Carlos Slim Said to Pay $15.5 Million for Townhouse

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim bought a townhouse in midtown Manhattan that will be used for office space, extending his purchases of real estate in the city as property values increase. The seller was Felissimo Corp., a Japanese designer and seller of household goods, cosmetics and accessories, according to the company's broker, Faith Hope Consolo of Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate in New York. Felissimo, which owned the building for more than 20 years, was negotiating a lease agreement with a luxury retailer and instead received a purchase offer, said Consolo. "They made us an offer we couldn't refuse," Consolo, the chairman of retail leasing, marketing and sales at the brokerage, said in a telephone interview.