Janos Aranyi has lived a charmed life. After leaving communist Hungary in his youth, Aranyi, now 83, built a loving family, enjoyed three successful careers鈥 first as a mechanical engineer, next as an early computer expert on Wall Street, and then as an art dealer鈥攁nd, perhaps most important, managed to move into a rent-controlled, 1,900 square-foot apartment on Gramercy Park North in the 1960s and hold on to it for 50 years. If that weren鈥檛 enough, in 2013 he bought the apartment at a heavy discount when his landlord died. The owner鈥檚 heirs 鈥渃ould only sell to me because there was no way to kick me out,鈥 Aranyi explained. 鈥淚t was very, very fortunate.鈥
After purchasing the apartment for what records as just $630,000, Aranyi, hoping to capitalize on his half-century-long streak of good luck, put the home on the market a year later for $7 million. That鈥檚 when his real-estate magic seemed to run out.
First the listing was reduced by $500,000; a year later it was re-listed and the price was cut down by another $150,000, according to Streeteasy; now, two years later, the apartment is back on the market for $5.5 million with the option to combine it with its neighboring, one-bedroom apartment for a total of $6.25 million.
Views of the most exclusive private park in New York; soaring, 17-foot-high ceilings; a 485-square-foot-terrace. What鈥檚 not to love?
听
Aranyi, speaking in heavily accented English, put it delicately: 鈥淟ook,鈥 he said. 鈥淭he apartment, with its Tudor appearance, is very special.鈥
The heavy wooden beams, the two fireplaces, the stone arches, even the 14 massive stained-glass windows, Aranyi explained, were not to everyone鈥檚 (or, as yet, anyone鈥檚) taste. 鈥淎 lot of Americans really like big windows and white walls,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 have lots of big windows, but they鈥檙e stained glass鈥 you have to open them to look out, which means it doesn鈥檛 appeal to most people who come look and want to buy.鈥 Instead, Aranyi explained, 鈥測ou need somebody who really wants to spend his time, his life, in a place like this.鈥
Aranyi鈥檚 life, which he described as filled with parties that enticed the likes of George Soros, Carl Icahn, Jeremy Irons, and Al Pacino, was perfectly suited to the two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath apartment. He entertained lavishly and hosted art exhibitions, fashion shows, weddings, and 鈥渆ven security analyst meetings,鈥 he said, in his double-height living room.
Once he sells the apartment, Aranyi plans to move to somewhere smaller in the neighborhood. Until then, he鈥檚 biding his time. 鈥淲hen I saw it, I immediately knew it was the apartment for me,鈥 he said. 鈥淎nd I am waiting for the right person who likes it.鈥
The apartment is listed by Michael Moran, Matthew George, and Stefani Pace of Douglas Elliman.