Apartment owner reneges on Chelsea sales contract after NY Post feature

Sometimes real estate journalism does more than inform. Just ask Jean Gath, who thought she’d scaled all the hurdles to move into a 600-square-foot apartment at 520 West 23rd Street after signing a contract and clearing the co-op board. Alas, after the unit hit the news, the deal evaporated, and perhaps illegally, the New York Daily News reported.

The New York Post featured the unit as the “House of the Week” the day after Gath signed the contract with owner Philip Micali, and, according to Documents Filed With The Manhattan Supreme Court, that resulted in the owner later returning her deposit and re-listing the apartment for $795,000. He and Gath had settled on $740,000 in the contract before the article.

After he cancelled the contract, Micali said he would sign a new one with Gath for an undisclosed higher price, according to Gath’s lawyer, John O’Connor. [NYDN]