WASHINGTON, October 25 (RIA Novosti) – Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is locked in a standoff with a woman who is demanding $23 million for her Manhattan apartment in his reported bid to take over an entire historic mansion, according to the New York Post.
Abramovich is reportedly in contract to pay $75 million for three units of the Fifth Avenue mansion, but a stubborn neighbor in the building says his $15 million offer to buy her out is not enough, the Post reported.
“She’s not leaving for less than $23 mil. He can afford it,” the newspaper cited a source as saying.
Abramovich’s reported $75 million deal would be a record price for a co-op in New York City, outstripping the $54 million paid by US entertainment mogul David Geffen last year for another Fifth Avenue property.
But the Russian tycoon will need to buy the apartments of two other residents of the building if he hopes to restore the mansion to a single residence, the Post reported.
One owner, fashion designer Adolfo Sardina, has reportedly already come to an agreement with Abramovich after the billionaire reportedly made an offer of between $10 million and $15 million to buy him out.
A source told the Post that Sardina “insisted he needed a year to move out, which Abramovich agreed to.”
But the fifth-floor resident, who is listed in public records as Eugenia Olazabal, is so far proving resistant to Abramovich’s offers, the Post reported Monday.
