Media Mogul Byron Allen Sells NYC Condo For $82.5 Million

Media mogul Byron Allen has scored a major real estate win in Manhattan. Allen just sold his full-floor condominium at the ultra-luxury tower 220 Central Park South for a staggering $82.5 million, significantly above the $75 million he paid for the unit in 2023. The off-market deal netted Allen an impressive profit in barely a year, underscoring the resilience of Manhattan's high-end property market. This transaction adds another highlight to Billionaires' Row – the string of super-premium residential towers near Central Park – and to Allen's own growing list of savvy real estate moves.

A Big Flip on Billionaires' Row

Byron Allen's recent condo sale is turning heads both for its price and its speed. In an off-market transaction first reported by the Wall Street Journal, Allen unloaded his full-floor apartment in Midtown Manhattan's exclusive 220 Central Park South for about $82.5 million. That sum is well above what he paid in 2023.

Such a swift and lucrative flip is rare even on Billionaires' Row, the enclave of ultra-luxury skyscrapers along the southern edge of Central Park known for attracting wealthy buyers from around the globe. Allen's deal highlights how prized these residences remain – even in a cooling market, the very top tier of New York real estate continues to command eye-popping sums from those seeking the prestige (and views) that come with a Central Park address.

Billionaires' Row and the Prestige of 220 Central Park South

220 Central Park South is part of Manhattan's famed Billionaires' Row, a cluster of super-tall, super-luxurious residential towers near 57th Street and Central Park that routinely shatter price records. Developed by Vornado Realty and designed by Robert A.M. Stern, 220 Central Park South stands 70 stories tall with a classic limestone facade, exuding an Old New York elegance despite its 2018 completion.

The building has quickly become one of the city's most coveted addresses, thanks to both its Central Park views and its over-the-top amenities. Residents enjoy a private motor court and porte-cochère entrance, a wine cellar, plush private dining rooms, and a host of recreational facilities on site. In fact, the tower boasts an 82-foot indoor saltwater pool, a squash court, a library, and even an exclusive Jean-Georges restaurant reserved for residents.

Privacy is paramount – the buying process is secretive and many purchasers remain anonymous – yet a few headline-making deals have put 220 Central Park South firmly in the spotlight.

In 2019, billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin famously paid $238 million for a penthouse here, setting a record for the most expensive home ever sold in the United States.

(Photo by MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty Images)

From Comedian to Media Mogul

Byron Allen began his career as a teenager in Los Angeles doing stand-up comedy and even became the youngest comic ever to perform on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. But he parlayed that early showbiz success into an entrepreneurial media empire.

In 1993, Allen founded what would become Entertainment Studios (now Allen Media Group), and over the decades, he built it into one of the largest privately held media companies in the country. Today, we estimate Byron Allen's net worth at $1 billion.

As chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group, he owns an array of television networks, film distribution companies, and digital platforms – all under his sole ownership. The company's holdings include The Weather Channel, which Allen famously acquired for around $300 million in 2018, as well as regional sports networks and dozens of local TV stations across the U.S. (Allen Media owns roughly 30 affiliate TV stations spanning the ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox networks).

Allen has also snapped up content producers and distributors – for example, he acquired the indie film distributor Freestyle Releasing and the digital news platform TheGrio – expanding his reach across multiple media verticals. His business strategy has centered on buying undervalued media assets and turning them profitable under the umbrella of his wholly-owned company. By retaining 100% ownership of Allen Media Group, he has been able to reinvest and keep growing his empire with each acquisition.

A Trophy Real Estate Portfolio

It's no surprise that a businessman with Allen's wealth has developed a taste for trophy real estate. In fact, Byron Allen has emerged as one of the nation's most avid collectors of luxury homes, assembling a coast-to-coast property portfolio worth over $500 million. His recent Manhattan condo flip is just one piece of a much larger puzzle.

In late 2022, Allen made headlines by purchasing a sprawling Malibu estate for $100 million. The Malibu property lies in the exclusive Paradise Cove enclave and is nothing short of spectacular: a 3.6-acre cliffside compound featuring a ~10,700-square-foot Mediterranean-style main house, two guest houses, a tennis court, and panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean. (In fact, the estate sits right next door to a $190 million compound owned by WhatsApp billionaire Jan Koum, highlighting the rarefied neighborhood Allen has joined.)

Allen's real estate appetite doesn't stop at Malibu or Manhattan. He owns multiple homes in Beverly Hills, California, including two neighboring estates that he's in the process of merging and expanding. In 2021, Allen reportedly secured an $83 million construction loan tied to his Beverly Hills properties, far eclipsing the roughly $20 million combined price he originally paid – a sign of major renovations underway to create a custom mega-compound.

Beyond the mainland, Allen also planted a flag in Hawaii: in 2018 he paid $22.8 million for a newly built beachfront retreat on Maui's prestigious Kihei coast. That five-bedroom, seven-bath Maui home, which spans 7,300 square feet of living space on nearly an acre of oceanfront land, was one of the highest-priced sales ever recorded on the island.

And up in the Rocky Mountains, Allen recently owned an Aspen, Colorado mansion which he sold in 2024 for $60 million – more than double the $27 million he had paid for it just four years prior. (He parted with the Aspen residence, a contemporary 9,000-square-foot lodge on Red Mountain, after realizing he wasn't using it enough, turning a tidy profit of over $30 million in the process.)

From sunny Southern California to the peaks of Aspen, and from tropical Maui to the heart of Manhattan, Byron Allen's holdings read like a checklist of America's priciest real estate markets. Each acquisition reflects not only his vast fortune but also a strategic eye for blue-chip properties that, much like his media assets, tend to appreciate in value.