The NYC Home of the Week was Unit 38W in 56 Leonard (which many call the “Jenga Building”), in Tribeca👇Here are a few things you probably didn’t know about this famous building:▪️The developer, Alexico Group, purchased the land and air rights needed for 56 Leonard in 2007 from New York Law School, paying about $150M. At the time, the sale helped vault New York Law’s endowment into the top 10 for law schools in the entire country!▪️ The 56 Leonard sales office first opened the exact same week in 2008 that Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy. Sales and progress on the building stalled for YEARS, as the developer worked hard to secure needed financing for construction, and didn’t pick back up until 2012. Though all eventually worked out, it was a rocky road and far from certain the building would ultimately be built.▪️ The building is perfectly located in a very small pocket between Tribeca’s east and west historic districts, both of which have height restrictions. This is why it can be so tall, and why it’s SO much taller than everything around it.▪️The sculpture outside was designed by Anish Kapoor, the same artist who created the “Chicago Bean” (actually named “Cloud Gate”). It’s 40 tons (!), and made of 38 stainless steel plates that are welded together perfectly. Unit 38West is 3,412 square feet inside with 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, and 2 massive terraces. The asking price was $15.375M.
The NYC Home of the Week is 160 East 83rd Street👇 I saw it last spring and can confirm it is even more outstanding in person. The sellers bought it in 2005 for $5M, and have put in lots of work to make the house what it is today. The special home has been featured in TV shows like Succession (it was Kendall’s home in Season 1), SNL, Law & Order: SVU, Younger, and Elsbeth. The owners first tried to sell in 2015 with an asking price of $29.5M, but were unsuccessful and have tested the market every few years since. When it went into contract last week its asking price was $17.5M. The house is 8,000 square feet with 5 bedrooms, a triple-wide backyard, a huge indoor basketball court, an atrium above a double-height family room, and an elevator!
67 Vestry Street, PHA: NYC Home of the Week
233 West 11th Street: NYC Home of the Week
How well do you know your Christmas tree facts??
Did you know this is how “Waverly Place” got its name?? Early maps I looked at from closer to 1833 show the “proper” spelling, “Waverley.” It’s not clear exactly when the last “e” was dropped. Fitting it was called “Art Street,” given how many artists move in at the turn of the 20th century!
114 Waverly Place in Greenwich Village is the NYC Home of the Week 👇 Built in 1826 as a brick Federal style townhouse, it’s been completely transformed over the years. It was during its 1920 conversion to artists studios that it received a stucco facade and its iconic top level. It was one of 8 buildings inherited by the “Queen of the Village,” in 1985. Others included 18 and 20 Christopher Street and 14 Gay Street. In total, the buildings had about 30 rental units and she liked renting them to artists and writers. Though she passed away with a real estate portfolio worth around $25M, she lived in a room in one of her deteriorating buildings and often didn’t charge her tenants rent. 114 Waverly finally sold after she passed away in 2018, at 98 years old! The buyers—celebrity design couple Cortney and Robert Novogratz—paid $8.5M for the delapitated building. Over several years, they completely resurrected the building and even added an elevator! Unfortunately, the Landmarks Commission wouldn’t let them keep the facade pink, because the color was too “new,” so a more historic yellow was chosen and approved. 114 Waverly is 22’ wide and 6,800 square feet. The asking price this time around was $22.85M.
Stuyvesant Street, Part 3! Imagine a 150’ x 200’ garden immediately to the east of the Hamilton Fish House at 21 Stuyvesant Street (see Part 2 of this series!). It was called “Elizabeth Fish’s Garden.” Elizabeth was a great, great grand daughter of Peter Stuyvesant, who purchased most of what would become the East Village in 1651. Elizabeth’s dad, Petrus Stuyvesant, created Stuyvesant Street in 1787 more or less as a driveway to the Stuyvesant Mansion (see Part 1 of this series). In 1826, East 10th Street was gouged through her garden as a part of the 1811 Commissioners’ Plan that set out the grid pattern for streets and avenues that NYC is now known for. It left this wedge of land that I can never pass without admiring. I would love to see pictures or a painting of that Garden, though!
PH11 at 140 Jane Street in the West Village went into contract with an asking price of $45M. In fact, despite no public marketing, the building already has 5 units in contract with a combined asking price of $138.75M. Here’s some more about the building and PH11!
The top NYC house to go into contract last week was 11 Bank Street, in the West Village 👇 It’s not every day that the least interesting thing about a house from 1845 is that it was once owned by a member of Napoleon’s army. Other interesting things about the possible ghost, I didn’t have time to include in the video! The 1956 buyers were Dr. Harvey Slatin and his wife Yeffe Kimball. The tin with the ashes were labeled as those of Elizabeth Bullock, who was cremated January 21, 1931. Bullock apparently was killed in a nearby car accident and also lived a few blocks away, but had no clear connection to 11 Bank Street. Slatin and Kimbell kept the remains, in part, because they thought someone might one day come for them. Also, Bullock was a rather “benign ghost,” who didn’t cause much trouble. When they decided to accepted the offer of the California priest to provide the Christian burial, some Bank Street neighbors objected, as they “liked having a resident ghost.” I love the West Village. Best I can tell, the house has not sold since Slatin and Kimbell bought it in 1956, and it’s still in their family.
NYC Home Sales • Top 5% in USA at Douglas Elliman
