Big names, big properties, big price: $26M for Village homes

A 19th-century townhouse on West 4th Street has come to market, but this is not your average listing.

The property next door is also for sale, offering a deep-pocketed buyer the opportunity to build another megamansion in the West Village. And that property happens to be owned by one of the nation’s most prolific homebuilders.

The owner of 294 West 4th Street — via limited liability company Straight Outta Mortlake — has put the three-story home on the market for just under $10 million. It is also being listed with the adjacent townhouse, owned by Hovnanian Enterprises CEO Ara Hovnanian and artist Rachel Lee Hovnanian, which went on the market first.

Together, the two properties are asking $26.3 million. They cover 8,000 square feet and also offer about 2,500 square feet of outdoor garden space.

Straight Outta Mortlake, in case you were wondering, appears to derive its name from the seminal NWA album Straight Outta Compton and a quiet suburb of London, which could hardly be farther removed from the gritty South Central Los Angeles ’hood that gave rise to gangsta rap.

“Pretty Mortlake” is “popular with young families for its streets of cottages, riverside walks and good schools,” according to U.K. real estate site Homes & Property. The managing agent of Straight Outta Mortlake is listed in public records as Winston Marshall, which happens to be the name of the banjoist and the lead guitarist of Mumford & Sons, the Grammy Award-winning British folk rock band. The Real Deal could not confirm whether it is the same Winston Marshall.

There are few double-wide townhouses, so combining the homes offers the opportunity for a buyer to build a single-family mansion in the area, which already has seen a spate of mansion development, said Compass’ Clayton Orrigo, who is marketing 294 West 4th Street with Stephen Ferrara.

Sotheby’s International Realty’s Serena Boardman is listing 292 West 4th Street, and she did not return a message seeking comment. Orrigo would provide no information about his client.

Straight Outta Mortlake picked up the townhouse in 2018 for $8.25 million, six years after the Hovnanians bought property next door for $7 million. The most recent asking price for the Hovnanian’s home was $16.3 million.

The Hovnanians had been sued by their former neighbor at 294 West 4th Street, Daniel Kramer, who alleged in his 2013 complaint that the Hovnanians’ renovation work damaged his landmarked townhouse. The case was discontinued in 2017.

A message left for Ara Hovnanian was not immediately returned.

Write to Mary Diduch at md@therealdeal.com