Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Floor Plan Porn: The Swigs of 740 Park Avenue

SELLERS: Kent and Elizabeth Swig
LOCATION: New York City, NY
PRICE: $32,500,000
SIZE: (approx.) 7,500 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Those of the children who follow the delicious melodramas of New York City's upper crust real estate market well know there's some crazy shit going down at famously fancy-pants 740 Park Avenue.

740 Park Avenue is well known in real estate circles to be an an all cash cooperative apartment house with a powerful, deeply probing, and particularly persnickety board that quite literally holds the keys to ownership residency in the fabled building.* Typically an all cash building of 740's prestige requires buyers not only pay 100% of the purchase price but also be able to prove to the board they have significant additional liquid assets.

In 2000 property developer Kent Swig and his estranged wife, Elizabeth, coughed up an unknown amount of dinero to acquire an approximately 7,500 square foot duplex at 740 Park Avenue and, at some later point, secured two loans against the apartment that total about $17.6 million. For whatever reason(s) the couple stopped making payments on the loans sometime in 2009. Naturally, the loan holder, Bank of America, got their financial panties in a ruffle has made several so far unsuccessful attempts to foreclose on the Swig's grandly proportioned, expensively fitted, and finely finished duplex apartment.

Mister Swig, in case any of y'all don't know, is the scion to the wealthy and renown San Francisco family that owns the Fairmont Hotels chain. Missus Swig also comes from extremely fortunate financial circumstances; She's the daughter of feisty octogenarian real estate developer Harry Macklowe.* Most reports Your Mama turned up suggest the foreclosure ugliness has less to do with Mister and soon-to-be ex-Missus Swig financial abilities—it would be a high society shocker if they were actually broke—and more to do with the bitter push and shove of their impending but not yet finalized divorce. Soon-to-be ex-Missus Swig reportedly remains in residence at 740 with the feuding couple's two children.

We don't know the current status as regards to BofA's attempt(s) to foreclosure but we do know, thanks to Deenna Beenna and the lightening fast kids at Curbed, that the splitting Swig's contemporary art-filled low-floor spread at 740 Park Avenue has popped up on the open market with an $32,500,000 asking price.***

Listing details show the two-floor, 16-room sprawler was meticulously updated and renovated by renown architect Alan Wanzenberg and has five bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms. However, children, Your Mama's study of the floor plan turn four family bedrooms and four bathrooms on the upper level, a half bathroom for guests between the foyer and the library on the lower level, and bifurcated staff quarters on the lower level that include three prison cell-sized bedrooms plus a staff lounge and 1.5 (windowed) bathrooms. By our count, that makes for a total of seven bedrooms and five full and two half bathrooms but what do we know, right?

The apartment's lower level is only one flight up from the street on the building's second floor but there's still a private elevator vestibule that connects to an impressive, 25-foot long foyer with putty colored walls that Your Mama would be flabbergasted to learn are not hand-rubbed plaster, an inlaid basket weave-patterned wood floor, and a swooping and magnificently sinuous staircase.

The commodious and aristocratically stiff-collared corner living room stretches a sensational 37 feet with wood floors, a wood burning fireplace, a pint-sized private terrace, and windows trimmed with what looks in listing photos to Your Mama like brass or copper or some other elegantly patinated metallic material. Not that it matters a whit but Your Mama does not care for the Swig's high-luxe day-core even though all the Neoclassical gilded furniture in the living room is stunning and probably museum quality. We love, however, the former couple's high octane contemporary art collection. Can any of the children name three or more of the artists on display in listing photos?

A second wood-burning fireplace warms an adjacent, dark wood paneled library with three south-facing windows that overlook E. 71st Street and a funny little niche off the banquet-hall sized formal dining room is described in listing details as a "conservatory."

The service wing, tucked back into the rear, northern wing of the apartment, includes an eat-in country kitchen with custom, Shaker-style cabinetry with bead board details, top-brand appliances, and a geometric, custom-designed tile floor. Listing details state there are "four staff rooms and two full baths situated in this wing of the home" but, once again, Your Mama counted only three staff bedrooms plus a staff lounge and 1.5 bathrooms on the floor plan included with publicly available digital marketing materials.

The rear stairs in the kitchen ascend to the upper level service entrance and a galley-style laundry room equipped with two washers and two dryers. The laundry room links through to a windowless interior family room/play room/children's study off of which open a pair of reasonably sized family bedrooms, both with private en suite poopers and walk-in closets plus additional storage. A third guest/family bedroom is more conveniently accessed by the curvaceous main stair way and also offers occupants a walk-in closet and and a private (if windowless) en suite facility.

The impressive master suite, according to the floor plan, has a 400-plus square foot corner bedroom with a third wood-burning fireplace and extensive closet space—two walk-ins plus a 25-foot long custom-fitted dressing room. The bathroom that looks to Your Mama like it's larger than any of the staff bedrooms and has two sinks, and separate tub and shower. An adjoining private study can also be accessed via the dressing hall as well as the upper level bedroom corridor.

