Donald Trump NYC Park Avenue Penthouse Sells For $21M

Amid a presidential candidacy stirring up controversy at nearly every turn, Republican White House hopeful and real estate mogul Donald Trump apparently can still make time for a good deal. He sold his penthouse unit in the Trump Park Avenue building in New York City for $21 million, listing agent Michelle Griffith said, as the Wall Street Journal reported.

Griffith, an agent for Trump International Realty, told the Journal that Trump was the first and only owner of the luxury unit on the 24th floor of the 32-story building. However, Trump never lived in the 6,200-square-foot penthouse featuring 10-foot ceilings, five bedrooms, seven bathrooms and one powder room. Public records showed the unit had been listed for $35 million in 2013 and was last offered for $24.9 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump’s daughter and executive vice president of development and acquisitions of the Trump Organization, confirmed that the penthouse had been sold.

Griffith said there had been an offer to rent the apartment for more than $80,000 per month, but Trump agreed to sell because of market conditions. “In his mind, it was a strong market and it was a good time to get a deal done,” she told the Wall Street Journal. Ivanka Trump, who lives in the building on Park Avenue at 59th Street, said the sale was not related to her father's presidential campaign or political fundraising. “My father is in the business of real estate,” she told the Wall Street Journal.

Trump has caused controversy since he announced his campaign in June, first with comments on Mexican immigrants and later with his criticism of Sen. John McCain, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He has also loudly and publicly slammed fellow Republican candidates, most recently Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Trump has remained strong in the polls, however, with an NBC News-Marist poll Sunday putting him at the top of the GOP field in New Hampshire and second in Iowa.

Trump bought the former Delmonico Hotel in 2001 for $115 million and converted it into the luxury condo tower where the penthouse is located. Griffith would not identify the penthouse buyer, but said it was purchased by a couple with other homes in the U.S.