The Penthouse That Keeps Breaking Records in SoHo

For the second time in just over a year, a sprawling triplex on Broome Street set a record for the highest price paid for a single residence in SoHo.

The sale price was $49 million, roughly 40 percent more than the $35.1 million, the previous neighborhood record, the apartment sold for in October 2020. It was also the most expensive closing in New York City for the month of November.

Several other sizable closings were recorded in downtown Manhattan during the month, including two penthouses at 56 Leonard, the distinctive Jenga-like glass skyscraper in TriBeCa. The apartment at the pinnacle sold for $45 million, the unit two levels below for $30.1 million.

In NoHo, Michael D. Daffey, a former Goldman Sachs executive who bought Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime residence on the Upper East Side last winter, sold the duplex penthouse he shared with his wife, Blake Daffey. The price was $24.6 million. And in the West Village, a four-story townhouse with a garage was bought for $17.6 million, nearly $1.7 million above the asking price.

Elsewhere in the city, the veteran TV journalist Soledad O’Brien and her husband, Brad Raymond, an investment banker, bought a penthouse with a spacious rooftop terrace in Harlem.

The record SoHo sale, at $49 million, took place at 419-421 Broome Street, the 19th-century cast-iron building where the actor Heath Ledger had been renting a loft when he died 13 years ago. The penthouse is situated near Crosby Street in the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District Extension.

The seller was Menemshovitz NY Realty, an entity apparently associated with the company that three years ago bought the vacation home the Obama family had rented for three summers in Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.; the buyer used the limited liability company Oak Shade.

The loftlike apartment, encompassing the fifth through seventh floors, has around 8,000 square feet of interior space, with three bedrooms and five full and two half bathrooms, along with two kitchens, a media room and a gym. There is also a roof deck and six landscaped terraces, totaling 3,800 square feet, one of which includes a hot tub.

The home had been meticulously renovated before the two record-setting sales, by David Matlin, a distressed asset investor, and his wife, Lisa Matlin. The couple acquired the triplex 10 years ago for $17.8 million. And after four years of top-to-bottom work that included painstakingly selecting high-end materials from around the world, they put it back on the market in 2018, initially for as much as $65 million.

At 56 Leonard, the top-floor penthouse that closed at $45 million encompasses nearly 7,800 square feet over two floors and contains five bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms, along with a bird’s-eye view of New York Harbor and the Hudson River.

The rambling duplex, with floor-to-ceiling windows and 19-foot ceilings, has more than 1,200 square feet of outdoor space that includes a terrace off the kitchen and great room, another off a bedroom, and a private balcony in the primary bedroom suite.

The seller, identified as Uticon Investment Holdings L.L.C., had paid around $47.9 million for the unit when it was brand-new, in June 2017. The new owner used the limited liability company Misfit Owlet.

The penthouse, on the 58th floor, has five bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms and 5,489 square feet, and sold for $30.1 million. It also has panoramic water and cityscape views from its walls of windows and two terraces, off the main bedroom suite and the great room. The buyer’s identity was shielded by the limited liability company Proudspire.

The seller was Leon Shaulov, the founder of the hedge fund Maplelane Capital, which earlier this year had lost money betting against GameStop’s stock. But he and his wife, Irina Shaulov, made a handsome profit on the apartment sale, having bought it in April 2017 for nearly $26.8 million.

The cantilevered building, completed in 2017 on the corner of Leonard and Church Streets, was designed by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron and developed by the Alexico Group.

The NoHo duplex sold by Mr. Daffey for $24.6 million is at 25 Bond Street, a cobblestone road near Lafayette Street. It extends 6,376 square feet and has four bedrooms, four full bathrooms and two powder rooms. The home also comes with a 550-square-foot terrace off the great room and a 1,900-square-foot roof deck with an extra-large hot tub. Both outdoor spaces have stunning Manhattan skyline vistas.

The apartment, initially listed for $27.5 million, was purchased through the limited liability company Adig Properties.

In March, the Daffeys closed on the purchase of the Epstein mansion at 9 East 71st Street, paying $51 million. The neo-French Classic building, between Madison and Fifth Avenues, was initially listed for $88 million in July 2020, several months after Mr. Epstein’s suicide in a Manhattan jail cell, where he was being held on sex-trafficking charges.

The Daffeys said they planned an extensive makeover of the Upper East Side building “physically and spiritually.”

The West Village townhouse sale, totaling $17.6 million, took place at 95 Bedford Street, between Grove and Barrow Streets. The asking price was $15.95 million.

The brick structure, 25 feet wide and traversing 9,232 square feet, is currently configured as a multifamily home with a garage, according to the listing with Leslie J. Garfield, but could be converted into “an unrivaled single-family West Village mansion.”

The building was erected in 1895 and first used as a stable, and later served as the home of J. Goebel & Company, an importer of Grossalmerode clay.

The new owner is listed as Bedford Village, LLC.

The Harlem penthouse purchased by Ms. O’Brien and Mr. Raymond is at 1845-51 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard. The couple paid $4.8 million.

Their new 5,810-square-foot home has six bedrooms and six and a half bathrooms, along with a living room with a wood-burning fireplace, a family room and a home office, according to the listing with Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

But the home’s real showstopper can be found by climbing a glass and stainless-steel-staircase off the main foyer. At the top sits a 4,000-square foot terrace featuring an outdoor kitchen and dining area, two cabanas, and a basketball half court. The space also offers Central Park and city skyline views.

Ms. O’Brien, a former CNN anchor, is the founder of the Starfish Media Group, a media production company.

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