Meg Ryan will soon divest herself of the second of her two Soho penthouses at 420 West Broadway, a real-estate source close to the property said.
The affable actress, best known for her romantic comedies Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry Met Sally, now has an accepted offer on her raw-space duplex, which covers 3,034 square feet with four exposures, a wall of windows on three sides, a wood-burning fireplace and five terraces totaling 3,021 square feet.
Ms. Ryan was listing the penthouse for $4.5 million. It sits atop the building that houses the Donna Karan retail store on the ground level and formerly was home to the Leo Castelli, Ileana Sonnabend and Mary Boone galleries.
Stephen McRae of Sotheby’s International Realty, who has the exclusive listing, declined to comment. Through a spokesperson, Ms. Ryan also declined to comment.
According to the source, Ms. Ryan has accepted an offer on the unfinished apartment, though Mr. McRae is still listing the property on his Sotheby’s Web site. If the penthouse does indeed go to contract, the deal caps three years of Manhattan-wide real-estate activity for the actress that includes deals in the Upper East Side, Soho and Greenwich Village.
Ms. Ryan landed her pair of Soho apartments in August 2001 for a reported $9 million, following the breakup of her marriage to Dennis Quaid in July. In March 2002, she and Mr. Quaid netted $6.5 million selling their uptown co-op at 1136 Fifth Avenue. The pair bought the seven-room, 12th-floor apartment for $3.1 million in 1997.
And earlier this year, Ms. Ryan paid a reported $4 million for a Greenwich Village apartment.
Belgian-born model Ingrid Seynhaeve, who has posed for Victoria’s Secret, Ralph Lauren and Guess? and was reportedly considered for a role in Jude Law’s womanizing chronicle Alfie, recently purchased a loft in the $15 million development at 7 Essex Street, city records show.
According to transfer records, Ms. Seynhaeve purchased an apartment in the building abutting Seward Park for $1.07 million in August. The raw-space condo covers some 3,000 square feet; since Ms. Seynhaeve’s purchase, she has finished out the space as a two-bedroom apartment with a stainless-steel kitchen.
Tamir Shemesh of Douglas Elliman, who sold the apartment, declined to comment. Ms. Seynhaeve was traveling and unavailable for comment.
The influx of the fashion crowd that would seem more at home in the meatpacking district than the Lower East Side is just the latest indicator of the rapid transformation of the once rough-hewn neighborhood. With the tables at Schiller’s overflowing and the Hotel on Rivington now taking reservations, the Lower East Side—as The New York Times seems to document weekly—has become downtown’s newest nocturnal playground.
Vesta Development Group built 7 Essex in 2002 on the site of three walk-up buildings, which it transformed into a 40,000-square-foot, 11-story tower comprising 22 lofts that were delivered as raw space. According to a real-estate source close to the building, along with Ms. Seynhaeve, a world-class photographer has also bought a loft in the development.
Ms. Seynhaeve brings her successful modeling career to the narrow lanes south of Houston Street. After growing up in a rural Belgian town, the flaxen-haired siren began modeling at the age of 15, after a local hairdresser noticed her. In 1991, she won Elite’s Look of the Year Award and scored her big break in 1995 when Guess? tapped her for their worldwide print campaign. She has also done shoots for Ralph Lauren and Victoria’s Secret, and in 2002, Super Bowl fans got to view Ms. Seynhaeve’s acting debut in a Killian’s beer commercial directed by Michael Bay.
Recent Transactions in the Real Estate Market
Upper East Side
1641 Third Avenue
Three-bedroom, two-bathroom condo.
Asking: $1.2 million. Selling: $1.09 million.
Charges: $1,017.
Taxes: $12,444.
Time on the market: 11 weeks.
Comeback Kids Real estate may be Manhattan’s unofficial official sport, but this investment banker and his wife had been warming the bench for two years when they finally hit the field with this impressive play: a three-bedroom condo in Rupert Towers, a former Mitchell-Lama building on Third Avenue at 92nd Street. “They had been going to open houses for two years before they bought,” said the buyers’ broker, Barbara Dubofsky of Century 21 William B. May. “They knew what was out there and they knew prices,” Ms. Dubofsky added. The sellers—a finance executive and his wife, who designed for
Chelsea
410 West 24th Street
One-bedroom, one-bathroom co-op.
Asking: $625,000. Selling: $625,000.
Maintenance: $1,082; 43 percent tax-deductible.
Time on the market: two weeks.
LONDON CALLING The downtown trust-funder who owned this 805-square-foot London Terrace spread recently decided he had enough of the Manhattan lifestyle. Three years ago, his parents purchased him this three-room pied-à-terre, but he wanted to settle full-time in Miami where he had been spending the bulk of his time. Perhaps with summer drawing to a close, thoughts of the coming arctic freeze spurred him southward. The thirtysomething found a retired gentleman who recently cashed out of his Park Slope townhouse and wanted to experience the excitement of downtown living. He got this apartment in the sprawling London Terrace building, on 24th Street at Ninth Avenue, that has north and east exposures, oak-strip hardwood floors and refinished original door frames. The popular building’s amenities include a planted roof deck, a health club featuring an indoor heated pool and a bicycle storage room. Bruce Solomon and Howard Margolis, both of Douglas Elliman, represented the seller. Susan Weiner, of Debra Kameros Company, represented the buyer on the deal.
Park Slope
121 Sterling Place
Three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom condo.
Asking: $1.19 million. Selling: $1.18 million.
Charges: $563. Taxes: $960.
Time on the market: two weeks.
J’ACUZZI! These Park Slope spa-owners discovered the simple life when they cashed out of their seven-figure spread and landed on a bucolic farm in the earthy Hudson Valley. Owners of a chain of popular Manhattan spas, they decided to manage their business from the tranquil setting of their new farm. The buyers of their Park Slope condo—which has spa-type touches including a Jacuzzi bath and a granite kitchen with stainless-steel appliances—were an attorney and his choreographer wife. Other details of the 2,338-square-foot condo, which is on Sterling Place between Sixth and Seventh avenues, include high ceilings, north, south and east exposures, and a private terrace. “Since they were coming from Manhattan, they were looking for more of a community,” said exclusive broker Adam Pacelli of the Corcoran Group. “And the best part of this place was the space. It felt like its own spa. A true oasis,” Mr. Pacelli added.