Far be it for Your Mama to assess value as this apartment is worth whatever extraordinary amount a rich person who can pass the board's high-nosed approval will pay for it. However, interested parties should note that an (essentially) identically sized if slightly differently laid out duplex apartment directly upstairs from the Swigs—owned by financier Peter Huang and on market in 2008 for $38 million—is listed on the open market for $29.5 million.

The swanky coop's most recent recorded sale was a duplex slightly smaller than the Swigs but with an equally gracious layout that was sold by the estate of June and Randolph Speight—he was once the powerful and feared president of the building's notoriously persnickety board—to Wall Street bigwig Jonathan Sobel and his wife, Marcia Dunn, in August of 2012 for $19.5 million. In next most recent sale was in May of 2012 when, amid much tongue wagging by property gossips, billionaire investor and hardcore real estate baller Howard Marks paid Time Warner widow and philanthropist Courtney Sale Ross $52.5 million for a downright epic 30-room duplex apartment.

Given their fantastic wealth and preeminent social status it doesn't seem very far fetched to imagine that Mister and/or soon-to-be ex-Missus Swig keep at least one or two other private homes in some of the U.S.'s most exclusive and expensive locales but, truth is, Your Mama really has no idea where if anywhere else besides 740 Park Avenue Mister and/s soon-to-be ex-Missus Swig maintain—or rather maintained—personal residences. We do know, in case anyone cares, they've owned at least two homes in the Hamptons; Property records show they sold a high-hedged, tennis court estate on Bridgehampton's Matthews Lane in 2006 for $3.65 million.

*Cooperative ownership can be complicated and dizzying and Your Mama really doesn't have the time or inclination to make a deep dive into the ins and outs of cooperative ownership in New York City. If any of y'all are that interested, have a look here, and/or here, and/or here and/or here.

**Harry Macklowe faced his own financial issues in 2008 when a cash crush and the economic meltdown of 2007-8 forced him to forfeit to Deutsche Bank more than half a dozen office tower in Midtown, including the iconic General Motors Building on Fifth Avenue and E. 59th Street. But that's really another very interesting real estate story for another time and another blog...

***Not surprisingly, the apartment is listed by a top broker at Brown Harris Stevens, which happens to be owned by Mister Kent Swig's Terra Holdings.

listing photos and floor plan: Brown Harris Stevens

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bank Of America is a HORRIBLE company. I hope they lost big time on this. The next fine against them will be in the trillions, not billions as the last was

Anonymous said...

Liz Swig Paddle8blog
There's a bunch of pictures of her hanging at home showing off her pretty damn impressive collection.
She seems pretty normal and maybe even slightly funny.

Anonymous said...

Mama!! I got another!!!
Google Liz Swig Dluximages
HUGE album with pictures of almost every nook and cranny.
Its just....gorgeous

Anonymous said...

Unless I have missed the sale, their current Sagaponack, NY home remains for sale. It's on 7 acres on Sagg Pond; contemporary; very unique. Had been owned by Richard Eckstract at one time. They bought this in 2006; thus the Bridgehampton sale.
And,...Mrs. Swig's father is the man Martha Stewart tangled with when she bought the modern house on Georgica Pond years ago. Recall that "dust-up"?

Lily Pond

Anonymous said...

Let's all give it up to Mama for beating Michael Gross to this one!
And for being infinitely more informative than curbed.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sold on that whole Auntie Mame interior as being a reasonable environment for rearing children. Perhaps a loft somewhere in Soho.
This is a world caliber address and I get the whole shaking the egg thing, but this style of decoration is in conflict with this building.
Oh, and the kitchen is small. The serpentine path from the Master bedroom to the stairs is irksome. Seems like a waste of good space having all those rooms for the help. Do people really use those rooms for live in servants?

DC Guy said...

Mama, excellent reporting! And for the children who haven't read it yet, you should pick up Michael Gross' book - 740 Park. No I'm not his agent, but it is a good read.

Anonymous said...

I think I spy a Donald Judd and a Gary Hume but does anyone know the artist who paints what seems to be the word 'hysterectomy' in a font resembling a Snickers bar?

JGV said...

Thanks for the quick coverage!

Anybody knows the original idea behind the "conservatory"? Candela used it more often, e.g. in 820 fifth avenue. Carpenter also included it in some of his designs, e.g. 907 fifth avenue.

Anyhow, I would make a bar out of it, of course...

Anonymous said...

@10:24
It says HUNGERECTOMY

Anonymous said...

JGV:
Perhaps a card room? Breakfast room?
If you look at the Dluximages page that was mentioned above you'll see that it's very elaborately paneled and currently holds a small table with 4chairs.
What would the life expectancy of plants in a room with a northern exposure be?

Anonymous said...

