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Imagine living at the St. Regis — the chic, old world-style five-star hotel at the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 55th Street. Now, a condo there is heading to auction on May 16.
The 11th-floor hotel home at 2 E. 55th St. will have a minimum reserve bid of $3.75 million. That’s quite a loss for the seller, who paid $6.32 million for the residence in 2006, according to property records.
In addition, common charges are a hefty $19,397 a month.
So what do you get for that price? There’s a kitchen sink, but no oven, although fine dining at the Astor Court is just an elevator ride away. The residence also lacks a full-size fridge, although there is a microwave and two pull-out drawers under a coffee maker that serve as a fridge and a freezer big enough to stash a few pints of your favorite gelato, but not much more.
There are also limitations to the number of days the new owner can stay in the home. They can live in the smashing residence for just 181 days a year, with the option to rent it out for the remainder.
The two-bedroom, three-bath unit is 1,394 square feet. It opens from a semi-private elevator landing and comes fully furnished, with silk walls and marble floors in the baths. Design details include crown moldings, crystal chandeliers and 10-foot-high ceilings.
The luxury hotel has been home to legends like Marilyn Monroe and Salvador Dali. It also has its own iconic hotspot the King Cole Bar, which claims to have invented the world’s first Bloody Mary in 1934, and where generations of locals and tourists flock for pricey cocktails under a Maxfield Parrish-painted mural that dates to 1906. (It was moved to the St. Regis from the Knickerbocker in 1932; both hotels were owned by John Jacob Astor IV.)
Unit owners also have access to hotel amenities such as a 19th-floor gym, room service, nightly turn-down service, daily housekeeping (for an additional fee) and a salon.
Astor built the hotel in 1904.
Auction bids will be accepted until the day of the auction, says Paramount Realty USA founder Misha Haghani, who has partnered with Compass listing broker Bill Bone to sell the unit.