15 CPW Studio Sells For Average Price of a 2BR Apartment

When NASCAR exec Brian France flipped of one of 15 Central Park West's staff studios, he took some heat. Not for profiting off something as inconsequential as a maid's residence in the Limestone Jesus, but for not profiting enough. France bought the studio for $780,000 and sold it for $1.2 million, and most brokers thought he could have gotten more more had he auctioned it off amongst all the building's buyers. For the second flip of a staff studio in the building, Morgan Stanley managing director Guy Metcalfe was not making the same mistake. Metcalfe paid $880,000 for a 448-square-foot studio facing the inner courtyard in October, when he bought a second-floor 5BR apartment for $9.35M. He re-listed both soon after, and while the apartment?which we've looked at before?is still on the market, the studio is long gone, sold for $1.55 million to a Russian dude up on the 34th floor. The buyer actually paid more per square foot for the studio than for his apartment, which cost him $7.85 million. Global recession? Sure, for some, but not in the hallowed halls of 15 CPW.
· For the Maid, a $1.55 Million Room [NYT]