How to price a penthouse with an en-suite garage?

It's a bird, it's a plane, no it's a car elevator! Penthouse 1 at Annabelle Seldorf's notorious "sky-garage"  condo project at 200 Eleventh Avenue has had a hard time finding the right buyer. The three-bedroom, 3.5-bath first hit the market in 2007 asking $9.5 million only to decide a few months later that an apartment with a sky garage was very special indeed. It upped the ask to $11.3 million.

The price then went down, then up, then way up, then the duplex sold for a measly $7.6 million 2011. Now, a new buyer has plunked down $11 million for the sleek spread. Has the unit found happiness at long last?

Hey, a sky garage is a hot commodity for a riverfront apartment these days—you don't have to worry about your car flooding the next time a hurricane hits. Of course, if the power goes out, the car remain stuck until who knows when, but better safe in the sky than waterlogged, right?

Besides the famous en-suite auto-storage, the unit, listed with Douglas Elliman's Herve Senequier and Leonard Steinberg, has two large loggia terraces, a freestanding granite tub and teak millwork. And although the unit sold considerably below the $12.95 million ask, seller West Sky LLC made a killing, a full $3.4 million, off this flip.

At least the buyer, 1300 Federal LLC, can take comfort in the fact that he or she paid for something close to what the unit has been asking for over the years ($7.6 million seems like a steal). Who might that buyer be? The LLC is registered to 435 Hudson Street, but that doesn't reveal any clues. Let's play the celebrity guessing game... Katie Holmes has been renting nearby in the Chelsea Mercantile and 200 Eleventh Avenue is "just moments" from daughter Suri's school. Or could it be Mitt Romney? The man needs someway to distract himself from his recent defeat and we know he likes car elevators. Does anyone else want to hazard a guess?

Although there was initially some doubt that buyers would flock to modern sandstone townhouses in the West Village when they could have the real deal—creaky stairs, historic cachet and all for roughly the same price—some would-be townhouse dwellers are apparently unconcerned with hanging a plaque outside their front door.

But buyers were not as free with their money as the developer had hoped. The 5-bedroom abode at 26 Downing Street, listed with Douglas Elliman brokers Herve Senequier and Leonard Steinberg, didn't quite fetch the $16.95 million that it's been asking since hitting the market in October 2010.

Nor did Nos. 22 and 24, snapped up by an LLC this March, as reported by Curbed, get the $33 million they were asking (the buyer paid $27 million and likely has plans to combine the two buildings, taking advantage of the flexibility that a non-landmarked property offers).

The buyer of 26 Downing is a different, but no less mysterious limited liability corporation—MF Downing Street 26 LLC.

Whoever the buyer is will enjoy a large kitchen overlooking the South-facing garden, a "skylight-illuminated atelier," a "grand parlor floor" with fireplace and large terrace and a rooftop observatory. Also, you needn't be bothered with pesky staircases—there's an elevator!

There is just one catch. Moving in will mean living with the construction racket next door as the two "custom designed" townhouses merge into one. After all, custom doesn't mean much of anything unless it's custom-designed for you.

kvelsey@observer.com

It only makes sense, then, that when looking for a Manhattan home, Mr. Engelbert would choose a glorified, gilded garage built atop a former impound lot in far West Chelsea. Yes, Mr. Engelbert has just purchased, according to city records, one of the few remaining units at 200 Eleventh Avenue, that notorious Annabelle Selldorf condo tower with "the sky garages." Each apartment has its own private parking space connected to the unit, which is served by a vehicle elevator that can handle a Hummer.

Like every unit in the building, Mr. Engelbert's $5.5 million spread is a two-story affair, with a 44-foot-long great room on the first floor facing the Hudson. If the Swede would sooner dine at Craft or the Red Cat than whip up his own meatballs and lingonberry jam, the kitchen disapears discretely behind teak doors. Though listed as a fifth-floor unit, it is actually more than 100 feet in the air, thanks to the building's duplex-on-every-floor configuration and its 11-foot ceilings--including a 23-foot double-height space in the living room.

"Enormous southern walls protected from direct sunlight are an art collectors dream," decalares the Douglas Elliman listing.

A master bedroom is found on the second floor, facing those luminous, loft-like windows, as well as one additional bedroom on each floor, tucked into the southeast corner.

Good luck finding another unit like it, as only one remains on the market, a 3,248-square-foot penthouse asking $12.5 million. The unit had reportedly gone to stars of stage and screen Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman, but as The Observer reported earlier this month, the couple bought a fourth-floor unit for $9.6 million instead. Former Whitney chair Robert J. Hurst recently picked up another penthouse for $14 million, and, in 2009, Demonico Dolce bought two of them for nearly $30 million. There is also a $6.8 million unit on the eight floor that has been in contract since July.

Mr. Engelbert could not be reached, and listing brokers Herve Senequier and Leonard Steinberg declined to comment.

The only outstanding question, then, is whether this is a pied-à-terre or simply another savvy investment. Well, that and whether Mr. Engelbert will be parking a Saab or a Volvo in his sky garage.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @mc_nyo