Iconic photographer Albert Watson, known for capturing a wide array of subjects over the years (everyone from Alfred Hitchcock to Tupac Shakur), has listed his Tribeca penthouse for $21.5 million, according to the New York Times. It's the second high-profile listing at the building, 101 Warren Street, in one week, after taxi king Simon Garber listed his penthouse earlier this week for $25 million. Watson and his wife, Elizabeth, bought the 3,800-square-foot home (duplex occupying the building's 34th and 35th floors) in 2008, and since then have made a number of changes. They replaced the original floors with gray granite, added a glass-and-steel staircase connecting the duplex's floors, and installed a huge steel bookshelf that was used to create a library on the first floor. The overall effect, which you can see in the photos above (which were apparently taken by Watson for Corcoran's listing), is next-level industrial chic, with views that the Times described as "works of art in their own right." As for the Watsons, they're not leaving New York City yet, but the photographer did say that some of the proceeds from the sale will go to establishing his own museum.
One of Manhattan's most unusual condo buildings is 455 Central Park West, the former New York Cancer Hospital that was converted to residences a decade ago. The landmarked building is home to only 16 residences, and considering the structure's design—it basically looks like a tiny castle—it's pretty exciting when one of those hits the market. The latest unit, a maisonette, is asking $8.75 million, and occupies two of the building's turrets, which are connected by a nearly 24-foot gallery. The apartment itself has over 4,200 square feet of space and features a massive private courtyard. Everything about this elegant apartment screams spaciousness. The living room has a 13-foot tall ceiling and comes fitted with oak floors, a custom-designed marble fireplace, and six windows overlooking Central Park. The master bedroom in this four-bedroom apartment is no less grand with access to the courtyard, and large windows that fill the room with sunlight. Amenities in the building include a swimming pool, a fitness and spa center, and a common garden. All said and done, this castle-style apartment is definitely fit for a king.
Many of the 55 condos in The Mill, a former jute factory just outside of the Carroll Gardens Historic District, have the same wood-paneled ceilings seen in the building's newest listing, a 2BR/2BA condo on the third floor. When it was converted in 1988, the building's prized three-bedroom duplexes asked from $280,000. Now, $1.3 million buys said two-bedroom—that is, if the listing doesn't incite a bidding war. Here are a few reasons it might: the kitchen has been recently renovated, and the apartment has two full bathrooms and two bedrooms (one of which is being used as an office here.) Oh, and did we mention it's in Carroll Gardens?
The former NYPD headquarters in Nolita, a stunning turn of the century Beaux Arts building that underwent a condo conversion in 1988, has bequeathed another unique apartment to the market—this time, a rather unusual two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom duplex asking $3.2 million. The apartment has it all: barrel-vaulted ceilings, a mahogany wood staircase, a Moroccan-inspired bathroom, and 17-foot ceilings. The listing pictures make it a bit challenging to discern the apartment's floorplan, but judging by the building's collection of oddball layouts, it's safe to assume the same of this one.
[Update: A commenter unearthed a floorplan for the unit and it is, in their words, "quite nice."]
When you picture a quintessential New York loft in your head, you probably picture something like this gigantic full-floor space on 20th Street, currently listed for $5.4 million. It clocks in at 4,000 square feet, and has eight pillars holding up its 12-foot ceilings. The enormous space is currently chopped into two large apartments, each with a huge living room, kitchen, and plenty of closet space. But that doesn't mean it needs to stay that way: The listing touts its malleability, claiming that it's a "rare opportunity for a buyer with vision." (Translation: it'll need work if you want to make it a single-family home.) But there is one con: It's a co-op with a $2,900 maintenance fee, so buyer beware.
How much is that birdie in the window? How much is that loft with lots of windows? Given 13 years, the price of this listing has gone up over $5 million. This Wooster Street home was $3.106 million when it sold in 2002, but is now on the market for $8.75 million. It spans 3,162 square feet with three bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms. Accessed by a private key elevator, it boasts the "warmth and coziness" of a marble-enclosed fireplace and invites you to "relish in a wonderful meal" either in the dining area or at the kitchen island. There are nearly 12-foot-tall wood-beamed ceilings and the media room has exposed brick. "Seeing is believing," the listing calls out.
You'd be forgiven for thinking the South Beach that this five-bedroom townhouse is located in is part of Florida, but no: it's actually on Staten Island. The listing touts the home's "Soho meets the Hamptons" vibe, which we're assuming refers to the interiors—sleek, minimalist—combined with the waterfront views and landscaped exterior. In addition to those five bedrooms, the house comes with a lot of enviable elements: there's a gigantic master bathroom with a soaking tub and a "sitting room"; a modern, open-concept kitchen; and huge windows in the many open rooms. And the outdoor space is equally impressive, with a swimming pool, conversation pit, and a bamboo garden. "You will wake up every morning and think you are on vacation," so sayeth the brokerbabble—but for once, it's not really that much of an exaggeration.
Built by the grandson of railroad-developing robber baron Jay Gould in 1927, the Romanesque co-op building at 160 East 72nd Street has a storied history—not the least of which centers around the building's penthouse, which has returned, at least in part, for $5.45 million. The penthouse, originally a triplex, was built out as the home of Kingdon Gould, with 20 rooms, eight baths, a double-height music room, and a private squash-tennis court. The penthouse has since been paired down from its heyday—it now only occupies the 16th floor, and the squash-tennis court has been converted—but is still impressive in its own right with 14-foot ceilings in the living room, two wood-burning and one decorative fireplace, and a terrace that wraps around the apartment's north, south, and east exposures. The co-op is in need of some TLC, and a price-chop from its October 2014 ask of $7.25 million lets on that it might need more than meets the eye. But the penthouse, magnificent at once, still has a lot of promise.
