Clockwise from top left: Chelsea Modern, Farrell’s apartment, Robert Gladstone and Brian Farrell

When the first three buyers failed to close on townhouse-style gallery duplexes in the Chelsea Modern building at 447 West 18th Street, between Ninth and 10th avenues, earlier this year, developer Robert Gladstone, owner of Madison Equities, turned to a new marketing strategy– inviting a celebrity artist to live in the building — for free. The developers have provided a $2.85 million, 2,700-square-foot gallery duplex to New York City-based artist and “Real Housewives of New York” guest star Brian Farrell (he’s the one that dated and painted ‘Real Housewife’ Sonja Morgan’s portrait on the show) to use as his painting studio and gallery. He has been encouraged to host events with the goal of driving prospective buyers to the building. [more]

Actor and West Village resident Paul Rudd reportedly looked at two penthouses in the Chelsea Modern, on 18th Street near 10th Avenue. Calvin Klein designer Italo Zucchelli also considered the building, looking at a 3,838-square-foot, $9 million duplex penthouse, the Daily News reported. In a recent Webcast, The Real Deal talked to brokers at the Chelsea Modern about how they are using the High Line’s hype to market the building’s units. [more]