Two of New York City’s biggest sales so far this year closed in July, including a pair of co-ops sold together for $101 million by the estate of Paul G. Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft who died nearly four years ago.
The sale, to an anonymous buyer, consists of a penthouse and a full-floor unit just below it on the 11th floor at 4 East 66th Street, the exclusive limestone apartment house designed in the early 1920s by James E. R. Carpenter on the corner of Fifth Avenue.
Mr. Allen, a real estate aficionado, had accumulated numerous properties around the country. He acquired the penthouse in 2011 for $25 million, and the 11th-floor unit in 1996, reportedly for $13.5 million.
$77.5 million sale in 2015 of the New York Jets owner Woody Johnson’s duplex at neighboring 834 Fifth Avenue.
The Allen apartments were bought and sold in private deals, so there aren’t many details about them — or the recent buyer. The purchase was made through the limited liability company Eleven-Twelve East.
But past sales in the building show that the full-floor units are around 7,500 square feet, and feature spacious entrance galleries, soaring 12-foot-plus ceilings, at least one wood-burning fireplace and oversize windows that provide views of nearby Central Park.
The penthouse is reportedly a bit smaller than the other full-floor units, though it comes with a wraparound terrace suitable for private parties with the very private neighbors. The 12-story building has been home to a number of prominent residents, among them the socialite Veronica Hearst and the financier and presidential adviser Bernard Baruch.
The year’s second biggest sale, the $75.9 million penthouse in the Crown Building at Aman New York Residences, also comes with lots of space, encompassing 6,791 square feet on the entire 20th floor.
died in 2020.
Her 3,000-square-foot apartment has three bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms, plus a great room with an open kitchen equipped with marble countertops and custom milled wood cabinets. She also gets to enjoy treetop views of Madison Square Park, which the building faces.
Oh, and she’ll also have Jeff Bezos as a neighbor. The Amazon founder bought up five units in the steel-frame tower, formerly an office building, including a triplex.