In 2009, Jay Z's "Empire State of Mind" seared the rapper's former Boerum Hill address into America's collective consciousness. But when Jay was singing about being "hood forever" at his former stash spot at 560 State Street, he probably wasn't envisioning the 560 State Street of 2015 New York. The building has since turned unmistakably glam, as this listing shows: The two-bed, two-bath apartment is asking $1.5 million, a whole head over one of the more recent apartment's to sell at the address. Designer Breanna Carlson of the firm bStudiopicked up the apartment in 2013 for $825,000, and gut-renovated the space, creating what you see today. The apartment measures nearly 1,100 square feet, and its high ceilings and access to a shared deck help its spacious feeling. Carlson spared no expense with the reno, and the pad now comes with oak floors, a walk-in closet, Bosch appliances in the kitchen, and carrara marble in the bathrooms.
Six years after it sold for $2.5 million, a duplex in Central Park South's famed Gainsborough Studios is back on the market. This time around, the two-bedroom, one-and-a-half bathroom apartment is seeking $4.195 million. Gainsborough Studios was built in 1908 by Thomas Buckham as housing for artists in a boom-time for such developments throughout New York City. Traces of the building's history can be seen throughout the apartment, especially in its light-filled dual-height open area. The seller is Amy Baker Sandback, whose late husband, Fred Sandback, is an acclaimed minimalist artist.
For many New Yorkers, a key to ultra-exclusive Gramercy Park is like the Holy Grail—something many people want, but few will ever actually get. But if you have a spare $3.6 million sitting around, this three-bedroom co-op can fulfill that dream—located at 60 Gramercy Park North, an Emery Roth-designed building, it comes with one of those coveted keys. The apartment itself is owned by Mercedes Desio and Alberto Villalobos of the design firm Villalobos Desio, and predictably, the home has plenty of design-y flourishes, including a renovated chef's kitchen, master bath, and powder room. Building amenities include a doorman, bike storage, and a gym (and you'll pay for them—maintenance is $3,551 per month), along with the perk of having Gramercy Park as, essentially, your backyard.
When the townhouse at 7 East 69th Streetlast sold in 2012, the New York Timesreferred to it as an "ugly duckling," citing the "charm-deprived interiors and absence of Old World detail" that had plagued the house since it was first built in the 1980s. But those cosmetic problems must have been (somewhat) rectified: The six-bedroom home, which sold for $16 million three years ago, has just hit the market for a stunning $29.9 million. What accounts for the nearly $14 million price jump? As the saying goes: location, location, location. (We're guessing the interiors, which are nice but not exactly modern, played a minimal role.) The townhouse is located between Fifth and Madison Avenues, and has front and back decks that both offer views of Central Park. It also has an elevator, marble floors, and built-in bookshelves in the library.
Here's a testament to the long, weird history of St. Marks Place: The storefront that all-things-punk vendor Trash & Vaudeville has occupied for the past 40 years is within a building first occupied by the son of founding father Alexander Hamilton, and that building is now for sale—for $11.9 million, the New York Postfirst reported. Ah, how things change. The 1831 Federal townhouse at 4 St. Marks Place, known as the Hamilton Holly House, is being marketed by broker Eastern Consolidated as a building perfect for school dorms, inasmuch as eager New York City college students might be the only bunch who would want to live on the block these days. The townhouse may have been landmarked in 2004, but that won't preclude its buyer from making more unfortunately interior updates to the house, as old listing pictures show have already been affected throughout.
The sale adds another piece to the puzzle of Trash & Vaudeville's shocking, yet not entirely unexpected, announcement earlier this year that it would be moving its storefront to East 7th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A. "I love St. Mark's Place. There's no doubt it. There's something magical about it. This just isn't any block," T&V owner Ray Goodman told EV Grieve after the store announced its move. "The decision wasn't something that I took lightly. From a business perspective, we saw a shift in the clientele. The block is not as conducive for fashion shopping as it once was. Now it seems as if it's all food—fast food—and bongs. Even stores that aren't bong stores sell bongs."
"Sometimes more is more," begins the listing for this one-bedroom co-op in the Chelsea Gardens apartment complex, which comes to us via a tipster. We're not entirely sure this is one of those cases: The apartment is absolutely covered in tchotchkes, including an impressive number of collectible plates (though we'd worry about showering underneath those), many gilded statues, and portraits galore. According to the brokerbabble, "it has been carefully designed to enhance all the deco details that make this building so appealing"; but the effect is a little more like your grandma's storage room than an Art Deco treasure. Regardless, there are some nice elements, such as a custom stained-glass window in the kitchen and a curved, '30s-style fireplace. (Plus, we're guessing the knick-knacks don't come with the apartment.) It's asking $1.25 million.
The Sutton Place Solarium penthouse has been under wraps since Amy Chanos, ex-wife of Kynikos Associates "king of short selling" Jim Chanos, snatched the pad up for a mere $4.35 million in the down-and-out rebound days of October 2011. But now, as Chanos seeks to unload the rather resplendent penthouse at 400 East 59th Street, listing pictures have brought the domicile back into the public eye. The penthouse is still drool-worthy, with its 35-foot-long solarium, 1,450 square feet of terraces, and lovely arched doorways. Chanos has done a number to the penthouse, with an interiors scheme only for the bold, and is following up with a $16 million ask. Think she'll get it?
