“This place has a different vibe to it,” Sotheby’s International Realty broker Mara Flash Blum noted of the second-floor loft at 140 Fifth Avenue.
Indeed, unlike the surplus of new development on the market, this 3,270-square-foot co-op gives the refreshing sense that someone actually lives here.
“A lot of buildings are fishbowls,” she sighed, “where you don’t have the opportunity to hang anything—that’s not the case here,” she declared, gesturing to the many white walls reaching up to the 14-foot ceilings.
The seller’s wife was “an artist,” Blum told the Observer. “It was designed for the two of them,” Blum said, entering the room that was “formerly the artist’s studio.” It’s now set up as a den with a sink area in the back that could perhaps be transformed into a wet bar, if need be. “It could be anything,” Blum noted. “A media room—or it could be an interior basketball court!”
If that’s the case, perhaps the room already in use as a den will be “an extra guest room,” Blum offered, though a door would need to be put up.
An additional bedroom features a large lofted space above the traditional sleeping area, which was “designed when the kids were younger,” Blum explained. “It’s cute up there! They have grandkids now.” A full guest bathroom with black-and-white tiled floors is “nothing glamorous,” Blum admitted, “but it’s functional.”
Similarly, the master suite, located at the very end of the apartment, features a walk-in dressing room, though the bathroom is “quite simple,” Blum conceded, noting the double sinks as well as a double shower in the back
“It’s warm and it’s functional,” Blum added of her $5.5 million listing, with a “comfortable” eat-in kitchen complete with red countertops, tiled walls, stained Maplewood cabinets and an oversized walk-in pantry.
Collectors might find certain aspects of the apartment particularly useful, like the special freight elevator that opens directly into the unit. “You can get your artwork or furniture directly here without going through the front,” Blum said. “It’s great for big pieces!”