Melbourne-based crypto-casino entrepreneur Bijan Tehrani has snapped up one of New York’s finest mansions, shelling out more than A$70 million for the property once owned by legendary American banker David Rockefeller.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that the 30-year-old, who co-founded online gambling site Stake.com with Melbourne’s Ed Craven, had paid A$72.9 million (US$47 million) for the five-storey, eight-bedroom, 12-bathroom Colonial Revival masterpiece built in 1924 in Manhattan.
Described as “one of the finest townhouses in New York City”, the property features elegant living rooms, an expansive drawing room, a grand dining room overlooking an English garden, a large kitchen, two service kitchens, a soaring spiral central staircase and eight fireplaces.
There are also front and rear gardens, a first-floor terrace, a rooftop terrace with a fireplace and alfresco dining area, a golf simulator room, a gym and a lift serving all five floors.
Other selling points include security features such as ballistic (bulletproof) windows and walls, safe-room bedrooms and cameras throughout the home.
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The house was owned by Rockefeller for 70 years before being sold in 2018 for A$31 million, or US$20 million, to a former adviser to US President Bill Clinton.
The sale to Tehrani, who lives in Melbourne but is American, makes it the most expensive townhouse sold in Manhattan this year.
A billion-dollar business, Stake.com is known as the world’s largest crypto-casino.
With the purchase of the Rockerfeller mansion, Tehrani has now joined his business partner Craven in the big leagues of real estate.
