Billionaires’ Row developer calls his luxury supertall a financial ‘disaster’ — weeks after its trophy penthouse was discreetly delisted

The developer behind one of Manhattan’s most recognizable skyscrapers has delivered a surprisingly blunt verdict on the project that helped redefine Billionaires’ Row.

Kevin Maloney, founder of Property Markets Group and co-developer of the ultra-slender 111 W. 57th St., praised the tower’s striking design while acknowledging the financial pain it caused.

“From an architectural point of view, it’s a marvel,” Maloney said Tuesday during a panel discussion at the National Association of Real Estate Editors conference in Miami.

Then, he admitted: “Financially, it was a disaster.”

The candid assessment came just weeks after the building’s crown jewel, a four-story penthouse that once carried a massive $110 million asking price, quietly disappeared from the market.

The residence, known as Quadplex 80, occupies the tower’s top four floors and was unveiled last year as New York City’s most expensive publicly listed home — at a price that has since been surpassed. The sprawling aerie stretches across more than 11,400 square feet, with private terraces, a dedicated elevator, a spiral staircase and sweeping views that span Central Park, both rivers and the Manhattan skyline.

The trophy listing was later reduced to $98 million. Last month it was removed from public marketing altogether, according to its StreetEasy history.

It is unclear if or when it will resurface on the market. The Post has reached out for comment. 

For Maloney, the roller-coaster journey has been more than a decade in the making.

“We recently completed, and not really too successfully, this tiny tower in Manhattan,” he told attendees. “That project took us about 11 years.”

The development, launched in partnership with Michael Stern’s JDS Development Group, began construction in 2013 at the height of New York’s super-luxury condominium boom. But the project encountered turbulence long before residents moved in.

Sales were originally expected to launch in 2016, but a cooling luxury market pushed those plans back two years. Rising construction expenses created funding gaps that eventually led the developers to default on a $725 million loan backed by Apollo Global Management and AIG.

Then came the pandemic.

Speaking afterward with reporters, Maloney said the already challenging market conditions deteriorated further once New York fully shut down in 2020, slowing sales momentum at a building that had been conceived during a very different era for luxury real estate.

Yet after years of setbacks, the tower has staged a remarkable comeback.

In 2024, Sotheby’s International Realty broker Nikki Field took over marketing efforts with 23 unsold residences remaining. Since then, her team says it has generated roughly $480 million in contracts and closings, helping transform what had become one of Manhattan’s most closely watched luxury developments.

“My team has a history of saving properties,” Field said. “It took us about a month to review it and then decide that we could reinvent it, rebrand it, reposition it.”

The turnaround coincided with renewed strength at the top end of Manhattan’s housing market. High-profile buyers returned, including entrepreneur Robert Herjavec and British developer Christian Candy, both of whom purchased homes in the building after significant price reductions.

“A couple of big names got bigger discounts because we wanted them in the building, and we knew that they would attract other buyers,” Field said.

Industry insiders say pricing ultimately proved critical.

“They got realistic with pricing,” Jorge Lopez, founder of Mundi Group, told the Real Deal. 

Field also overhauled the resident experience, replacing staff, bringing in hospitality veterans and introducing luxury services designed to compete with the city’s top hotel-branded residences.

“It was not presenting ultra luxury,” she said. “You needed a much better experience from the curb on up through the presentation.”

The effort appears to have paid off.

Earlier this year, a duplex penthouse in the tower entered contract for roughly $42 million, making it the largest residential deal on Billionaires’ Row so far in 2026. The buyer, described as a European billionaire, plans to use the residence as a primary home.

Today, the 1,428-foot skyscraper wrapping around the landmarked Steinway Hall is reported to be approximately 98% sold.