$15M triplex at Chupi taken off market

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Actor Richard Gere owns a unit in Palazzo Chupi, where the triplex was pulled off the market

One of the two remaining units at Julian Schnabel’s rose-hued, many-terraced Palazzo Chupi — arguably the most talked-about building in the city — has been taken off the market.

The penthouse triplex, last on the market for a drastically reduced $14.95 million, was listed as “temporarily off-market” yesterday on data listings Web site Streeteasy.com. At the same time, the listing for a $27.9 million combination of the triplex and the building’s other remaining unit, a duplex, has also been de-listed. The duplex, currently asking $12.95 million, is now the sole unit for sale at Chupi, located at 360 West 11th Street, according to Streeteasy.com.

PropertyShark.com, another real estate listings Web site, also lists the triplex as no longer on the market. First listed for $32 million in February 2008, the triplex has a 3,713-square-foot interior plus 2,305 square feet of exterior space.

“I have no comment at all,” said Chupi’s broker, Peter McCuen & Associates’ Jim St. Andre, who serves as the spokesperson for the building, when asked about the status of the triplex.

Residents at the five-unit condo Palazzo Chupi include artist/filmmaker Schnabel and actor Richard Gere, who listed his Chupi home for $15 million before taking it off the market in March. Gere and Credit Suisse Managing Director William Brady each bought apartments at Chupi in September 2007.

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But the two remaining units have languished on the market, and several steep price cuts later, the news broke that Schnabel would sell a late-period Picasso to pay down Chupi-related debt.

The de-listing may signal big doings at the pink palace. It could mean that the triplex has finally found a buyer and is in contract, or has an accepted offer, said Derrick Gross, a business analyst at Streeteasy. He explained that Streeteasy.com’s listing for Palazzo Chupi was automatically updated by a change to Realplus Online Listings Exchange, listings software commonly used by New York City brokers.

By contrast, it could mean that Schnabel is no longer selling the triplex, for the time being at least. Rental listings for the two unsold units at Chupi were “temporarily de-listed” on Streeteasy.com in April and never reappeared.

It’s also possible, however, that the delisting means very little, Gross said. Some brokers take units off the market for a short while to “freshen the listing,” he said, trying to make it appear new to the market. But, he added, that technique likely would be ineffective at a high-profile building like Chupi, which has made near-continuous headlines since Schnabel began building it, to the neighbors’ consternation, in 2006. Brian Scully, the vice president of marketing at PropertyShark, said the delisting could simply be a mistake prompted by the automatic expiration of the listing, or another technical glitch.

Peter McCuen & Associates’ Web site still lists the triplex as available, but brokers don’t always update their listings immediately, Scully said, especially if a contract hasn’t yet been signed.
Brady’s 2007 purchase of a four-bedroom apartment at Chupi for $15.5 million has lost some 55 percent of its value, The Real Deal estimated in July’s story, “The Best and Worst Deals.”

Got a tip? E-mail Candace Taylor at ct@therealdeal.com.