Transcription
And here's an interesting example too, because like you said, if the proposed tax doesn't have a start date on it in terms of when did you buy your apartment or when did you stop becoming a New York City resident, that's a huge question mark whether it predates his move or is is more recent.
That's a, you know, not to get into other, you know, there is this proposed right for a billionaire's tax in California and a lot has been made about the cutoff date for that being last year, being retroactive and whether that, you know, there there could be legal scrutiny, right? So I think that's another really important element that we don't know yet. I'll be really curious to see that answer.
There's been a lot of conversation over the years about some of the foreign billionaires and the Russian and Chinese oligarchs who own a lot of property in New York City. It's interesting on a resident level because I, I could never buy one of one of these buildings, but nonetheless, I do think New Yorkers get a little testy when you start to map out exactly how much real estate is owned by some of these outside interests.
I want to start with the Alibaba co-founder, Joe Tsai. He bought 220 Central Park units 60-61. So I guess that's one of those like twofers.
Yep. Yeah. And there's a lot. So he bought them for 158 million. Oh, and then also the 73rd floor penthouse for 190 million. So is that one property, two, three? We don't, I guess we don't know how that would count. Yeah, exactly.
And then and then another situation right with the the value, right? Um the first two units he bought several years ago, the other one more recently. Uh but, you know, he is he's, you know, being the co-founder of Alibaba, you know, one of the, you know, wealthiest um, you know, people from that company. And, you know, he is he is sort of I guess more involved in the US and in New York than some of these other people would we might talk about, you know, uh from Russia or elsewhere that have bought homes here. Uh but again, you know, goes to these extremely wealthy buyers whether they're, you know, from out of state or, you know, out of out of the country, um, you know, buying up these very lucrative properties in in the city.
And then moving on to other businessmen, moguls who own major properties, when the Aman New York opened here, it was big news. But you've been covering someone who owns the penthouse in that building, is that correct?
Yeah, you know, Vladislav Doronin, he's a, you know, was born in the Soviet Union but a Swedish citizen. He bought, uh I think it was the majority stake, he still owns a large stake in Aman um many years ago and has sort of really been the driving force behind their expansion. Uh he also owns a company that does real estate in Florida, but he bought the penthouse, you know, at the Aman New York. And, you know, that's kind of, you know, such a juncture of luxury, right? Not, you know, I'm sure he stays at the Aman when he wants to and has the finest to do so, but he's also sort of bought this incredible penthouse there. Uh and, you know, he's not a resident of New York City either. So, you know, sort of another example of these um, you know, real estate billionaires um making their mark in this in this world.
That one's interesting too, because if he owns a stake in Aman, is there an argument his lawyers could make about this being a business investment and not a residence?
That's a great point and also, uh I don't know how he owns his, but the vast majority of these people own their homes through LLCs, right? And so I don't know how that's also going to to regard. I mean, I I imagine maybe maybe some own it in their own name, but the vast majority own through LLCs and then how are they how is the government going to prove, you know, beyond a reasonable doubt that the person behind the LLC is really this billionaire who's not a resident, right? Um cuz we do that a lot, you know, for work ourselves here tracking ownership. But, you know, to do it to pass sort of legal muster to impose a tax is another sort of level that I'm curious to see how they actually define that and and how they how they go about doing that cuz that's another wrinkle for sure.