Maybe this time Ken Laub is serious.
An over-the-top Upper East Side townhouse at 163 E. 64th St., casually known as the Versailles of Manhattan, is back on the market for $17.5 million.
That’s half its peak 2007 asking price of $35 million. Laub — the seller, a longtime commercial real estate broker who made a fortune brokering major deals like the original World Trade Center — hasn’t had the most luck selling the home.
He has tried offloading this property since 2003, and real-estate insiders told The Post in 2018 that no other Manhattan townhouse has spent so long on the market. Laub’s true love, however, is music and theater.
He has produced Broadway and off-Broadway plays and counted choreographer and dancer Bob Fosse, Bob Hope, Liza Minnelli and Mayor Ed Koch among his friends.
The home was built in 1872 and designed by architect John Prague. The exterior features limestone and red brick and was designed by those who restored St. John the Divine, the listing notes.
At 8,000 square feet, the 20-foot-wide home comes with six bedrooms, five bathrooms, 3½ bathrooms — and the option of adding an additional floor.
There’s also lots of inlaid marble and wood flooring, carved-wood moldings and paneling, mahogany doors, hand-painted Chinese panels, a staircase and an elevator with mirror panels and painted trompe l’oeil walls.
The second floor has a special sound system for recitals and guest speakers, along with a green marble fireplace, French doors and a 400-pound 18th-century chandelier.
The master bedroom on the fourth floor includes two skylights, automated shades, mahogany cabinets and a woodburning fireplace. There’s also an office and a private terrace, along with a rooftop deck.
The listing brokers are Elizabeth Sample and Brenda Powers of Sotheby’s International Realty.