New York apartment for sale for a sum 21% lower than the current owner paid for it in 2008; it has a controversial past, links to a dictator and was once ‘sold’ for just $1
One of 164 units in 1 Central Park South – better known as The Plaza Hotel – in New York has gone on sale for £12.4 million in spite of having been bought by its current owner, Bolat Nazarbayev – brother of the authoritarian dictator and “Leader of the Nation of Kazakhstan” Nursultan Nazarbayev – for £15.6 million in February 2008.
Unit #1801 at 1 Central Park South was transferred into the ownership of Nazarbayev’s then wife, Maira, eight months later for just $1 but then became part of a number of legal suits when the fertilizer tycoon discovered the woman he’d married was already married to someone else. Bizarrely, it later emerged that he, himself, was supposedly a trigamist and married to two other women.
Also, for a time in the ownership of Bolat’s step-son, Daniyar Nazarbayev – a “rich kid” once engaged to the Prime Minister of Malaysia’s daughter Nooryana Najwa, originally named Daniyar Kesikbayev and once accused of “falsely claiming a place at Columbia University” – the apartment achieved mention in court again in April 2014. At that time, the New York Post reported Daniyar had allegedly failed to pay £102,000 in building fees and that the condo’s board wished to “kick him out”.
In further court cases as part of their “wild family feud”, the Nazarbayevs continued their arguments over jewellery and various properties in the US and France and at one point Maira was even held under house arrest in Kazakhstan. After these matters were resolved, #1801 at 1 Central Park was transferred back to Bolat Nazarbayev and recently, after having been decluttered of its dictator-like décor and neutrally staged, has now been listed to sell.
The 18th floor, 4,064 square foot condominium is being marketed as providing accommodation that includes 3 reception rooms, 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. It has previously been listed to rent for sums as high as £630,000 per year and is now described as “competitively priced” by Francis Caamano and Mehdi Ettouati of Lafayette Realty.
The Numbers – #1801, 1 Central Park South
February 2008: Sold for $20.2 million (£15.6 million, €18.1 million or درهم74.2 million).
October 2008: “Sold” for $1 (£0.78, €0.90 or درهم3.67).
June 2012: Offered to rent for $68,000 per month (£53,000, €61,000 or درهم250,000 per month).
October 2014: Offered to rent for $55,000 per month (£42,000, €49,000 or درهم202,000 per month).
October 2016: Asking price of $17.9 million (£13.8 million, €16.1 million or درهم65.8 million).
May 2017: Asking price of $16 million (£12.4 million, €14.4 million or درهم58.8 million).
Taxes: $136,944 per year ($106,000, €123,000 or درهم503,000 per year).
Common charges: $62,652 per year ($48,000, €56,000 or درهم230,000 per year).
