Ira Glass, the longtime host of the public radio show “This American Life,” has purchased a one-bedroom apartment at the newly built Chelsea Carriage House for $1.27 million, according to public records filed with the city today.
Glass, who has hosted the popular show since its inception in 1995, closed on the unit May 30 with his wife, writer and editor Anaheed Alani. He paid slightly less than the asking price of $1.38 million.
In a 2006 interview with the Chicago Tribune, Glass was quoted as saying he had settled in Manhattan after a few false starts in the boroughs. He found it too far to commute from Williamsburg, for instance.
“Honestly, I thought we were going to have a life where we would see other people here,” Glass said. “But, if anything, I see fewer of my friends and get out less often because it takes so long to get home. Because in Chicago, you can hop in the car and be anywhere in 20 minutes.”
The loft-like, 1,020-square-foot apartment at the Carriage House was listed with Herbert Chou, Joel Moss and Jocelyn Turken of Warburg Realty Associates. Warburg did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Carriage House, located at 159 West 24th Street, received its temporary certificate of occupancy last month, with 50 percent of its 24 units in contract. It was developed by Broad Mill Development Group.
Glass was not immediately available for comment.
The quirky radio host last month gave the commencement speech at Baltimore’s Goucher College in Baltimore, and revealed that he had his first intimate moment with a girl in the dorms at the college.