By Kim Velsey 1/02 2:30pm

Manhattan Transfers

A striking design, but not for everyone.

A Brutal Buy: Billionaire Marc Rowan Pays $26 M. for Brutalist Masterpiece at 927 Fifth

The holidays aren’t only a good time for giving to others; they’re also a popular time for people of means to buy themselves lavish gifts. This year Apollo Global Management managing director Marc Rowan went all out: the billionaire and bride Carolyn splurged on a $26 million co-op at 927 Fifth Avenue, according to city records.

The Rowans, who own a floor-through on the sixth floor, have purchased the floor-through on the fifth floor. The couple could be looking for a slightly inferior view, of course, but we’d say this a fairly unambiguous move to create a duplex floor-through. Read More

By Kim Velsey 5/14/12 12:50pm

Manhattan Transfers

A modest spread for a woman of wealth

Widow of Bruce Wasserstein Ships Off East Village Co-op For $1.6 M.

If there’s one thing that shipping magnate Angela Chao knows, it’s how to move goods. Ms. Chao just sold her Greenwich Village co-op for the $1.6 million ask, according to city records.

Ms. Chao, an executive at her father’s Foremost Group and the fourth wife and widow of  the late billionaire and Lazard chief Bruce Wasserstein, must have grown tired of her two-bedroom co-op apartment at 35 East 9th Street, which sold to Nancy Bello and Michael Boghosian. They sure liked the place, though, as it enter contract after a little more than a month on the market. Read More

By Kim Velsey 5/01/12 3:49pm

Manhattan Transfers

You'd probably roost here too if you got the chance

Billionaire Marc Rowan Pays Millions For More Space In 927 Fifth Avenue

You can never have too much of a good thing, and 927 Fifth Avenue—red-tailed hawk controversies aside—is definitely a good thing. Or so Apollo Global Management managing director Marc Rowan and wife Carolyn seem to think.

The couple, who live on the exclusive co-op’s sixth floor, have paid $7.7 million for the space formerly owned by Robert Schwager, who died in 2007, according to city records.

Schwager, a prominent plastic surgeon, kept his offices on the ground floor of the building, which is classified, according to the deed, as commercial co-op space. Read More

By Elise Knutsen 9/23/11 10:43am

Stratospheric Sales

Scott and Donya Bommer (Photo from Patrick McMullan)

Zeckendorf Sells to Hedgie Scott Bommer, Makes Even More than We Thought

Back in July, The Observer learned that William Lie Zeckendorf had found a buyer for his half of the old Wasserstein pad at 927 Fifth Avenue, which he had purchased for $29.1 million only seven months earlier. The purchase price was rumored to be as high as $34 million, well above the $31.5 million ask and a good explanation for why Mr. Zecekendorf might ever think of selling, given the quick turnaround. It turns out, the sale was even higher than that. Read More