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Mike + the Mechanics front man’s loft for rent
Other listings to hit the market are a full-floor apartment in the Century for $15.5 million and the Ridgewood Masonic Temple in Bushwick for $1 million
Mike Rutherford, a founding member of Genesis and front man of Mike + the Mechanics, is renting out his three-bedroom loft at 1 Bond Street.
The 3,400-square-foot condominium unit just hit the rental market with Sotheby’s International Realty agents Mark Thomas Amadei and Jonathan Hettinger, priced at $25,950 per month.
In 2010, the England-born Rutherford was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis — the longstanding rock band that launched the careers of superstars Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel. Rutherford formed Mike + the Mechanics in 1985, yielding hits like “The Living Years,” and “All I Need is a Miracle.”
According to city records, Rutherford and his wife, Angie, paid $5.03 million for the third-floor apartment at 1 Bond Street in 2008, buying it from restaurateur Josh Pickard, the operator of Chinatown Brasserie, Joe’s Pub, Lure and Locanda Verde.
The Rutherfords extensively renovated the space with the intention of moving in, Amadei said, but it turns out the 60-year-old guitarist will be touring more than expected for the next few years, so the couple has decided to rent it out instead.
“They’re not going to be here enough, so they decided to rent it out — to the right person,” Amadei said. The home first hit the rental market this spring, but the tenant moved out after being relocated, he said.
To handle the renovation, the Rutherfords hired Manhattan design firm nemaworkshop. One of the first steps was to unearth the loft’s six cast-iron columns, which had been covered with plaster in the 1980s, Amadei said.
The apartment has not yet been lived in since the renovation, so it’s unfurnished, but there are “a lot of built-ins,” Amadei said, including a rolling library ladder and LCD TV screens. The loft has a Crestron home automation system, and each room has iPod docks built into the walls. There is even a shoe closet, Amadei noted.
The west side of the apartment looks out over landmarked Shinbone Alley, which inspired a Broadway musical and, fittingly, a song by the Spin Doctors.
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For Central Park joggers, the twin towers of the Century at 25 Central Park West are a familiar site.
Along with the San Remo, the Majestic, the Eldorado and the Beresford, the Century is one of five twin towered-buildings that famously line Central Park West, creating the dramatic backdrop enjoyed by sunbathers in Sheep Meadow and reflected in the waters of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir.
Right now, an opportunity exists for homebuyers to own a piece of that iconic skyline.
A full-floor apartment in the south tower of the Century is currently on the market for $15.5 million. The 30th-floor condo, #30J, hit the market last week with Joan Kagan of Metropolitan Residential Partners.
25 Central Park West
The 11-room home was created from a combination of a classic six and a classic four, Kagan explained. The result is an apartment with “360-degree-views,” she said, including a panorama of Central Park, Queens to the east and the George Washington Bridge to the west.
The home currently has five bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms, as well as an eat-in kitchen that overlooks a children’s play area, an office and a wood-paneled library “worthy of a relaxing evening with brandy and Hemingway,” the listing says.
Completed in 1931, the Century is an Art Deco structure designed by architect Irwin Chanin, who also designed the Roxy. Former residents include Broadway stars Ethel Merman and Robert Goulet.
The building is “an Art Deco landmark,” said Kagan, who declined to identify the seller.
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Potential buyers are considering converting the Ridgewood Masonic Temple in Bushwick, Brooklyn, into a single-family mansion, according to listing broker Joseph Baglio, a partner at Madison Estates.
The historic building, built in 1920, is on the market for $1 million. Located at 1054 Bushwick Avenue between Gates Avenue and Palmetto Street, “it’s a gorgeous limestone building,” Baglio said. “Very stately.”
But the interior is in need of extensive restoration, he said.
The building is still used for meetings of the Freemasons, a fraternal society, but membership has dwindled and the organization is finding it difficult to pay for the upkeep of the 15,000-square-foot space, Baglio said. The first floor houses a theater with a stage, and in recent years, it’s been used as a concert venue for bands like Sleigh Bells and Lightning Bolt.
But the building is also zoned for residential use, which means that it can be converted into apartments, and Baglio said several developers have scoped out the space with that in mind. In addition, however, “I have had people looking at it with the idea of making a mansion out of it,” he said.
Other potential buyers have expressed interest in using the building as a community center or concert venue, he said.
Whatever happens, he said, the Masons are hoping the original structure is preserved.
“They’re hoping whoever buys it doesn’t destroy the building itself,” Baglio said.