The Big Apple’s most expensive studio apartment, which sold for an astonishing $3.88 million in an all-cash deal in 2023, has since lingered on the market as a rental that nobody seems to want — even as its asking price plunges.
The ambitious new owners asked a cool $38,000 a month for the single room with a bath last September. More than 175 days later, it still hasn’t found a renter, even though the rental price has plummeted to $16,000 a month — less than half the original ask.
The 691-square-foot space is on the 15th floor of 685 Fifth Ave., branded as the Mandarin Oriental Residences. It’s a true studio, the brokers say, adding that it also features a private 167-square-foot terrace — as well as lots of chic, space-saving built-ins, and luxury details such as Frette linens and a Dyson hairdryer.
The rental also comes with access to the building’s amenities, including a private rooftop pool and terrace overlooking Central Park, a residents’ club, a gym, a spa, a hair salon and a private restaurant, Boulud Privé, run by the Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud.
This past Monday, the building’s developer, Michael Shvo, was called out by two buyers — John and Diane Goodman — in a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit filed for alleged shoddy construction on their $6.1 million one-bedroom unit claiming warped millwork and missing counters, among other defects. (For his part, Shvo has said the Goodmans are acting in bad faith and escalating a routine matter, according to Crain’s.)
The listing brokers of the studio were sales director Jade Chan, Alexander Boriskin and Keren Ringler of Douglas Elliman. Its rental brokers are Douglas Elliman’s Laura Cao, Justin Johnson and Lindsee Silverstein.
Elliman, through a spokesperson, declined to comment.