It’s finally closing time for buyers at 220 Central Park South.
More than five years after Vornado Realty Trust put shovels in the ground — and 18 years after it acquired the site — the developer plans to start closings this week, sources told The Real Deal.
Although the real estate investment trust has remained tight-lipped about the project, and declined to comment for this article, the Robert A.M. Stern-designed tower is poised to rival uber-successful projects like 15 Central Park West.
Brokers are also anticipating a slew of new sales records at the 118-unit tower overlooking Central Park. The building’s top penthouse is a 23,000-square-foot mega-mansion in the sky that was priced at $250 million, and a quadplex spanning 11,000 square feet had a sticker price of $150 million. If either closes, 220 CPS would blow away the current record, Michael Dell’s $100.4 million penthouse at One57.
Vornado’s press-shy CEO Steve Roth has famously acted like a one-man co-op board at the condo, personally vetting prospective buyers that reportedly include Sting and hedge funder Ken Griffith, who is rumored to have snapped up a $200 million penthouse.
Brokers said they’ve been told the building is more than 70 percent sold, even though Vornado hasn’t given an official sales update in close to three years. During a July earnings call, Roth didn’t even mention the $1.4 billion project, which the company disclosed in 2015 is projected to cost $5,000 a square foot to build. (As of June 30, Vornado had already spent $1.1 billion of the $1.4 billion budgeted, according to SEC filings.)
During the last update — in late 2015 — Roth said 220 CPS had contracts valued at $1.1 billion six weeks after launching sales.
Just last month, Vornado increased the total projected sellout for the project to $3.4 billion, according to filings with the state Attorney General’s office. The offering plan for 220 CPS was declared effective in May — paving the way for closings to begin. In June, the developer filed an amendment with the A.G. stating that if closings did not happen by Dec. 31, 2018, buyers would be permitted to back out.
Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group has been handling sales.