foreclosure at 1CPW Penthouse

A pretty sad story for a visionary. A Cliffhanger of a Listing Tina Fineberg for The New York Times 1 Central Park West By JOSH BARBANEL Published: December 28, 2008 COULD the ghost of the luxury real estate market yet to come, as Dickens might have put it, already be here, gravely hovering above the 20-foot-high glass walls of a gutted penthouse atop the Trump International Hotel and Tower in... [more]

A pretty sad story for a visionary. A Cliffhanger of a Listing Tina Fineberg for The New York Times 1 Central Park West By JOSH BARBANEL Published: December 28, 2008 COULD the ghost of the luxury real estate market yet to come, as Dickens might have put it, already be here, gravely hovering above the 20-foot-high glass walls of a gutted penthouse atop the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Columbus Circle? With many of the largest hedge fund fortunes sagging, and many a millionaire bereft after the Bernard Madoff scandal, the idea that the hooded figure of foreclosure and bankruptcy could be pointing a finger at some of the most expensive real estate in the world, rather than subprime suburban ranch houses, suddenly seems plausible. Last week came word that the Italian film producer Vittorio Cecchi Gori had put his 5,500-square-foot penthouse, with a 50-foot-wide glass-walled living room, on the market for $28.5 million. The appearance of a luxury listing in the week before Christmas is unusual. And a peek at state and federal court records showed that the property, at 1 Central Park West, was in the midst of what may end up as the biggest residential apartment foreclosure sale in Manhattan in recent memory. The records show that at the end of October, Justice Joan A. Madden of State Supreme Court in Manhattan granted a foreclosure judgment against Mr. Cecchi Gori, in connection with $14 million in a secured mortgage on the apartment, as well as additional debts to the same lender, a subsidiary of the Fortress Investment Group, totaling as much as $30 million. But after the justice's ruling - and before a referee was appointed to oversee the sale - the corporation set up by Mr. Cecchi Gori to buy the house filed for bankruptcy in federal court in Manhattan. The bankruptcy court allowed Mr. Cecchi Gori to hire Howard Margolis, an agent at Prudential Douglas Elliman, to market the property and try to get a higher price than could be obtained at auction. (The proposed listing agreement, included in the court record, calls for a 5 percent commission for Mr. Margolis if the place is sold in conjunction with a co-broker, and 4 percent if sold without one.) The problems of Mr. Cecchi Gori, who produced more than 200 Italian films, including "Il Postino" and "Life Is Beautiful," both of which won Oscars, began long before the economic downturn. But brokers said they could be a harbinger of trouble. Mr. Cecchi Gori is facing the potential loss of two other houses, according to New York court records: a penthouse in Fountain House, an apartment building in London facing Hyde Park with a value of about $14 million, and an 8,400-square-foot single-family house on Robert Lane in Beverly Hills worth about $8 million in 2006. While the New York foreclosure case was pending this spring, Mr. Cecchi Gori was jailed by Italian authorities and held for four months in connection with an investigation into an Italian bankruptcy filing. In October after his release, he assailed the Italian criminal justice system and proclaimed his innocence. Mr. Cecchi Gori bought the Columbus Circle penthouse from Donald Trump for $10.4 million in 1998, a few months before the United States release of "Life Is Beautiful," a Roberto Benigni film that won three Academy Awards, including best actor for Mr. Benigni and best foreign film. Mr. Trump had paid $5.1 million for the five-bedroom apartment in 1997 and had announced plans to move in. But after a split with his second wife, Marla Maples, he offered it for rent at what was then the extraordinary sum of $100,000 a month. Six months later, Mr. Cecchi Gori bought it. Building records show that in 2001, Mr. Cecchi Gori demolished the interior of the apartment, tearing out walls, the steam showers and the salmon-colored marble slabs installed in the hallways by Mr. Trump. Although he obtained a permit to rebuild a few months later, the work was never done, and the interior is still unfinished. As his financial problems worsened, Mr. Cecchi Gori stopped paying his condominium charges, and according to the filing, he owes more than $62,000 to the condo board and $69,000 in back taxes. Mr. Margolis said that within a matter of days, the apartment received at least two offers. "There have been people waiting for this apartment," he said. "As soon as I put it on the Web there were calls. It is really spectacular, it is a matter of who wants to go in and purchase it." But the asking price, $5,180 a square foot, is about 20 percent more than the most expensive high-floor apartment sold in that building when the market was strong. Mr. Margolis declined to disclose the offering prices so far. Latest News | World | U.S. | Politics | N.Y. / Region | Business | Technology | Sports | Opinion | Science | Health | Arts | Movies & Showtimes | Style | Travel | Real Estate | Real Estate Listings & Photos | Automobiles | Obituaries | Magazine | Week in Review | Weather | Blogs | My Alerts | Most E-Mailed | Most Shared | Podcasts | [less]