A Fifth Avenue co-op could become the biggest loser in New York City real estate history — and it’s in a building already flooded with discounted home sales.
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it → become → sales
But perhaps that’s why members of Manhattan’s high society are now looking to live there.
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members → ’ → society
A full-floor residence in the Sherry-Netherland where an alleged Chinese spy once lived is in contract — its last asking price was $12 million.
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price → live → contract
In 2015, its owner paid $67.5 million cash for it.
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owner → pay → it
That’s a staggering $55.5 million loss on the unit if the deal closes for that sum.
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deal → ’ → sum
Another apartment that last sold for $11.1 million in 2011 is listed for $1.6 million, marking an 85.6% drop, according to StreetEasy.
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that → sell → StreetEasy
“At these prices, the apartments are being given away,” quipped one broker with listings in the building, a skip away from the posh Plaza Hotel at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street.
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broker → give → Avenue
Another broker who has traded there for 20 years added: “It’s getting to the point where owners are asking if they can just leave their keys at the front desk and walk away.”
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they → trade → desk
The nearly century-old building’s sales prices are in freefall as its monthly maintenance fees soar to some of the highest that the city has ever seen.
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city → soar → that
In context, that in-contract $12 million unit comes with an extraordinary $85,654 a month in maintenance fees for the regular operation of the building.
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unit → come → building
And that’s on top of additional one-time “assessment” fees for things like fixing the building’s brick exterior, or fixing the old wood-paneled elevators, brokers said.
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brokers → ’ → elevators
Experts told Gimme Shelter that those ever-rising monthlies are having a direct impact on pricing inside the famed building, which has been home to Diana Ross, Francis Ford Coppola and Judge Judy Sheindlin.
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which → tell → Ross
Those fees have almost doubled in the past 10 years, from $6.67 per square foot in 2016 to $12.15 in 2026, according to data compiled by appraiser Jonathan Miller, of StreetMatrix.
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fees → double → StreetMatrix
The fees also pay for hotel-style services, including daily housekeeping and evening turn-down service.
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fees → pay → housekeeping
That’s a rare perk in New York, and people really love having it.
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people → ’ → it
Prince Lorenzo Borghese who lived at the Sherry-Netherland for 10 years in a one-bedroom owned by his family, calls it “the most beautiful building in New York City.”
“It’s my absolute favorite building,” the reality star and entrepreneur told Gimme Shelter.
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star → live → Shelter
It’s not a regular apartment.
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It → ’ → ?
They really take care of you.”
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They → take → you
They take care of everything, even the toilet paper.
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They → take → everything
I never had to buy a roll of toilet paper or towels the entire time I lived there,” Borghese said.
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Borghese → have → paper
Still, it all comes at a price.
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it → come → price
Miller puts the Sherry-Netherland in an elite class of co-op buildings with hotel-like services that includes the Pierre at 795 Fifth Ave. and the Carlyle, at 35 E. 76th St.
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that → put → Ave
Miller found that The Carlyle has the highest monthly maintenance fees, at $18.53 per square foot, followed by the Sherry-Netherland.
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Carlyle → find → Netherland
And soon, the latter will get its newest resident.
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latter → get → resident
His unit is held through shell companies and is now being sold by a bankruptcy trustee to pay some of the roughly $374 million in debts Guo listed when he filed for bankruptcy in 2022.
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he → hold → 2022
Guo, a onetime ally and business associate of Steve Bannon, was charged in 2023 with defrauding investors of more than $1.3 billion for varying media and crypto scams.
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Guo → charge → scams
In June, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison after being convicted in July 2024 on nine of 12 counts, including racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering.
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he → sentence → conspiracy
Guo, currently held at a low-security prison in Danbury, Conn., maintains his innocence and appealed his conviction and sentence in July.
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Guo → hold → July
His lawyer, Melinda Sarafa, declined to comment.
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lawyer → decline → ?
In 2018, Guo gave Gimme Shelter a tour of the sprawling property.
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Guo → give → property
The 7,000-square-foot apartment was impressive, with lots of wood paneling, terraces with extraordinary views of Central Park, and a chef’s kitchen where Guo enjoyed cooking up noodle dishes for his American guests.
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Guo → enjoy → guests
Sources said it’s the second largest unit in the building.
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it → say → building
Miller told Gimme Shelter the Guo apartment sale, if it closes, “will be the largest loss on an individual residential sale on record in New York City.
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it → tell → City
Nothing comes close to $50 million.”
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Nothing → come → ?
The apartment’s listing broker, Douglas Elliman’s Sabrina Saltiel, declined to comment.
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broker → decline → ?
Broker Jenny Lenz, of Dolly Lenz Real Estate, who has many clients in the building, and whose mother Dolly once had Guo as a client, said that the apartment “has been gutted to its shell, and restoring it will require an extraordinary investment on top of maintenance approaching $100,000 a month.”
And yet, the low prices and a billionaires’ war over the fate of the nearby Pierre, as Gimme Shelter exclusively reported, may have finally kickstarted renewed interest in the building, and buyers are slowly returning.
The latest is former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, who paid $10 million off-market for a unit sold by a trust tied to the late billionaire Eli Broad.
Actress Marlo Thomas also recently bought a unit for $2.75 million at the Sherry in August, Gimme can reveal.
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Gimme → have → August
The three-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath unit had last been purchased for $8.5 million in 2012, according to records, and extravagantly decorated by famed designer Geoffrey Bradfield.
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unit → purchase → Bradfield
It features domed, coffered and tray ceilings, marble floors, custom moldings and millwork and stunning Central Park views.
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It → feature → ceilings
Its latest reported maintenance fees were $26,432 a month, plus $1,362 for a storage/staff room; there is also a $2,679 additional monthly assessment fee through September 2027, according to a past listing.
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fees → be → listing
The building’s management did not respond at press time.
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management → respond → time
The Aporia
