Mr. Kanders and wife Allison, who were represented by Sotheby's broker Joshua Wesoky paid $17.8 million for the 5-bedroom townhouse, which was listed with Sotheby's broker Serena Boardman and Brown Harris Stevens broker Jill Roosevelt for $21 million. The Kanders will be relocating from their manse in Greenwich, Conn.

The house, fortunately, has many elements that should make the Kanders feel right at home. Their new townhouse may not have a yard, but there is a terrace with stairs leading down to "an extensive cobblestone garden." If you squint, this could almost be the suburbs!

Sellers Ava and Rachel Hovanian, who helm K. Hovanian homes, a national homebuilder, bought the 25-foot elevatored townhouse for $15.3 million in 2010. But we guess when you work in real estate, there's always something new catching your eye. That or a smart $2.5 million flip.

The Kanders may not be artists, but we assume that they will have a more sophisticated sense of style than the Hovanians, who appear to have decorated the house with model home staging furniture, putting old and new in rather uncomfortable proximity (the white-tiled 60-foot living room has a built-in movie screen and two prominent 16th-century stone fireplaces).

Still, with enormous windows, a dining room with mercury-mirrored walls and a 60-foot living room, the house certainly has a lot of potential and it comes with nice luxuries that you don't see everyday, like pink silk carpeting, a huge circular soaking tub and custom chinoiserie wallpaper in the guest bedroom. One can only muster so much enthusiasm for spa-like baths and Sub-Zero refrigerators.

kvelsey@observer.com