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The world’s richest man, Carlos Slim, has bought the former Felissimo townhouse at 10 W. 56th St. for $15.5 million in cash, Realty Check has learned. The five-story building was once home to Elizabeth Taylor and third husband Michael Todd.
Since we expect Slim’s people to deny it, we’ll note that the sellers’ brokers, Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Faith Hope Consolo and Joseph Aquino, declined to name the buyer, identified as “10 West 56th Street LLC.” The purchaser’s broker, Murray Hill Properties’ Roxana Girand, similarly said, “I can only say that I represented the buyer.”
But reliable sources said the LLC is a front for Grupo Carso, the conglomerate controlled by the Mexican mogul whose fortune was estimated by Forbes this year at $74 billion. The building will serve as Slim’s New York base of operations. Grupo Carso is a Girand client.
The whirlwind deal closed last week within five days of the cash offer. We’re told the asking price for the circa 1903 limestone mansion was $18 million. But even mega-billionaires like a bargain, and the sellers agreed to it when Slim’s people pledged to expedite the purchase.
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A super-prime development site, gift-wrapped with city approval for a daring design by Christian de Portzamparc and Handel Architects, is going on the market via Studley.
Developers A & R Kalimian assembled the 20,000-square-foot corner at 400 Park Ave. So. at 28th Street, which can support a 420,000-square-foot project as of right. They planned a dramatic residential building that required Planning Commission blessing for design features outside zoning rules and was said to be a favorite of planning chief Amanda Burden.
They cleared most of the site, closely watched by real-estate bloggers for years. But the Kalimians have now decided to sell via the Studley team of Woody Heller, Will Silverman and Eric Negrin. Heller noted that “the appeal of a shovel-ready site is very strong” in a market “reflecting increasing ebullience,” but wouldn’t say how much the offering might fetch.
One industry source estimated it would draw “well into the $400s per square foot,” pointing out that the project could incorpo rate retail and offer vir tually any combination of residential, hotel and office use.
At the same time, we’ve learned, Heller’s team is also marketing the $56 million note on Extell’s major development site at 135 W. 45th St. It can support a building of 270,000 square feet, thanks to air rights Gary Barnett bought up over the years in preparation for a 55-story hotel.
Extell is current on the loan. Barnett told us, “we have plans to build a hotel but we have to sort out the note sale first. Hopefully we’ll get it sorted out and we can go ahead.”
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In one of the year’s largest deals to date, Baker Hostetler — the law firm representing Bernie Madoff victims — has re-upped at Tishman Speyer’s 630 Fifth Ave., aka 45 Rockefeller Plaza, growing from 100,000 square feet to 118,600 feet via a new long-term lease.
A CB Richard Ellis team led by John Maher and Paul Myers repped the tenant. Tishman Speyer was repped in-house. Terms were not available.
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Oscar de la Renta is taking the long view. The designer is moving and expanding his headquarters from 550 Seventh Ave. to Tishman Speyer’s 11 W. 42nd St., where it will overlook Bryant Park from the entire 25th floor and part of the 24th.
The couture house is taking 37,036 square feet, compared with 23,386 at its old address. The new digs will for the first time include runway space as well as offices and showrooms, enabling de la Renta to present his collection on the premises three times a year.
CB Richard Ellis’s Jim Robbins and Harly Stevens represented the tenant and the landlord was repped in-house. The asking rent for the 15-year deal was $50 a square foot.
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Five years ago yesterday, Larry Silverstein‘s 7 World Trade Center officially opened its doors to widespread snickering.
At the time the 1.7 million square-foot tower had leased a mere 80,000 feet — half of them to Silverstein’s own company. New York Magazine dubbed it “Larry’s 52-Story Problem.” Mayor Bloomberg blamed sluggish leasing on Silverstein’s unwillingness to settle for $35 a square foot, the price for 50-year-old downtown buildings.
Soon enough, the tower began signing tenants at record downtown prices up to $70 a square foot — most recently, law firm WilmerHale. It’s now more than 90 percent full.
The lesson: new, state-of-the-art office towers in Manhattan don’t stay empty for long. scuozzo@nypost.com