USA: Cash-strapped France to sell 48 million dollar NYC apartment of its U.N. envoy
Record ID:
567108
USA: Cash-strapped France to sell 48 million dollar NYC apartment of its U.N. envoy
- Title: USA: Cash-strapped France to sell 48 million dollar NYC apartment of its U.N. envoy
- Date: 10th April 2014
- Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (APRIL 10, 2014) (REUTERS) AWNING FOR 740 PARK AVENUE ADDRESS PRINTED ON THE BUILDING VARIOUS OF 740 PARK AVENUE PEOPLE WALKING OUTSIDE THE BUILDING BUILDING AWNING VIEW OF 740 PARK AVENUE FROM ACROSS THE STREET STREET SIGNS SHOWING PARK AVENUE AND 72ND STREET
- Embargoed: 25th April 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Topics: Economy
- Reuters ID: LVAAQXNDWODACXR3N529362NOBJ9
- Story Text: The French government, which earlier this week unveiled sweeping spending cuts, is selling the luxurious New York residence of its envoy to the United Nations, an 18-room duplex apartment featuring five fireplaces and a view of Park Avenue.
The French Foreign Affairs Ministry is looking for $48 million (USD) for the apartment, located in a ritzy Manhattan building that has been home to famous and wealthy Americans, among whom were the late Jackie Kennedy and American financier John D. Rockefeller Jr.
The six-bedroom apartment has a private elevator and curved staircase linking its two floors.
French officials on Thursday (April 10) said the apartment was put up for sale as part of a wider effort to supplement the foreign ministry's revenues by liquidating the nation's foreign properties.
"It contributes to the ministry's efforts towards more efficient management of property," Dana Purcarescu, spokesperson for the French Embassy in the United States, said in an email.
France's new prime minister, Manuel Valls, earlier this week unveiled a broad program of tax and spending cuts intended to bring the nation's deficit down.
The plan to sell the New York apartment predates that initiative; French diplomats said as early as September they planned to sell the property.
Due to its colonial history, France owns prize properties around the globe, with foreign real estate holdings worth nearly $7 billion. It holds the world's third-largest diplomatic network across the world after the United States and China.
The embassy did not say where the current French ambassador, G�ard Araud, will live following the sale.
Purcarescu said the ministry would also sell its staff apartments on Fifth Avenue. That eight-story, seven-apartment building is listed at an asking price of $32.5 million, according to Leslie J. Garfield Real Estate. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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