The year in celebrity real estate

Harrison Ford, Nicole Kidman and Oprah Winfrey were among dozens of stars who made NYC real estate news this year

From left: Madonna, Robert De Niro, Oprah Winfrey and Anderson Cooper
From left: Madonna, Robert De Niro, Oprah Winfrey and Anderson Cooper

This year, boldfaced names of film, television, music and beyond moved around New York — buying, renting, selling (or attempting to do so). From the sale of Oprah Winfrey’s penthouse at Place 57 to the controversial demolition of “Friends” star David Schwimmer’s East Village townhouse to the Clintons’ Lily Pond Lane rental in East Hampton, 2012 marked a busy year in the world of celebrity real estate. Here’s a recap by industry.

From left: Mariah Carey, Madonna, Russell Simmons and Adam Horovitz

MUSIC:

A 6,000-square-foot duplex that belongs to the Queen of Pop is on the market. On Nov. 19, Madonna listed her 41 Central Park West apartment for $23.5 million — apparently favoring the sprawling townhouse she bought across town in 2009. Arabella Green Buckworth of Brown Harris Stevens and Adam Modlin of the Modlin Group have the listing for the Upper West Side apartment.

• Over at the Park Imperial at 230 West 56th Street, hip-hop star Sean “Diddy” Combs listed his three-bedroom apartment for $8.5 million on Sept. 20. Rick Kelly of Douglas Elliman has the listing. (“Law & Order SVU” actor Christopher Meloni and new-age author Deepak Chopra have also put up their Park Imperial homes up for sale in the past year.

• Singer-songwriter Alicia Keyes and her producer husband Swizz Beats want $17.95 million for their Soho triplex penthouse at 30 Crosby Street, which hit the market March 20. Eric Malley of Sotheby’s International Realty has the listing. Later in the year, the couple purchased Eddie Murphy’s Englewood, N.J., estate, known as Bubble Hill; they paid a reported $12 million for the 30-room mansion.

• The hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons listed his five-bedroom duplex penthouse at 114 Liberty Street in the Financial District for $11 million on Sept. 6. Deborah Grubman and David Dubin of the Corcoran Group have the listing for the 7,175-square-foot space, with 3,500 square feet of terraces.

• Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz, better known as Ad-Rock, sold his 2,560-square-foot Soho townhouse at 186 Spring Street to Canadian developer Stephane Boivin for $5.5 million on March 13.

• Music diva Mariah Carey, her performer husband Nick Cannon rented in the Hamptons this past summer. The couple paid a reported $150,000-a-month for an East End private 1.9-acre bayfront estate at 38 Ezekills Hollow Road in North Haven. The property is a 7,500-square-foot six-bedroom, 6.5-bathroom mansion.

• Elsewhere on the East End, music’s golden couple, Jay-Z and Beyoncé, leased builder Joe Farrell’s “Sandcastle” estate at 612 Halsey Lane in Bridgehampton for $400,000 in August. Farrell continues to search for a buyer for his 26,500-square-foot no-expense-spared home.

From left: Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Claire Danes, Kiefer Sutherland and David Schwimmer

TELEVISION:

• “Homeland” star Claire Danes — who in December gave birth to a baby boy — sold her Soho loft at 42 Wooster Street for $5.85 million. The sale closed Nov. 15 . The condo was listed in June with Lee Clifford Schweinger and Elaine Schweninger at Town Residential for $5.99 million. The condo is 3,861-square-feet and has three bedrooms and three bathrooms. Danes and her husband, actor Hugh Dancy, currently live in a West Village apartment, according to reports.

• The actor Kiefer Sutherland sold his West Village townhouse at 763 Greenwich Street for its full $17.5 million asking price on Sept. 11 . The five-story, four-bedroom townhouse, renovated in 2009, comes complete with an elevator and roof deck. Meris Blumstein and Kenny Blumstein of the Corcoran Group had the listing.

• David Duchovny, of “X Files” and “Californication” fame, purchased an apartment inside the Ardsley, an exclusive co-op at 320 Central Park West, for $6.03 million on Sept. 19, according to Streeteasy. The three-bedroom, three-bathroom apartment was listed for $6.25 million by Jennifer Callahan of Stribling & Associates.

• In an effort to skirt the Landmarks Preservation Commission, “Friends” star David Schwimmer  in February demolished his East Village townhouse at 331 East Sixth Street right before it could have been designated a landmark. Schwimmer bought the five-story townhouse for $4.1 million in 2010.

• In October, the former “Real Housewives of New York” star Kelly Killoren Bensimon sold her 5,800-square-foot East Hampton home on Further Lane for $5.5 million — having initially listed it in January for $12 million. Douglas Elliman’s Enzo Morabito’s team brokered the deal.

From left: Jennifer Aniston, Robert De Niro, Jessica Chastain and Harrison Ford

FILM:

• On April 20, actress Jennifer Aniston sold a pair of West Village condominium units at 299 West 12th Street for $7 million — half a million dollars less than she purchased them for less a year earlier. The units were listed by Bruce Ehrmann of Douglas Elliman.

