It seems $86 million was too steep a price for the penthouse at the Sherry-Netherland.
The seller – a Chinese investor who paid nearly $70 million last year for the sprawling pad – has lowered the asking price to $78 million from $86 million. The 18th-floor co-op at 781 Fifth Avenue hit the market in October asking more than $9,500 a foot. The current price works out to around $8,666 per foot.
With seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms, the 9,000-square-foot spread also has three terraces totaling 2,000 square feet.
“It is one of the best offerings out there and the fact that it is a co-op, which does welcome qualified offshore buyers, with a price reduction, makes it highly competitive,” said Brown Harris Stevens’ Kathy Sloane, who has the listing. The new price, she added, “reflects the seriousness of the seller.”
The penthouse at the Sherry-Netherland
The seller – identified in public records as Genever Holdings LLC – has owned the pad for just over a year but is said to be in the market for a larger space. The corporation bought the fully-furnished pad in March 2015 from Charlene and Gilbert Haroche, co-founder of Liberty Travel, who cobbled together the sprawling home from smaller units purchased over the years.
The Haroches originally listed the penthouse for $95 million in 2012.
Despite the current discount, the penthouse would still set a new record for the priciest co-op sold if it goes for the new price – albeit barely. Leonard Blavatnik currently holds that title, after paying $77.5 million for Jets owner Woody Johnson’s duplex at 834 Fifth Avenue.
The penthouse at the Sherry-Netherland
The priciest co-op listing is former Salomon Brothers chief John Gutfreund’s 12,000-square-foot spread at 834 Fifth Avenue, which is currently asking $120 million.
At the Sherry, the last time the penthouse was on the market, it rotated through a series of brokers including Sloane; Dolly Lenz; Douglas Elliman’s Lisa Simonsen; Elliman’s Tal and Oren Alexander; Sotheby’s International Realty’s Serena Boardman, and Brown Harris Stevens’ John Burger.