Edited by: Fern Sidman
Iconic Italian fashion designer, Gianni Versace was murdered in Miami some 25 years ago but his larger-than-life legend lives on. It has now been reported that Versace’s 17-room Upper East Side mansion is coming on the market for $70 million.
Versace, who is known for his eponymously named fashion house which he founded in 1978, purchased the Manhattan townhouse in 1995 for $7.5. A year later, Versace and his family opened a five-story boutique on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, as was reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Records indicate that the Versace mansion was purchased for $30 million in 2005 by Swedish hedge-fund manager Thomas Sandell, 61, and his wife, Ximena Sandell, 46, when Versace decided to put the limestone townhouse on the market.
Mansion in Florida
Located on East 64th Street near Central Park, the luxurious townhouse is only blocks away from the Plaza Hotel, the Pierre Hotel and the 5th Avenue upscale shopping district. The late comedian Joan Rivers also owned a mansion on East 62nd Street near Central Park before it was sold for $28 million after her untimely death.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the 35-foot-wide neoclassical mansion spans six floors and six stories with some 14,175 square feet of interior space and 3,025 square feet on the outside.
The WSJ reported that the classic home retains the Italian Baroque-style finishes on the bottom four levels that were installed by Versace. They include painted walls and ceilings, classical columns, mosaic and Austrian parquet floors as well as marble flooring. The mansion also has five carved stone fireplaces, eleven bathrooms — seven full baths and four powder rooms.
The upper two floors were redesigned to include a media room and a game room, according to a report on the Real Deal web site. A rear balcony overlooks a garden.
The Versace home also includes a roof deck with a gazebo and could be configured to include up to nine bedrooms, according to the Real Deal.
The much-vaunted property is being co-listed by Nikki Field of Sotheby’s International Realty along with her daughter Amanda Field Jordan, as was reported by the WSJ.
Ms. Field told the WSJ that the fifth floor of the mansion boasted a “Moroccan-style media room and a whimsical game room with billiards and arcade games.”
Referring to the unique mansion, she also said that the current owners “have been custodians of this piece of art.” She added that it’s going to be purchased by someone who has the same reverence as the Sandells.
Ms. Field noted that the Sandells as “Versace devotees” and that entering the storied mansion is tantamount to “going into the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ of Gianni Versace,” as was reported by the WSJ.
In a statement sent to the publication, the Sandells said: “We pursued extensive restorations and renovations with an incredible team of artists and artisans honoring the magnificent legacy left by Gianni Versace.”
Also taking note of the design elements of the ornate home and their intricacy, Ms. Field told the WSJ that “the ceiling of the great room features restored 19th-century panels sourced by Mr. Versace from a Florentine palazzo, according to the listing agents. A marble reception hall leads to vast entertaining rooms with French-style windows overlooking a trellised garden below. A rear balcony, which runs the full length of the house, also looks over the garden.”
The Real Deal reported that the property has been marketed as a rental in recent years, asking for as much as $100,000 per month.
The dirt.com reported that the Sandells have not always occupied the townhouse, at least on a permanent basis. In 2015 they leased the house to real estate developer Joseph Chetrit, who later sued Sandell, according to court records, alleging myriad issues such as rodent infestation, mold contamination, and pervasive structural and plumbing issues.
Field said the lawsuit was “amicably resolved.”
The WSJ reported that the Versace mansion was the most recent of the Sandells’ properties to enter the real estate market.
Moreover, the report indicated that they have listed a roughly 10-acre piece of land on Meadow Lane in Southampton, N.Y., for $75 million.
Last year, Sandell reached a $105 million settlement with the New York state attorney general’s office over his alleged efforts, through his now-defunct hedge fund Sandell Asset Management, to avoid state and city taxes, according to the WSJ report. The hedge fund had been an activist investor in companies such as Barnes & Noble.
To watch the video presentation of the various Versace mansions please visit the Jewish Voice web site at: jewishvoiceny.com
