$40 Million for a luxury condo

[noharmony]

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EXEC IS SET TO PAY $40M FOR CONDO

By BRADEN KEIL (NYPOST.COM)
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September 7, 2001 -- Despite a slowing economy, a record $40 million is about to be plunked down for a luxury condo.
The whopping sum is expected to be paid for an 8,500-square-foot pad located in the AOL Time Warner Center, which is at least two years away from completion, according to sources familiar with the deal.

The buyer of the lavish lair on the top floor in the south spire of the twin-towered complex at Columbus Circle is said to be Stephen Ross, CEO of the building's developer, The Related Companies.

Ross at first denied he was the interested party, then conceded, "Have I thought about it? Yeah."

"But I haven't made a decision," he said. "Someone could buy it while I'm thinking about it. Right now, we're just selling apartments."

The figure, should it hold up until the closing, would eclipse the latest record of a reported $39 million paid by Millennium Partners founder Chris Jeffries at 50 Central Park South. India-based communications mogul Cem Uzan paid $38 million for a flat at the new Trump World Tower near the United Nations building.

Louise Sunshine, whose Sunshine Group has the AOL Time Warner Center's listing, told The Post the asking price includes little more than bare walls - and finished places will cost millions more.

While construction of the monstrous complex on Columbus Circle has just begun, big ticket sales of their luxury condos are apparently surging ahead.

"I've had almost $100 million in contracts," said Dolly Lenz, executive vice president of Douglas Elliman, one of the city's top brokers.

The Post has reported that there are 10 apartments going for a combined total topping $300 million, just less than $5,000 per square foot. The rest of the units are smaller and more reasonably priced.

"It's not appropriate for us to comment," said Donald Trump of the apparent trumping of the price paid at his Trump World Tower. "We got $38 million for Trump World Tower, and that's confirmed."

Uzan's apartment in Trump's building, it should be noted, is 17,000 square feet - twice the size of its AOL Time Warner counterpart.

While AOL stock continues its slide, one broker says the buildings' largest condos are being snapped up by its executives. Brokers say CEO Steve Case is interested in the 8,600-square-foot 80th floor penthouse in the north tower, which is not yet on the market.

Sales of condos in the building's south tower have been approved by the state attorney general, while residences in the like-sized north tower have yet to be given the green light.



22 November photograph from 1 Central Park website

[Edward]

From New York Post

January 3, 2002
By BRADEN KEIL

The penthouse in the North Tower of AOL Time Warner Center's residences has been sold for over $30 million.

Sources say the unidentified buyers (she's a TV executive and he's an Arnold Schwarzenegger look-alike) purchased the lofty lair after selling their duplex penthouse on floors 42 and 43 at 515 Park Ave. to San Diego businessman Charles Brandes for $22 million last summer.

The 8,600-square-foot apartment on the 80th floor will be delivered to the lucky couple with only drywall and plumbing when the multi-use building is completed in 2003. It's up to them to decorate, which will cost several millions more.

The top floor in the South Tower is on hold - and thus, not on the market - for building developer Steve Ross, with a retail value of $40 million.

[Edward]

From New York Post

November 8, 2001 -- FREE-SPENDING Turkish telecommunications mogul Cem Uzan, perhaps best known in this country as the buyer of a $38 million duplex penthouse on top of the new Trump World Tower, is pulling out of his deal to take the colossal condo to avoid having it seized by U.S. creditors, The Post has learned.
Uzan's family-owned company, Telsim, is Turkey's No. 2 wireless telephone company and it is in arrears to mobile handset giants Motorola and Nokia for nearly $3 billion in loans. A Motorola executive says his company will take "all necessary steps" to recoup its $2 billion cash layout.

"So far, Telsim has been largely uncooperative," Motorola CEO Bob Growney said about possible talks of loan restructuring.

The sociable UCLA-educated Turk - who travels in social circles that includes Prince Charles - will forfeit an approximate $10 million deposit on the 17,000-square-foot apartment on the 89th and 90th floors, while a team of investigators continues to pick through his seizable assets in Europe and the United States.

They may want to add to the list the two smaller units he's already closed on in the building's lower floors. Uzan's local properties are also said to include a $6.3 million place at 515 Park Ave. and several units at United Nations Plaza. Other tangibles reportedly include a private island, a Turkish ranch, a Boeing 747, a smaller short-range private jet, two helicopters and three yachts.

The Uzan family also has holdings that include the Imar Bank, The Turkish Daily Star newspaper and a satellite television company.

Meanwhile, the Turkish press is painting a rather unglamorous portrait of the smooth Uzan's dealings as a "rich man who doesn't pay his debts." It accuses his company of non-payment of earthquake relief funds - from government-imposed taxes charged to Telsim subscribers - to the Ministry of Finance. Uzan could not be reached for comment.

[Edward]

Sky-High Buy
The Apartment on the Right
BY JOY ARMSTRONG


Who says liberals are the only trusting souls out there? Kellyanne Conway (formerly Kellyanne Fitzpatrick) -- CEO of the Polling Company, omnipresent cable-news figure, right-wing pundit -- and her attorney husband just paid $3.09 million for a two-bedroom apartment in Trump World Tower without ever seeing the place. Insignia Douglas Elliman's Marie Bianco sold the eightieth-floor 2,000-square-foot condo in Trump World Tower based solely on e-mail exchanges and floor plans. "They couldn't see the apartment, because it wasn't done," Bianco says. The couple, who'll keep their Virginia home, initially wanted a flat in the Metropolitan Towers, but were so impressed with the Donald's high-tech virtual tour that they just had to go gold. (Her company plans to open a New York office this year.) The buyers were even able to slip their beloved corgi, Jesse, through the house rules. Law-and-order conservatism, after all, can only be taken so far.

From the January 21, 2002 issue of New York Magazine.

[Edward]

By BRADEN KEIL New York Post
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January 17, 2002
Speaking of the world of Trump, Derek Jeter has purchased more space in Trump World Tower.

We discovered the Yankee great actually bought two apartments in the Donald's high-rise condo building. Not only does he have a 5,000-square-foot place on the 88th floor of the 90-story building (or the 68th floor of the 70-story structure, depending on whose math you're using), for which he paid just under $13 million, he also bought another apartment several floors below for approximately $3 million. Insiders say his parents could be the likely residents.