Russian hedge funder and former government official, Andrei Vavilov, who was involved in one of the most heated real estate disputes in Manhattan recently, finally sold the duplex penthouse he resentfully bought in the Plaza this past summer. Vavilov took a loss on the sale because it only sold for $8.4 million compared to the $11 he paid for it a few months prior. The New York Observer reported that public records state that it was sold to a limited-liability corporation, but the buyer is thought to be Goya Foods heiress Maribel Unanue McVicar.
Last year, he had sued the Plaza and its developer El-Ad Properties in trying to get out of a $53 million purchase of two penthouses. Allegedly, he was misled about the state of the apartments, but El-Ad countersued for defamation. In court papers he said the windows, air-conditioning units, lighting and bathroom tiles were all subpar, the ceilings were too low, the drainage grates ugly, and the square footage had been changed and hidden. El-Ad said Vavilov had been satisfied when he saw the apartments alone, but his actress wife was unhappy when she finally saw the space.
Although Vavilov’s agents, Brown Harris Stevens’ Brenda Powers and Elizabeth Lee Sample, used the phrases “spectacular,” “legendary,” “one of a kind,” “grand,” “large,” and “great” in the first two sentences of the listing, he publicly called it inferior. In the end, the parties reached a settlement and Vavilov agreed to buy the penthouse for a discounted $11 million in February.
