A condominium unit in New York City is on sale for $7.5 million, and the loft-style space has a Hollywood claim to fame that no other home in the Big Apple has.
Filmmakers used the entrance hallway in Unit 3A at 56 Crosby St. during filming of the 2006 movie "The Devil Wears Prada," starring Glenn Close and Anne Hathaway. In the film, Hathaway's character — Andy Sachs — walks down the hallway to enter a small party being thrown by up-and-coming fashion designer James Holt, played by actor Daniel Sunjata.
The movie appearance is only one reason the condo unit is unique, said listing agent Jacques Foussard of Brown Harris Stevens.
"When you enter, it’s that hallway that really can be used as a gallery [for art] because you have arched brick walls all the way from the entrance to the front window," Foussard told Homes.com.
The condo unit features two bedrooms and two-and-a-half bedrooms across 3,614 square feet. The main bathroom has marble countertops with a separate shower and soaking tub.
"As you move toward the main area, you have the big windows almost foot to ceiling and then you see that big living area with the wood-burning fireplace," he said.
The unit's current owner, who purchased the space in 2000 and raised two children there, is a longtime New York City resident who decided to move out of the city, Foussard said. The owner had been renting the unit to someone else before deciding to place it on the market, he added.
The tenant opted not to use the condo unit as his residence, Foussard said.
"He was using it as an [art] exhibition space and as a way to meet people," he added.
Home had a history in rugs
The unit has nearly 14-foot ceilings and a black, cast-iron column in the middle of the living room. The space was designed that way because, in a former life, the unit was used for selling gigantic floor rugs, Foussard said.
Unit 3A sits inside a building that started its life as a department store but was converted into a 10-unit condo structure in 1999. It's one of only two units on the building's third floor. Foussard noted that, in Manhattan, it's rare to see condo buildings with so few units, and that's part of the charm of living in "this iconic loft."
The condo building also sits in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood, which is an abbreviation for South of Houston Street. SoHo is home to the world's highest concentration of cast-iron buildings. The neighborhood has roots as a working-class artist-centric community, but today it's a tourist epicenter for shopping, with retailers like Bloomingdale's and Prada holding anchor stores on Broadway Street. Living in SoHo is "the essence of living like a New Yorker," Foussard said.
Perhaps the biggest comfort of Unit 3A is that the new owner would not be living above the bustling shopping noise on Broadway because the condo building is still a block and a half away from the action, Foussard said.
"It's in an area that's tucked away from [the busy parts of] SoHo, but at the same time, it's in the middle of everything," he said.