Billionaire Carlos Slim, the richest person in Mexico, is apparently giving it another go in his attempt to find a buyer for his enormous, historical New York City townhouse. The 20,000-square-foot mansion nestled away on the Upper East Side has been listed with an asking price of $80 million – the same price he listed the property for back in 2015.
At the time, an $80 million asking price was enough to make the townhouse the most expensive in the city, and interestingly, that's still true in 2023 as well. If Carlos Slim manages to find a buyer for $80 million, the home will then become the most expensive townhouse ever sold in NYC.
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A record price wouldn't be the only record held by the property. The townhouse is also the largest such residence in the city. The "All NYC" YouTube channel ranked the property as the #3 most significant mansions in all of Manhattan. Here's their video breakdown, queued up to #3:
Known alternatively as the Duke–Semans Mansion and the Benjamin N. and Sarah Duke House, Carlos Slim purchased the property in 2010 from the since-departed oil tycoon Tamir Sapir for $44 million. In an unusual twist, the property's official listing on Zillow tells a different story: "Not for sale. Was not sold to Carlos Slim." But by most commonly agreed upon accounts, Slim is indeed the property's owner.
In any event, the listing goes onto describe the home itself in lofty detail:
"Built in 1901 and designed by the firm of Welch, Smith and Provot, the exceptionally grand and remarkably beautiful 1009 Fifth Avenue was constructed in the Beaux-Arts style and is rightfully regarded as an architectural tour de force. The residence stands as a splendid example of the extraordinary workmanship of that era and is one of the very few remaining along the Gold Coast of Fifth Avenue."
Stacked high with eight floors and features like "soaring ceilings, hand-carved wood paneling, lovely trompe l'oeil accents, gold-leaf trimmed fixtures, and intricate plaster friezes" along with its whopping 25 bedrooms and ten bathrooms, this would be a stunning property even if it weren't for its highly prized location. And, if Carlos Slim gets his wish, it will soon be the most expensive townhouse in the entire city.
