Monday, March 26, 2012

Are the Parker-Brodericks Brooklyn Bound?

Despite spending a hefty-hefty-hefty $18,995,000 to acquire a 25-foot wide, 14-room townhouse with 5 bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms in New York City's Greenwich Village last March (2011), rumor on the celebrity real estate street in The Big Apple is that long-time West Village residents Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are thisclose to snatching up two townhouses in Brooklyn's high-toned but low-key Brooklyn Heights 'hood.

According to the well-connected property gossips at the New York Daily News, the Sex and the City star and the two-time Tony winning Broadway hoofer are in negotiations to purchase a pair of historic side-by-side townhouses on a particularly purdy stretch of street in the Heights where their (sort of) nearby neighbors will include Irish actor/producer/director Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment, In the Name of the Father, Miller's Crossing) and Grammy-winning singer Norah Jones whose 2011 musical collaboration(s) with DJ Danger Mouse (Rome) remain in rotation on Your Mama's clunky, first generation iPod.

The two townhouses in question (pictured above) are not listed on the open market but property records reveal they are owned by the same married couple who purchased one townhouse—a 3,500 square foot legal triplex built in 1901—in April 1994 for $467,000 and picked up the one next door—a 4,375 square foot legal quadruplex built in 1852—in January 2000 for $5,862,500. It's not clear to Your Mama if either townhouse has been converted to single family house but presumably if the Broderick-Parkers do indeed sign on the deed's dotted line they'll likely connect the two cribs to create one rather massive 8,000-plus square foot residence with a double wide back yard.

Your Mama hears from a source we'll call Polly Wannatellyousomething who snitched that Mister Broderick and Miz Parker have looked at several other properties in the Brooklyn Heights 'hood before settling on these two townhouses and have not, as of this morning, signed the contracts for the townhouses in question as they're waiting to be assured a place for their trio of tots in one of the better local area schools.

The Broderick-Parkers' property portfolio fairly well bulges with pricey and prime properties in and aroundNew York City that include their current habitat, a West Village townhouse bought in April 2000 for $2,995,000, as well as the nearly 7,000 square foot aforementioned Greenwich Village townhouse they bought last year but—we hear through the celebrity property gossip grapevine—never moved in. During the summer of 2005 the Showbiz dropped a combined $6,600,000 in two separate transactions to scoop up two very modestly sized (if exceptionally pricey) beach shacks in the quiet Hamptons community of Amagansett; One house is nestled in to the ocean front dunes and the other is directly across the street, an unusual set up for sure but one that's probably very practical privacy-wise when it comes to housing staff and weekend guests. 

photo: Bryan Pace for New York Daily News

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a Princess. She probably makes Carrie Bradshaw look low maintenance. 19M and never move in?? Please keep up posted Mama on the status of this. I predict LOSS on the old property..

Anonymous said...

I hope they negotiate with the seller to leave those window air conditioning units.

Anonymous said...

Hmm. I would have said that the only reason they would be moving over there is because their older boy is already going to St Ann's or Poly Prep, and hence this would be more convenient, but you're saying otherwise. So I would be very suspicious of these rumors. However, if work has not begun on the renovation of the townhouse they bought last year, then clearly they don't intend to move there.

Let's remember that they were also "definitely" buying Laurie Tisch's apartment on CPW, but that didn't happen either.

I DO know from someone who has direct involvement that SJP recently rented an apartment in the other Bing and Bing building at Abingdon Square (the other being not the one where Jennifer Aniston bought) that she says she will use for "getting dressed." Don't know how long the lease is for.

Richard said...

Didn't Gabriel Byrne move to Elizabeth Street like 2 years ago?

nursedeb said...

why buy there , with all the renovations needed?

Anonymous said...

$3M + $19M + $6.6M = nearly $30M in real estate already + Lord knows how much for this wreck + all the renovations.

Hey, J. Aniston isn't looking so crazy anymore!

RESfan said...

One thing about SJP is that she only wants public schools for her children. Of course the public schools she's putting them in are exactly, and I mean exactly like private schools but I digress.

That is the reason they're waiting on this property according to Mama.

OTOH with the real estate market in NYC going up up up with no end in site I think they are making sound financial decisions. Each time they buy a new place they increase their RE portfolio and do well.

Anonymous said...

^^^ why public school?? It's like my DREAM to be able to afford private for my kids. Has she experienced American public schools??

Anonymous said...

And Norah Jones lives in Cobble Hill.