The Aman New York stands at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street in Manhattan

A limited liability company represented by a Hong Kong private equity executive has purchased a 6,300 square foot luxury condo in the heart of Manhattan for $61.6 million, as US luxury residential assets continue to attract wealthy Asian buyers on the back of pent-up demand.

Delaware-incorporated Fifth Avenue Yang Park LLC earlier this month closed on its purchase of the full 24th floor of the Aman New York hotel and condominium project, with Terence Chan Ho-wah acting as authorised signatory for the purchasing entity, according to New York City public records.

Chan is the chairman of Hong Kong-based private equity firm Bay Area Capital Partners, which counts real estate and infrastructure, property and construction technology, clean energy and fintech among its sectors of focus. The firm is not known to have made other major property investments to date.

Prior to Bay Area Capital Partners, Chan served as chief executive of Hongkong and Shanghai Land Capital (HSL Capital), the Shanghai-focused property investment subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed steel and building materials distributor Hong Kong Shanghai Alliance Holdings, with his LinkedIn profile showing that he left the company in 2022.

“We have definitely seen a noticeable uptick in ultra high net worth Asian buyers who had been absent from the market over the past few years,” said Dolly Lenz, founder and chief executive of New York City-based luxury property agency Dolly Lenz Real Estate. “The pent-up demand is evident as billionaires from Asia are behind a number of recent high dollar purchases in New York, Los Angeles, Florida and other marquee US markets, a trend that shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon.”

Chan, HSL Capital, and Hong Kong Shanghai Alliance Holdings had not yet responded to inquiries from Mingtiandi at the time of publication.

Billionaires’ Row

The buyer closed on the unit at 730 Fifth Avenue in January, more than five years after entering into contract for the property in 2018, when sales of the project’s residential units commenced. The condo was originally priced above $70 million, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the sale.

Terence Chan Ho-wah

Situated within the historic Crown Building in Midtown Manhattan’s “Billionaires’ Row” area that counts tech entrepreneur Michael Dell and hedge fund heavyweight Ken Griffin as residents, Aman New York opened in 2022 as the 34th property in the Swiss luxury hostelry operator’s portfolio.

The project’s 83-key hotel and 22 residential units were developed by OKO Group, the Miami-based commercial, retail and luxury residential property development firm founded by Aman chairman and chief executive Vladislav Doronin.

Some of the project’s residences have reportedly sold for top dollar, including a $74.3 million unit that went to a foreign buyer in 2022 and a $180 million penthouse in the crown of the building that an unnamed Asian buyer agreed to buy in 2018 but which has yet to close.

Residents have access to the hotel’s amenities, including a members club and cigar lounge with an outdoor terrace overlooking Central Park, a 22,000 square foot spa, and an 80-foot indoor swimming pool.

The buyer is set to pay transfer taxes of $2.8 million to New York state and $900,000 to New York City, according to the property’s transfer report.

Mystery Investor

Chan has nearly 30 years of investment experience in mainland China and Hong Kong and currently serves as an independent non-executive director of HKEX-listed developer Wang On Properties and of local wealth management and brokerage platform CASH Financial Services Group.

The executive has cultivated business ties between Hong Kong and Beijing as a member of the Mainland Opportunities Committee of Hong Kong’s Financial Services Development Council, the Economic Discipline in the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the Chinese Association of Hong Kong & Macao Studies of the State Council, as well as the 2021 Election Committee of the Hong Kong SAR Government.

While under Chan’s leadership from 2013 to 2022, HSL Capital expanded its Shanghai portfolio with the value-add redevelopment specialist teaming up with Apollo Global Management in 2020 to acquire the Great Wall Financial Building in Huangpu district and forming a joint venture with Singaporean sovereign fund GIC in 2018 to acquire the Longyu International Plaza office building in Jing’an district. Following those acquisitions, the assets were rebranded as Central Park Huangpu and Central Park Jing’an respectively.

Prior to HSL Capital, Chan served as director of fund management at London-based property firm Grosvenor, and worked in various roles at Hong Kong developer Nan Fung Group and state-owned conglomerate Tianjin Development Holdings, according to his biography on the website of Hong Kong’s Financial Services Development Council.