Designer Elie Tahari seeks $35M investment to build Fifth Avenue mega-penthouse

When Israeli designer Elie Tahari snagged a two-bedroom penthouse atop a midcentury condo building on Fifth Avenue in 2011, he had big plans: Tahari already owned the penthouse next door (which he bought decades ago for a mere $325,000), and he wanted to plop an addition on those two apartments, turning them into one gigantic penthouse.

Tahari spent the next few years securing the necessary permissions from the Department of Buildings and the Landmarks Preservation Commission, and now, according to the Wall Street Journal, construction on the penthouse addition—to be designed by Cookfox, and bringing the whole space up to 7,500 square feet—has begun.

But now, Tahari is seeking a partner for the project—namely, one who can invest as much as $35 million to push it through to completion. Tahari is working with three Town brokers (Benjamin Benalloul, Loretta Shanahan-Bradbury and Victoria Terri-Cote) to market the project, and according to the WSJ, “the partners would either sell the entire project, or one would buy out the other’s 50% interest” once it’s complete.

So what exactly will this mega-penthouse entail? It would occupy three floors (the 19th, 20th, and 21st) of the building, with numerous outdoor spaces—5,500 square feet worth, to be precise. There would be five bedrooms, multiple bathrooms (including, per illustrations provided by Cookfox, one with a glass enclosure that leads to an outdoor space), an atrium, a huge living room, and more.

“It’s almost like you’re dropping an Apple store on a co-op building on the Upper East Side,” Benalloul told the WSJ. (Is that a good thing?)

Cookfox would also add decorative flourishes like “custom millwork, venetian plaster and world-class finishes,” per a press release. No word on what the anticipated price for the completed space would be, but given Tahari’s investment ask, we’d guess that it would be really, really high.

Not that Tahari has to worry about a place to live while work continues on this Frankenpenthouse: He snagged a $25 million pad at 15 Central Park West back in 2014.

• Elie Tahari Offers Stake in Grand Penthouse Plan for $35 Million [WSJ]