Tech billionaire Eric Schmidt is looking to unload his NoHo penthouse for an amount that could make him even wealthier.
Google’s former CEO has listed his four-bedroom, three-level condo at 25 Bond St. for $39.5 million, according to an ad that appeared last week. Schmidt paid $24.6 million for the 6,400-square-foot spread in 2021, when he bought it from Wall Street bigwig Michael Daffey, according to the city register, and so is now seeking a more than 60% profit.
It’s not totally clear why Schmidt is so confident in a hefty return at a time when high-interest-rates have dogged the home-sales market. But sales of top-tier units have seemed to enjoy a strong run over the past few weeks, even as loan costs have barely dropped despite two recent rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
There may be a more specific reason for the major markup, too.
The apartment — which features three full and two half-baths, four wood-burning fireplaces and about 2,500 square feet of terraces, including a third-floor aerie with a hot tub — has never had an occupant since its 2007 completion and has enjoyed a top-to-bottom renovation to prepare it to sell, its ad says. In other words, a buyer could supposedly walk away with an essentially new apartment.
The sitting area next to the kitchen
But because Daffey marketed the condo three years ago as a whisper listing, without the public photos that are customary, no older images exist to confirm the ad’s “never lived in” claim.
Nick Gavin, one of the agents with Compass who is marketing the property, did not return an email for comment by press time.
Even if Schmidt has refreshed the home, it still ranks among the top 10 most expensive condos for sale in Manhattan excluding new developments, according to StreetEasy data, and is up there among resales at sites like Billionaires Row high-rise 432 Park Ave.
Overall, the median sale price in Manhattan in the third quarter in the luxury segment of the market, which is equivalent to the top 10% of all deals, was $5.8 million, according to data from the brokerage Douglas Elliman. More relevant fourth-quarter data won’t be available for a few more weeks.
Schmidt’s 25 Bond penthouse is officially owned by shell company ADIG Properties LLC, which lists a Silicon Valley address as its point of contact. The New York Post was the first to report in 2021 Schmidt owns ADIG.
Sitting atop a cream-colored eight-story, 10-unit building near Lafayette Street, the penthouse was previously owned by Daffey, the chairman of bitcoin company Galaxy Digital and a former partner in Goldman Sachs. Daffey, who reportedly was recruited by 25 Bond’s developer Tony Goldman as an investor in the project, appears to have received the penthouse in exchange for his involvement.
Indeed, no sale price appears on the deed that paved the way for Daffey to acquire the unit in 2012, according to the register.
After England-based Daffey sold his apartment to Schmidt in 2021, he bought the Upper East Side mansion that was formerly the home of the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Daffey paid $51 million for 9 E. 71st St. in March 2021, the register shows.
Two years later, Daffey transferred the 28,000-square-foot property to a different shell company he controls, Bolt 1 LLC, in a deal that valued the property at a much higher $65.6 million, based on the register.
For his part, Schmidt seems to be trimming his real estate portfolio. In June he unloaded his longtime 3-acre Silicon Valley estate for $22.5 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Schmidt served as Google’s chief executive from 2001 to 2011 and followed up that stint with different chairman roles through 2017. He’s currently the world’s 46th-richest individual, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as of Dec. 15, which put his total net worth at around $37 billion.