Andrew Litton, the musical director of the New York City Ballet, has passed the baton when it comes to his Central Park West apartment.
The globally-prominent conductor has sold a three-bedroom, three-bath co-op at West 69th Street, near the ballet’s Lincoln Center home, for $5.9 million, according to tax records that appeared in the city register Wednesday.
The buyer was Derek Axelrod, an interior designer and restaurant owner whose eateries include the upscale T Bar group. T Bar has locations in Southampton, on the Upper East Side and as of last year also in Roslyn in Nassau County. For years Axelrod had been in partnership with longtime restaurateur Tony Fortuna before Fortuna died of cancer in 2024. Hospitality bigwig Arthur Backal is also an investor in the chain.
It’s not clear from the register what Litton, an Upper West Side native, originally paid for the apartment, suggesting that he or his family has owned it for decades. But Litton, who also has a home in Westchester County, did end up getting about what he sought for the unit, which features a formal dining room, a windowed galley kitchen and ample park views.
The 16-story, 94-unit prewar building allows buyers to finance only 50% of a unit’s cost.
Indeed, Litton first listed the property in April 2024 for $6.3 million, based on StreetEasy data. It went into contract in December, according to the data, and closed April 3.
A peripatetic presence in the classical music world, Litton has served as maestro of symphonies from Norway to Singapore to England, and also across the U.S. Before taking the helm of City Ballet in 2015, Litton, who began his career accompanying ballets on the piano, conducted Colorado’s premier orchestra.
Based at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater, City Ballet this spring is staging several works by choreographer George Balanchine, who co-founded the ballet in 1948.
Luxury apartment sales have had an up-and-down ride in recent weeks, apparently in response to the wild swings of the stock market. Also still weighing on the residential market are historically high mortgage interest rates, which have not yet declined this year as expected.
Brian Rice, the Corcoran Group agent who marketed Litton’s apartment, did not return an email for comment by press time.
