In 2017, a year before before HBO’s “Succession” — which aired its series finale on Sunday — became a smash hit, the developers of 200 Amsterdam, a new and controversial 51-floor condo tower near Lincoln Center, registered its offering plan, including pricing for its sponsor units, with the Attorney General’s office. The asking price for its 49th-floor penthouse: $38 million.
It’s rare for new development units to sell over ask and rarer still for apartments in untested buildings to attract bidding wars, but in April, something happened that could make the unusual probable.
In the episode “Honeymoon States,” millions of “Succession” fans got a TV tour of character Roman Roy’s palatial, glass-walled apartment — that very real, $38 million penthouse at 200 Amsterdam.
The wave of interest in the apartment was almost instantaneous, broker Mike Lubin, part of the Brown Harris Stevens team selling the unit, told the Post.
“‘Succession’ is one of those phenomenons, like ‘Breaking Bad’ or ‘The Sopranos,’ that people love to talk about,” said Lubin of the four-bedroom condo. “It’s in the zeitgeist. And much of the show is about the extravagance of lifestyle and beautiful interiors and that works to our advantage.”
To the location scout’s credit, the home is filled with features befitting a scurrilous scion of perverse plenitude like Roman Roy (played by Kieran Culkin).
A 116-foot terrace stretches the entirety of the home’s eastern exposure above Amsterdam Avenue. The private elevator opens into a foyer overlooking Central Park. To the west, the kitchen windows capture sunsets on the Hudson River.
The full litany of luxury words — Calacatta marble, white oak, Miele, Toto, Sub-Zero, Wolf, satin nickel, Fantini, Jonathan Browning, Badeloft — is generously spread over 6,325 square feet of living space.
Yet, despite receiving better exposure than money can buy, Lubin isn’t ready to start counting chickens.
“The price hasn’t been adjusted for publicity,” he said. “I never like to predict a bidding war, because, frankly, they are pretty rare and when they happen, sometimes it’s actually not ideal because people get emotional and sometimes they don’t move forward. I just think of [the publicity] as sort of icing on the cake.”
So does TV clout really translate into millions? Douglas Elliman broker Lila Nejad, a card-carrying believer that all news is good news, answers with an emphatic “yes.”
She saw the “Succession” effect first hand with Roman’s Season 2 home, an 11-room Chelsea townhouse at 357 West 17th Street.
When the Post exclusively reported that the TV-connected townhouse had hit the market in June 2022, Nejad almost immediately received an offer.
“They made a really great bid,” Nejad said of the blinged-out 11,000-square-foot, 25-foot-wide, six-story townhouse, with its own private swimming pool and a glass-walled car gallery. “But the seller didn’t want to take the first offer, so it wasn’t accepted.”
Since then, soaring interest rates, banking collapses and fears of a recession have put the brakes on Manhattan’s luxury real estate market. Nevertheless, the banner publicity provided by “Succession” helped the Chelsea townhouse rent for $100,000 per month, a record for the area.
It’s now on the sales market for $22.5 million.
Also up for grabs: The triplex Upper East Side home that doubled as Kendall Roy’s (Jeremy Strong) pad on “Succession,” which is asking a cool $29 million.
The East 88th Street apartment comes in at 5,508 square feet with an impressive 3,500 square feet of outdoor space, spread over three levels, and dramatic archways framing views of the city.
“When houses become famous it creates desirability,” said Nejad. “Some buyers might not care at all, but other buyers do. And ‘Succession’ is the type of show that very wealthy, very successful people who rarely have time for TV watch. Those are the type of people buying a house like this.”
But even middle-class TV immortality can create millions in value for sellers.
In 2018, the iconic home from the nostalgic family sitcom “The Brady Bunch” sold for $3.5 million, nearly $2 million more than it’s listing price and neighborhood comps.
“I priced it at $1.8 million, which was more than the comps, but I thought I was being wise,” said Los Angeles-based broker Ernie Carswell. “I wanted to get multiple offers. I wanted it to sell above what I listed it for. But I didn’t want to go any higher, because if you ask too much to begin with, and you have a price reduction, that’s the kiss of death for any home. There’s blood in the water.”
Carswell received 12 offers and TV news coverage from Japan to Australia.
Now, the Brady home at 11222 Dilling St. in Studio City, California, is back on the market — asking $5.5 million in what Carswell calls a $1.8 million-to-$2.2 million neighborhood.
But millions of eyes on a property can also cause marketing migraines, and even hurt value.
“Some people are just rude,” said Carswell.
To keep strangers off their lawn and from ringing their doorbell, the owners were forced to build a garden wall along the street in front of the property.
That’s just part of life in LA, but in NYC, where wealth is more understated, in-your-face fandom can be hard to live with.
Just look at the rope across the stoop of the West Village townhouse that served as Carrie Bradshaw’s home in “Sex and the City.”
In fact, NYC sellers and buildings are more than happy to avoid the limelight even if it means leaving cash on the table.
“Location scouts are always looking for properties,” said Lubin. “I’ve been approached probably 10 times, and I’ll be very honest with you, the answer is generally ‘no.’ They might offer you $10,000 per day, but it’s a big hassle and headache. Things get moved around. There’s equipment. Things can get damaged or stolen. And if it’s a condo or coop they don’t want film crews in and out of the lobby. It’s better to not even ask.”
“Succession,” he added, was an exception because it reflects the lifestyle that’s already being promoted at the building — and, more importantly, because “people in weird hats aren’t showing up like it’s a superhero thing.”
“Just look at the Dakota,” Lubin said. “Every day, the people who live in that building are dealing with tourists who want to take pictures where John Lennon was shot. I’m sure that’s not easy for them.”
Indeed, some shows have the potential to turn a perfectly good spread into a pariah.
“I had a $14 million townhouse listing in the West Village and we got approached by ‘Law & Order,’” said Compass agent Vickey Baron. “They were offering a lot of money to film in the house but it was going be a murder scene. The owner said, ‘That’s not the story I want attached to my house.’
“A lot of agents get too excited about putting their listing out there. You have to be careful. Once it’s out there you can’t unring the bell.”
But sometimes, even a little murder doesn’t hurt.
The hit Hulu series “Only Murders in the Building,” starring Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez, makes liberal use of the facade and courtyard of the Belnord, an historic, full-block Upper West Side condominium.
And while the building’s board declined to comment on their newfound fame, it’s clear that it’s only done the owners favors — with a $13.1 million unit going into contract in March.
“[‘OMITB’] is about crazy murders and weird shenanigans, but it’s done so well that it’s a good thing,” said Lubin. “It’s all about the context and creating urban lore.”
