Donald Trump sells New York property for $21 million

Controversial real estate mogul and presidential hopeful Donald Trump has sold his New York Trump Park Avenue penthouse for 21 million dollars, said real estate listing agent Michelle Griffith.

Executive vice president of development and acquisitions of the Trump Organization and the tycoon's daughter Ivanka Trump confirmed the sale of the property, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Griffith, an agent for Trump International Realty, said Trump was the first owner of the penthouse unit on the 24^th floor of the 32-storey building, located on Park Avenue and 59^th street, but he himself had never lived there. The 6,200-square-foot unit was previously offered for $35 million in 2013; the price was last pegged at $25 million before the sale.

Griffith likewise revealed that there had been an offer to rent the property for $80,000 a month, but Trump had opted to sell instead, citing optimal market conditions as the reason the deal pushed through.

New York real estate news site The Real Deal reports that neither Griffith nor Alatia Bradley Bach and Leighton Candler of the Corcoran group, who represented the buyers of the property, identified their clients, but they did say that they were a US couple that already owned several homes across the country. 

Ms Trump also clarified that the sale of the New York penthouse was not connected to her father's presidential campaign. "My father is in the business of real estate," she said.

Trump's presidential campaign is no stranger to controversy, including a racially-charged diatribe against Mexicans that led to the billionaire being blacklisted by several organizations, including the Miss Universe pageant.

Trump bought the building, which was the site of the former Delmonico Hotel in 2001 for 115 million. The New York Post reports that the sold unit had five bedrooms and seven bathrooms, as well as deluxe appointments such as ten-foot ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, and two walk-in closets in the master suite.