A former U.S. ambassador has found his latest post: the Upper East Side.
Paul Leandro Cejas, a businessman and former U.S. ambassador to Belgium, is the new owner of a distinctive co-op apartment at the corner of Park Avenue and East 75th Street. He and his wife, Gertie, closed on the home at the end of March for $8.4 million, according to city records that became available recently.
The seller was Michelle Carlino, who bought the property for $8.7 million in 2014. Crain’s could not verify any other information about Carlino by press time.
The duplex apartment is on an upper floor of a 1927 building. It recently underwent a two-year renovation and the installation of custom decor. The three-bedroom unit features a curved staircase, a wood-burning fireplace and herringbone hardwood floors.
The co-op building was designed by J.E.R. Carpenter, who is credited with shaping upper Fifth Avenue and helping to open up the corridor to apartments. The building employs 17 staff members and offers a gym and a central courtyard.
Cejas immigrated to the U.S. from Cuba in the 1960s. He was confirmed as U.S. ambassador to Belgium in 1998 under President Bill Clinton. Before that appointment, he was chairman and CEO of PLC Investments. He also founded CareFlorida Health Systems, the country’s largest Hispanic-owned health care company, according to his biography on the U.S. Department of State website.
Cejas listed his address on closing documents as being in Miami Beach, Florida. He is a Democratic Party donor, having given more than $131,000 to Democratic political candidates in 2024, according to data compiled by Open Secrets.
Michael Lorber, Alexander Boriskin and Eric Friedberg, the Douglas Elliman agents who listed the apartment, did not respond to a request for comment by press time. Cejas also could not be reached for comment by press time.
Cejas is not totally new to the Upper East Side. In 2010 he sold a $15 million apartment on Fifth Avenue, then picked up another on East 77th Street for $5.6 million. It is not clear when or for how much he acquired the Fifth Avenue co-op unit.
