It’s getting to be that when it comes to Rupert Murdoch, you need a score sheet for two important aspects of his life: His wives and his NYC real estate moves.
As we heard with a whiff of surprise and a little admiration, Murdoch tied the knot with Jerry Hall last month in London. The nuptials come just a year or so after his divorce from Wendi Deng, who is recently rumored to be dating Vladimir Putin!
In all of these marital switcheroos, Murdoch has been equally active with his luxuriously high-end NYC real estate holdings. Now the media mogul is again looking to unload the West Village townhouse at 278 West 11th Street he just bought a year ago. Murdoch paid $25 million and is now seeking $28.9 million. In fact, the listing history shows he has been trying to sell the townhouse just months after he closed in March 2015. It was taken off the market temporarily last month, but it’s back on for the same price: $28.9M.
The building is five stories and was a bed and breakfast called West Eleventh Historic Townhouse Apartments, which featured five units decorated after five master artists prior to its sale in 2011. After that, the townhouse was transformed by George Agiovlasitis, who paid $8.2 million for the B&B then renovated the historic structure into a sleek, private, 6,500-square-foot home.
Murdoch’s own newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, described 278 West 11th as a 25-foot-wide Greek Revival townhouse built in 1853 that was stripped by Agiovlastis of its purple exterior to reveal the original red brick facade.
“Agiovlasitis rebuilt the stoop to resemble the home’s original entrance,’’ the WSJ reported when the renovated home hit the market in March 2014 for $30 million. The south-facing walls were also replaced with glass and the property also “boasts a roof deck with Empire State Building views, elevator, a 1,200-bottle wine cellar on the lower level and a gym,’’ Agiovlasitis told the WSJ.
Murdoch is no stranger to NYC real estate swaps. He bought a three-story penthouse at One Madison for $57.25 million, and then listed the 7,600-square-foot gem for $72 million. It has yet to attract a buyer. Dolly Lenz holds the listing on both the Village townhouse and the penthouse. Murdoch also owns another unit at One Madison, too, as well as homes in California and London.
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