The most expensive New York rental of all time costs a cool half million dollars per month—double what you’d play for the city’s second-priciest place. The extended stay, six-bedroom, six-and-a-half bath rental encompasses the full 39th floor of The Pierre, a luxury five-star hotel with private co-op residences, located on 61st street at the southeast corner of Central Park.
Barely a month after the suite hit the market, someone described only as “an international renter” paid the full, record-setting rent for the month of December 2014. The 39th floor wasn’t big enough to accommodate his or her extended entourage, so the mystery renter end up booking another suite in the hotel for an additional $150,000—although they got a bit of a break on the cost of that one.
So, what does $500,000 a month look like?
Pictured here is the Tata Presidential Suite. At 1,980 square feet, it’s the largest of the six suites on the floor and, if rented on a per-night basis, costs $29,995. The suite has Murano glass chandeliers, Turkish marble bathrooms with a TV and a stocked bar.
The unobtrusive decor is done in oatmeal, white, and pale gray, with wall-to-wall carpeting, silk and brocade fabrics and golden accents. The tufted sofas and other dark wood custom furnishings bear a colonial Indian style in honor of the hotel ownership, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces (the suite is named for the Tata business group, Taj’s parent company). Perhaps the subdued decor is intended to take a back seat to the the views, which include vistas of southern Central Park from two sides of the 39th floor.
The Pierre’s website promises “carefully integrated technology” in its grand suites. However, in the Tata suite, the supplied BOSE 321 Home Theater surround sound system components are conspicuously placed around the living room. Other tech includes a desk with built-in power and data ports and an electronic laptop safe capable of charging.
The Pierre provides the expected hotel amenities, including a daily newspaper, fitness center, business center and access to Les Clefs d’Or Concierge Services. Curbed, which has more photos, reports that the luxury amenities offered to those willing to pony up $500 grand a month are—to put it mildly—extravagant. They include use of the hotel’s chauffeured Jaguar, a private attended elevator and a personal butler, available 24 hours a day.
One might expect that for $500,000, every possible amenity is included. Not so. Take wifi—basic access with limited bandwidth is included, but “premium” high-speed access costs $12.95 per day. A personal chef service is also available for an extra $220 per day, with meals served on silver and accompanied by Fiji drinking water.
Built in 1929, the prewar skyscraper with the distinctive copper mansard roof offered unfettered views of Central Park. In 1938, The Pierre was bought out of its Depression-era bankruptcy by John Paul Getty, founder of the Getty Oil Company, and under his ownership it became co-op apartments. Past residents have included Elizabeth Taylor, Yves Saint-Laurent, Viacom’s Sumner Redstone and former Harrods owner Mohamed al-Fayed.
Today The Pierre has 189 guest accommodations, including 49 suites. The three-story, 11,000 square foot penthouse atop the Pierre—which includes the hotel’s original ballroom, five fireplaces, and terraces at each of the four corners—hit the market in 2013, selling for what was another New York City record-setting price: $125 million. The penthouse, which belonged to hedge fund manager Martin Zweig, was the most expensive apartment listing in the history of a city of expensive apartments, but earlier this year the price dropped to $63 million.