Updated, 5:41 p.m., Nov. 18: In just the latest example of Manhattan’s dipping luxury market, an Upper East Side townhouse has sold for $19 million, a $12 million loss on what the seller paid two years ago.
Christopher Cole bought the 6,660-square-foot townhouse at 116 East 70th Street for $31 million back in 2014, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Cole — who purchased the townhouse from Susan Weber Soros, the ex-wife of billionaire George Soros — first listed the home for $33 million. He then dropped the price to $28 million when it didn’t sell. In February, Cole listed the townhouse for $27 million.
But the discounts didn’t end there. The head of TriStar Capital David Edelstein bought the house — which is next door to Woody Allen’s home — for $19 million in an off-market deal that closed last week, according to the Journal.
Sabrina Saltiel of Douglas Elliman and Jed Garfield of Leslie J. Garfield were involved in the sale. Garfield told the Journal the discount is further evidence of a slowdown in Manhattan’s luxury market, but added it is possible that Cole paid too much for the property two years ago.
“When someone wants to sell, they have to accept the reality,” Saltiel told the paper. “Nobody wants to overpay and people feel the market is trending down.”
Built in 1869, the townhouse is 19 feet wide and features an elevator, two terraces and a glass solarium overlooking a garden.
Edelstein, the head of New York based TriStar Capital, owns around 20 residential and commercial buildings in New York City, according to the Journal.
A number of high profile New York City properties have sold at big losses recently. Chinese Billionaire Liu Yiqian last month bought an apartment on the 62nd floor at One57 for $8.2 million less than the seller had paid in 2014. Earlier this month ADCO Group bought artist Abby Leigh’s Upper East Side town house for $20.4 million, almost half the original asking price. [WSJ] — Miriam Hall
Correction: Due to an error in the source article, an earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the seller as Christopher A. Cole, the former co-chairman of investment banking at Goldman Sachs. The seller is Christopher H. Cole.