The West Village townhouse that once served as a base of operations for embezzler/fraudster/sketchy philanthropist Marco Stoffel has returned to market for $19,000,000, after changing hands this August for $11,000,000. The Real Deal is reporting that the current owner may be be Tory Burch's ex-husband, J. Christopher Burch, a venture capitalist. As for Stoffel, it's unclear exactly what his profession was before 2009, when he was ordered by the New York State Supreme Court to pay back the $36.5 million he had filched from a European family's trust that he was, for some reason, in charge of. It's also unclear where he is now. (One source told the Observer, "He moved to Argentina, I think," while another said that he was in Switzerland.) What is clear is that he had an extremely large—6,200 square feet, 5BR, 4BA, plus a private carriage house—and extremely nice house that has only gotten nicer with time. After the court's decision, the house was sold by the Sheriff of the City of New York to the trust (the Observer reported that sale as being for $1.9 million although current city records have it at just over $5 million, which would mean that they waited until this year to sell it?) While all of this yields more questions than answers, please refrain from Facebook messaging Stoffel's ex-wife to try and figure out what's going on. She does not take kindly to that.
The broker has some ideas for what to do with the carriage house (currently a basketball court):
This West Village townhouse is one of only a handful of town-homes
accompanied by its own private Carriage House. The carriage house offers soaring ceilings heights, skylights and charming brick walls, while providing extraordinary privacy. Currently utilized as basketball court this space has a variety of potential uses. One could configure the carriage house into an oasis with an endless pool or a screening room, yoga studio, art studio, etc. Another option one may consider is building below grade adding approximately 2,000 square feet of area to the property while adjoining both the townhouse and Carriage House in climate controlled space.
· Listing: 340 West 12th Street [Peter McCuen]
· Scandalous Real Estate [Curbed]
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