Second Time’s the Charm
It’s hard to top the penthouse at the Plaza, with its 100-year-old history, ambience of an older New York and a location on Fifth Avenue facing Central Park. In these times, it’s even harder to contemplate having the net wealth to be able to purchase the Plaza’s penthouse for $53.5 million early last year only to turn around and sell it for a loss last September. Purchasing a new penthouse for $37 million less than a year after dumping the first is virtually unimaginable; however, the feat recently has been accomplished. Andrei Vavilov, the Russian multimillionaire and energy magnate, bought and sold the Plaza penthouse in 2008 and now has paid $37 million for new digs at Time Warner Center, according to The New York Times.
Vavilov’s wife and lawyer both disapproved of the Plaza penthouse’s so-called “small windows and low ceilings.” Luckily, Mr. Vavilov’s new home literally looks down upon his old residence—from its location on the 78th floor of the south tower at Time Warner Center, the 41-foot-long living room faces Central Park and towers over the Plaza’s penthouse. The five-bedroom residence encompasses 8,300 square feet (including the elevator landings) and an entire trapezoidal floor, almost as much space on one floor as the Plaza apartment had on three levels, says The Times.
Brown Harris Stevens’ agents Elizabeth Lee Sample and Brenda Powers assisted Vavilov with the purchase, which represents the highest price paid for an apartment in Manhattan since last September.
View the entire New York Times story here
– Sarah Binder
