Fun Loft in Celebrity-Filled Former Candy Factory Seeks Buyer

The self-proclaimed Leather King—a.k.a. Mitch Alfus, who owns a leather- and animal-skins supplier and also looks like a man who does—wants out of the ginormous Lafayette Street apartment where he's lived for a decade. Alfus just put the four-bedroom, 3.5-bath unit on the market for $11.5 million, which is quite a bit more than the $3.4M he originally paid. Though it's clear the place is renovated, since it used to look like this, he added a bedroom and made other design-forward changes. Take this one: there's now "a deep-soaking Waterworks tub is on display—a sexy focal point for the room, which includes a sitting area." The building, which served as the Hawley & Hoops candy factory in the 19th century before it was converted to condos in the 1990s, is also a celebrity favorite, 285 Lafayette counts among its residents (past and present) David Bowie and Iman, Courtney Love, "Frasier" actor Saul Rubinek, and hotelier Ian Schrager.

· Listing: 285 Lafayette Street #2B [Nestseekers via StreetEasy]
· Classic and Eclectic: Prewar SoHo Loft for $11.5 Million [NYT]
· All 285 Lafayette Street coverage [Curbed]