In early January 2023, a single line in New York City’s public property records quietly closed the book on one of Manhattan’s most closely watched luxury listings. The full-floor penthouse atop the south tower of the building once known as the Time Warner Center sold for $40 million. The seller was Stephen M. Ross, the billionaire chairman of Related Companies and owner of the Miami Dolphins. On paper, $40 million sounds like an extraordinary sum for a single apartment. But for Ross, it represented something else entirely: a steep, well-documented retreat from a much bigger number he had once believed the unit was worth.
Ross first listed the penthouse in the summer of 2019, asking a staggering $75 million — a price that, at the time, placed it among the most expensive listings in New York City. The apartment was hardly an ordinary condo. Spanning roughly 8,200 to 8,500 square feet across the 80th floor, it had five bedrooms, six bathrooms, a wood-paneled den, a library with upholstered walls, and a 42-foot living room with sweeping views over Central Park. Ross and his then-wife, jewelry designer Kara Ross, had worked with designer Tony Ingrao to fit out the interiors even before the building was completed in 2003.
The $75 million ask, however, ran headlong into a cooling luxury market. Over the following years the price was cut repeatedly — first to $62.5 million, later to $49.9 million — without finding a buyer. By October 2022, reports emerged that the unit had finally gone into contract, but at a price that startled even seasoned real estate watchers: $40 million, or roughly $4,800 per square foot. When the deal closed on January 3, 2023, and the transfer became public record, it confirmed a discount of about 47 percent off the original ask — one of the largest markdowns of its kind recorded for a trophy Manhattan property.
A Penthouse With an Unusual Backstory
The building, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and completed in the early 2000s, remains one of the most recognizable additions to the Columbus Circle skyline, anchoring a complex that also houses the Mandarin Oriental hotel, high-end retail, and Jazz at Lincoln Center.
That backstory adds a layer of irony to the sale. A penthouse effectively born out of a landmark development deal — rather than a traditional purchase — ended up selling for barely more than half its original asking price, a reminder that even assets acquired under unusual circumstances are ultimately subject to ordinary market forces.
Why Ross Was Selling
The sale wasn’t really about financial distress. Ross, whose net worth has long been estimated in the multi-billion-dollar range, was in the process of relocating to a new penthouse at another marquee Related Companies development, and one of the crown jewels of the Hudson Yards megaproject Ross spent more than a decade championing. Moving from one of his own company’s buildings to another was, in a sense, a continuation of what The Real Deal once wryly described as Ross’s tendency toward “getting high off his own supply” — living in the very towers his firm builds.
The Story Doesn’t End There
What makes this sale worth revisiting years later is what happened next. The apartment didn’t stay off the market for long in the bigger picture. In January 2026, public records showed that the same unit traded again, this time for $51 million, roughly $6,200 per square foot.