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 Film star Jessica Chastain, currently on Broadway in “The Heiress,” purchased a $1.2 million two-bedroom co-op at 250 Mercer in Greenwich Village on Sept. 18. The two-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom apartment has a winding wood staircase, a chef’s kitchen and wood-burning fireplace. The condo was listed for $1.39 million by Christopher Au, Meg Siegel and Rachel Siegel of Sotheby’s International Realty.

• Hollywood icon Harrison Ford sold his condominium at 206 West 17th Street on Dec. 11. The listing price on the apartment, which hit the market two years ago, was $16 million. Deborah Grubman and David Dubin of the Corcoran Group had the listing.

• Actress Nicole Kidman sold her 12th-floor apartment at 176 Perry Street, the Richard Meier-designed building in the West Village, on July 10. Kidman put the unit on the rental market, asking $45,000-a-month in February 2011, but the unit appears never to have rented out.

• On June 28, film star Robert De Niro sold his West Village townhouse at 14 Saint Luke’s Place, which had a final sales price of $9.5 million —significantly less than its original asking price of $14 million. De Niro owned the home for 30 years. His son Raphael De Niro of Douglas Elliman brokered the deal for the five-bedroom, 3.5-bathroom 4,158-square-foot home.

• The director Sofia Coppola and husband, Phoenix band-member Thomas Mars, sold their condominium at 161 Grand Street in Little Italy for the full asking price of $2.75 million on May 30. The corner loft has a large dining area, marble baths and roof garden. It was listed by Carter Wilcox and Chris Poore of the Corcoran Group.

• In Harlem, Marcia Gay Harden’s seven-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom townhouse at 351 West 120th Street sold for $2.75 million — more than twice what she paid for the home about a decade ago. The 5,000-square-foot, four-story townhouse, which traded May 18,  is close to Morningside Park. It has four wood-burning fireplaces a garden-level master bedroom suite. The home was listed by Cathy Taub at Stribling & Associates.

• Actress-actor couple Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick put their Greenwich Village townhouse on the market on Sept. 13 for $25 million — $6 million more than the couple paid 1.5 years earlier. The 12-room, five-bedroom townhouse at 20 East 10th Street has a garden and seven working fireplaces. Stephen McRae and Debbie Korb of Sotheby’s International Realty have the listing.

From left: Mike Wallace, Oprah Winfrey, Matt Lauer and Anderson Cooper

MEDIA:

• Anderson Cooper sold his second New York City home, a penthouse at 28 West 38th Street, for $3.8 million — $25,000 above the asking price — on June 21. Cooper listed the two-bedroom, 2.5-bath co-op with Raphael De Niro of Douglas Elliman in March. The anchor also owns a West Village firehouse, which he bought for $4.3 million in 2006 and subsequently renovated.

• Talk show queen turned network executive Oprah Winfrey’s penthouse apartment at Place 57 at 207 East 57th Street was sold to London-based hedge based fund partner Mark Hillery and his wife Melissa for $7.9 million on April 7. Mark Schoenfeld of the Corcoran Group had the listing  for the  three-bedroom, 3.5-bathroom penthouse.

• The late Mike Wallace’s prewar duplex at 730 Park Avenue was listed Oct. 12 for $20 million. The former “60 Minutes” journalist died on April 7. Fritzi Kallop and John Burger of Brown Harris Stevens have the listing for the terraced 12-room co-op, which has views of Central Park.

• “Today” show anchor Matt Lauer on Oct. 18 closed on a 30-acre horse farm in Water Mill, Long Island, which he purchased for $3 million. Lauer reportedly plans to build an indoor riding facility, a new barn and a small nursery on the property.

POLITICOS:

Bill and Hillary Clinton rented a house for the month of August at 211 Lily Pond Lane owned by real estate mogul Elie Hirschfelt. The Clintons previously rented the same house for one week last year.

Also in August, the disgraced former U.S. congressman Anthony Weiner and his wife, Huma Abedin, a close aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, moved into a four-bedroom, 3.5-bath rental at 254 Park Avenue South. In September 2011, Weiner and Abedin moved out of his former district in Forest Hills. They lived in Greenwich Village prior to moving to Gramercy Park.

From left: Derek Jeter and Karlie Kloss

AND MORE:

Derek Jeter sold his penthouse inside the Trump World Tower at 845 United Nations Plaza for $15.5 million on Sept. 25, after relisting the four-bedroom, 5.5-bathroom penthouse with a $2 million price cut in April. Carrie Chiang and Richard Phan of the Corcoran Group had the listing.

• Supermodel Karlie Kloss, the reported love interest of venture capitalist  Joshua Kushner, bought a $1.98 million two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment at 151 Charles Street on Nov. 8. The asking price was $1.99 million. The unit has marble countertops and an eat-in kitchen. It was listed by Debra Kameros and Susan Weiner of Douglas Elliman; Susan Getz of Warburg Realty represented Kloss in the deal.