In Other Qausi-Related A-Rod Real Estate News...

A pair of 35th floor apartments at New York City's ludicrously expensive and seriously status-conscious 15 Central Park West building—one of which was leased a couple years ago by Alex "A-Rod" Rodriguez*—recently hit the market with a psyche-brutalizing price tag of $95,000,000.

*Mister A-Rod has recently hoisted his bay front mansion in Miami Beach with a $38,000,000 price tag.

Fifteen Central Park West is the same building, the children will surely recall, where Russian chemist turned multi-billionaire potash potentate Dmitry Rybolovlev paid financier Sanford Weill an astronomical $88,000,000 for substantially larger, terrace wrapped penthouse—atop the shorter of the complex's two towers.

Other well-heeled owners of apartments at 15 Central Park West (15CPW) include celebs like Denzel Washington and Sting and Trudy Styler as well as a slew of Wall Street fat cats like Goldman Sachs CEO/chairman Lloyd Blankfein (who paid $27,000,000 for his roost), hedge hog Daniel Loeb (who paid $45,000,000 for his 10,700 square foot two-unit combo crib).

Anyhoo, both of Mister Schecter's apartments at 15CPW are owned by octogenarian steel tycoon Leroy Schecter who, according to The New York Times, paid $18,900,000 for the two separate apartments in April 2008. The two units are currently in the process of being combined into one 5-6,000 square foot aerie with a desirable and rare, triple exposure (east, south, and west) and monthly common charges, according to listing information, of $7,349.

Lickety-split with the ink barely dry on the deed's dotted line(s) Mister Schecter leased the larger, three-bedroom and 3.5 bathroom unit at $40,000 per month to hotel/car rental/real estate brokerage tycoon Harry Silverman and the smaller two-bedroom and 2.5 bathroom unit to A-Rod at $30,000 per month.

As it turns out this isn't the first time at the real estate rodeo for Mister Schecter who unsuccessfully attempted to sell the then still-uncombined units in 2010 for a combined $55,000,000. He claims to have turned town an offer for $48,000,000—and probably he did, we don't know—opting instead to proceed with a combination that he and his Lady Real Estate believe makes it worth forty million more dollars than it was in 2010 as two separate apartments. And maybe it is, what do we know?

Current listing information indicates when the combination efforts are complete the full-floor tower condo will include four or five bedrooms (depending on use) and five full and two half bathrooms.

The floor plan included with current marketing materials reveals the planned combination isn't without its awkward moments and shows the public entertaining spaces include a compact foyer that gives way to a central, park-view library/reception room flanked by formal living and dining rooms, all with panoramic park an city views.

Double doors open directly from the dining room into the sizable center island eat-in kitchen. Your Mama thinks a proper butler's pantry/service kitchen and a God damn window would be customary in a nearly one hundred million dollar apartment but this kitchen, as per the floor plan, appears to lack both. The suburban mini-mansion sized apartment also does not have a single square foot of terrace space but it does have an two laundry rooms, one just off the kitchen equipped with a slop sink. We do love a slop sink, especially one on the 35th floor of a high-luxury high-rise.

One of the two bedroom wings stretches back behind the kitchen and contains two side-by-side bedrooms, each with private bathroom and urban western views through the surrounding towers towers and over to the mighty Hudson River.

An oddly-shaped gallery space lined with a trio of coast closets and a second half bathroom extends south from the foyer and connects to another series of corridors and vestibules off of which are the multi-room master suite—more on that in a second, a den with built-in wet bar and views to the south and west, a second laundry closet and a fourth bedroom with private en suite and walk-in closet. The den has an attached bathroom and could be closed up to create an actual fifth bedroom. That's a great option for someone who wants or needs a fifth bedroom but it also means the nearly 100 million dollar apartment wouldn't have an informal family living room. Your Mama and The Dr. Cooter are not and never will be in the market for a $100,000,000 residences but for that much money we want five bedrooms and a damn family room. We also want a terrace, at least a wee one. Sorry, but we do.

Anyhoo, a privacy-enhancing vestibule separate the public corridor from the master bedroom via a south-facing private sitting room flanked by a spacious park- and city-view bedroom and an bedroom-sized dressing room with bay window. A second vestibule separates the dressing room from the two-compartment master bathroom complete with double sinks, enclosed cubby for the crapper and separate soaking tub and shower.

Mister Schecter, as it turns out, also has an opulent (and arguably gaudy) 21,746 square foot, bay front villa on Miami's private, gated and ridiculously exclusive Indian Creek Island on the market with an asking price of $45,000,000. Property records we peeped indicate Mister Schecter paid Spanish language media entrepreneur Raul Alarcon Jr., $18,650,000 for the almost two acre, high-maintenance estate with its 7 bedroom and 11 full and 3 half bathroom estate in May 2006.

listing photo and floor plan: Core Group