A dilapidated pink stucco townhouse at the heart of a $25 million real estate empire owned by the late Village eccentric Celeste Martin has sold for $8.5 million — far less than its original $11 million asking price.
The buyers are Robert and Cortney Novogratz, LA-based designers and HGTV stars who founded Sixx Design. (They are also parents to Wolfgang Novogratz, a rising star on Netflix teen comedies “The Last Summer” and “Sierra Burgess Is a Loser.”)
The Novogratzes are moving back to New York and plan to renovate the home, at 114 Waverly Place, and transform it into their personal residence.
“Townhouses are back in vogue,” Robert tells Gimme Shelter.
Townhouse owners can rent their homes out when they are on vacation without having to ask for board approval the way co-op owners do. New residential buildings have amenity spaces that are rarely used by owners, he says, adding that townhouse owners can customize their homes, avoiding that “high-end” problem altogether.
Martin, a former Rockette, lived in one room of the four-story Art Nouveau townhouse, which was in a state of ruin — overrun with cats and crumbling under leaky ceilings and peeling paint.
Martin, who died in December at age 98, also owned seven other buildings on Christopher and Gay streets that housed 30 apartments, out of which 28 are rent-stabilized. In city records filed on Tuesday, other buildings in the portfolio sold to a buyer listed as Gopher Group LLC.
An apartment building at 16 Christopher St. sold for $2.2 million. Other entries show a mix of four commercial and apartment buildings (18 and 20 Christopher St. and 14 and 16 Gay St.) sold together for $9 million.Martin inherited the real estate collection from her father Edmond Martin, who was the inspiration for a landlord character in the 1950s Broadway musical “Wonderful Town.”
The 5,410-square-foot property now owned by the Novogratzes features 16-foot vaulted ceilings.
It’s one of nine homes built on Waverly Place in 1826 for Thomas R. Mercein, who was then president of New York Equitable Fire Insurance Company and a city comptroller.
The listing broker was Stephen Wald of Stephen P. Wald Real Estate; the buyers’ broker was Wendy Maitland, founder of Atelier by Wendy Maitland.