When the old Lower East Side building that used to be the base of operations for the socialist Jewish newspaper the Forward was turned into luxury condos, it kept getting billed as some new celebrity playground or whathaveyou. We never bought into that (and neither did Braden Keil), partly because the only heat the Forward Building was generating was from the likes of, uh, Tatum O'Neal. But in this week's Manhattan Transfers, Max Abelson reports that beloved director Spike Jonze bought the second-to-last apartment in the building, a 2,590-square-foot eighth-floor unit for just over $2.6 million. He may have been recruited by cinematographer Lance Acord, who also bought into the building.
Jonze sold his apartment in another trendy Lower East Side building, 7 Essex, earlier this month. He bought it less than a year ago from the sponsor, but he never moved in. And who scooped up the final available unit in the Forward Building? According to marketing broker Michael Bolla, "The last deal was to a beautiful lady from the Upper East Side." Sounds like a party. And we're not talking political. Hi-yo!
· Being Spike Jonze [Observer]