisal firm Miller Samuel show sales of super-luxury homes across the U.S. have surged since the government drove down interest rates on borrowing after the onset of the pandemic.

At least 40 homes in the U.S. sold for at least $50 million this year, an increase in luxury sales of 35 percent over last year, according to the firm.

“The lower the rates, the higher the prices,” said Jonathan Miller, president and CEO of Miller Samuel.

New York state led the way with 13 sales valued at $931 million, with the biggest sale at Grossman’s new home, 220 Central Park South, where a duplex sold to Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai for $157.5 million.