Update (Nov. 6, 2015): Lauren Bacall’s Dakota apartment has been sold for $21M. According to the New York Post, the buyers for the 4,000-square-foot residence overlooking Central Park are Oaktree Capital managing director Ronald Beck and his wife, Cynthia.
The Becks are no strangers to classic NYC apartment buildings: The couple have also owned in one of the other most sought-after Upper West Side edifices, The Beresford. In 2012, the hedge fund head had listed that apartment for sale at $23 million, but it did not sell. The Becks have owned their 21st-floor Beresford residence since 2008.
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Original post: The allure of owning Lauren Bacall’s sprawling apartment in the iconic Dakota turns out not to be worth $26 million. But it was worth a shot.
Now heirs for the late actress have dropped the price for the 9-room residence at 1 West 72nd Street to $23.5 million.
Bacall famously bought the apartment for $48,000 in 1961 after the death of her husband, actor Humphrey Bogart. Eager to exit Los Angeles and return to her native New York, Bacall said she phoned her accountant, told him to sell all of her stock and came up with the down payment on the home she would live in for the rest of her life. Bacall passed away last year at age 89.
The apartment boasts grand and immediate views of Central Park, seen directly across the street through the unit’s 100 feet of window frontage. Five of the rooms directly face the park. The vintage apartment retains the building’s 19th century appointments, which makes it a classic, but clearly the price is ripe of a makeover.
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