New Seventh Street mansion re-emerges with additional floor

The Economakis Manor isn't the only recently unveiled, newly minted single-family home in the East Village... Here we are over at 64 Seventh Street between Second Avenue and First Avenue. (Or, for coffee fans, between Van Leeuwen and Abraco.)

Before!

Jeremiah wrote extensively about the history at this address in March 2010. (Read his post at Vanishing New York here.) It has been the Les Deux Megots coffeehouse that attracted everyone from Allen Ginsberg to William F. Buckley Jr. ... as well as the Paradox, the macrobiotic restaurant where Yoko Ono and Loudon Wainwright III both worked...

According to Streeteasy, this 1837 Federal Townhouse was originally part of Peter Stuyvesant's parcel of land.

Today!

It's now a single-family home again just like in 1837 ... though now with an elevator. Per the Streeteasy listing, the new owner bought the place in April 2008 for $5.7 $5.3 million.

The house is configured with 13 windowed rooms: three interior rooms, a kitchen on the main floor, three bathrooms and four fireplaces.

Meanwhile, we're not sure what kind of welcome wagon the new tenants will receive from neighbors. According to the DOB, there have been 22 complaints filed against 64 Seventh St. in the past 12 months, ranging from "illegal work on Saturdays" to some steel beams used for the additional floor causing some walls to crack at 62 Seventh St.

The East Village expands westward to try to rent this $25,000-a-month mansion

While browing through apartment-for-rent listings for the East Village...this headline popped up:

“SINGLE FAMILY MANSION * BEST LOFT in TOWN * NEW RENOVATION”

And only $25,000 per month! And where is this in the East Village....?




Oh, just over on LaGuardia Place. According to the listing:

Located on the cross roads of SoHo and The Village, just steps from Washington SQ Park and evryhtign [sic] that DOWNTOWN NYC has to offer.

In any event, here's more on the space:

"THE BEST SINGLE FAMILY MANSION is BACK on THE MARKET. This Triplex LOFT has just undergone a meticulous GUT RENOVATION and is ready to go."

"There are currently FOUR bedrooms, a MASSIVE 200 sft LIVING ROOM with ceilings that hit the 30 foot mark, beautifully restored red brick walls, a chef's eat in kitchen that can easily accommodate a table for 6 and so much more. There is a proper dining room, 3 beautifully renovated baths, private laundry and 4 Exposures."

Curious if this is simply a mistake...or, perhaps, someone thinks the East Village may be an easier sell...

Another East Third Street building on the block

You know, we were recently speculating about what 10-room, $15-million home was for sale on East Third Street.

When we were over at the Massey Knakal site, we did spot this.



Not our building, but 179 E. Third St. -- between Avenue A and Avenue B -- is going for $13.6 million.

Previously.

Continuing to speculate about what 10-room, $15-million home is for sale on East Third Street

Yesterday, we started speculating about what 10-bedroom house on East Third Street might be for sale for nearly $16 million. Mostly because we're curious about what nearly $16 million gets you these days in the neighborhood. Plus, well, there's more to it than that. According to the frustratingly detail-free listing, the deal includes the adjoining building.



Many of us immediately thought of the Economakis dream mansion at 47 E. Third St. The square footage is nearly identical, for one thing. And there has long been speculation that, after successfully evicting the building's tenants, the owners would flip the property immediately to make big money. The Economakis family, for their part, have insisted they'll live there — maybe forever, as they told Scoopy.

Anyway, EV Grieve reader Marjorie pointed out that "the Trulia listing says it's in zip code 10009. That means this mystery place is east of first avenue; the Economakis place is between 1st and 2nd aves — zip code 10003."

However, Chris Flash at The Shadow has been closely following the story. He wrote, "We've been keeping tabs on the real estate marketeers on the LES for decades now (they still send us their 'set-up sheets') and know from experience that they often get little details like zip codes and other info wrong." He states, "We're pretty sure that the Ardor listing is for the Economakis mansion at 47 East Third that they successfully vacated as of August 31."

Meanwhile, EV Grieve reader WB figured these fine homes just east of Third Street were likely candidates...



Good guess, but the listing is with Ardor, and the apartments here are exclusively with CitiHabitats.

Which reminds me I had these photos from the summer...



