Glassy Richard Meier penthouse in the West Village tries its luck as a $60,000/month rental

The glassy penthouse of Richard Meier’s 165 Charles Street has been on and off the market for years, trying everything from beefing up its asking price to drastically rolling it back to find a buyer. All, so far, has failed to yield a sale, so its owners are taking a new approach: The 4,500-square-foot West Village condo has appeared on the market as a $60,000 per month rental, landing it as the second most expensive rental under 34th Street.

The four-bedroom, four-bathroom apartment remains on the sales market, where it’s now seeking $29.95 million, a hair under the $30 million it reappeared on the market for in December 2016. The saga of this penthouse began in 2014, when British art magazine publisher Louise T. Blouin MacBain listed the spread for $35 million.

It turns out our premonition that this apartment would “have better luck finding a buyer” than the penthouse of Tribeca’s Sky Lofts, owing to its starchitect cred, were not entirely accurate—both apartments remain on the market.

After failing for four months to a woo a buyer, the penthouse of 165 Charles Street tried upping its asking price to $40 million. Spoiler: that didn’t work, and it’s price tag was reduced to $35 million in November 2015. It got another price reduction a full year later, when it reappeared most recently seeking $30 million.

The duplex penthouse has an unobstructed view of the Hudson River—it is along West Street, after all—and comes with a south-facing kitchen with solid white Corian countertops and appliances by Gaggenau and Sub-Zero as well as access to the building’s 50-foot indoor lap pool.

The property is on the rental market with Anne Prosser and August Mortimer at Halstead.

• Listing: 165 Charles Street PH [Halstead via StreetEasy]
• All 165 Charles Street coverage [Curbed]