Michael Milstein Buys $20M Park Avenue Penthouse

An office real estate scion has bought into an upper-crust residential building. 

Michael Milstein, son of Milstein Properties founder and longtime Emigrant Bank leader Howard Milstein, paid $20 million for a duplex penthouse at 885 Park Avenue with his wife Claudia, according to public records. 

Milstein and his father are co-chief executive officers of the two ventures. 

The penthouse last asked $27.5 million, according to StreetEasy. The home previously sought around $35 million when it hit the market in 2012 and again in 2022. 

The expansive home spans 6,000 square feet and has a 3,200-square-foot wraparound terrace with views of Central Park. It has six bedrooms and seven bathrooms. 

The primary bedroom suite includes a sitting area, a breakfast bar, and dual French doors that open onto the terrace. The primary bathroom comes with dual vanities, a walk-in shower, soaking tub and water closet.

Bespoke Real Estate was the last firm to have the listing, according to StreetEasy. 

The co-op building, which was built in 1927 and houses 36 units, was once home to former National Football League commissioner Paul Tagliabue and to Marne Obernauer Jr., an owner of the Colorado Rockies baseball team.

The Milstein family is behind a number of real estate and financial ventures. 

Milstein Properties owns and operates office and residential buildings around the city, including 22 Vanderbilt Avenue, where they inked five new leases last year totaling 460,000 square feet. Michael Milstein led the rebrand of the 1.1 million-square-foot office tower from 335 Madison Avenue.

Its property management arm, Milford Management, oversees eight buildings in Manhattan and New Jersey, according to the company website.  

Howard Milstein has also run Emigrant Bank since 2004. In 2016, a Brooklyn jury found Milstein guilty of targeting minorities with predatory mortgages with interest rates of up to 18 percent.

Michael Milstein founded Emigrant’s fintech partnerships business, Emigrant Venture Partners, co-founded the financial wellness platform Fruitful, and serves as executive chairman of Boylan Bottling Co.. He also serves as co-chair with his father of 8AM Golf, a holding company for Nicklaus Companies, which operates various golfing brands like Golf Magazine and Golf.com.

The company opened a golf-themed sports bar and restaurant on the site of a former Emigrant Bank called T-Squared Social in collaboration with Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake.

The co-op market, which has been on the downswing in recent years, experienced a relatively strong second quarter. The number of closed sales was up over 11 percent year-over-year to $1,623 while the median sales price was flat at $850,000.