Ekaterina Rybolovleva, Russian Heiress, Buys $88 Mil NYC Apartment

By Cavan Sieczkowski | December 20 2011 9:37 AM

Ekaterina Rybolovleva is a mere 22-years-old but she just dropped $88 million on a 6,744-square foot apartment at 15 Central Park West in New York City. The apartment boasts 10 rooms, including four bedrooms, a wrap-around terrace (that is over 2,000-square feet), a gallery, a wet bar, walk-in closets, a library and two wood-burning fireplaces.

Robert A.M. Stern

Ekaterina Rybolovleva is a mere 22-years-old but she just dropped $88 million on a 6,744-square foot apartment at 15 Central Park West. The apartment boasts 10 rooms, including four bedrooms, a wrap-around terrace and two wood-burning fireplaces.
WSJ

PH20 Floor Plan.

Who is this young lass with such astronomical wealth?

Ekaterina Rybolovleva is the daughter of Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovleva, whose wealth roots back to the sale of his stake in Uralkali, a fertilizer business, for $6.5 billion in 2010, according to Forbes. He is known in U.S. real estate circles for purchasing Donald Trump's Palm Beach mansion, Maison de L'Amitie, in May 2008. He paid for the $95 million pad in cash.

In 2011 he was ranked No. 93 on Forbes' billionaire list. He has a net worth of $9.5 billion.

Ekaterina is a competitive equestrian and is currently enrolled at an undisclosed university in the U.S. continuing her education.

Now Dmitry's blonde offspring is delving into luxury real estate herself. She purchased the apartment from Citigroup chairman Sandy Weill, who promises to donate the proceeds to charity. After paying the full asking price, Rybolovleva set the record for the highest individual transaction in New York City's history.

Her representatives released an official statement:

A company associated with Ekaterina Rybolovleva, daughter of a well-known businessman Dmitriy Rybolovleva, has signed a contract to purchase an apartment at 15 Central Park West, New York. The apartment is a condominium currently owned by the Sanford Weill Family.

Ms. Rybolovleva is currently studying at a U.S. university. She plans to stay in the apartment when visiting New York. Ms. Rybolovleva was born in Russia, is a resident of Monaco and has resided in Monaco and Switzerland for the past 15 years.

Forbes cites that the previous record was held by investor Christopher Flowers, who paid $53 million for a townhouse at 4 East 75th Street before the stock market crash.

This sale is an outlier. It works out to be about $13,000 per sq. foot, the highest on record, for anything, that has ever occurred, said Jonathan Miller, chief executive of real estate appraiser Miller Samuel. What is ironic is that when Sandy Weill bought it for less than half this amount, he paid the highest price per square-foot to date in that building, around, $6,400 per sq. foot. He is again setting a record.

As IBTimes reporter Roland Li described, 15 Central Park West is anything but a humble abode. Earlier this week, another apartment closed for $24 million. Rybolovleva's neighbors in the building will include Sting, Denzel Washington and Lloyd Blankfein, head of Goldman Sachs.

Given that the sale was done so quietly and quickly, it probably sold at or near the listing price, Miller told Business Week. The average sale supposedly takes about four months, he said.

Right now we're seeing a whole slew of trophy-property sales, he added. This is in part due to the weak dollar, which is driving foreign investments.