Murdoch Pays $44M For Apartment
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Rupert Murdoch has outdone himself. The Aussie businessman and New York Post owner is behind the record-breaking $44 million penthouse purchase of the late Laurance S. Rockefeller’s 20-room triplex at 834 Fifth Ave., according to the Drudge Report.
Mr. Murdoch has passed muster with the board of the building, which counts as residents the disgraced Sotheby’s owner Alfred Taubman, former Salomon Brothers chairman John Gutfreund, and philanthropist Carol Petrie.
The price tag for the 8,000-square-foot unit, which boasts 20 rooms, views of Central Park, and a solarium, as well as a whopping $21,469.07 monthly maintenance charge, outdoes the most expensive co-operative deal, which was $30 million, and breaks the previous record of $42.5 million for a condominium at the Time Warner Center.
The Post first reported the sale on Saturday, although it did not mention the buyer. The unit, on floors 14 to 16, overlooks Central Park. It includes seven bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, servants’ quarters with three maid rooms, a library, a reception room, a gallery, and 4,000 square feet of terraces. According to the building’s bylaws, buyers are required to pay in cash with no financing.
