The New York Times lays quite the guilt trip on developer Adam Gordon today. Gordon is the guy who turned the townhouse at 26 West 76th Street into one of Manhattan's most drooled-over properties. He put it back on the market after the renovation, and agreed to lend it out for the annual Kips Bay Decorator Show House, the popular week-long fundraiser for the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club. But a few weeks before the event, Gordon sold the house for just under $20 million, which sent the organizers scrambling for a new location and ultimately led to a six-month show house delay. Basically, Gordon punched 13,000 needy kids in the face in one fell swoop, the NYT reports:
The sale, for $19.39 million, was a blow to the charity, which draws about $1 million — 20 percent of its operating costs — from the proceeds of the show house, which for the last 38 years has been open for one week in April. As its organizers scrambled to find a new house, the six-month delay caused by the sale, they say, forced them to take a bite out of their programs, and even their endowment. “It put us in a very precarious situation as regards to supporting 13,000 children in the Bronx,” said Daniel Quinteros, Kips Bay’s executive director.
In Gordon's defense, the two sides never had a written agreement, and you know what makes someone feel better about screwing over 13,000 kids? Twenty-million dollars. The delayed Kips Bay Decorator Show House opens today at 106 East 71st Street, which is listed for $28.8 million. It's not too late to pay cash on the place and crush the kids' dreams yet again.
· Almost a No Go, the Kips Bay Decorator Show House Opens [NYT]
· 2010 Kips Bay Decorator Show House [kipsbay.org]
· Adam Gordon coverage [Curbed]
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