The Helmsley place on Round Hill Road has still not found a buyer despite being marked down $30 million to a new low price of $95 million. At the height of the market, I thought that the property might go for $45 million. That was an opinion based on air, since there aren’t really any comps for this place, but what the heck, you have to start somewhere. Ogilvy chose to start at $125 million and we now know that that wasn’t right, either.
So what will it sell for eventually, now that the market is no longer buzzing? It does have to sell, I assume – there’s an estate to be settled – but when and for how much is a poser. My new, completely wild guess: $35 million. Readers are invited to guess too. First prize is a can of Trouble dog food.
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I’ve been told there is a curse on the property. Do the owners have to disclose that?
This is a truly unique and trophy property, and there are still people out there with enormous wealth that will want to own it. But the number of people that fit in that category has decreased considerably, and even those people will likely continue to sit on their wallets until the economic situation stabilizes much more than it has (with all due respect to our President and his recent proclamations that things are now OK.)
So my guess is that the property will sit on the market for awhile, but will ultimately fetch a top price, since the estate clearly has “staying power” and will not be forced into a distressed sale. My number would be $50 million (which if I am not mistaken would be the top price in Greenwich history, surpassing the sale of the Henryk de Kwiatkowski 80 acre property for $45 million on Conyers Farm Drive).
Charlie’s right. Everyone who’s ever lived there has run into some kind of unhappiness or trouble.
And then there are those of us who think we might be able to beat the curse. If, of course, we had $35-50 million on hand.
My guess is that it will go for closer to 50 than 35. All that land, you know. And the view. You could treat it like the Harry Havemeyer (the Sugar King) property, and develop it into Topping Estates, or Helmsley Acres. Maybe P&Z would allow quarter-acre zoning instead of four acres, since it is quite clear that, generally speaking, they plan not, neither do they zone.
Then put up a hundred or so post-recession starter homes, turn the mansion into a clubhouse (for those unafraid of The Curse), and sit back and count your money. Should make for an easy double, one would think.
Whatever the land’s worth to a credible buyer
Will be a long wait to find out…but would guess <$600K per acre (presuming a non-issue to obtain permits to tear down the old dump on the land)
Hmmm, let’s see. Wall Street CEOs are toast (not that they would have been candidates for this pile). Hedgies? Assets under management went from $3T to $2T and are still falling, and the survivors won’t make their high water mark for years, if ever, so they’re out. Russians? Nyet, comrade, until oil and commodities come back.
Which leaves us with the new overclass, for whom this place would make perfect sense, especially in the Obama Era . . . the hip-hop royalty. Jay-Z, Diddy, 50 Cent all come to mind as purchasers. Think of the parties they could have there, the videos they could film, the events they could stage.
And they could walk their dogs over to Malcolm Pray’s house and talk about cars. “Yo, Malcolm. That Bugatti’d look betta wit some spinnas, yo.”
Does anyone truly need such a place, even for reasons of the most outrageous ego? Given the difficulty of eventually flipping a joint like this, I think it’ll sit for a goodly while before someone ponies up $32M. Such a bargain. Chris, I hope you’re in on the deal.
Woof woof . . . $42M
Going forward, is there any reason it has to be used as a private residence? Can it not be the site of a vanity nonprofit adventure, maybe spawned by some “family foundation”? Perhaps an eccentric college, or a think tank, or The Institute of … fill in the blank.
I just don’t see this place fetching more than 35mm in these uncertain times.
Oh, the place is BEYOND lovely. But, presuming I had the money, how many years would it take to get the image of Leona out of my head? That doubles any alleged pre-existing curse! Not worth it! I’d rather buy the ex-Trump place . . . direct water views, and the image of Ivana is tolerable.
My wager is also on it not selling for at least a couple more years . . . and I like the $50 number.
I have the perfect solution; the heirs give the house to the State of Connecticut as an Annex to the Federal Prison System; Walt can still have a Round Hill Road address; Ruth Madoff can hop Metro North for a Weekend at Bernies!