An Upper East Side townhouse belonging to the Wildensteins—a family of billionaire art dealers, members of which were accused of tax fraud—has gone into contract for what would be a record-breaking $81 million deal, if the sale closes, a source confirmed to Mansion Global.
The sale would be $19 million less than the $100 million the Wildensteins first wanted when they listed the 21,000-square-foot property with Cushman & Wakefield in August. The listing was removed at the end of October.
A spokeswoman for Cushman & Wakefield said in an email that the firm could not comment.
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If the sale goes through, it would set a new record for the most expensive single townhouse sold in New York City, the New York Post first reported. Financier J. Christopher Flowers set the record a decade ago when he bought the Harkness Mansion, a townhouse on the Upper East Side, for $53 million.
The limestone mansion is selling for just a few million shy of this year’s priciest sale, a full-floor penthouse in 432 Park Avenue that sold to a Saudi billionaire for $87.7 million.
The pending transaction likely comes as a relief to Guy Wildenstein, inheritor of his father’s art-dealing fortune who is now embroiled in allegations of tax fraud. France’s equivalent of the IRS claims the Wildensteins bilked them for nearly $500 million in unpaid taxes. The Wildensteins have denied the claims.
Nevertheless, the Upper East Side townhouse, designed by Gilded Age architect Horace Trumbauer, is one of many assets the family is unloading in light of the lawsuit.
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The family sold off another of its Upper East Side properties, an old firehouse that once served as pop artist Andy Warhol's art studio, for $9.975 million earlier this month.
They’re also quietly trying to sell a mansion in Midtown East, at 7 Sutton Square, for $48.5 million, reported The Real Deal.
Spokespeople for the Wildensteins did not immediately return requests for comment.
If this latest transaction, for the townhouse at 19 East 64th St., falls through, it wouldn’t be the first time.
Qatar reportedly pulled out of a $90 million deal to buy the townhouse, which the country had planned to turn into a consulate, back in 2014. And billionaire Len Blavatnik, the owner of Warner Music, is suing Guy Wildenstein’s son David for reneging on a "handshake" agreement to buy the townhouse for $79 million, the New York Post reported this month.