Ziel Feldman Lists Black-Marble UES Triplex at $27.5M

Ziel Feldman, the developer behind the collapsed HFZ Capital Group, is putting his own Upper East Side triplex penthouse back on the market, this time with a price tag $11.5 million lower than the last attempt. According to Curbed, which first reported the listing, Feldman and his wife, Helene, are asking $27.5 million for the 21-room residence at the Marquand, 11 East 68th Street.

The couple first tried to sell the 6,100-square-foot unit in 2020 at $39 million, when Feldman was reportedly contending with investor lawsuits and delinquent loans while trying to save HFZ. Douglas Elliman brokers Madeline Hult Elghanayan and Sabrina Saltiel hold the listing. Curbed said they did not return a request for comment.

The apartment is a very different product from the rest of the building. The Marquand’s condos came to market a little over a decade ago in creams and neutrals. Feldman chose blacks and dark browns for his own penthouse, offset by book-matched white marble. In some rooms, both floors and walls appear to be covered in black marble. Others are paneled in gleaming hardwood, with furniture upholstered in black and dark-gray velvet.

The specs are suitably grand. The listing describes five bedrooms, four full bathrooms and a formal dining room that seats 22, complete with a wet bar. Other features include private elevator access, fireplaces inside and out, Central Park views from less than a block away, and 2,600 square feet of private terraces. The art that fills the rooms, including works by John Chamberlain, George Condo and Maurizio Cattelan, will not convey with the sale. For buyers who cannot picture themselves in such dark-hued opulence, the listing includes digital renderings of the space redone in creams and neutrals.

The sale caps a long arc for a developer who once aspired to stand alongside old-line New York real estate families such as the Zeckendorfs and the Dursts. That ambition looked within reach when HFZ began developing the XI, the twisting Bjarke Ingels-designed tower on the High Line, in 2015. Before the building was completed, HFZ imploded. Feldman had a falling out with his former partner, Nir Meir, who was later arrested and charged with an $86 million fraud scheme involving the XI. Feldman has blamed Meir for HFZ’s collapse. Meir is still awaiting trial. The XI’s condos ultimately sold briskly after developer Steve Witkoff took over the project.

The triplex was a pied-à-terre. The Feldmans also owned an 18,500-square-foot Englewood mansion, inspired by a French château they toured on their honeymoon, which sold in 2020. The following year, they sold their Bridgehampton house for $50 million.

Feldman has since returned to the business on a lower-profile footing. According to Curbed, he is quietly re-entering real estate with his daughter as partner in GoodHomes, a national affordable and workforce housing firm.

Whether another buyer wants the lifestyle that comes with the unit remains the open question. A $27.5 million ask puts the penthouse in rarefied territory, and the offer of a neutral-toned redesign suggests the sellers know how polarizing the current look can be.