Billionaire makeup mogul William Lauder, the executive director of powerhouse cosmetics company, the Estée Lauder Companies, and grandson of the founders, has just bought the posh Park Avenue pad of the late Page Six gossip queen Claudia Cohen for $24.95 million, according to property records.
While Cohen covered gossip, she was also sometimes the subject of it, during her marriage and divorce from billionaire businessman Ronald O. Perelman, who is listed on property records as the executor of her estate.
The purchase comes on the heels of Lauder’s $155 million Palm Beach, Florida, mansion purchase in March — from the estate of the late conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh, who bought the 2.7-acre compound for around $3.9 million in 1998.
The Upper East Side five-bedroom co-op is in architect Rosario Candela’s 778 Park Ave., at East 73rd Street. It first hit the market for $27.9 million in 2020.
At 5,500 square feet, it takes up the full 12th floor.
Lauder had earlier listed his 14th-floor, full-floor apartment in the same building for $45 million in 2019. He later reduced the price to $39 million in 2021, but it never sold. (He bought that full-floor unit for $27.5 million in 2007, according to property records.)
It appears that Lauder may move back to the building from 998 Fifth Ave. — where he bought a $23.5 million apartment in 2017, sources said. The goal is to create a spectacular duplex by combining his 12th and 14th floor apartments, sources added. The building, like many in the city, has no 13th floor — a bad luck number for certain superstitious New Yorkers.
Lauder did not return a request for comment.
Design details include 11-foot-high ceilings, crown moldings and hardwood floors, along with lots of light from 34 windows and 100 feet of Park Avenue frontage with views of the city skyline and a hint of Central Park.
The co-op opens to a private elevator landing that leads to a gallery and a living room with a woodburning fireplace, and three oversize windows facing Park Avenue.
There’s also a formal dining room with another fireplace and a wood-paneled library with custom built-ins and a third fireplace.
A large eat-in chef’s kitchen has a pantry while a “staff wing” has laundry, a dining room and two maid’s rooms and a bathroom. Another wing hosts the bedrooms, including a large corner primary bedroom suite with an ensuite bath and a dressing room.
The 20-story building dates to 1931 and comes with just 18 apartments.
Douglas Elliman broker Steven Cohen — no relation to Claudia — had the Cohen listing before it was taken off market and declined to comment.
