— It’s bad enough that Vegas casino kingpin Steve Wynn‘s divorce to his ex-wife Elaine was reportedly the most expensive in history, but now she’s got his palatial Fifth Avenue home, too. As of last year, Mr. Wynn quietly listed the full-floor condo at 817 Fifth Avenue for $25 million, a hike of $10 million from a previous listing six years before.
The offer slipped off the market December 18, according to StreetEasy. That’s only three weeks before Mr. and Mrs. Wynn settled their divorce, reportedly for $741 million. (She received stock in Wynn Resorts Ltd., whose price shot up in the spring, putting the divorce’s value at close to $1 billion.)
It is unclear whether the 3,500-square-foot, 14-room abode was part of the settlement, but according to City Records, the former couple swapped control for $17.155 million on October 6. (The documents were posted at 5:44 p.m. today. Friday night. How convenient.) It is it also unclear whether the deal includes any furniture, which Mr. Wynn’s broker, Sotheby’s Roger Erickson, told The Observer last year was part of the offer and valued at $4 million. Nor the status of Mr. Wynn’s estimable art collection, which can be seen in photos from the listing but which Mr. Erickson previously said was not included with the apartment.
The Observer reached the broker in Washington, D.C., where he was visiting his son at college. “This is not a good time for me to talk right now,” Mr. Erickson said upon answering the phone. When asked about the deal, he promptly hung up without responding, though he did email shortly thereafter. “Sorry I couldn’t speak with you,” Mr. Erickson wrote. “Nothing to comment on this transfer.” Calls to Wynne Resorts led to six phone transfers followed by an email, which has yet to be responded to.
New York has been unkind to Mr. Wynn of late, as his plan to invest in a racino at the Aquaduct race track failed to leave the gate.
The 15-story limestone beauty at 817 Fifth Avenue was built in 1925 and has only 16 apartments, all but the bottom two of which occupy the entire floor. Those units enjoy 50 feet of frontage on the Park, and according to Mr. Erickson’s listing, Mr. Wynn’s unit received an “immaculate renovation designed for ultimate comfort.” There are two enormous bedrooms and bathrooms, all of which look out on the park. (Watching the sun set over Sheep Meadow must be one of life’s true joys.)
As The Observer reported a decade ago, Mr. Wynn has been in the building since 1995, when his Mirage Resorts bought it for $1.575 million. When a hostile takeover bought him out of the company in 2000, he went shopping elsewhere, but ultimately wound up staying put, though it cost him $7 million to buy the apartment from Mirage. At the time, Richard Gere was his neighbor, but Mr. Gere and wife Carey Lowell moved out in 2004. The apartment famously flooded that same year, when pipes above burst, leading to extensive
Mr. Wynn should look on the bright side, though. At least he got some of his money back on this deal.
