Amazon’s Jeff Bezos Not Giving Up on NYC; Plunks Down $80M for 3 Luxury Apartments

The Amazon founder and CEO has reportedly picked up three condos—including a penthouse that was previously listed for $58 million—at 212 Fifth Avenue, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The building is developed by Madison Equities, with Thor Equities as a partner, Curbed New York reported. Located in NoMad, the stunning luxury building is adjacent to Madison Square Park at the much sought after 212 Fifth Avenue address.

The apartments that Bezos is reportedly purchasing include a 10,000-square-foot penthouse that first listed in 2016 for $68.5 million and has subsequently gotten a price bump (to $74 million in 2017) and another price cut (to $62.8 million). The penthouse is a triplex with five bedrooms, five bathrooms, and nearly 6,000 square feet of outdoor space, Curbed NY described. The observatory on the third floor of the penthouse opens up into a 950-square-foot terrace that offers up views of the Empire State Building, the Flatiron Building, and the World Trade Center. Bezos allegedly also bought two other apartments within the building, totaling $28 million.

Luxury sales were down 3.2 percent during the first quarter, while days on market rose 23.5 percent, according to data from appraisal firm Miller Samuel, however even with the slump many records have been set in NYC. Jeff Bezos set a downtown record with his $80 million triplex purchase; the Real Deal pointed out.

“It’s clearly a paradox where you have a softening super-luxury market segment that occasionally churns out all-time records,” Jonathan Miller (Miller Samuel) explained to The Real Deal.

“There was a perfect storm of a flood of capital looking for higher returns after the financial crisis and a lot of wealth creation coming out of Asia that didn’t exist a decade ago,” he said.

In January, hedge fund manager Ken Griffin closed on the most expensive apartment in the U.S. for $238 million, while uptown, an unknown buyer set a new townhouse record by shelling out $77 million for financier Philip Falcone’s Upper East Side mansion. Other massive deals this year included hedge funder Robert Smith’s $59 million purchase at the Getty, the priciest downtown deal until Bezos closed.

The number of billionaires in Asia dropped 13 percent to 677 in 2018, according to the research firm Wealth-X and was reported by The Real Deal. Meanwhile the number of billionaires in the U.S. grew 3.7 percent to 705, thanks to a strong U.S. dollar, interest-rate hikes and tax reform. The Wealth-X report also found 15 cities were home to 30 percent of the world’s billionaires in 2018 — including New York, with 105, Real Deal pointed out.