Loro Piana (Wiki)
Pier Luigi Loro Piana, who sold an 80 percent stake in his family’s century-old Italian cashmere company Loro Piana to the the LVMH fashion conglomerate late last year, has just made a purchase at 980 Fifth Avenue that can only be described by personal standards as frugal, even if he did shell out more than a million dollars over the asking price. He’s just picked up a three-bedroom at the tony co-op for $11.3 million, according to city records. Sotheby’s Harry and Lois Nasser handled the listing with an assist from Christopher Rounick, also of Sotheby’s.
We say “frugal” because as Forbes has it, Mr. Piana has roughly $2 billion to his name. Accordingly, the acquisition represents a rare act of restraint in the high-end Manhattan real estate market. Upon entering the apartment, though, one could be forgiven for mistaking the buy for something else entirely.
An “extraordinary” and regal affair perched on a corner of the building, the apartment enjoys vistas to the south and west, with 50 feet of frontage on Central Park and views of same from all seven rooms. A 16-foot gallery opens on a sprawling living room, dining room and library, which, the listing notes, less bookish types might easily convert into an additional bedroom. (The previous owner, Emilie C. De Nasser, had the co-op configured as a two-bedroom.) And who could blame her? What with the two master suites, each outfitted with an en suite marble bathroom. The custom closets and wood Versailles floors aren’t half bad, either, nor are the aristocratic portions of crown molding.
Extraordinary.
The bad, but not entirely surprising news for Mr. Piana is that he may not bring canine companions with him to his new pad. But surely the sweater baron has other holdings in which to lodge any four-legged friends he might have. And anyway, fur and cashmere simply do not mix.
Frugal indeed.
