Battle Over the Pierre Ends in Defeat for the Buyer Pushed by Lutnick

Near the southern edge of Central Park, an epic battle has raged for two years over a storied New York apartment building, featuring celebrities and business moguls, the sultan of Brunei, the U.S. commerce secretary and a band of elderly residents who have lived there for decades.

The bruising fight for the future of the Pierre appeared to end with a whimper on Tuesday evening when a Saudi investor missed a deadline to make a deposit on his proposed $2 billion purchase of the building.

The prospective buyer, Motasem Khashoggi, a Harvard-educated lawyer from a prominent Saudi family, had announced grand plans to renovate the faded landmark that would have required all its residents to sell their units and leave.

The deal’s collapse leaves the fate of the century-old building in question. Engineering studies have found that water leaks are penetrating its apartments and infrastructure, its pipes are old and corroded, and its fire safety systems are antiquated and potentially dangerous, all requiring extensive repairs.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/14/business/pierre-buyer-lutnick.html