Billionaire David Wildenstein, heir to the French-American Jewish Wildenstein’s art-dealing empire, has closed on the sale of his Upper East Side townhouse at 19 E. 64th St.
The sale at for $79.5 million setting a new record for the most expensive townhouse sold ever in Manhattan. The previous record was held by Harkness Mansion, at 4 E. 75th St., which was bought by financier J. Christopher Flowers for $53 million in 2006.
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The 20,500-square-foot (1,905-square-meter) property, is where the Wildenstein operated an art gallery for more than 80 years.
The buyer is a limited-liability corporation called 19-21 East 64 Holding LLC, according to the property records.
The Real Deal reports that the entity affiliated with Roy Liao, CEO of HNA Holdings Group, the same company behind the $2.2 billion deal to buy 245 Park Avenue, records show,
David Wildenstein and Len Blavatnik Feuding Over $79 million Manhattan Mansion
Roy Liao is not the first to put an eye on the property. In 2014, Qatar pulled out of the sale the day before the closing for use as a consulate.
After the Qatar deal fell through, Len Blavatnik ’s Access Industries LLC, sued David Wildenstein for reneging on a gentleman’s verbal agreement to sell it the townhouse for $79 million. A judge tossed the suit last month, saying the verbal agreement was not legally binding.
Back in 2014, the Wildenstein family signed a deal to sell its limestone-clad building to the government of Qatar. But Qatar pulled out of the sale the day before the closing, and the family relisted the property for $100 million.
The broker marketing the property for the sellers was Carrie Chiang of Corcoran Group.
