Robert Caplin for The New York Times The Portuguese government owned a unit at the Dakota for decades.In further fallout from Portugal’s fiscal meltdown, a grand and gracious apartment at the revered Dakota that had been used for four decades by that nation’s dignitaries as its Upper West Side diplomatic crash pad and entertainment hub sold â€" down to the penny â€" for $11,593,237.50 and was the most expensive sale of week, according to city records.
The eight-room residence at 1 West 72nd Street, No. 74, was listed for sale at $14.5 million last year and was reduced to $12.95 million in September. The monthly maintenance fee of $9,511 no doubt proved unsustainable to a government in the midst of fashioning a $107 billion bailout courtesy of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
The 3,600-square-foot apartment has three bedrooms, three baths and a powder room, along with three wood-burning fireplaces and the Dakota’s typical complement of 12-foot ceilings, 10-foot-tall ash-and-mahogany doors, and elaborate mahogany woodwork and plaster moldings throughout. The 27-foot corner living room has Central Park views and a planting balcony, while the 24-foot dining room faces south; the bedrooms are all sequestered on a north wing. Pocket doors lead from the entrance gallery to a paneled library with a fireplace.
John Burger and Guida De Carvalhosa of Brown Harris Stevens represented the seller via its consulate general at 590 Fifth Avenue. The buyers are David Folkerts-Landau, the chief economist of the Deutsche Bank Group, and his wife, Maie Folkerts; their broker was Jason Haber of Rubicon Property.
Mr. Haber said the buyers, who live in London, intended to “make a museum-quality restoration.â€
Big Ticket includes closed sales from the previous week, ending Wednesday.
