NYC's most expensive townhouse sale could be this troubled Upper East Side manse

The never-ending sales saga surrounding the Wildenstein-family owned mansion on the Upper East Side may finally have a conclusion. The New York Post is now reporting that the townhouse at 19 East 64th Street is in contract for $81 million. If that deal actually closes, it would handily surpass the record set by the sale of the Harkness Mansion in 2006 for the most expensive townhouse sold (though to be fair, the Upper East Side townhouse is a commercial property).

David Wildenstein, heir to an art empire, has been trying to sell the mansion for quite some time now. In 2014, Wildenstein was ever so close to selling the townhouse to Qatar (to house the country’s consulate) for $90 million. The sale went into contract, but later that year the country backed away from that deal. It was rumored at the time that purchasing the townhouse for such a staggering sum would be a bad PR move for the country, which was being investigated for its poor working conditions.

The drama surrounding the East 64th Street mansion doesn’t end there. Just earlier this month, the house became the subject of a lawsuit. Len Blavatnik, the owner of Warner Music, sued Wildenstein alleging that the latter had backed away from a $79 million handshake deal to sell the townhouse to Blavatnik.

Over the past few years, the house has been on and off the market asking between $90 million-$100 million. It was most recently on the market this past August asking $100 million. Considering everything’s that’s happened so far, let’s wait till the deal actually goes through before calling any records.

• This townhouse is set to be the most expensive ever sold in NYC [NYP]
• Troubled Upper East Side mansion with art-world pedigree returns for $100M [Curbed]
• Troubled $100M UES townhouse at center of billionaire’s lawsuit [Curbed]