This morning it was revealed that Larry Gagosian got maybe the deal of this young decade, paying $36.5 million for the Harkness Mansion. Five years ago, it sold for a record-setting $53 million, and it has quietly been sitting on the market for a good bit less than that.
Broker Sami Hassoumi told The Observer earlier today that rennovations (we’re talking another $10 million), a divorce, and a shaky market were to blame for the mansion being toppled from its pride of place as the most expensive property in the city.
The price may have fallen but Kirk Henkels, Executive Vice President and Director of Stribling Private Brokerage, insists that it is positive and shows that the market is experiencing a rebound. “The money is there and if it’s exactly what buyers want, you’re seeing bidding wars,” he said. No one’s going to fight over a house with a temporary staircase though.
At the end of the day, only one thing matters in Manhattan real estate, and that is the price tag. Here are the properties that now rank ahead of the Harkness on the real estate leaderboard.

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I just paíd $20.87 for an íPad 2.64GB and my boyfriend loves his Panasoníc Lumíx GF 1 Camera that we got for $38.76 there arriving tomorrow by UP S.I will never pay such expensive retail príces in stores again. Especially when I also sold a 40 inch LCD T V to my boss for $657 which only cost me $62.81 to buy.
Here is the website we use to get it all from, bit.ly/BidShop
Your picture of the Duke Semans Mansion is the Neue Gallerie on 86th street, not the Duke Semans Mansion on 82nd street.