Lavish Manhattan townhouse finally in contract for fraction of original price
A townhouse owned by the twin sister of the last shah of Iran is in contract from bankruptcy for $11.5 million, sources tell Gimme Shelter.
That’s a bit more than its $11.45 million asking price, but far less than the original $49.9 million it listed for in 2014.
The deal was first revealed in broker Donna Olshan’s eponymous weekly report, which spotlights real-estate contracts signed over $4 million.
The seven-story home at 29 Beekman Place in Midtown East has quite the history. The 12,260-square-foot townhouse was built by CBS founder William Paley.
Princess Ashraf Pahlavi bought it in 1980 — shortly after her family, which began its reign in 1925, fled Iran following the 1979 revolution.
One of her three children was fatally shot that year.
The princess lived a glam and bizarre jet-setting life, passing away in 2016 at age 96.
She was admired by Stalin, once worked as a palace advisor, defended the shah’s torture-loving secret police and was immortalized by Andy Warhol, according to her Washington Post obituary.
The townhouse has been the subject of lawsuits since her death and a former employee, Azadeh Azari, was awarded a $2.7 million judgment against the corporation that owns the townhouse, Wansdown Properties Corp., to cover her pension.
Last year, the home was put into bankruptcy court, when it first received a $10.3 million offer. That offer, however, fell through, sources tell Gimme Shelter. The townhouse was then put back on the market for $11.45 million and is now in contract, listing broker Charlie Attias of Compass — who shares the listing with Greg Corbin of Rosewood Realty — tells Gimme Shelter. “We were able to find a buyer above our asking price. It’s a great scenario. Buyers are back and we are doing deals,” Attias says.
Monday’s Olshan Report also noted that the dollar volume of the top four sales for the first week in June totaled $46.89 million — the highest weekly total in 11 weeks.
The most expensive transaction, Olshan notes, was a penthouse duplex at 415 Greenwich St., which was most recently on the market for $18.9 million. In another hopeful sign for the post-coronavirus property market, the buyers started the negotiations less than a month ago, Davis told the Olshan Report, and only saw the apartment after they agreed on a price.
The 415 Greenwich St. seller was repped by Corcoran’s Danny Davis; the buyers were repped by Joshua Wesoky of Compass.