The Laureate, the Upper West Side homage to prewar pretense, is home to a rag-tag bunch of millionaires. Newly monied characters (whose qualifications may fail to impress Fifth Avenue co-op boards) have been securing their multimillion-dollar pads in the building. The building is now home to cartoonists, developers and horse breeders—what’s next, a used car salesman?
Yes, in fact! Car salesman extraordinaire Ken Brodlieb, the owner of the East Hills Auto Group empire on the Queens-Nassau County border, is the latest Laureate resident.
Mr. Brodlieb purchased a unit on the 12th floor, and while by no means the largest in the building, the place is no downmarket digs. Spanning 2,444 square feet, the three-bedroom, three-bath condo features a terrace, a walk-in-closet in the master suite, heated floors, a washer-dryer and 11-foot ceilings.
Of course Mr. Brodlieb is not unfamiliar with fine real estate: several site indicate he owns a formidable Palm Beach Gardens villa.
The home was originally priced at $6.5 million, but Mr. Brodlieb paid just $6.1 million. All those years of haggling paid off!
His purchase comes on the heels of the Laureate’s largest sale yet one floor down, a $17 million three-unit combo on the 11th floor, sold to an anonymous buyer. According to StreetEasy, however, an $18 million double penthouse with a jaw-dropping ten rooms has also sold. Who might the buyer be this time, a dermatologist to the stars? Perhaps the newest Wall Street madam?
