J. Crew CEO Millard “Mickey” Drexler will soon be getting even more closet space. And thank goodness, with the summer season here and a fresh new crop of seersucker suits and artfully-wrinkled linen shirts!
Mr. Drexler has won the bidding war for 140 Franklin Street, beating out the other buyers to sign a contract that exceeds the $13.5 million ask, according to the New York Post.
The five-bedroom, full-floor “mansion in the sky” will join the rest of the J.Crew chief’s collection, which includes a both a 5.6-acre oceanfront estate on Long Island and the country’s oldest working cattle farm in Montauk, according to the Post. The Bronx-born Drexler does not, at least under his own name, own any other properties in the city, according to city records.
We wonder what kind of makeover Mr. Drexler will give this sprawling space. If his oversight is anywhere nearly as successful as his time at the helm of the Gap and J. Crew, we assume that the apartment will be worth a lot more by the time he gets through with it.
Really, the home looks like the perfect place for a man who has excelled at blending old and new—if it were an outfit it would be a bright persimmon-colored coat paired with a heather gray cable-knit sweater. Located in a landmarked 1887 building with iconic, arched windows, the apartment is modern and airy, with an entertaining space spanning 100-feet, a hot tub and convenient pocket doors to create more intimate spaces (so you don’t feel like you’re living in a retail store). Also? There’s a 150-bottle temperature controlled wine cave!
Halstead broker Richard Orenstein must be delighted (to say nothing of owner Tracey Riese, who bought the place for $4.5 million in 2000. The place spent all of two weeks on the market.
And may we recommend calling on the impeccable Jenna Lyons, as he has so many times before? After all, Ms. Lyons did a breathtaking job with her Park Slope brownstone, netting a nice return when she sold the house this spring. Last we heard, Ms. Lyons was also living in Tribeca, at the American Express Carriage House, so she could pop over for a quick style consultation any time.
kvelsey@observer.com