Boker tov (Good morning) JGV:

In prewar residences, conservatories are frequently adjacent to dining rooms, and are employed as breakfast and dining rooms when a smaller number of persons sit at table. Conservatories within grand apartments customarily have windows on two sides, unlike the inferior 740 Park Avenue conservatories. With abundant natural light, conservatories create delightful environments to linger with coffee and the Trenton Times. Along with Carpenter and Candela, Emery Roth included conservatories within many San Remo apartments, as did Starrett and van Vieck, the architects of 820 Fifth Avenue. Starrett and van Vieck also designed Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Abraham & Strauss, and upon the demise of A & S, the Rabbi sat shiva for the required seven days. Conservatories during the Victorian era were of course used to grow exotic plants; e.g., Cleopatra, the beloved carnivorous plant of Morticia Addams.

Botanically yours,
Rabbi Hedda LaCasa

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 6:53 a.m.:

We were replying simultaneously! To your marvelous recommendation of card room, I would like to add mah jongg nook. By the way, Golden Gate Park in San Francisco features a magnificent, stand-alone Victorian conservatory, also with carnivorous plants.

Hedda

Sandpiper said...


The Real Deal did a long and winding piece in 1/13 about poor Mr. Swig's bum luck.

It discusses -- among other dodgy things -- the poor guy's penmanship problems under the subhead "Broken Marriage".

In a 2011 suit against Bank of America, Elizabeth claimed that her husband conspired with the lender to use her as a front to shield his assets from being seized by creditors. In court papers, she claimed that Swig forged her signature on a 2006 letter of credit to rescue a $30 million nursing home deal that he was backing in Southampton called the Payton Lane project.
She claimed the forgery allowed Swig to use the shares at their 740 Park Avenue co-op as collateral to protect the deal against delays and cost overruns that threatened to derail the project.
Elizabeth alleged that a second $12.8 million loan was obtained through a forged signature along with a cover story from her husband that the loan was being used to refinance their Park Avenue apartment."


Oops.

Anonymous said...

Great minds, Rabbi, great minds..
Haha
-anon653

Sandpiper said...

P.S. If you care to, scan the bold type, then muck past the ordered, ordered, ordered biz to see BofA's lawsuit aginst poor Mr. Swig. BTW, lost count on his llCs, John Doe jazz and other shields.

He's a fast dancer.

JGV said...

Dear Rabbi, Anon653, thanks for your explanation and suggestion. I makes perfect sense to have an alternative to a 25x19 dining room if your eating your breakfast alone.

I find 740 park less inferior than the Rabbi. And in my defence, its conservatory actually has two windows (check original plans on M. Gross' site, or the floorplan for #4/5D).

Talking about 820 Fifth Avenue. I made a startling discorvery some time ago. I was under the impression that the top floor (the 12th) was a simplex, very similar to all the other simplexes on lower floors. However, looking on google maps, it does seem to have a penthouse addition, including wrap-around. A bit like 2 east 67th. What is going on here? Anyone?

Anonymous said...

JGV:
Good find. I wonder where the second window went. Perhaps it was covered up when the paneling(which looks kinda old timey/possibly original) was installed?

Anonymous said...

Dear JGV:

Thank you for redeeming the 740 conservatories for me, in which I didn't know there are windows on two sides! Per your impression, original 820 floorplans indeed document the twelfth storey as a simplex, and I'd also enjoy further elucidation. Finally, the full-floor San Francisco apartments of 2000 and 2006 Washington Street, and 2500 Steiner Street, respectively designed in renaissance, Mediterranean, and gothic styles by Conrad Muessdorffer during the 1920s, feature large conservatories with three exposures overlooking the bay.

Conservatively yours,
Hedda

bentley said...

I want to do unspeakable things to the dining room furniture.

Sandpiper said...


My Sweet Bentley,

From you I'd expect no less.

s

Anonymous said...

Dear Kinderlach:

Please follow the recommendation of Anonymous January 7 at 3:40 p.m.! Yes, Anonymous, gorgeous in its own thoroughly unique way, and also so much fun! (Except for the claustrophobic conservatory.)

Rabbi Hedda LaCasa

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised to read this is Alan Wazenberg's work. It's not very attractive - or even interesting.

lil' gay boy said...

It is quite homely, in the traditional British sense of the word...

Marcus said...

This apartment is not 7500 SF, more like 6500,maybe less..
@JGV the top floor at 820 Fifth is a simplex.That "PH" is extra maids rooms/storage space.Quite normal considering 820 was finished in 1916 , a good 5 years before PH's became trophy residences.Yeah i know, its hard to believe that space still is sued for storage & stuff ,but its true.Many of the older buildings had maids rooms on the top floors and PH floors.
ps.I hope you guys dont really believe the square footages given by most brokers/websites for these apartments..they are inflated.All of them.
Eg:Anne Bass full floor at 960 Fifth.They say its 10000 SF, well its 8000.And examples galore..
Source:real original floor plans.