Elusive National Arts Club board member getting sweetheart deal on Gramercy Park?

The National Arts Club with Bobby Abid (left) and O. Aldon Jones (right)

Lending credence to allegations that the president of the board at the National Arts Club has been renting out apartments at the organization’s 15 Gramercy Park South clubhouse to his inner circle at below market rates, DNAinfo is reporting that one enigmatic member of the board is paying only $1,600 a month for a studio at the tony building. The board member is Robert “Bobby” Abid, and the puzzling part of the story is that most other board members said they don’t even know who he is. If they did, they told DNAinfo that board president O. Aldon James had introduced him as “my pharmacist,” even though Abid is not licensed as a pharmacist in New York State. According to Abid’s website, he is in fact an actor from New Jersey who has appeared in “Sex and the City” and “All My Children,” among other on- and off-screen productions. He is said to have joined the board two years ago, right after he got what appears to be a discounted rate on his apartment at 15 Gramercy Park South. Whereas a recent studio at the building was rented for $2,150 per month, according to Streeteasy.com, sources said Abid paid only $1,200 a month in November and December 2010. [DNAinfo]