Ex-Morgan Stanley CEO Asks $80M for Townhouse Bought at $13.5M
The ask would beat the $77.1M record set at 14 East 67th Street in 2019. The city's deed index shows what the sellers paid and who sold it to them.
John Mack, the former Morgan Stanley chief executive, and his wife, Christy, have listed their townhouse at 165 East 70th Street for $80 million, 5.9 times the $13.5 million recorded on the 2009 deed. At that price it would top the $77.1 million paid for 14 East 67th Street in 2019 and become the most expensive townhouse sale in New York City history.
Why it matters
A townhouse ask this high tests how deep the top of the Manhattan market is, because only a handful of buyers can pay it and no one has ever closed above $77.1 million. The listing is with The Agency. The city deed record shows the buyer in 2009 was MKAP, LLC, which bought from Oak Spring Farms, LLC, and the price was $13.5 million. Christy Mack has described the building’s past: “It still had the horse ramps and stalls, like a barn.” The ask is a record bid, not a record sale, and it stays an ask until a deed is recorded.
The numbers
The gap from $13.5 million to $80 million is $66.5 million, before renovation costs the records do not show. The ask beats the 2019 record by $2.9 million, or about 3.8%. City PLUTO data counts 13,024 square feet of building on a 3,280-square-foot lot built in 1902, which works out to roughly $6,100 per building square foot. Listing coverage describes nearly 16,000 square feet, which would put the ask near $5,000, so the per-foot figure depends on whose area is used.
What’s next
Watch for a price change or a contract. A closing near $80 million would reset the townhouse ceiling, while a cut would show how far the ask runs ahead of buyers. The recorded deed will be the proof either way. More: New York →
On the record
Primary record
- Public recordThe city deed index shows the sellers' purchase: ACRIS document 2009082400621001, a deed from Oak Spring Farms, LLC to MKAP, LLC, dated August 19, 2009 and recorded August 28, 2009, at $13,500,000. The $80M ask is 5.9 times that price, or $66.5M above it.View the record on a836-acris.nyc.gov
- Public recordCity PLUTO data lists 13,024 square feet of building area on 3,280 square feet of land (block 1405, lot 28, built 1902). At the $80M ask that is about $6,100 per building square foot by the city's count; the listing describes nearly 16,000 square feet, which would put the ask near $5,000.View the record on zola.planning.nyc.gov
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