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Triplex Penthouse at 212 Fifth Ave. Returns to the Market—for $5 Million More

Dubbed ‘The Crown,’ the three-story apartment now has an asking price of $73.8 million

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The triplex penthouse unit at 212 Fifth Ave., a repurposed luxury residential building on the perimeter of Madison Square Park, hit the market again today for $73.8 million, $5 million more than it was asking when it was taken off the market in January this year.

Typically, when we see a unit return to the market after a break, it's with a lower price tag. Not so in this case.

"Why discount it?" said the building’s developer, Robert Gladstone of Madison Equities. "Let's put up its real value." Thehome is now the fourth most expensive listing in New York City, listing records show.Sotheby’s International Realty is handling the sale.

The penthouse spent 96 days on the market the first time around, according to listing records, but, still in the construction phase, it was being shown unfinished. "The problem was nobody had the imagination," Mr. Gladstone said. Prospective buyers "walked through and said, ‘It’s great but I don’t get it.""

"You couldn't see it before because there were table saws in the way. Now you can," he said.The new price reflects the penthouse's completion,Mr. Gladstone said.

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Dubbed "The Crown," thanks to the illuminated parapet that wraps around it, the five-bedroom triplex penthouse occupies the top three floors of the 1912 building designed by architects Schwartz & Gross, which is around two-thirds occupied, according to Mr. Gladstone. It spans 10,079-square-feet of interior space, another 5,730-square-feet of exterior space and is ready for a buyer to move in. "If they want a pool, that would add some time," Mr. Gladstone said. "But incidentally fall and early spring are the best times to build a pool."

During construction—and while some developers were splitting up their penthouses into smaller units—Mr. Gladstone bucked the trend and added square footage to his. Two penthouses were originally planned, but "I felt that it’s far more special to say I live in the penthouse at 212 Fifth and not one of them," Mr. Gladstone said.