Michael Ovitz Buys Former Barbara Walters Apartment in NYC

The home of late TV journalist Barbara Walters has gone from the small screen to the silver screen.

Walters’ 11-room apartment at 944 Fifth Avenue has been bought by an entity tied to former Disney president Michael Ovitz and his partner, Jimmy Choo co-founder Tamara Mellon.

Michael S. Dreyer, as the trustee of the Zenpax Trust, closed on the co-op unit for $14.99 million on July 9, according to public records. Dreyer was listed as the chief financial officer of the Ovitz Family Foundation on its most recent tax filing, and was the president of Artists Management Group, a previous Ovitz-led venture, according to Variety.

Ovitz and Mellon, who have been engaged since 2014, have both been active in the market for the past several years.

In 2022, Ovitz listed his West Village condominium at 155 West 11th Street for $25 million less than six months after buying it for $22 million from rock star Jon Bon Jovi.

Ovitz, who co-founded Creative Artists Agency in 1975 and departed for Disney in 1995, also sold an apartment complex for $58 million in 2023, almost $8 million less than he paid for it in 2017.

Mellon sold her penthouse apartment for just over $19 million in 2023. In 2008, the British fashion entrepreneur, who founded her own eponymous footwear brand, bought the pad for $20 million. The condo unit had appeared sporadically on the market since being listed for $34 million in 2014.

Dreyer could not be reached for comment.

Walters lived in her Fifth Avenue co-op for 30 years until her death in December 2022. The home was initially listed by her estate for $19.75 million in April 2023.

The price was dropped to $17.8 million in September and the unit went into contract toward the start of November, Crain’s reported.

At the time of the listing, Alexa Lambert of Compass told the Wall Street Journal that the Upper East Side home had two bedrooms but could be easily converted to a four-bedroom. The main bedroom has views of Central Park, and the apartment has four bathrooms and two half bathrooms. It is serviced by a private elevator that opens to a main foyer and 42-foot living area and library.

Lambert declined to comment on any details of the sale.

Walters, as the first female anchor of a nighttime network news program, was a trailblazer in the television industry. She interviewed many of the most influential figures over six decades, including every sitting president and first lady from Richard and Pat Nixon to Barack and Michelle Obama.

In her memoir, Walters wrote about frequently hosting at her apartment, including having Monica Lewinsky over for dinner several times before she agreed to an interview about the Clinton sex scandal.

The 14-story cooperative building has had several other prominent New Yorkers walk its hallways, including the late Broadway performer Isabelle Stevenson and Robert Mnuchin, the art dealer and father of former Treasury secretary Steven Munchin.

Mnuchin sold his unit in 2022 to RFR Realty principal Michael Fuchs for $18 million after listing it for $25 million in October 2021.

The Manhattan market has been wobbly for the past several years, experiencing drops in median sale price in six of the past seven quarters. Things began to turn around last quarter as listing inventory increased for the first time in 15 months and sales grew 12.2 percent year-over-year.