Samuel L. Jackson Seeks Buyer for New York City Condo
By Mark David
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Samuel L. Jackson hopes to turn a hefty, multi-million dollar profit on the sale of a multi-unit combination condominium on the Upper East Side of Manhattan he bought in 2005 for $4.8 million and now has available at $13 million. Located on one of the middle floors of a prestigious, 13-story pre-war apartment house known as The Leonori , the approximately 3,000-square-foot condo has four bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms.
Presiding over the tony corner of East 63rd Street and Madison Avenue, the elegant, elaborately detailed limestone clad Beaux-Arts-style building was built in the early 1900s as an apartment hotel and remains named after the building’s first lessor, Charles L. Leonori. In 1937, with apartment hotels falling out of fashion, the owner of the building maintained the opulent façades but rebuilt the interiors to accommodate proper apartments and the now landmarked, doorman-staffed building was converted to luxury condominiums in the 1980s.
A windowed alcove off the small entrance vestibule and foyer includes a sleek wet bar with under-counter beverage fridge and the lengthy but somewhat slim combination living/dining room features dark chocolate-brown oak floorboards, a floor-to-ceiling bank of custom built-ins and a dramatic black glass chandelier over the dining table. An ample guest bedroom beyond the living room includes a cedar-lined walk-in closet and an Art Deco-inspired bathroom slathered in inky black ceramic tiles. At the cozy heart of the bi-winged apartment, a slender den is dominated by a bespoke media cabinet while a petite dining area incorporates a cushioned window seat banquette and the meticulously tailored and unquestionably high-end but decidedly pint-sized kitchen is arguably better suited for unpacking take-out than cooking up a culinary feast.
A zigzagging corridor off the kitchen leads to a hall bathroom that includes two guest bedrooms and a hall bathroom with a flat-screen TV built-in to the wall above the towel rack. The not especially spacious master suite, also tucked back behind the kitchen, offers two exposures, a custom-fitted dressing hall with full height wardrobes and a windowed bathroom with modern white cabinets juxtaposed against a classic, claw-footed bathtub and a glitzy white glass chandelier.
Jackson, who has more than half of a dozen projects in various stages of production including M. Night Shyamalan’s upcoming sci-fi thriller “Glass,” and his actress wife, LaTanya Richardson, also maintain a leafy estate in the much-ballyhooed Beverly Park enclave in the mansion-dotted mountains above Beverly Hills, Calif., that they picked up in 2000 for $8.35 million from Roseanne Barr. The estate privately occupies a private promontory with cross-canyon views from a nearly 12,000-square foot mansion at the end of a long, tree-covered driveway along with a swimming pool, poolside guesthouse and lighted tennis court.
Listing agent Spencer Means at Compass Real Estate declined to comment.
