The sprawling apartment on the Upper West Side, where shoe manager George Malkemus lived with his husband and business partner Anthony Yurgaitis, is coming onto the market for the first time in almost two decades.
According to John Burger, a broker at Brown Harris Stevens who markets the property, the price is $ 25 million with a monthly maintenance cost of $ 13,781.
The listing takes place almost a month after the death of Mr. Malkemus, who together with Mr. Yurgaitis ran the high-end shoe brand Manolo Blahnik in the USA for 37 years. Mr. Malkemus also helped actress Sarah Jessica Parker, who wore countless pairs of “Manolos” on the set of Sex and the City, and started her own shoe line.
The cooperative apartment is on the northeast corner of the 18th floor of the Majestic, the pre-war two-tower skyscraper in Central Park West 115, between 71st and 72nd Streets. It is a combination of two units that the couple acquired in 2002 and 2004 and then meticulously put together with the help of the architect Annabelle Selldorf.
Credit…Craig Barritt / Getty Images North America, via (Credit too long, see caption)
“We completely reconfigured the entire room,” Yurgaitis said in an email, calling it “the ultimate New York home”.
"The moment I walked into our new home," he said, "I was absolutely delighted."
But Mr. Yurgaitis says he decided to sell the apartment because he spends much less time there. His primary residence is now at Arethusa Farm, the 300-acre dairy farm in Litchfield, Connecticut that the couple bought in 1999. Since then, the company has grown to include a full line of dairy products that are sold in its retail stores and pubs.
The Manhattan house covers around 5,000 square feet. It has four master bedrooms, one of which is used as a library, with a decorative fireplace and wood paneling; four full bathrooms; two guest toilets; Staff quarters; and a study / living room that could be converted into a fifth bedroom.
There are also four bluestone-lined terraces with a total area of approximately 850 square meters, which offer breathtaking views of Central Park as well as the neighboring Dakota apartment building.
"It feels like a penthouse," said Mr Burger, "although technically it's not a penthouse." He said being on the 18th floor of the Majestic “has to be the perfect place. You get the perfect relationship between park, skyline and sky. If you are too high in Central Park, you will have lost the park if you sit down. "
A private elevator landing leads to the apartment in a foyer and a gallery. At the north end there is a living room with a decorative fireplace and a music room / library, which are side by side. Each has French doors that lead onto a terrace. The northern part also includes a formal dining room with terrace, the guest toilets and a large eat-in kitchen, which is completely clad in stainless steel, as well as a wine storage room. Next to the kitchen is a laundry room and staff quarters.
A foyer leads from the gallery to the south end of the apartment, in which the bedrooms are located. The huge master suite, also with a terrace, has a living room, two dark marble bathrooms, two spacious dressing rooms, a walk-in closet and a wet bar. Two of the other spacious bedrooms have en-suite bathrooms made of light Carrara marble.
There are light, herringbone oak floors, oversized windows, and almost 3 meter high ceilings throughout the apartment.
Mr. Yurgaitis says the master bedroom suite was his favorite part of the apartment. “It really is a home in the house,” he says. He particularly appreciated the terrace there. "I always like to go out with my morning coffee and a newspaper," he says, "and when the stars come out, an evening cocktail on the terrace is always the perfect nightcap."
He and Mr. Malkemus also enjoyed talking in the apartment over the years. "We have had many wonderful dinner parties," he said.
The 32-story Art Deco-style Majestic was completed just steps from Central Park in 1931 and converted into a cooperative in 1958. Notable residents there were actors Milton Berle and Zero Mostel, fashion designer Marc Jacobs, and comedian Conan O'Brien.
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