9-Dec-14 – The new owner of the 89th floor penthouse at Trump International Hotel & Tower will use the space as a second residence.

Sanjay Shah, CEO of Vistex Inc., a global software company based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, bought the penthouse on Monday. He paid $17 million in cash.

The 14,260 square foot unit at 401 North Wabash Avenue in River North has 360-degree views of the city. It is a raw space with concrete floors and drywall. Shah says he will spend another $15 million on the interior.

The asking price had been $32 million.

(Above) One of Sanjay’s views, looking east from the 89th floor penthouse on November 4, 2011.

Chicago real estate broker Chezi Rafaeli said in March 2013 that three prospective owners were interested in the penthouse, for now the highest private home in the western hemisphere. Property taxes at that time were estimated at $320,000, condominium fees at $12,000 per month, and one parking space would cost another $100,000.

Even at $17 million, it is the most expensive residential real estate sale in Chicago ever. It beat the $15 million Chicago billionaire Kenneth Griffin paid in 2012 for the 66th floor of Park Tower at 800 North Michigan Avenue, a half-block north of Chicago Avenue.

Shah (left) is 46 years old. He lives in South Barrington, northwest of Chicago, with his wife and two daughters. According to Rafaeli, this was the last of the 486 units that were originally owned by the developer, Donald Trump. Units were first sold in 2003, six years before the building opened.

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