A shoe executive’s Central Park home was seemingly a tough fit for the market.
Anthony Yurgaitis, the former U.S. vice president of the luxury footwear brand Manolo Blahnik, has sold his co-op at 115 Central Park West for $14.5 million, more than 40% less than the $25 million he was asking in 2021.
The six-bedroom corner unit, No. PH18EF, which went into contract in the fall, closed March 5, according to a tax filing that appeared in the city register Tuesday.
It isn’t clear from public records what Yurgaitis and his late husband and business partner, George Malkemus, originally paid for the artfully designed property, a combination of two side-by-side units that features five full and two half-baths, four terraces and a 170-square-foot closet in the primary suite. Malkemus, who served as president of Manolo’s U.S. business, died in 2021.
Maintenance costs for the home are nearly $15,000 a month. And the buyers, attorney Shirley Sarna, the former head of the state’s consumer protection bureau, and her husband, arts patron Steven Nelson, also must fork over 2% of the sale price to the co-op as a flip tax.
The apartment is the latest to trade at a considerable discount at the building, a two-towered, Art Deco complex called the Majestic that is one of the premier addresses on a desirable street. Indeed, Susan Weber, the ex-wife of billionaire George Soros, finally sold her five-bedroom home there in the fall for $20.5 million after initially seeking $50 million way back in 2012.
Similarly, a three-bedroom at the 29-story Majestic, which has been home to members of families including the Zeckendorfs, Nederlanders and Sacklers, is now asking $9 million after being introduced at $11.5 million in September.
The higher cost of borrowing money is dragging on all sectors of the housing market, including the luxury segment, where mortgages are not always used, brokers say. Unlike with some exclusive co-ops, the Majestic, which is at West 72nd Street, does allow buyers to finance their purchases with mortgages.
Chase Landow, an agent with the firm Serhant, who represented Yurgaitis in the transaction, did not respond to a request for comment. Landow co-marketed the home with John Burger of Brown Harris Stevens.
Shoe story
In 1982 Malkemus bought a license to sell Blahnik’s shoes in the U.S. But it wasn’t until the late 1990s, when the show Sex and the City introduced its millions of viewers to the London-based brand, that the strappy and stiletto-heeled offerings, which can sell for $1,000 a pair, became a household name. Malkemus later partnered with the show’s star, Sarah Jessica Parker, on her own footwear line, the SJP Collection.
But in 2019 Malkemus and Yurgaitis ended their long-running relationship with Blahnik after the company reportedly sought unacceptably steep licensing fees.
These days Yurgaitis seems to be focusing most of his attention on the couple’s other business endeavor, a Connecticut-based restaurant and ice cream business tied to Arethusa Farm, a Litchfield property they bought in 1999 and then revitalized.
C. J. Hughes , 2024-03-13 16:54:07
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