By Elise Knutsen 4:01pm

Manhattan Transfers

Bob Vila

Forget This Old House! Bob Vila Loses a Million on Madison Square Loft

While home improvement master Bob Vila may be known for giving drab homes D.I.Y. facelifts, around these parts he is better known as a successful flipper of top-of-the-line Manhattan real estate. There was the Tribeca loft—where he was neighbors with Mariah Carey—the Upper East Side townhouse, the two apartments at Museum Tower. Even Mr. Vila’s son Chris has gotten in on the game.

That is why it is so surprising the salt-and-pepper-of-the-earth handyman has had a hard time selling a penthouse at 15 East 26th Street that he bought two years ago. Read More

By Matt Chaban 7/28/11 4:28pm

Manhattan Transfers

Chris_Vila

This New Loft: Chris Vila Flips Another Fixer-Upper

Bob Vila made a name for himself renovating homes on TV, often in rural or suburban corners of America—it wasn’t called This Old Condo. Still, the salt-and-pepper-of-the-Earth handyman could not resist the allure of New York real estate. Over the years he flipped everything from a $5 million Tribeca loft to an Upper East Side brownstone chopped up into million-dollar apartments after it failed to sell for almost $12 million. His latest project is a Flatiron penthouse overlooking Madison Square Park that came on the market in May for $5.7 million.

Just like back in the good old days of the corner hardware store, Bob’s son Chris Vila has gone into the family business. Read More

By Staff 5/23/05 4:29pm

Gore-TV

The days when the New York Observer’s Joe Hagan owned the Gore-TV story are past, sadly, and so are all illusions that the former Vice President is going to create a liberal version of Fox. It’s more, it seems, that he wants to be a liberal Bob Vila.

That’s what we gather from this Read More

By Blair Golson 10/14/02 12:00am

This Old ($5.25M.) Loft

Viewers who tuned in to Bob Vila’s last installment of Home Again on CBS saw the master do-it-yourselfer show how to install “sidewall shingle” on the back of a “modern Colonial” house his staff was busy working on.

But some well-heeled New Yorkers got a peek at something rather less provincial this week: the home Read More