Barbara Corcoran Outbid Herself Twice for Her Fifth Avenue Penthouse

Barbara Corcoran outbid herself twice for an Upper East Side penthouse she saw seven months before it listed, and she offered to cover the flip tax. "There was no way I was going to lose this apartment," says Corcoran, founder of the Corcoran Group and costar of ABC's Shark Tank. The aerie has a wraparound terrace and direct views of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Central Park.

"I just knew it was special, because I'd seen and sold every apartment in New York, and I knew I'd never see this one again," she says. That conviction cost her two bids against herself.

Why did Corcoran move at all?

She might never have left her nearby prewar duplex — a sunny space with a greenhouse-like kitchen familiar to her Instagram followers — except for two pressures. The stairs had become untenable for her husband, and another renovation felt daunting. Then, on a transatlantic flight, she spotted designer Allegra O. Eifler's work in a magazine feature on rising talents.

"I moved because I had [found] a designer, honestly," Corcoran says. "I renovated everything else I've had and loved every minute of it, but I didn't picture myself doing it again at my age."

She describes her own style as "shabby-chic sort of, Swedish, warm, and worn-out in a simple way." She says she had reviewed a hundred designers in a year without connecting. "With Allegra's rooms, they weren't to be looked at, they were to welcome you."

How was the penthouse transformed?

Corcoran demanded a nine-month turnaround. Eifler, working with Shadow Architect and RCC Cabinetry & Restoration LLC, delivered it. "She runs a business the way I used to run mine," Corcoran says. "You can't question her talent."

The two-bedroom residence measures 3,100 square feet. Eifler, who served as Ralph Lauren's global director of antiques and vintage before founding her namesake firm in 2018, built each room around at least one meaningful possession of Corcoran's, layered with custom seating, cheerful window treatments, wall coverings, lamplight and antiques.

"She's a casual person, but she's also very aware of her surroundings and understands it's [an Uptown] penthouse," Eifler says. "So the concept was really a beach house on Fifth Avenue."

Notable pieces anchor each space:

• A pink velvet–lined egg chair answers Corcoran's request for a swing in the primary bedroom; its owner likens it to a quiet Catholic confessional.
• Artwork from Corcoran's former conference room hangs in the dark-paneled library beside a vintage golden-yellow Scandinavian rug.
• Her bunny collection occupies the powder room.
• A newly acquired pair of owl lamps has become a living room favorite.
• A circa 1960s Italian bronze spiral chandelier crowns the stone entry hall.

What does the home mean to her now?

Corcoran jokes that her hardest daily decision is where to drink her morning coffee. She migrates among the den sofa, kitchen island, dining room armchairs and living room Scrabble table — trying not to spill — but the serene garden room wins. "When I'm in that beautiful room, with its flowered wallpaper and simplicity and my favorite desk, I'm so happy," she says.

Beyond it, the terrace holds 12 trees, aromatic roses and clematis. "I feel like I've accomplished everything in life. I feel content — and content is not something I feel so easily," Corcoran says. For a broker who has sold the city's best apartments, the payoff here was personal.