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Susan Watts/New York Daily News
A five-story, century-old double-townhouse building currently home to doctor’s offices and apartments is on the market for $ 48 million — but it may cost $ 10 million for a luxury renovation.
Where but the upper East Side could you find a $ 48 million fixer-upper?
A pair of unspectacular townhouses has just hit the market at 51-53 E. 73rd St. for that whopping price.
Susan Watts/New York Daily News
Nestseekers broker Sergei Milian said the pricey property will make a ‘perfect single-family home.’
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The five-story, century-old double-townhouse building is home to doctor’s offices and apartments. But the owners are hoping an intrepid — and deep-pocketed — buyer will turn this into the mansion of their dreams for the price of a dozen Super Bowl ads.
Milian says the 35-foot-wide home needs a lot of work, but that a ‘blank canvas this big’ is a rare real estate gem in Manhattan.
“It would make a perfect single-family home for the right buyer,” Nestseekers broker Sergei Milian said of the 12,000-square-footer between Madison and Park Aves.
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Julia Xanthos/New York Daily News
Steve Madden (pictured) is one of the prospective buyers that Milian says are touring the property.
Zoning allows for a consulate or bank, and those are the kinds of buyers Milian claims are touring the property.
Relatives of cabbie-turned-billionaire Tamir Sapir have shown interest, as have the CEO of People’s Insurance Company of China, some Russian oligarchs and even Steve Madden.
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Before its glamourless turn, the property was home to celebrities such as Grace Kelly, seen here in 1955.
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But the 35-foot-wide home needs considerable work — Milian pegs the price at $ 10 million for a truly luxe renovation.
Susan Watts/New York Daily News
The double townhouse is 35 feet wide with 12,000 square feet. The city’s top appraiser Jonathan Miller notes that the average townhouse is 18 feet wide, with about 4,000 square feet.
“It’s hard to find a blank canvas this big in Manhattan,” Milian said.
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Harry Belafonte (center) also once called the property home.
The place wasn’t always glamourless. Before the sellers bought the property and turned it into offices, it was home to the likes of Grace Kelly and Harry Belafonte. Any exterior renovations would have to pass the city’s tough Landmarks Preservation Commission — a possible deterrent.
“For the buyers with that kind of money, they want limestone, they want Georgian or Beaux Arts,” said townhouse expert Sami Hassoumi of Brown Harris Stephens. “They want the ‘wow’ factor.”
John Carl D’Annibale/Albany Times Union
Appraiser Jonathan Miller thinks a $ 48 million price tag is not out of the question, pointing to a property at 4 E. 75th St. bought as an empty shell for $ 36.5 million in 2011, when the market was far tamer.
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But Jonathan Miller, the city’s top appraiser, thought a $ 48 million price tag was not out of the question.
He pointed to the 50-foot-wide Harkness Mansion at 4 E. 75th St., which Larry Gagosian bought as an empty shell in 2011 for $ 36.5 million when the market was far tamer.
Miller noted that the average townhouse is 18 feet wide, with about 4,000 square feet. “The wider you get, the bigger the price,” he said.
