Rosie O'D Goes Downtown

BUYER: Rosie O'Donnell
LOCATION: New York City, NY
PRICE: around $8,000,000
SIZE: 3,202 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: The New York Post reported today that acerbic and sometimes polarizing comedienne and former chat show host Rosie O'Donnell has "plunked down about $8 million for a four-bedroom apartment with outdoor space" in a converted hospital building many New Yorkers probably remember as part of the now-shuttered St. Vincent's Catholic Medical Center complex on (and around) West 12th Street in Greenwich Village.

A quick perusal of listings on StreetEasy reveals the only 4 bedroom apartment with outdoor space in the eight million dollar range in that particular building is a duplex penthouse with 3,202 square feet, 3 bathrooms, 3 exposures, and a private, 435 square foot terrace.

The open plan main living space has a long wall of windows and French doors to access the city-view terrace and a butler's pantry hall that connects the dining area with an almost all-white and expensively equipped center-island kitchen.

The building topper's floor plan included with current marketing materials shows one bedroom/study downstairs (with access to a windowless guest/hall bathroom), two more guest/family bedrooms situated on either side of another windowless hall bathroom upstairs, and an expansive master suite complete with sitting area, double-windowed walk-in closet and spacious and also double-windowed bathroom outfitted with two sinks, stall shower and separate tub.

While we recognize it's truly a luxury to have private washer and dryer hook ups in even the most expensive of New York City apartments, the location of the stacked equipment in a closet at the top of the stairs of this $8 million duplex penthouse is not ideal.

The newly converted pre-war structure was re-worked by a big-time New York City real estate family—they would be the Rudins—with numerous state-of-the-art, green-minded notions meant to qualify the building for LEED certification.

The old public hospital now provides residents with luxury amenities that include full-time doormen, a resident superintendent, Jed Johnson-designed common areas, a fitness center, cold storage (for ice cream, flower and milk deliveries), a rooftop terrace, an emergency power system for black outs and other such events, a building-wide wi-fi and water-filtering system, and energy-efficient heating and cooling equipment. For all of that common charges are shown on listing information we peeped at $3,234 per month with an additional $3,824 per month in taxes. A few quick flicks of the well-worn beads on Your Mama's bejeweled abacus shows the penthouse will cost Miz O'D $84,696 per year not counting mortgage payments, alterations and/or improvements, and utility bills.

Miz O'D has been much in the celebrity real estate news lately due to her purchase and quick sale of a the Chicago townhouse where she shacked up during her short-lived talk show on Oprah's eponymous and flailing network (OWN). Miz O'D's property portfolio currently includes (but may not be limited to) a nearly 1,400 square foot condo crib on a middle floor of a 43-story residential tower in Hell's Kitchen bought in October 2008 for $2,005,000, a substantial, multi-residence river-front compound in Nyack, NY, and and 11 bedroom and 12.5 bathroom bay-front estate on Miami's star-stocked Star Island, currently up for sale with a $19,500,000 asking price.

Note to the children: The exterior photo is a rendering and the kitchen photo may or may not be an accurate representation of the kitchen in the penthouse Miz O'D is reportedly (and at this point, allegedly) acquiring.

photo and floor plan: Stribling via 130west12.com