The former residence of a member of one of the country’s wealthiest clans appears to be courting a buyer of similar means.
The eight-bedroom mansion that was home to David Rockefeller for decades before his death in 2017 has come to market at $57.5 million, making it one of the most expensive townhouses for sale in New York.
Located at 144 E. 65th St. in Lenox Hill, the 12,500-square-foot home was snapped up a year after Rockefeller’s death for $20 million by Doug Band, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton who went on to found the global consulting firm Teneo.
The near-tripling of the mansion’s price in four years is in part because Band undertook a multiyear renovation that included increasing the height of the basement to add more living space and adding a skylight over the property’s signature spiral staircase, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, which added that Band and his wife, Lily, are moving out of New York.
The red-brick 1924 home, which also features 3,500 square feet of landscaped outdoor space that resembles a small city park, is an urban version of a “double-wide.” Its width is 40 feet, compared with the typical townhouse measurement of 20 feet. The house also contains a basketball court with a 17-foot ceiling, according to the listing from the agent, Adam Modlin, who did not respond to a request for comment. Taxes run about $178,000 a year.
The mansion’s almost $58 million price tag puts the Upper East Side property in elite company. It’s the fourth-priciest townhouse currently on the market in Manhattan, according to StreetEasy, with the tops being nearby 973 Fifth Ave., a 10-bedroom offering designed by architectural legend Stanford White that arrived in May at $72.5 million.
No. 144 East 65th has had grand aspirations before. After Rockefeller’s death at the age of 101, his estate listed the prerenovation property for $32.5 million before ultimately parting with it for $20 million.
A resident of the house since his family bought it in 1948, David Rockefeller, a grandson of billionaire John Rockefeller, served as the chairman of Chase Manhattan Corp. while taking an active role in philanthropic causes across the country. Among the recipients of his largesse was the Museum of Modern Art, of which his mother, Abby Rockefeller, was a co-founder. His support also extended to preserving antique buildings entwined with U.S. history — such as at the historic Virginia site Colonial Williamsburg, whose creation came courtesy of his father, John Rockefeller Jr.
Teneo, meanwhile, was co-founded by Band in 2011 and has counted Coca-Cola, IBM and Dow among its clients, though Band stepped down from the company in 2020.
From Crain's New York Business, a sibling publication of Crain Currency