From left: Katie Holmes, Ryan Serhant and the Chelsea Mercantile

The Chelsea apartment building where Katie Holmes is staying, in the wake of filing for divorce from Tom Cruise, is benefiting from all the attention it’s getting. One broker says that interest in his listing, at the Chelsea Mercantile, is five times what it was prior to the media frenzy taking hold.

“We went from showing once or twice a week to five showings today, four on Thursday and seven on Friday so far,” said Ryan Serhant of Nestseekers, who is listing a $22.5 million apartment at the building with his colleague Regis Roumila. “We may even have an open house this weekend, just to handle the traffic.” [more]

From left: Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, the 42 West 12th Street townhouse they purchased and the Chelsea Mercantile (buildings credit: PropertyShark)

In the weeks before filing for divorce from megastar Tom Cruise, actress Katie Holmes reportedly rented a unit in Chelsea, where she is apparently with the couple’s 6-year-old daughter, Suri, according to the New York Post and other publications. A crush of news cameras Monday morning had staked out the entrance to the Chelsea Mercantile, located at 252 Seventh Avenue, between 24th and 25th streets, where Radar Online and other websites had Holmes staying.

Cruise and Holmes own a 8,100-square-foot West Village townhouse, located at 42 West 12th Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues. According to public records, the couple purchased the Greenwich Village townhouse in April 2009 for $15.1 million.

[more]

The living room at the Tribeca Skylofts penthouse

Jim Carrey’s artist’s studio at 139 Perry Street in the West Village is up for rent. Matthew Broderick testifies at the New York University expansion hearing. Empire Hotel Group will demolish a $7 million West 56th Street building in order to erect a boutique hotel. The Fire Department will burn down 20 vacant Governors Island buildings to test new rescue techniques. Finally, is the glass penthouse asking $48 million at the Tribeca Skylofts the best apartment in the city? Read these stories and more after the jump.

Sotheby’s International Realty is offering up the chance to be Tom Cruise’s neighbor at the American Felt Building at 114 East 13th Street near Union Square, according to EV Grieve. The “Top Gun” actor and his wife, actress Katie Holmes, reportedly own several units in the building and stay there on trips to the city. The latest listing is for a 1,100-square-foot, one-bedroom loft that features 13-foot ceilings and open city views. Broker Robson Zanetti is listing the condo with an asking price $1.2 million. [EV Grieve]

… [more]