India's Richest Man Buys Tribeca Mansion on a 'Really Difficult Site'

11 Hubert Street, on the corner of Collister Street, is a mansion that was designed by and for the architect Winka Dubbeldam, who sold the property in 2014. It was subsequently sold to another buyer before its purchase in July by the conglomerate run by billionaire Mukesh Ambani (inset). Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib (11 Hubert)

A Tribeca mansion could become the home—one of several—to India’s richest man.

The $120 billion multi-national conglomerate run by Mukesh Ambani recently bought what is now a vacant 3-story townhouse at 11 Hubert Street for $17.4 million, Real Deal [1] reported. Ambani, chairman of the Mubai-based Reliance Industries Limited [2], has a net worth of $103.5 billion and is the 18th richest man in the world, according to Forbes [3].

The mansion, on the site of a former garage at the corner of Hubert and Collister Streets, was originally designed and owned by architect Winka Dubbeldam and has been on and off the market for years. Two previous buyers abandoned their dreams of creating a megamansion on the site, each having commissioned a new design for the building that received Landmarks Commission approval.

Ambani’s plans for the building are unknown. But the first of the two mansion redesigns [4], by Maya Lin and William Bialosky, called for 11 bathrooms, five bedrooms (including two guest rooms), a dog room, separate prep and catering kitchens, wine closet and two bars, screening room, his-and-her studies, fully landscaped courtyard, 5,000-square-foot sports and fitness center in the basement, half-size olympic pool, and double-wide garage with car stackers. A different but equally elaborate layout, by E. Cobb Architects [5], was planned for the second buyer.

But any concept for 11 Hubert Street would look like slumming next to Ambani’s other properties, including a 27-story, 400,000-square-foot home in Mumbai, with three helipads, reportedly second only to Buckingham Palace as the most expensive private residence in the world. (Six floors are dedicated to his fleet of cars.) In 2022 Ambani spent $243 million on two Dubai homes. He also owns a $79 million, 300-acre English estate and has a controlling stake in New York City’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel, according to the South China Morning Post [6].

Ambani could choose one of the two ready designs for the building or commission a third. The Landmarks Preservation Commission approval for the Lin/Bialosky concept is expired and would need to go through a new approval process. LPC approval of the E. Cobb plan lapses next spring.

Bialosky called 11 Hubert Street a “really challenging site” to build on.

“One would presume with the kind of money that guy has that he will tear it down, and he'll have to follow that original footprint, which leaves a very, very skinny piece of building on Hubert Street that’s only 19 feet deep, and then turns the corner [on Collister] to be a big L,” Bialosky said in a phone interview, noting also that a deed restriction requires a minium 30-foot courtyard above the first floor. “It’s got a height limit, it’s got all kinds of restrictions on it, he’s not going to get a view of the water.” 

“I’m quite surprised,” the architect added, “that somebody with endless money would buy that site.”

A spokesman for Ambani could not be reached for comment.