Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty Images/Yoni Kirsch
In the foyer of his 12-room co-op overlooking Central Park, financier Clifford Press is hunched over, trying to persuade his 14-pound Jack Russell to stop showing her belly. Behind him, sunlight streaks through the cavernous living room, adorned with gold mirrors, hardwood floors, and a working fireplace.
The building, 1120 Fifth Ave., is a dense nexus of wealth, home to Michael J. Fox, Nelson Rockefeller’s daughter, and heirs to the Sears and Toys “R” Us fortunes. It should be a respite from New York’s loud streets.
But Clifford Press is a man at war. His enemies, he tells The Daily Beast, are the relative peasants on the “B and C” side of his building who sit on the 11-person co-op board. “They’re in the sort of cheaper apartments,” he said. (Those units are generally worth $5 million to $10 million, while his is worth at least eight figures.)