By: Serach Nissim
On Sunday, a new home listing hit the market. Or more accurately, it just switched to its fourth brokerage representing it, after almost a decade on the market.
As reported by Crain’s NY, a townhouse on the Upper East Side was re-listed on the market, being marketed by firm Serhant. The 5,200 square foot home at 1211 Park Ave., is asking close to $10.3 million. Over the past nine years, it has been for sale by four different brokerage firms—including Douglas Elliman and Leslie Garfield. Back in 2013, Corcoran Group started things off, marketing the home for $14.7 million. Though the initial price was a whopping 30 percent more expensive than the asking now, it is not the lowest the home has been marketed for. Just as the pandemic hit, the townhouse had listed at $8.5 million.
The neo-Georgian limestone structure is situated in a historic district at East 93rd Street on Park Avenue in the Carnegie Hill neighborhood. The rare 5-story, 20-foot-wide townhouse in the prime neighborhood, boasts 6-bedrooms, 6.5-bathrooms, three fireplaces, three outdoor areas and a banquette-lined kitchen. The building was completed in 1890 and then remodeled in the 1920s, as per the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The home has since been modernized, and appears to be in very nice condition. It includes crown molding, ceiling medallions, stained glass and tall windows as well as contemporary frills like surround sound speakers, multi-zone A/C, custom built-ins, high-end stainless steel appliances, and a state-of-the-art security system, as per the listing.
As per Crain’s, the home has been rented out since 2020. The tenant’s lease at the property ends in August. The homeowner is Sagi Genger, an investor based in Connecticut. He had purchased the home in 2004 for $4.3 million, property records show.
Genger is the son of Arie Genger, a well-respected Tel Aviv-born business magnate and investor who previously served as a top aide to former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, as well as several position in Israel’s defense and economic ministries. Arie had also been a White House emissary for the George W. Bush administration. The senior Genger had pioneered the first American-based private sector investments in Israeli business ventures, by founding the “First American Israeli Technology Fund” or FAIT organization. His main money-making venture was TRI, a chemical and fertilizer company he founded in 1985.
That company invested in Haifa Chemicals, and under Mr. Arie’s leadership it became the world’s second largest potassium nitrate supplier, as per his Google profile page. Mr. Arie currently owns a New York based real-estate holding company. His personal life may have been slightly less triumphant. In 2004, Arie Genger and his wife Dalia, divorced. As a result, the family was embroiled in a series of lawsuits in state and federal courts. “It’s been an ugly and unfortunate affair,” said Sagi Genger, who otherwise declined to comment.
Loy Carlos, the Serhant agent now listing the Park Ave home, commented saying, “I feel optimistic.” He said he feels its good timing to market high-end homes. “When you have less inventory, you have less competition,” Carlos told Crain’s.