I liked the sign: "Too many upgrades to mention."



In an e-mail, an EV Grieve reader said that he/she took another look at the Ardor listing, and noticed that you could "map" the address. So they did.



As the readers says, if the map is to be believed, the property lies between Avenue C and Avenue D on the north side of the street...which led them to this possibility...



And the building on the left only has one buzzer, according to the reader, who knows this for some reason...

[Ominously] To be continued....

What 10-bedroom house is for sale on East Third Street for $15 milllion?

Well, this just popped up in the real-estate listings...



Not much information at the moment...



I can only think if one 11,000-square foot mansion on East Third Street...but, nah... plus, it's not even a mansion yet...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Inside the Economakis dream mansion on East Third Street

The only free-standing single-family mansion in Manhattan can be yours (for $30 million)

Seems reasonable to me! Considering what you get at 351 Riverside Drive at the northeast corner of 107th Street, the home known as the Schinasi Mansion. According to New York Architecture, the Schinasi mansion was built in 1909 for Morris Schinasi, an immigrant from Turkey who made his fortune introducing Turkish tobacco to the United States. There's plenty of fascinating history about this space.

This is info on the place from Brown Harris Stevens, who featured the pad in their spring-summer 2009 "Important Residential Properties" catalog:

This magnificent mansion, built in 1909 by William Tuthill, the architect who designed Carnegie Hall, is presently the only free-standing single-family mansion in Manhattan. It is an exquisite French Renaissance jewel box executed in pristine white marble, boasting deep green roof tiles and bronze grills on the balconies and at the main entrance. The building is 41' wide and 73' deep, surrounded by private grounds, and located on a corner lot overlooking the Hudson River. The Interior is approximately 12,000 square feet, comprised of four stories plus an English basement. An extraordinary amount of unique original detail has been retained and the mansion has superb views, with luminescent sunlight glass windows. Exterior space is approximately 3,400 square feet. There are numerous fireplaces, a library, and other grand public rooms. Truly a European palazzo.

Among other features (like FIVE kitchens!), the mansion had a tunnel down to the Hudson River for bringing in tobacco. Unfortunately, this has been sealed up. (Or so they claim!)

According to a May 1997 article in the Times:

In 1979, Hans Smit, a law professor at Columbia University, bought the building, and has been working on the restoration for almost two decades. In an interview last month, he said he was now "just a couple of inside doors" short of a complete interior restoration. The new exterior iron doors are among the final touches on the exterior restoration. The outside is presentable, but not pristine. "If I really fix up the outside, the undesirable elements will pay attention" Smit says. "When I bought it, most people said, 'You're a raving maniac.'

But it's the best investment I ever made."

I'll say! After Morris Schinasi died in 1930, the place became a finishing school for girls. According to an April 2007 article in the Times: "By the 1960s, the mansion had been bought by Columbia University as part of a larger land purchase. At different times, its tenants were an Episcopal private school, a publication called the Digest of Soviet Press and a day care center.

"Then in 1979, Dr. Smit noticed the house while biking and bought it from Columbia for $325,000. He has been working on its restoration for nearly three decades."

Also, as the article points out, Smit "has never lived in the house but rents it out for movie shoots, including the Woody Allen film 'Bullets Over Broadway,' and holds pizza parties for his students there. His son, Robert, also a lawyer, has lived in the home since the early 1980s after he graduated from college, sharing it with his two daughters in a much more relaxed style than the original owner."

The New York Sun reported in September 2006 that Smit lived in the house when he wasn't at "his home in upstate New York, or his Chateau in Burgundy, France." By the way, his son is Robert Smit, a partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

Anyway, as far as I can tell, the house, er, mansion, was put on the market for $31 million in 2006. The price was lowered to $20 million. Now, it's back up to $30 million. In 2007, there was reportedly interest in the property by a foundation seeking a headquarters and a British men’s club.

Oh, and there's a video tour here. As your hostess, Felise Gross of Brown Harris Stevens, says in the video, it will be another 100 years before another property like this hits the market. So hurry!

For further reading:
Morris Schinasi and the Manisa Children's Hospital (Turk of America)

People who viewed 351 Riverside Drive also viewed...former William Randolph Hearst mansion in Beverly Hills for $165 million (Yahoo!)