Penthouse in 15 Central Park West asks $48M

Sting’s former unit in “Limestone Jesus” asks $2M less 2017 sale price

Tyler Whitman, Sting, 15 Central Park West (The Agency, Getty, Google Maps)

Harrison Connery

Dec 7, 2023, 5:00 PM

A penthouse in Zeckendorf Development’s 15 Central Park West is hitting the market as Manhattan’s luxury scene appears to be gaining momentum.

The unit in the iconic building known as “Limestone Jesus” listed for $48 million, $2 million less than its anonymous sellers paid in 2017, when the owners picked up from British musician Sting and his wife.

The deal illustrated a key shift in Manhattan’s luxury residential scene, as the couple joined the slew of high-profile buyers at 220 Central Park South, the Vornado Realty Trust property that picked up the torch from 15 Central Park West as the city’s new premier luxury residential property.

The asking price for the penthouse shakes out to just under $9,000 per square foot. At $48 million, a potential deal would place 11th in Manhattan’s most expensive residential transactions this year.

The borough’s luxury market has dimmed slightly this year, down from the boom years of 2021 and 2022. The priciest sale in the city so far this year is $80 million, according to data collected by TRD Data, down from 2022, when two units sold for over $100 million.

But luxury buyers are largely insulated from the elevated mortgage rates that have locked up the rest of the housing market and despite tight inventory overall, Compass reported signed contracts for homes asking $20 million or more in the borough jumped in the third quarter, up 300 percent year-over-year.

Billionaire hedge funder Dan Och’s penthouse, which listed in 2019 for $57.5 million or $12,000 per square foot. The property was previously home to a Manhattan record, when former Citigroup chairman Sanford Weill sold his apartment in 2011 for $88 million.

The newly-listed penthouse is a 5,400-square-foot duplex condo spanning the 16th and 17th floors. The unit has five bedrooms and five full bathrooms, as well as two half-bathrooms, and a spiral staircase connecting its two floors.

On the first floor is a 44-foot living room with park views, which opens onto a 400-square-foot balcony. The unit offers 100 feet of direct Central Park frontage and permit plans are available if the new owners want to renovate.

The Agency’s Tyler Whitman has the listing. He declined to comment.

New York