Stubborn NYC Tenant
Herbert
Sukenik was born in the Bronx, New York in 1930. He attended Cornell
University where he earned an undergraduate degree in physics. He then
stayed at Cornell to earn both a masters in physics and a Ph.D. By all
accounts, Herb was brilliant. He was also a bit of a social outcast. He
worked for General Electric for a while then at Martin Company in their
Space Systems division. In 1974, Herbert, who had become somewhat of a
recluse, rented a tiny 350 square foot apartment in the Mayflower Hotel
building. He never married and seemingly had no friends or family. He
basically lived like a hermit for the next three decades.
The
Mayflower Hotel building sat on what was arguably the most valuable and
highly coveted real estate in the world. Located at 15 Central Park
West, the building was situated perfectly for someone to build luxury
condos that would fetch tens of millions of dollars apiece. Possibly
more. Seeing the obvious potential this property presented, in 2004 the
entire building was purchased by real estate tycoons Arthur and Will
Zeckendorf for
$401 million.
The
Zeckendorf brothers quickly began the process of paying off each one of
the current tenants to move. Many of the early tenants accepted the
first offer:
$650,000. That left just a few holdouts.
Those early birds should have held out longer because the move-out offer
was raised to a mind boggling
$1 million. All the remaining holdouts accepted, except one:
Herb Sukenik.
At
first, Herb offered to vacate his unit if the Zeckendorfs bought him a
2200 square foot, two bedroom apartment in a building nearby, then rent
it back to him for $1 a month, for the rest of his life. The Zeckendorfs
agreed. But then Herb suddenly backed out. Herb probably realized he
was the lone holdout and these developers had very deep pockets. He
demanded money. Lots and lots of money. Flabbergasted and unwilling to
be held hostage, the Zeckendorfs began demolishing the building anyway.
They hoped to drive Herb out from all the construction hassle and noise.
Herbert was undeterred.
After
living in a construction zone for over a year, Herbert's stubbornness
finally paid off in 2005. Admitting defeat, the Zeckendorfs caved and
made an offer Herbert could not (and did not) refuse. In order to
finally get Herbert to leave his decrepit 350 square foot apartment,
they offered him a one time cash buyout of… get ready for it…
$17 million.
That is by far the most money ever paid to get a single tenant to leave
a New York City apartment. It's probably the most money ever paid to
get anyone to leave any apartment. But it gets better. Not only did the
Zeckendorfs agree to give Herb Sukenik $17 million cash, they also
agreed to let him live in a
$2 million apartment on Central Park South where he will pay
$1 a month in rent for the rest of his life.
$17
million plus a $2 million apartment basically free for life! This guy
is my idol! With Herbert finally gone, the Zeckendorfs were finally
clear to completely remodel the Mayflower Hotel pretty much from
scratch. They sunk
$1 billion into the building and
turned it into what is now the most expensive and highly coveted address
in all of New York City. Today, "
15 CPW", as it is
called, features a completely private driveway hidden from paparazzi, a
cinema and 14,000 square foot gym that has a 75 foot pool. A one bedroom
apartment averages $7 million. Two bedrooms $12 million. Three bedrooms
$15-$30 million. Four bedrooms (only one available) $60 million. Five
bedrooms, (only two available) $65 million and up. Current tenants
include Goldman Sachs CEO
Lloyd Blankfein,
Sting, Jeff Gordon, Alex Rodriguez and
Denzel Washington.
By Brian Warner on March 7, 2014
