Guess Rupert Murdoch thinks it’s a good time to sell. The media titan is listing two condos at One Madison, in New York’s trendy Flatiron District, for a combined $78 million. One apartment, a 6,800-square-foot triplex penthouse on the 58th, 59th and 60th floors, is priced at $62 million — a hefty chunk below the $72 million he wanted in 2015, and the other, a 3,300-square-foot full-floor spread on the 57th floor, is asking $16 million.
The two units could be combined, provided the building’s powers that be provide permission. The listing agent is Deborah Grubman of the Corcoran Group, and if the units sell for anywhere near the asking prices, the multibillionaire executive chairman of News Corp will turn a huge profit; he paid about $57.3 million for both condos in 2014.
With floor-to-ceiling windows, the views from all four floors are simply amazing. Grubman told the Wall Street Journal, “You see every iconic building practically, and on a clear day you can see the ocean.” Views include the Hudson and East Rivers, the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center, as well as the beautiful landmark Met Life Tower right across the street. One Madison is a full service condo building very close to Madison Square Park. Amenities include a full-time doorman and concierge, a fitness center with indoor pool and steam room, a lounge and a parlor room, whatever that is, a screening room, and a private dining room.
In the images below, the first group before the floor plan show the triplex; after that is the single floor condo. The triplex has a total of six bedrooms, including the master suite and a staff room, and five bathrooms, plus a powder room. The interiors are luxurious if fairly plain and simple, allowing the dramatic views to be the focus.
The great room boasts stunning 20-foot-high ceilings and walls of glass that open to a 590-square-foot wraparound terrace, while a lovely helical staircase leads to the second level, though if stairs aren’t your thing, a private elevator serves all three floors.
Also on the main floor is a formal dining room with a one-of-a-kind plaster ceiling, a sleek kitchen, and an intimate library. There are two en suite guest bedrooms, and the staff suite, on the second floor, and two more guest bedrooms with private baths on the top floor, along with the master suite, which offers a dressing room and marble-sheathed bath.
The smaller condo, which Murdoch used for staff and guests according to Grubman, is the highest full-floor unit at One Madison. The apartment offers three bedrooms, all en-suite, and an additional powder room. Dark-stained wood floors ground the great room, which is wrapped in floor-to-ceiling glass, and the 28-foot-long master suite includes another bathroom clad in marble.
The two condos represent just a small part of Murdoch’s vast real estate holdings. Last year, he and wife Jerry Hall dropped $200 million (or so) on a Montana cattle ranch. They also own a 15-acre vineyard estate in L.A.’s Bel Air neighborhood, bought at a cost of more than $33 million, a 25,000-acre sheep station in Australia, and numerous properties in Britain, including an aristocratic 18th-century manor house near Henly-on-Thames that was once a haven for 19th-century poets Algernon Charles Swinburne and Lord Alfred Tennyson.
