A recently sold building on the Upper East Side of New York City has quite an interesting backstory involving music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs. The rapper, producer, and entrepreneur purchased the Park Avenue building for $12 million (R175 million) in 1998. At the time, Diddy was living in one of the units, but he hoped to turn the entire 12-story structure into a 24,000-square-foot megamansion.
At some point during the planning process, however, the Bad Boy Entertainment founder seemingly gave up or lost interest. He sold the building to Aion Partners for $14.3 million in 2004. From there, Aion tried several different options to at least partially fulfill Diddy’s vision: First, they tried to sell the building as three four-story condos priced between $12 million and $16 million each. When the condos failed to sell, the developer opted to replace the broker at the time, which led to a lawsuit and still did not result in any sales.
In 2008, Aion attempted to demolish the building to reimagine a new one, but this, too, failed. Finally, the property management company listed the whole place for $39 million in 2017. The price was lowered multiple times, and was last listed at $26.5 million before ultimately selling for $24 million (R351 million).
The building itself is beautifully refurbished, with a set of grand bronze front doors leading into a lobby with marble floors, walnut walls, and a silver-leaf vaulted ceiling. Images of the units’ interiors reveal a sleek, modern aesthetic, with built-in shelves, minimalistic wood-burning fireplaces, and grand double-height common living spaces flooded with natural light.
This article was originally published on Architectural Digest
Feature Image: Gregg DeGuire/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
