By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-29 12:00:43 | Updated at 2025-03-31 23:08:26
2 days ago
A pair of NYC real estate titans duped a client into buying an $80 million Park Avenue penthouse with a stunning Central Park view — rushing the sale before news broke that a high-rise next door would ruin the vista, according to a lawsuit.
Arthur and William Lie Zeckendorf perpetrated “a brazen fraud” on the buyer of the five-bedroom, 6.5-half bath duplex at 520 Park Ave., the unidentified purchaser said in a Manhattan Supreme Court filing which seeks to undo the November deal.
The 8,300-square-foot Upper East Side home, complete with solarium, private elevator, balcony and a fireplace, is billed as having “dazzling panoramic views from all four exposures,” according to a real estate listing.
Well-heeled residents of the Park Avenue building include former UFC-owning billionaire Frank Fertitta, who bought one of the building’s four penthouse duplexes in 2017; James Dyson, the billionaire founder of the Dyson appliance company; and Bob Diamond, former head of Barclays.
The full view of the Big Apple’s iconic green space is the duplex’s “defining feature,” the buyer, identified only as Park Ave. Condo LLC, said in the legal filing.
But a 37-story skyscraper with 62 units planned by Extell Development and Solil Management on several combined lots next door “is all but certain to ruin the Penthouse’s unobstructed Central Park view,” according to the lawsuit. It’s unclear when the new building is expected to be completed.
The Zeckendorfs learned about the new building “given their status as part of a small circle of New York City real estate insiders,” and understood “that if the public ever caught wind of the Extell-Solil development, the penthouse would never sell — and certainly not at an $80 million price tag,” the buyer alleged.
The “crown jewel” of the Zeckendorf’s 62-story building began as a triplex which the pair hoped would sell for well above $100 million, breaking a then-city record.
But the $100 million benchmark was reached by a different developer in 2017, and the triplex sat for years unsold, forcing the pair to change their approach, the buyer said in court papers.
They split the triplex into two apartments, but still couldn’t easily unload the duplex, according to court papers.
The current buyer voiced interest in the duplex in the fall. But the Zeckendorfs failed to alert the buyers to the “specific, existing risk that the penthouse’s west-facing Central Park windows would be obscured,” the buyer said.
Instead, the building’s offering plan mentioned only that the view was an amenity “that potentially can be lost” to future construction, according to the lawsuit.
In addition to asking the court to let them ditch the penthouse, the unidentified buyer is seeking unspecified damages.
The lawsuit is “a shameless attempt to renegotiate a binding agreement,” said Zeckendorf attorneys Terrence Oved and Darren Oved.
“We are confident the court will readily see this for what it is – a transparent case of buyer’s remorse masquerading as a complaint – and readily dismiss it.”
The Zeckendorfs are famed for developments such as 15 Central Park West, nicknamed “Limestone Jesus.” Current and past residents of the condo tower include Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, Robert De Niro, Denzel Washington and Alex Rodriguez.
