The 27-Year Saga of Khashoggi’s Apartment

1974:

Billionaire arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi pays an estimated $3 million for two floors in the building—reported at the time to be 30,000 square feet—which he plans to use as a pied-àterre. He builds a swimming pool, indoor gardens, a ballroom, a sauna, and a kitchen that can serve up to 300 people.

1987:

Khashoggi doesn’t pay a $2.2 million debt to the London- based mining conglomerate Lonrho PLC not long after he fails to recoup millions he reportedly used to finance the sale of U.S. arms to Iran. His apartment, then valued at $30 million, is seized by court order.

1989:

Khashoggi has put the duplex on the market for $49 million. No one bites, so soon after he lowers the price to $33 million with monthly $30,000 maintenance fees.

January 1998:

The apartment still hasn’t sold. The price is lowered again to $25 million (or $45,000 for rent), the Times reports. Director Brett Ratner soon rents the space to shoot a sex scene for The Family Man.

2000:

The sale price is lowered yet again, to $12 million. Corcoran broker Nicole Hatoun, who is handling the sale of the apartment, says the place “was a disaster. Not well kept, very old, nothing attractive about it at all.” (The pool was apparently a problem too—another broker tells the Observer, “You smell mildew when you walk in.”) Still, someone puts in a bid for just under the asking price. But the condo board dislikes the purchaser’s plan to “break up the apartment into approximately 15 smaller apartments” and refuses. (It’s rumored the man is a front for a foreign nation.) Soon after, Hatoun gets an offer from rumored prince Abbas Abdulaziz.

2001:

Abdulaziz’s offer of $12 million is accepted. According to former resident Chance Spiessbach, Abdulaziz puts remote-controlled boats and submarines in the pool. (He still owns the place today— though apparently it’s since been renovated).