For Only $14,200, You Can Stay in Paul Manafort's Manhattan Condo
If you ever feel the urge to experience what it's like to get a whiff of the political and legal storm now engulfing the Trump administration, all while visiting New York City, you can indulge yourself — for only $14,200 per month.
That's the price of a rental at a Manhattan condo owned by former Trump campaign advisor Paul Manafort, who surrendered to authorities Monday after being charged in the ongoing investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The two-bedroom, two-bathroom, fourth-floor Soho apartment just a block north of Chinatown features northern and southern exposures, exposed brick walls, a wood-burning fireplace, and an excellent view of one of the city's few remaining cobblestone streets, Crosby Street, a popular site for romantically rain-covered car commercials and fashion shoots. Pets are welcome.
Manafort and his wife, Kathleen, are listed as the primary parties on the official New York City real estate forms, both with the same Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, address as their official residence. The city records them as having mortgages of various amounts with Citizens Bank, the largest for $2,730,000. According to the federal indictment, Manafort used the dummy corporation MC Holdings, LLC — the seller listed in one of the New York City filings — to buy a condominium at the address on Howard Street for about $2,850,000, using money from Cyprus, where Manafort is accused of hiding money in secret accounts. The Howard Street apartment is the one Manafort allegedly lied about to a bank, according to the indictment, so he could receive more favorable terms for loan of $3,185,000 in March 2016, while declaring it a rental property to the IRS for the tax benefits.
"MANAFORT used the property from at least January 2015 through 2016 as an income-generating rental property, charging thousands of dollars a week on Airbnb, among other places," the indictment reads. "In his returns, MANAFORT took advantage of the beneficial tax consequences of owning this rental property."
At 2,500 square feet, the rental comes to about $5.68 per month per square foot. (The average rental price for all of New York City is $4.98 per square foot, one of the highest in the world, but that includes much cheaper far-flung rentals within the city limits. Another 2017 survey found that monthly rentals in nearby Tribeca, for example, came to $80 a square foot, making Manafort's condo a relative deal.)
Manafort's condo is no longer listed on Airbnb, but is still up on the Corcoran website. (A call to the listed agent was not returned.) And his condo is, of course, still listed on his federal indictment.
A previous version of this post misspelled Palm Beach Gardens as Palm Beach Garden.
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