15 Central Park West is now one of Manhattan’s most exclusive residences (Picture: Google street view)

Developers paid a recluse $17million (£10.2million) to move out of his mouldy top floor residence so they could build a new luxury apartment block, it has been revealed.

In 2004, Will and Arthur Zeckendorf bought the Mayflower Hotel in Manhattan’s Upper West Side for over $400million (£239million) but found a host of residents who refused to move out.

Most stubborn of all was reclusive 73-year-old Herbert Sukenik – unmarried, embittered and disconnected from society – whose lease protected him from being evicted.

‘It was a wreck, a mess,’ explained relocation lawyer Michael Grabow. ‘Clothes everywhere. Papers, magazines, two computers. He had to clear chairs to sit on.’




The Zeckendorf brothers were forced to buy out the elderly resident for the staggering sum and even buy him a new flat a few blocks away.

Mr Sukenik, who gained a doctorate in physics in his youth had calculated the taxes, insurance costs and exact value of the land before listening to offers from the developers.

In total there were four elderly bachelors who had been in the buildings for 30 to 35 years each, in tiny little rooms.

Each man received ‘million dollar checks’ to move out according to a new book, House of Outrageous Fortune by Michael Gross.

With views over Central Park and the Hudson River the new 15 Central Park West building now boasts the likes of Denzel Washington, Sting and baseball star Alex ‘A-Rod’ Rodriguez as residents.