A Brooklyn Heights townhouse just nabbed the borough’s priciest sale so far this year.
The home at 192 Columbia Heights traded in an off-market deal for $24.5 million, according to public records. The closing price surpassed the year’s previous top sale, a penthouse at Fortis Property Group’s Olympia Dumbo, which sold for $16.3 million in March.
The deal for the Civil War-era townhouse fell short of Brooklyn’s overall record, set by Eli Gindi of the Gindi real estate family in November, when he sold his Gravesend mansion for $32 million. Gindi’s deal replaced a brownstone at 8 Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights, which billionaire Vince Viola and his wife, Theresa, sold for $25.5 million in 2021.
The previous owners of the Columbia Heights home, Granite Broadcasting CEO W. Don Cornwell and his wife, Saundra, sought to set a record of their own in 2014, when they listed the property for $16 million. At the time, the most expensive townhouse ever sold in the borough closed for $15.5 million.
But the Cornwells, who purchased the abode in 1996, didn’t achieve their initial price goals. Four years after listing the home, they sold it for just under $12 million to a buyer whose identity is shielded by a shell company.
In the property’s latest trade, the buyer is an anonymous LLC dubbed Luffy & Friends, which lists the Manhattan address of the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell.
Andrew Fishkoff, who previously served as the general counsel for development firms Macklowe Properties and Rockrose Development Corp., signed the deed for the sellers. Fishkoff is now the chief operating officer and general counsel of the Eastbridge Group, a family holding company, according to Bloomberg.
An attorney representing the seller’s LLC, Richard Kestenbaum, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Serhant’s Ravi Kantha, who represented the seller in the deal, declined to comment.
Previous reporting and listings for the home described it as a 25-foot-wide brownstone spanning 7,900 square feet, with seven bedrooms and three bathrooms. It’s unclear whether the home has been updated since its last sale, though the significant price increase indicates a likely renovation.
The peak sale beats out another deal that appeared poised for the top spot. A townhouse at 205 Clinton Street in Cobble Hill nabbed a contract in May after asking $16 million, marking Cobble Hill’s priciest listing.
Read more
Eli Gindi’s South Brooklyn home sells for $32M in borough record
Cobble Hill’s most expensive listing finds a buyer after a $5M price cut
NYC’s top deals: Olympia Dumbo penthouse trades for $16M
