South American Family Buys Eight New York Apartments to Stash Cash Amid Coronavirus

The buyers paid nearly $27 million for the units at Waterline Square, a three-tower complex on Manhattan’s Upper West Side

SOURCE: KATHERINE CLARKE  |  ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON APRIL 15, 2020  |  THE WALL STREET JOURNAL AND MANSION GLOBAL

A South American family has paid close to $27 million for eight units at Waterline Square, a new construction residential complex on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, according to the buyers’ agent, Maria Velazquez of Douglas Elliman.

The buyers went into contract and closed on the all-cash deal on the same day, an extremely fast turnaround for the New York market, said Ms. Velazquez. She said her clients received a blended discount of more than 7% from the asking price of the units, which range in size from one to three bedrooms and span a total of roughly 11,000 square feet. Waterline Square, a three-tower project developed by GID Development Group, launched sales in 2017.

Ms. Velazquez declined to name the family who bought the units, but said they hail from Peru and purchased the units as an investment with plans to rent them out. The family was looking for a safe place to park their cash amid the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic and related economic fallout, she said. “They felt their money was safer in an apartment in New York than in a bank,” Ms. Velazquez said.

While the buyers had visited the sales office in November, she said, subsequent showings were all virtual, and the closing was completed over videoconference. Showings are currently not permitted under New York law as the state seeks to enforce social distancing measures.

Filed under: Headlines by Alec Reimon
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