Exec’s Jenga building suicide doesn’t figure to hurt sales
When Gustavo Arnal, the chief financial officer of Bed Bath & Beyond, died by suicide Sept. 2 by jumping from the 18th floor of 56 Leonard Street, the news spread quickly across social and traditional media. Not only was Arnal a top executive at a major retailer, but the Tribeca condominium where he perished, known colloquially as the “Jenga tower” for its unusual design, has some of the city’s priciest apartments, with sales routinely closing for tens of millions of dollars.
Arnal’s shocking death raises the question of whether the tragedy will become an obstacle for agents selling units in the high-profile property, where prospective buyers have the choice to live just about anywhere they please.The answer, observers say, is probably not. Such properties tend to overcome unfortunate events that occur there.
“They clean them up, they put them on the market and they sell,” real estate attorney Adam Leitman Bailey said. “Nothing’s going to get in the way of [people] buying the best apartment they can. Death’s certainly not going to get in their way.”