Oligarch selling Tel Aviv seafront penthouse for $33m

Russian billionaire Valery Kogan is set to sell his Tel Aviv seafront penthouse on Herbert Samuel Boulevard for NIS 120 million ($33 million). The buyer is a foreign resident and a source close to the deal has told “Globes” that the amount includes both the price of the apartment and its furniture. Sotheby’s Israel, which marketed the property, said that the deal has yet to be signed but is in the final stages before signature. When signed it will be one of the most expensive residential real estate deals ever completed in Israel.

Kogan’s penthouse is on the 23rd floor of the Sea one tower, which was built by Oranim and Electra nearly 30 years ago between Hayarkon, Herbert Samuel, Zerubavel and Ezra Hasofer Streets. It was one of the first luxurious towers for the very rich, designed mainly for foreign residents, built close to Tel Aviv’s seafront.

Kogan is a Russian oligarch who like Roman Abramovich tries to stay out of the media spotlight. He is one of the owners of Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport, the largest in Eastern Europe, used by 30 million passengers last year. Kogan has been active in Israel since 2008 and is best known for buying five adjacent Caesarea houses covering 11,500 square meters of land for NIs 64 million. He demolished the houses and built a mansion of more than 3,000 square meters.

In 2009, Kogan bought the Sea One penthouse, which covering 1,087 square meters is itself the amalgamation of five separate apartments in the tower. Kogan paid NIS 110 million for the apartment, 15 years ago and at the time it was the most expensive apartment in Israel.

The price being asked for the penthouse was initially $65 million

Kogan also invested tens of millions of shekels in redesigning the apartment. This included elements like marble floors and handmade finishing, Italian furniture, highest quality gold accessories, Greek columns with Corinthian capitals, chandeliers decorated with Swarovski crystals and four luxurious bedroom suites make this apartment very unique.

In 2020, Kogan put up for sale his lavish Israeli properties in Caesarea and Tel Aviv for $258 million and $65 million respectively. However, over the past four years, Kogan has realized that these asking prices exceeded any acceptable Israeli norm, even for mega-luxury properties, and he has been forced to lower the asking prices.

He is selling the Tel Aviv penthouse for $33 million dollars – about half of the initial asking price for the apartment. “Globes” understands that the real price is even lower, since the sale of the apartment includes the furniture, meaning that ultimately, the nominal price of the property is expected to be a loss for Kogan. “Globes” also understands that the asking price for the mansion in Caesarea has fallen to $89.9 million.

Sotheby’s Israel Real Estate said, “The sale has not yet been finalized as far as all the parties involved are concerned, so any discussion of it at this stage is superfluous. We will be happy to share the details as soon as they become relevant, while maintaining their maximum privacy.”

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on March 3, 2024.

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