Upper East Side townhouse in contract for $81M will be most expensive ever sold

When Carlos Slim, Mexican business magnate and former world’s richest person, listed his Upper East Side Beaux Arts mansion for $80 million in May 2015 he was looking to break the record for most expensive townhouse ever sold in NYC. An attempt was then made by this $84.5 million home on East 62nd Street, but now another neighborhood home is set to take the title. As the Post shares, 19 East 64th Street was listed for $100 million in August, and it’s now in contract by a Chinese conglomerate for a reported $81 million. If it closes, the price will far surpass the current record, the $53 million sale of the Harkness Mansion at 4 East 75th Street in 2006.

The drama surrounding 19 East 64th Street began in 2014 when the big-time art dealing Wildenstein family was in negotiations with Quatar, who was set to buy the home for $90 million and use it as their consulate and an art gallery. The deal fell through, and the property made more negative headlines last month when owner David Wildenstein was sued by billionaire Len Blavatnik, owner of Warner Music, investor in “Hamilton,” and owner of the city’s current most-expensive co-op. Blavatnik claimed that he “shook hands” on a deal to buy the townhouse for $79 million, after which Wildenstein reneged in an attempt to get a higher price.

Nevertheless, the new mystery owners will be living just a block from Central Park in a Gilded Age limestone beauty designed by Horace Trumbauer in 1932. The home boasts 20-foot ceilings, a paneled elevator, a dramatic staircase, and a third-floor salon that was imported from “the 18th-century home of a Parisian prince.” It should be noted that technically the residence is a commercial property, as it’s been serving as an art gallery.

[Via NYP]

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