Heiress’ Former Fifth Avenue Co-op Trades For $38M

An Upper East Side co-op once owned — and famously uninhabited — by copper heiress Huguette Clark closed for $37.5 million.

The 12th-floor apartment at 907 Fifth Avenue sold to Chella Safra, the widow of Brazilian banker Moise Safra, according to closing documents recorded in the city register on Thursday. The deal, which appears to be off-market, includes two units, Nos. 12W and SVT20.

The co-op last traded in 2012, when hedge fund founder Boaz Weinstein bought it for $25.5 million. The apartment hit the market earlier that year, but at the time, little was known publicly about the condition of its interiors. It was rumored to be in need of extensive renovations after sitting vacant for decades.

Adam Modlin of the Modlin Group, who represented both the buyers and the sellers, did not respond to a request for comment.

Clark, the apartment’s former owner, was the daughter of William Clark, who was considered one of the richest men in America in the early 1900s and who briefly served as a senator in Montana thanks to a hefty pay out.

The heiress and renowned painter was also known for her large collection of French dolls and for being extremely private. Though she owned luxury properties in Manhattan, California and Connecticut, she spent more than 20 years living in hospitals even while healthy.

Clark owned three apartments in the limestone building overlooking Central Park, including the top-floor unit and two others on the 8th floor. The trio hit the market for a combined $55 million in 2012, the year after her death at 104 years old.

At the time, the listings included no pictures of the apartments’ interior, and only a small group of buyers and their agents were allowed inside to view them.

“It was like going back in time 100 years,” a potential buyer told the New York Times in 2012. “There was oak paneling and original wood floors, and in the kitchen there were appliances from 1915. It was a throwback.”

Clark’s mansion in New Canaan, Connecticut sold for $14.3 million in 2014 to Reed Krakoff, the former chief artistic officer of Tiffany & Co., and his wife Delphine, an interior design executive. The 52-acre property at 10 Dans Highway hit the market in October with a $25.5 million asking price.

Weinstein is the founder and chief investment officer of Saba Capital Management. He was previously an executive at Deutsche Bank.

Safra was born in Lebanon and now lives in São Paulo, Brazil. She and her late husband Moise, a businessman born in Syria and co-founder of Banco Safra, are known for their philanthropic work supporting Jewish organizations across the globe. Moise died in 2014 at the age of 79.