Billionaire Ackman looks to convince panel to build 'flying saucer' penthouse

Bill Ackman, a billionaire hedge fund manager, will look to convince New York’s powerful Landmarks Preservation Commission to allow him to build a “flying saucer” penthouse.

The billionaire is trying to come up with it on top of a historic apartment building in the Upper West Side, which overlooks Central Park.

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The Harvard-educated activist investor Ackman has been engaged in a years-long public relations battle with his merely millionaire neighbours to garner support for his planned Norman Foster-designed two-storey penthouse. It has been described as a “temple to a titan”.

Earlier, Ackman had famously made $2.6bn (£2.2bn) profit in a single day by betting on the financial impact of coronavirus in the early days of the pandemic.

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Last week, the billionaire had successfully won the backing of Manhattan Community Board 7 (CB7) for the plan atop the 120-year-old building. Now, he is going to seek the approval of the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The penthouse at 6-16 West 77th Street has been designed by Foster + Partners. It would replace a pink stucco 17th-floor penthouse that Ackman and his partner scientist Neri Oxman bought for $22.5m in 2017.

(With inputs from agencies)