The super rich haven't stopped shelling out top dollar for the city's toniest buildings, despite a fall in prices in the past year
Len Blavatnik | Net Worth: $17.7 billion
19 EAST 64TH Street
Sale Price: $90 million | FEBRUARY 2018
Blavatnik coveted the 1930s Beaux Arts mansion for years, trying to buy it in 2016 from David Wildenstein, an heir to an art-dealing fortune. But Wildenstein wound up selling the property, which was once an art gallery, to another buyer for $79.5 million in 2017. By then Blavatnik had cried foul and sued Wildenstein, alleging that Wildenstein was reneging on a deal to sell the place to him; a judge later dismissed Blavatnik’s lawsuit. Ten months after the initial buyer purchased the five-storey, 20,500-sq-ft property, Blavatnik finally picked it up—at a 13 percent markup.
Image: Sarkis Delimelkon for Forbes
(This story appears in the 21 June, 2019 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)