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By: Benyamin Davidsons
A rare Manhattan Mansion was sold for $41 million.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, a townhouse in the Upper East Side, connected to billionaire art collector David Mugrabi, has been sold. The 12,000 square foot home had been listed, most recently asking $45 million. The home was first listed for sale in 2021 asking $52 million, following Mr. Mugrabi’s divorce from ex-wife Libbie Mugrabi. The buyer has not been named, but the realtor for the buyer was Roberto Cabrera of Brown Harris Stevens, who said only that his client is a European art collector. “He literally felt this house was a piece of art,” Mr. Cabrera said. Adam Modlin of the Modlin Group handled the listing for the seller. Mr. And Ms. Mugrabi didn’t comment on the sale.
An entity connected with Mr. Mugrabi had purchased the mansion in 2013 for $15 million, as per property records. The contemporary seven-story home, located between Fifth and Madison Avenue, boasts four bedrooms, a 34-foot-long living room with a fireplace and wet bar, a dining room and a double-height gallery, an impressive custom spiral staircase made entirely of one piece of Corian, a state-of-the art eat-in kitchen, a garden and a rooftop terrace with views of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The impeccable home’s third floor consists of the primary suite, complete with two baths, impressive closet space, a dressing room, and a leather-paneled elevator. Ms. Mugrabi had previously said, in court documents related to the divorce, that the couple had spent several years and tens of millions of dollars gut-renovating the home. Yahoo previously reported that up to $57 million was spent on renovations, which were overseen by starchitect Roger Ferris, and art-friendly interior design by Julie Hillman Design. This would mean that the former couple lost money on the sale of the home.
Mr. Mugrabi, 51, is a Syrian Israeli businessman with an estimated net worth of roughly $5 billion, as of 2019. He, along with his father Jose Mugrabi and brother Alberto Mugrabi, are major collectors of Andy Warhol arts and reportedly own roughly 800 of the pop artist’s pieces, making the family the biggest private Warhol art collectors in the world.
Mugrabi’s divorce from his ex-wife Libbie has been called the nastiest divorce battle in New York City history. In June 2021, the Post reported that Libbie Mugrabi had reopened their divorce case, alleging that he ex deliberately damaged works by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol that he was ordered by a judge to give her.
Libbie Mugrabi, in 2021, alleged that her ex violated that separation agreement by maliciously giving her damaged art valued well below the $16 million he had agreed they were worth.
At the time she also demanded that the court invalidate their separation agreement and restart their bitter settlement negotiations.
As per the WSJ, the sale comes during a slowdown in luxury residential real estate. Last year, there were numerous Manhattan townhouses sold in the $50 million range. The number of luxury sales has since dropped, reaching just 37.5 percent during the first quarter of 2023 compared to 2022’s first quarter, as per real-estate appraisal firm Miller Samuel. The median sale price of luxury homes has fallen 12.8 percent year-over-year. The ultra-expensive Manhattan market has been in deadlock, said Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel. Mortgage rates are up leading to fewer homes available in Manhattan’s luxury market, as sellers seem reluctant sell at lower prices.
