$20.3M Penthouse Closing Marks Biggest Home Sale in Brooklyn History

The headline in 2018 said, “Brooklyn could see a new resi record. But a lot can change before the deal closes.”

A lot did change. Yet the deal still closed this month for a cool $20.3 million, public records show.

The record-setting transaction, for a combined penthouse next to Brooklyn Bridge Park, was completed virtually — in adherence with the governor’s stay-home order — while the economy was collapsing under the strain of a global pandemic.

The buyer, a New Yorker who works in finance, combined two penthouses at the Quay Tower to create a seven-bedroom unit spanning some 7,400 square feet. The deal closed for $20.3 million, according to property records — 11 percent off the final asking price of $22.75 million, but 22 percent above the borough’s previous high-water mark.

“Closing on the most expensive residential sale in Brooklyn history at this period in time is a testament to the beautiful, serene homes created at Quay Tower,” Andrew Anderson of Douglas Elliman, who brokered the deal, said in a statement. He declined to comment further.

It is the most expensive home sale in Brooklyn’s history, easily eclipsing the $16.7 million that actor Matt Damon paid for a 6,218-square-foot penthouse at The Standish in 2018. Before then, the record was $15.5 million for a townhouse at 177 Pacific Street in 2015.

Since brokers were prohibited from conducting in-person showings, many have focused on moving existing contracts forward. In the past three weeks, just six new contracts were signed in Manhattan for properties above $4 million, down 90 percent from the same period last year.

Broker Bruce Ehrmann, Andrew Anderson’s partner on the Anderson-Ehrmann team, was behind last week’s priciest Manhattan contract, for a 15th-floor unit at 108 Leonard Street.

Write to Sylvia Varnham O’Regan at so@therealdeal.com