Most Expensive Apartment In NYC: $150M Asking Price For Triplex Penthouse At Former Sony Building

One57, a new luxury skyscraper apartment building designed by French architect Christian de Portzamparc which is under construction on New York City's West 57th street, is pictured April 24, 2014. More than $100 million was paid for the building's penthouse, but a $150 million listing for a triplex in the former Sony building would shatter that record for a condo sale. Reuters

If you want the distinction of owning the priciest apartment in New York City, be prepared to cough up $150 million. That’s the listing price for a triplex penthouse in the former Sony building, the most expensive listing for any New York condo since last September's $130 million asking price for an apartment at 520 Park Ave. The $150 million price tag would also shatter the record $100.5 million deal for a condo at One57 at 157 W. 57^th St. if the Sony building triplex sells at the listing price. “This is taking everything to a whole new level,” Ben Bernalloul, a luxury real estate broker at RLTY NYC, told the New York Daily News. “It’s setting a new standard for real estate in this area. Now, everyone is going to be playing catch-up with this number.”

The Sony building, at 550 Madison Ave., sits on “Billionaire’s Row,” the name given to the flashy new high-rises that have gone up around 57^th Street near Central Park. The building is owned by the Chetrit Group, which is converting the former Sony offices into luxury apartments, according to Bloomberg Business.

The $150 million asking price for the eight-bedroom, eight-bathroom triplex penthouse may be a way for Chetrit to stand out from the crowd of luxury apartment buildings in the area, Jonathan Miller, president of the New York City-based appraising firm Miller Samuel Inc., told Bloomberg. “The penthouse seems to be a strategy to train focus on the development,” he said. “Buyers in the super-luxury market are obsessed with having an asset that’s unique and not cookie-cutter.”

Jason Haber, a broker at Warburg Realty, said the penthouse may attract billionaires who want to claim the most expensive apartment in Manhattan. The triplex penthouse and other apartments on Billionaire’ Row cater to Russian oligarchs, Middle Eastern sheikhs and Chinese business moguls, according to the Daily News. The $150 million penthouse comes with 10 powder rooms, a wine room and a spa, according to the Real Deal and the Daily News. “In a market like this where everyone is going after the biggest trophy, everyone always wants the shiniest one,” Haber said. “Chetrit is now saying this is the shiniest one.”

The $150 million apartment may test the limits of how much billionaires are willing to pay for New York’s priciest residential real estate. "It's all public relations,” luxury broker Donna Olshan told the Daily News. “They're ratcheting it up for the press’ sake. I can't think of a better way to make a splash than to put something on the market at a record price."