Al Kahn, the man who loosed Pokémon on the masses, is selling his four-story penthouse apartment in midtown Manhattan for $18.95 million.
Mr. Kahn, 69, a licensing executive, introduced a number of animated series to the U.S. and global markets, including Japanese imports "Pokemon," and "Yu-Gi-Oh!" He also came up with the term "Pokemon," after deciding its original name "pocket monsters" sounded too Americanized. (Has he tried the Pokémon Go mobile game? "Absolutely not," he said, but wishes the creators well.)
Located in the Park South Lofts, the roughly 4,300-square-foot apartment has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, three half baths and seven outdoor terraces covering 1,975 square feet. There is a built-in sound system throughout the home, including the private outdoor pool.
Mr. Kahn bought the condo from the developer in 2012 for about $5.4 million, as a surprise gift to his then-fiancée, Jillian Crane. Now married, they spent around $4 million to gut the apartment "down to the cement," Mr. Kahn said, and undertook a 2½ year renovation for an Art Deco-inspired interior. This has been their primary home.
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The entire third floor is a master bedroom suite, with two dressing rooms, his-and-her bathrooms and a sitting room. The home has a built-in sound system, inside and out, and a dropdown projection screen in the living room.
The couple said they weren’t planning to sell, but after speaking to real-estate agents invited to a recent party, were convinced otherwise. "They plied us with our own champagne," Ms. Crane joked. They plan to keep a presence in the neighborhood and possibly start another large renovation project.
Ms. Crane is an actress and author who penned a screenplay for the erotic thriller "About Yvonne." The couple is currently working on a Broadway musical based on "The Boys of Summer," about the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Howard Margolis, Jeff Adler and Marie Espinal of the Margolis Team at Douglas Elliman have the listing.
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