Indian Steel Magnate Selling Manhattan Condo – DIRT

When a garishly opulent condo on the 47th floor of New York’s 52-story Trump International Hotel & Tower changed hands in 2018 for $25 million, the seller was  named in Big Apple property gossip columns as billionaire Japanese real estate developer Katsumi Tada and the buyer pegged as an unnamed member of billionaire Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal’s family.

Now, after a three-year, soup-to-nuts overhaul spearheaded by the Manhattan architecture firm Hottenroth + Joseph, during which the nearly 6,300-square-foot two-unit combo condo was radically reconfigured for a more modern lifestyle and redecorated in more subtle, refined, and up-to-date version of relaxed luxury, the Lincoln Square aerie is now available via Douglas Elliman Realty broker and “Million Dollar Listing” star Kirsten Jordan at $34.5 million. The current ask is a substantial discount from the original price of $39 million. Taxes and common charges tally up to more than $24,000 per month.

Tossed out in the renovation were Tada’s showy fluted black marble columns, gold-leafed doors, and multi-colored marble floors polished to a mirrored shine. It their places are hand-applied European clay-based wall finishes, designer wallpaper, artisanal door hardware, and European wood chevron-pattern floorboards. In the dumpster went the glitzy crimson and gold brocade wallpaper in the dining room, along with the roman-style tub in the main bathroom and a gaudy red toilet in one of the guest bathrooms. Now, there’s beautiful blond oak paneling, acres of Italian marble, and sumptuous Belgian wool window coverings.

The reconfiguration was no less dramatic. The most significant alterations to the floor plan include fully merging the two units into one — they were previously connected but each had their own kitchen and laundry room — and moving the isolated kitchen of the larger unit from the west side of the apartment to east side, where it’s the gourmet anchor to a spacious great room. Bathed in morning light, the ample space incorporates chef-quality appliances tucked into the kitchen’s bespoke cabinetry, a spacious dining area, a wine and coffee bar, and a cozy lounge with built-in sofas covered in nubby (and super-trendy) bouclé fabric. Elsewhere there’s a 700-square-foot corner living room for grand entertaining as well as a more intimate library.

With floor-to-ceiling windows that frame city, park, and river views to the east, south and west, the residence offers six bedrooms and six deluxe new bathrooms, plus a couple of powder rooms. One of the guest bedrooms has a corner sitting room with 180-plus-degree views, while the primary suite offers plenty of its own dramatic views, plus a trio of closets and a five-star bathroom where an elliptical tub is set against a city backdrop beneath at crystal chandelier. There’s also a tiny staff bedroom and bath nipped behind the kitchen’s butler’s pantry and laundry room, and the condo’s 15-plus closets include a dedicated trunk room larger than most Manhattan kitchens.

And for anyone who finds it a bit tight, the 2,115-square-foot neighboring apartment is also for sale, at just under $8 million.

Thought DIRT can’t independently verify which Mittal family member the Manhattan apartment was allegedly bought for or by, with a net worth of over $18 billion, Lakshmi Mittal is himself known for his collection of trophy homes around the globe. As of 2021, Mittal’s residential holdings reportedly included a custom-built mansion along New Delhi’s most prestigious streets and a vast mansion on London’s most expensive street, Kensington Palace Gardens, which he scooped up in 2004 from Formula One tycoon Bernie Ecclestone for somewhere in the neighborhood of $128 million. )Two more exceedingly expensive Kensington Palace Gardens mansions were subsequently acquired, one for his daughter and the other for his son, though he’s reported to have sold at least of them.) The steel magnate reportedly also maintains a 400-acre spread in Surrey, just outside London, as well as luxury homes in Scotland, Indonesia and the Caribbean.