
Brooklyn has put another sky-high rental in its books, with the leasing, starting in July, of a sprawling duplex for $40,000 a month.
The apartment sits atop 67 Livingston Street in Brooklyn Heights, a boutique rental building that was initially planned as a condominium. It had actually been listed for $30,000, which the broker, Bianca D’Alessio of Nest Seekers International, thought was a stretch when it hit the market in late May, considering the previous tenant was paying $17,500.
But to her great surprise, an Upper East Side family, competing with another well-heeled bidder, made the offer within two days of the penthouse being listed. And without ever stepping foot inside. “They rented while they were on vacation,” said Ms. D’Alessio, who is also Nest Seekers’ director of new development.
reached $4,000 in May, according to the latest market report prepared by Mr. Miller for Douglas Elliman, which is likely a record, or at least the priciest ever reported by the brokerage firm. The median in Manhattan reached almost $5,000, and Brooklyn, $3,250.
most expensive residential building, 220 Central Park South, has just one rental, a five-bedroom unit on half the 37th floor, listed for $75,000 a month, according to StreetEasy; another rental for $85,000 was snapped up a few months ago.
At 50 United Nations Plaza, there are six apartments for rent. This includes the penthouse, listed for $75,000 a month, and currently in the process of being leased to a foreign tenant, said Joshua Young, the managing director for sales and leasing at Brown Harris Stevens.