Posted by Leonard Steinberg of URBAN COMPASS on October 21st, 2014

A new pricing record has been broken in New York: For the first time ever a co-op located at 834 Fifth Avenue has been sold for $80 million. The buyer is the quintessential Russian Billionaire Len Blavatnik.  834 Fifth Avenue is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious building in New York City and some call it “the most pedigreed building on the snobbiest street in the country’s most real estate-obsessed city”. It is considered one of the finest buildings designed by Rosario Candela, constructed in 1931, and was one of the last luxury apartment houses completed before the Great Depression halted such projects in New York City. The limestone clad building features Art Deco styling on the entry ways and portions of the Fifth Avenue facade. The home was sold by Woody Johnson. The building has housed the Rockefeller, Bass, Murdoch, Taubman, De Lorean, Schwab,Wexner families. The building’s board welcomes more entrepreneurs than any of its peer buildings.

This sale proves that some condominiums don’t look that prohibitively expensive anymore, and how contrary to most beliefs, to some of the super-wealthy a tough co-op board may not only be a non-issue, but may actually be an attraction.