The pink Palazzo Chupi is getting chopped again. Its developer, artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel, has just cut the price of the two top-floor units, with a new price of $27.9 million for the combination — a whopping $10.1 million less than the last listing price and more than $31 million less than the original asking price of $59 million.
The price cut reflects today’s new market reality, say brokers Peter McCuen and Jim St. Andre, of Peter McCuen & Associates.
That works out to $14.95 million for the triplex penthouse and $12.95 million for the duplex below — or an average of $3,634 a square foot.
The triplex measures 3,713 square feet, with 2,305 square feet of outdoor space, three bedrooms and 3½ bathrooms, while the duplex is 3,963 square feet with three bedrooms, 3½ bathrooms and 325 square feet of outdoor space.
Of course, one buyer could combine the two to create “a fabulous five-story townhouse in the sky,” McCuen says.
While the units were up for rent in April for a few days — at $90,000 a month for both together — they have been empty ever since.
Residents in the 17-story, five-unit Palazzo at 360 W. 11th St. include Richard Gere and wife Carey Lowell, as well as Schnabel himself. (Gere bought his unit for about $12 million, then listed it for $15 million before taking it back off the market last March.)
Schnabel, who had to sell a 1971 Picasso, “Femme au Chapeau,” for $7.7 million to maintain payments on the building, also designed a special Schnabel Room at the Old Homestead steakhouse.
Palazzo Chupi’s perks include a concierge, parking with direct elevator service to the apartments and a 44-foot-long pool.
Good luck hunting
Matt Damon‘s alter-ego, Jason Bourne, might be able to break into any apartment, but the star doesn’t stand a chance of getting approved by one of the city’s snootiest co-op boards.
Damon, 38, and his stunning wife, Luciana, 33, have been house-hunting for their dream home: a three- or four-bedroom Fifth Avenue prewar apartment with Central Park views.
One unit they saw at 1010 Fifth Ave. even shared a semi-private landing with Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr.
People in the entertainment industry are a hard enough sell for Fifth. In addition, Damon’s wife — who once worked as a bartender (gasp!) — is a deal-breaker, say sources, even if she’s now an interior decorator.
“They don’t have a prayer,” says one broker. “They just don’t understand the difference between a co-op and a condo on the Upper East Side.”
Living space
It looks like one of the world’s most international — and even inter-galactic — eligible bachelors may be coming to town.
Mark Shuttleworth, 35, the London-based South African entrepreneur who made history as the world’s second space tourist, has been house-hunting for prized penthouses downtown.
So far, his search has included 166 Perry St., 101 Warren St. and 11 Spring St., brokers say. He has been on the prowl with broker Melanie Lazenby, of Prudential Douglas Elliman, who is the estranged daughter of George Lazenby — the second James Bond.
Shuttleworth, a graduate of the University of Cape Town, made a half-billion dollars at age 26 by selling his Internet security firm, then treated himself to a $20 million trip on a Russian space mission.
Beach bidding war
The rain has not dampened savvy buyers’ bids on the Southampton oceanfront estate of indicted platinum-collar criminal James Nicholson.
Nicholson, accused of masterminding a doomed $150 million Ponzi scheme through his Westgate Capital funds, bought the 10,000-square-foot, nine-bedroom home last January for $27 million.
Nicholson had signed a contract to buy the house (originally listed at $65 million) from John and Lauren Veronis for $33 million but renegotiated at the closing table. The home has now been appraised at $25.5 million.
One broker put in a bid for $24 million, which was rejected, and there are now multiple bids being considered at around $27 million. A signed contract could be announced in the next few days, says a source close to the deal.