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Salsa singer Blades in contract in Chelsea
Salsa singer, actor and politician Rubén Blades signed a
contract to buy a five-story Chelsea townhouse for $3.95 million from
the Archdiocese of New York, court papers show.
Blades inked the agreement Nov. 30 to purchase the 1842 Italianate
brownstone at 407 West 21st Street that was owned by the Roman
Catholic Church of the Guardian Angel, a petition filed Feb. 8 in New
York State Supreme Court indicates.
The church filed the petition as part of the process for a non-profit
to sell significant assets.
Blades, 61, sold his Los Angeles home last year for $2.4 million,
about $1 million above the purchase price in 2001, the Los Angeles
Times reported in December.
A publicist for Blades’ tour of the United States and Latin America
said he was traveling, and was not immediately available for comment.
The Panamanian-born singer served from 2004 to 2009 as the minister of
tourism for the Central American country, and recently announced he
would return to his music career.
The 6,380-square-foot Former Convent Near Ninth Avenue has been vacant
for decades, said James Nelson, a partner at Massey Knakal Realty
Services, who represented the seller. The building is within
the Chelsea Historic District.
Massey Knakal listed the building for $3.95 million, which was the
contract price. Nelson, citing confidentiality agreements, would not
comment on the buyer or the contract price.
Information on the buyer’s broker was not immediately available.
He said the building had over a dozen offers, although some were as
low as 20 percent below the asking price.
The sale had not yet closed by Feb. 8, according to the document.