When Andrea Jung took over as chief executive of Avon Products Inc. on Nov. 4, she became the fourth female chief executive of a Fortune 500 company. At 41, she is the makeup giant’s youngest chief executive ever. Several weeks later, Ms. Jung became the new owner of a 2,600-square-foot co-op apartment at 7 Gracie Square, on an exclusive cul-de-sac off East End Avenue that dead-ends above the East River. Sources said Ms. Jung finalized her $2.5 million purchase just in time for Thanksgiving.
Real estate sources with knowledge of Ms. Jung’s move expressed surprise that she would leave her former building, the prestigious 620 Park Avenue. Some consider her move a step down. “It’s not a building on par with 10 Gracie [Square] or 740 Park,” said one broker, of 7 Gracie. “It’s very low-key, but it’s a very nice building. Obviously, she wanted a view.”
Although the contract for the new apartment is in Ms. Jung’s name only, she is married to Bloomingdale’s chief executive Michael Gould. The couple has two children.
The 7 Gracie apartment is a duplex containing eight rooms altogether: three bedrooms and a maid’s room, three and a half baths, a library, a formal dining room and an eat-in kitchen. Originally placed on the market in March, the co-op carried an asking price of $2.85 million; it was eventually reduced to $2.6 million in May. The building, which was built in 1929, has just over 40 apartments.
A publicist for Avon said Ms. Jung would not be available for comment.
TOMMY HILFIGER’S SISTER HAS DESIGN OF HER OWN. It’s hard, unfortunately, to escape the name Tommy Hilfiger these days–that red, white and blue logo not only appears on a cologne, a makeup line, even pillows and sheets, but also on the chest or seat of many teenage city dwellers. Then he co-chaired the Costume Institute gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Dec. 6. Now his sister, Virginia Hilfiger, who works for her brother’s company, has put her own imprint on a big, new apartment..
In December, Ms. Hilfiger and her husband, Chris Mall, moved from one apartment at 425 East 86th Street into another three-bedroom apartment they are designing themselves. The couple purchased a two-bedroom apartment right next door to a one-bedroom for around $600,000 and $300,000, respectively. The combined units will give them almost 2,000 square feet.
Their new 14th-floor home has a private elevator landing, a formal dining room, a wood-burning fireplace and river views. The pet-friendly co-op building, built in 1938, offers nothing fancy in the way of amenities: no doorman; just a laundry room, a bike room and a full-time elevator operator.
The gentleman selling the apartment is a doctor who is buying a place in a brand-new condo building, still under construction. (He’s renting an apartment until his new place is ready.) Ms. Hilfiger declined to comment on the sale. “We won’t be having anything to do with this,” said her assistant. Broker: Corcoran Group (Sarit Shmueli).
UPPER WEST SIDE
100 West 89th Street
Two-bed, two-bath, 1,250-square-foot condo.
Asking: $530,000. Selling: $530,000.
Charges: $604. Taxes: $512.
Time on the market: five weeks.
ALL SHE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS. This fifth-floor apartment had been owned by an investment company. The buyer is retired, and has sold her Upper West Side town house to downscale to a smaller, more manageable place. She wanted to stay in the neighborhood she’d lived in for so many years, and liked this place for its modern design and its location. Compared to her old house, this place is nice and easy: The contemporary apartment has an open kitchen, a washer and dryer, hardwood floors and brand-new bathrooms. The building has a doorman, a common garden and roof deck. She’ll move in just in time for Christmas. Broker: Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy (Kevin Kovesci).
UPPER WEST SIDE
102 West 75th Street
One-bed, one-bath, 775-square-foot prewar co-op.
Asking: $340,000. Selling: $335,000.
Charges: $807; 50 percent tax-deductible.
Time on the market: 12 weeks.
MAN LURES HANDY GAL TO BEANTOWN. A woman has given up this apartment, her single status and the Big Apple to move to Beantown and get married. She lived in this loftlike apartment for just a few years and jazzed the place up quite a bit in that time: refinished the floors, installed a security system and did some minor upgrading here and there. Whatever she did was apparently enough to fetch a record price for a one-bedroom apartment in this building. And in a building with no amenities–not even a doorman. You want to do laundry? Go to the laundromat down the street. Besides the condition of the apartment, there’s the location just off Columbus Avenue that made it fare better than a comparable apartment in a less desirable neighborhood. A few buyers came and went before this deal happened. A young woman in public relations, renting on the East Side, had been in a roommate situation and was ready to venture out on her own. She made a formal offer within a few days of seeing the apartment. Broker: Corcoran (Patricia Powell).
UPPER EAST SIDE
Two-bed, two-bath, 1,500-square-foot co-op.
Asking: $2 million. Selling: $1.9 million.
Charges: $9,617; 22 percent tax-deductible.
Time on the market: five weeks.
SHE’S NOT ELOISE, BUT THIS ISN’T THE PLAZA. Eloise may have had fun at the Plaza, but imagine what good times the pharmaceutical company owner who just bought this apartment will have living at the Carlyle. All residents get the same amenities as the hotel guests, including maid service, concierge and a fitness center with sauna, massage therapy and personal training. The sellers weren’t prepared to give up all these perks; they left this 15th-floor, five-room apartment only to move into a bigger one in the building. The new owner is from Connecticut and will use this place as a pied-à-terre . (She has homes all over the world and travels frequently.) Her apartment faces south and west, giving her views of Central Park. When she isn’t gazing at the park from her 20-foot-long terrace, maybe she’ll catch Bobby Short crooning downstairs. Broker: Corcoran (Sarit Shmueli).
MURRAY HILL
137 East 36th Street (Carlton Regency)
Two-bed, two-bath, 1,000-square-foot co-op.
Asking: $350,000. Selling: $335,000.
Charges: $1,408; 48 percent tax-deductible.
Time on the market: five months.
THE LATEST PLACE TO BUY (JUST NOT THE PLACE TO BE). Hip? No way. But you can find some good deals in Murray Hill, such as this 23rd-floor apartment, originally with just one bedroom, but now–minus a dining room–there are two. (The current average price for two-bedroom apartments in the city these days is close to $500,000.) The buyers were previously renting and living separately; they bought this place together after getting married. Although the Upper East Side was initially the couple’s first choice, they realized that Murray Hill was the best neighborhood for their price range, and they loved this apartment’s layout, ample light and views. This building, known to be “white-glove,” is reputed to have one of the toughest co-op boards in the area. Broker: Corcoran (Dalia Newman); Ashforth Warburg Associates (Betty Farrell).
FORT GREENE
18 Willoughby Avenue
Four-story town house.
Asking: $625,000. Selling: $630,000.
Time on the market: four days.
PARKING HIS MONEY IN BROOKLYN. An investment banker in Fort Greene? Yeah, but in a 2,600-square-foot Victorian town house he just bought for under a million dollars. The unmarried buyer did plenty of homework before buying this house. He searched for two years in neighborhoods all over the city and concluded this was the best place to be. Not only will he have a duplex with a wood-burning fireplace all to himself, but he’ll earn extra income from the folks renting the two-bedroom top-floor apartment and from another tenant on the garden level. The home has been impeccably maintained and has been updated both structurally and cosmetically; the Victorian details have been restored and preserved. The sellers moved to New Hampshire a while back, where they own an inn. Their legacy will be the tenants. Broker: Corcoran’s Brooklyn Landmark (Ann Macdonald).
