Condos in Richard Meier's celebrity-packed towers along the Hudson River rarely sell at significant discounts, but a 1,800-square-foot one-bedroom recently sold for $1 million below the market rate. Why? The buyer, Brian Fitterer?a man the Post describes as "a California trailer-park king turned swimsuit designer"?used Hurricane Sandy as a negotiation tool. The glassy tower at 173 Perry Street, along with its two sisters, got battered by the storm, and Fitterer told the Post that the owner was eager to get out. The owner was renting the place for $25,000 a month to Pablo Picasso's granddaughter, but the buildings were evacuated during the storm, and he was losing money. So he quickly sold the place for $5.5 million to Fitterer, who had never even seen the apartment. A similar unit was listed pre-storm for $6.4 million.
Below is the floor plan for the unit when it sold in 2008 for $5.15M. Had the owner not been so eager to sell so quickly, he could have negotiated more money. Picasso's granddaughter wanted to buy, and another buyer made an offer that was $800,000 more, but they were too slow.
· A Post-Sandy Steal [NYP]
· 173 Perry Street, 12N [StreetEasy]
· 173 Perry Street coverage [Curbed]
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