Market Madness

338 West 15th Street

Inheritance For Sale: This Chelsea Townhouse May Be the Best Deal in Real Estate History—Also, the Saddest

The townhouse at 338 West 15th Street opened its doors to potential buyers on a hot spring day, when Chelsea’s sidewalks were thick with tourists spilling over from the High Line and the chill of winter felt like a hazy and half-forgotten dream.

Standing inside the house’s front parlor, a grand but shabby room illuminated by light from copious windows, Dexter Guerrieri, the owner, was eager to discuss his vision for the home, a vision that he had honed over his years as president of the boutique brokerage Vandenberg, the Townhouse Experts. What he described was a six-story “elevator mansion” with a glass-walled penthouse, giant soaking tub, ensuite bathrooms, roof deck and chef’s kitchen with a 48-inch-wide Subzero refrigerator and an eight-burner Viking range.

Mr. Guerrieri is selling this vision (in the form of architectural plans), along with the rundown four-story house that has been changed only sparingly since it was built in the mid-1800s, for a grand total of $6.95 million. It may be a daring asking price, even considering a beautifully renovated townhouse a few doors down selling for $7.9 million, but whatever he gets, Mr. Guerrieri’s real coup was buying the property for $500,000 in 2010.

In a move that was either a smart investment or a swindle, Mr. Guerrieri and his wife, Jane Ordway, took possession of the property from two elderly women after a protracted legal battle over the validity of a purchase agreement signed 30 years earlier. But the past was not something Mr. Guerrieri wanted to discuss that day.

“I don’t want the focus to be about that,” he said shortly when The Observer asked about the circumstances of the purchase. “I just want it to be about the house, what’s wonderful about the house.” Read More

Landlords vs. Tenants

A bright(er) future for a historic hotel? (B*2, flickr)

Chelsea Hotel Tenants Win The Day In Court

The residents of the Chelsea Hotel may still return to their mold-infested, dust-filled rooms this evening, but it will be with the glow of victory.

After failing to get the historic hotel’s new owner Joseph Chetrit to negotiate an agreement to repair the decaying building’s moldering walls, asbestos-filled airshafts and crumbling plaster, the tenants took the sidewalk yesterday in front of their building yesterday, along with a phalanx of politicians, to declare that they were ready to take the matter to a housing court trial.

The Chelsea Hotel Tenants Association, which filed a lawsuit against the Chetrit group to force the group to rectify unsafe conditions in the building last December, finally got its agreement today in housing court, said tenant attorney Janet Ray Kalson. Read More

Checking in

The next Boom Boom Room? (Real Deal)

None of These Pols Will Be Partying at the Revamped Chelsea Hotel, and They Think Neither Should You

Gene Kaufman, the swankest architect in town, went before the Landmarks Preservation Commission yesterday to try and win support for an addition atop the Hotel Chelsea, which Mr. Kaufman is redecorating for mysterious developer Joseph Chetrit. Tenants, who have lodged numerous complaints about the renovations, are especially concerned about a rooftop addition that they fear will become an all-night party spot. It turns out they have some powerful neighbors who agree.

Every local elected official thinks the rooftop addition is a bad idea, and they submitted testimony to the commission saying so. Signed by Congressman Jerry Nadler, Borough President Scott Stringer, Council Speaker Christine Quinn, State Senator Tom Duane and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, the letter (attached in full below) condemns the addition as a bacchanalia waiting to happen. Read More

Manhattan Transfers

6 Photos

Natasha Poly

Supermodel Natasha Poly Walks Into Nouvel’s Chelsea Dream

Supermodel Natasha Poly took the world by storm in the early aughts, establishing herself in the modeling elite. Having graced the pages of every global iteration of Vogue, Ms Poly, née Natalya Polevshchikova, is the picture-perfect face of the moment. She now has a picture-perfect condo to accompany her severe looks. Ms. Poly has purchased a posh condo at Jean Nouvel’s crystalline creation at 100 11th Avenue. Sources say she bought the place with her husband, Peter Bakker, though his name does not appear on the deed. Read More

Manhattan Transfers

HL23

Pierre Lagrange, Out and About in Chelsea

While he may be headed for one of Britain’s largest divorce settlements, moneyman Pierre Lagrange seems to be doing just fine on this side of the pond. The former Goldman Sachs trader has just purchased the penthouse at new Chelsea hotspot HL23.

Mr. Lagrange, who paid $11.29 million for the pad, made headlines last fall when, after separating from his wife, he came out. He has since been linked to fashion designer Roubi L’Roubi. Read More

Manhattan Transfers

5 Photos

ricky-last-300x450

College Humor’s Ricky Van Veen Graduates from West Village to Chelsea

College Humor founder Ricky Van Veen is known for his love of West Village restaurants. The comedian turned rising media mogul will have to soon refine his palate, as the funny man has moved uptown. Well, to Chelsea, anyways.

Ricky, nee Richard Raphael Van Veen (no, that is not a joke), just bought a $2.45 million condo, according to city records. The two-bedroom, two-bath place is located in tony development The Campiello Collection on West 17th Street, a surprisingly conventional choice for the comedic wunderkind. Read More

Troubling Developments

Chelsea Market (Photo from Curbed)

Some People Like Chelsea Market's Giant New Addition, Say People Building Giant New Addition

The battle to expand Chelsea Market has once again come to a head—a giant glassy head.  Neighborhood residents are none too pleased with Jamestown Properties’ plans, which call for 250,000 square feet of office space to be added to the existing Ninth Avenue structure and the construction of a neighboring twelve-story hotel.

Among the Read More