A Strong Ending in 2021 for Manhattan’s Luxury Market

New York’s luxury market had a strong finish to 2021, with several high-priced penthouse closings, including a TriBeCa triplex with a private pool sold by Lewis Hamilton, the British racecar driver and Formula One champion.

The apartment, marketed as “the crown jewel” of the celebrity-filled 443 Greenwich Street, was bought for $49.5 million. It was the city’s top transaction in December, and the ninth highest for the year.

Among the month’s other big sales was a brand-new duplex penthouse on Park Avenue that closed for $32.7 million, and in the West Village, a new quadruplex penthouse that sold for $31 million and a townhouse that sold for $26.8 million. Also, Daniel Stephen Hafner, a founder of the travel website Kayak, found a buyer for his Chelsea duplex, while Stephen Kircher, who runs one of the country’s largest ski resort operators, and his wife, Molly Kircher, a brand developer, acquired a TriBeCa duplex penthouse.

“No one expected as robust a 2021 as what it has turned out to be,” said Jonathan J. Miller, a Manhattan appraiser, recalling the initial pause in sales early in the pandemic. “The market returned upon the rapid adoption of vaccines.”

Luxury sales — there were eight above $50 million during the year — were a driving force in the recovery, market watchers said.

The priciest property sold in 2021 was at 220 Central Park South in Midtown, where an anonymous buyer paid $157.5 million for two floors. The limestone high-rise, overlooking the park, set the national record in 2019 for having the highest price paid for a single residence, with the sale of four floors for nearly $240 million.

For the year in Manhattan, the number of closed transactions for condos and co-ops was projected to reach 14,260, up from 7,452 in 2020 and 11,673 in 2019, according to a year-end survey by CityRealty.

Mr. Hamilton’s triplex at 443 Greenwich Street sold at its most recent asking price of $49.5 million, giving him a tidy profit. He paid nearly $44 million for the loft-like unit in 2017, although he reportedly never moved in. In 2019, he put it back on the market and bought another penthouse about a block away, at 70 Vestry Street, for $40.7 million.

The Greenwich Street apartment encompasses 8,908 square feet and has six bedrooms, six full bathrooms and two powder rooms, along with a great room with 20-foot ceilings. The penthouse comes with two parking spaces, and on the top level there are nearly 3,000 square feet of outdoor terraces, complete with a plunge pool and summer kitchen.

The building, between Vestry and Desbrosses Streets, once served as a bookbindery warehouse and was converted into condominiums in 2012. It has been home to numerous celebrities, including the actor Meg Ryan and the Grammy Award-winning musician the Weeknd.

Mr. Hamilton, who currently competes in Formula One for Mercedes, has won seven world championship titles.

The buyer of his apartment used the limited liability company 443 GS PHH in the transaction.

The $32.7 million sponsor penthouse sale took place at 1010 Park Avenue, the Extell Development Company’s boutique condominium near Central Park, between 84th and 85th Streets.

The 6,745-square-foot duplex, which had an initial offering price of $50 million, has four bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms, as well as a family room off the kitchen and a library that could be converted into a fifth bedroom.

The spacious primary bedroom suite has two bathrooms, three walk-in closets and a large dressing room.

The home has two terraces facing Park Avenue, one on each level.

The buyer, also anonymous, was listed as Lotus CL LLC.

In the West Village, the penthouse that sold for $31 million is at 601 Washington Street, between Leroy and Morton Streets; it was initially listed for nearly $32.3 million in 2019.

The home extends 7,172 interior square feet over four levels and has six bedrooms, each with an en suite bathroom; two powder rooms; two great rooms; two dens; and a laundry room. The primary bedroom suite takes up the entire third level and includes a den with a fireplace, a dressing room and two extra-large walk-in closets.

There is also an abundance of outdoor space, totaling 1,619 square feet, with views of the Hudson River; it includes a private rooftop terrace, a terrace off the kitchen and a balcony off a bedroom on the lower level.

The buyers were Stephen Biggar, a partner at Baker Brothers Advisors, a hedge fund, and his wife, Elisabeth Asaro Biggar, a singer.

The townhouse, bought for almost $26.8 million, is on Grove Street, between Bedford and Bleecker Streets.

The red brick building, four stories high and 21 feet wide, is around 5,864 square feet, with plenty of outdoor space, including a landscaped rear garden and two terraces, one off the living room on the parlor level and another on the roof, where there is also a greenhouse.

The home has five bedrooms, three full bathrooms and three powder rooms, as well as a wine cellar, a laundry room and a home gym in the cellar.

And adding new meaning to the term move-in ready: The house was not only fully renovated, but also came fully furnished, according to the listing.

The buyers were William Chisholm, the managing director of the private equity firm Symphony Technology Group, and his wife, Kimberly Chisholm.

In Chelsea, Mr. Hafner took a small loss on the sale of his apartment at 212 West 18th Street, a.k.a. Walker Tower, selling it for $23.5 million, or $500,000 less than he paid for it in 2016. He first put the unit on the market in 2017, for $28 million.

The buyer made the purchase through the Walker Tower 18A Trust.

The apartment, extending 4,871 square feet over two floors, contains four bedrooms and four and a half bathrooms, along with an eat-in kitchen, dining room and two laundry rooms. The main bedroom has an en suite bathroom, three closets and a terrace, one of two in the unit, offering views of downtown Manhattan and the Hudson River.

Mr. Hafner serves as the chief executive of the travel website Kayak, which he helped start in 2005.

The TriBeCa duplex bought by the Kirchers for $20 million is at 408 Greenwich Street, a nine-story mixed-use building between Hubert and Laight Streets, near the Hudson River Greenway. The sellers were William F. Paulsen, a real estate investor, and his wife, Laura Taft Paulsen, a board member of the Museum of Arts and Design in Manhattan.

The four-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bathroom apartment encompasses 4,222 square feet and includes a spacious kitchen with a scullery, or prep kitchen, a laundry room and a great room with a gas fireplace and areas for dining and lounging. On the top floor is a media room that opens to a 1,500-square-foot wraparound rooftop terrace, offering views of the Hudson.

Mr. Kircher is the president and chief executive of Boyne Resorts, a Michigan-based company that operates ski and golf resorts and was co-founded by his father, Everett Kircher, in 1947.

And in the final few days of 2021 closings, the sale of Gloria Vanderbilt’s longtime home, a two-bedroom apartment at 30 Beekman Place, was recorded. The purchase price was $2.5 million, more than double the asking price from last August.

Ms. Vanderbilt died in 2019, at 95. The unit, between East 50th and 51st Streets, was sold by her son, the CNN anchor Anderson Cooper. The buyer was Amy Pascal.

Also, Kimberly Guilfoyle, an adviser to President Donald Trump and the girlfriend of his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., made a nice profit on the sale of her co-op apartment at 211 Central Park West, a.k.a. the Beresford. She had bought the three-bedroom, three-bathroom unit in 2015, for around $3.4 million, and sold it for $4.4 million. She and Donald Trump Jr. recently bought a home in Jupiter, Fla., for $9.7 million.

The buyers were Jose Colon and Judith Frankel.

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