The Six Degrees of Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos

SELLER: Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos
LOCATION: 76 Crosby Street, New York City
PRICE: $6,700,000 (sale price)
SIZE: 5,262 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 3,5 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: DRAMATIC FULL FLOOR LOFT AT THE EPICENTER OF SOHO...Grand proportioned living and entertaining space, exceptionally appointed eat-in kitchen with 2 Sub Zero fridges, double Gaggenau ovens, double Gaggenau cook tops and a walk-in pantry. Separate family wing with two generous sized bedrooms and playroom, corner light surround the library/den, office and small gym, 2.5 baths with fabulous finishes and a rain forest imbued master bath.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Settle down children. Your Mama knows this apartment sold some time ago. The story was was well reported in Max Abelson's column at the NY Observer and subsequently Curbed posted several times about it. So all you snotty children don't be sending us uppity emails about how this is old news. We know.

We decided to dig this one up from our archives for three reasons. The first is that many of our readers who do not live in the New York City area may not have read these earlier reports. Secondly, after yesterday's depressing posts on the Pirro pads, Your Mama needed to be looking at pretty pictures and a floor plan we can appreciate. And lastly we are digging this one up because there are heaps of celebrities who can be woven into the story of this one apartment. So hang on tight and see if you can follow because Your Mama is going to be name dropping left and right.

Ex-soap opera stud Mark Consuelos and his talking head wife Kelly Ripa purchased their full floor loft at 76 Crosby in January 2002 for around $2,800,000 and reportedly spent and additional $900,000 customizing and renovating. The loft is quite large at over 5,000 square feet, but as anyone who has ever seen that upsetting Regis and Kelly gab fest knows, this catalog model cute couple have bred like rabbits and it wasn't long before they were crammed into the loft with three young kiddies like Japanese businessmen on a bullet train. The floor plan may be well considered and laid out, but there is certainly no room for three small brats and their nannies to be living up in here.

Upstairs, in the tremendous 9,865 square foot penthouse that is rumored to have once belonged to Boris Becker, porcelain skinned ack-tress Nicole Kidman luxuriated all by her lonesome. For all that space she reportedly paid the queenly sum of $40,000 per month in rent. Yes, children, in rent. Prior to moving to 76 Crosby, the pin thin Academy Award winning Australian was shacking up in Lenny Kravitz's penthouse down the street at 30 Crosby. That is until they busted up and she needed another place to get her beauty sleep.

However, Kidman didn't stay at 76 Crosby long. She next moved to Chelsea and into the very same building Your Mama keeps an apartment. Building rumors had her paying around $30,000 for a 2 or 3 bedroom apartment. Another rumor that flashed around was that Kidman did not herself live in the Chelsea building but rather had purchased an apartment in the building for her assistant. Whatever the case, Your Mama frequently saw this super skinny-minny in the early mornings slipping out of the building, usually in a pair of sweatpants, and into the back seat of a black Suburban. And on more than one occasion we saw Kidman, a bodyguard, and the two children she shares with that strange Scientologist Tom Cruise skulking down the street trying to look inconspicuous. We have not seen Ms. Kidman around lately so we gather she's moved on to another location.

Kidman's moving around puzzled New York City real estate watchers as it is widely known she purchased an apartment in the one of the Meier glass towers on Perry Street and the West Side Highway. This is the same building where hotelier Ian Schraeger keeps a full flor apartment and Calvin Klein purchased the 9,856 square foot triplex penthouse. All reports stated Ms. Kidman never moved into the Meier building apartment and many reported she was trying to sell the place. However, property records show a 12th floor unit (with 3,785 square feet) in the South tower is currently owned by Kidman's considerably less successful actor sister Antonia Hawley. Your Mama asks the children to draw your own conclusions about this.

Meanwhile, back over at 76 Crosby Street, the 5,292 square foot third floor loft was purchased in March of 2005 by Miramax mogul Harvey Weinstein. Property records show both Harvey and Eve Weinstein as owners. However, this puzzles Your Mama as the Weinstein's publicly divorced in 2004 and Eve was granted ownership of the couples exceptionally large duplex apartment on the fourth and fifth floors at 88 Central Park West. In October of 2006 Eve sold the duplex to Robert DeNiro and his long time lady friend Grace Hightower for the impressive price of $20,900,000 (the asking price had been $25,000,000).

Incidentally, Sting and Trudy Styler also own a mammoth duplex at 88 Central Park West they have on the market for $24,000,000. Your Mama will be posting this apartment in the near future. Reports say this couple will be moving to the Robert A.M. Stern designed building at 15 Central Park West once construction has been completed.

Are the children following us? We're nearly back to the Consuelos/Ripa loft. Soon after Ms. Kidman vacated 76 Crosby, the enormous duplex penthouse was put on the market for $9,950,000. As it turns out Consuelos and Ripa were looking to move to a larger property to house their growing brood and had put their fifth floor unit on the market in February 2005 for $7,750,000. Recognizing their good luck and the simplicity of moving upstairs, they quickly snapped up the penthouse in June of 2005.

Also in June 2005, the couple slashed the price of their loft by $800,000. The lower price quickly attracted a buyer and the loft sale closed in early November for $6,700,000. The unit was purchased by Edward Scheetz, who among other business interests, is the CEO of the Morgans Hotel Group, the umbrella company for Ian Schrager's collection of high end hotels which include the Delano in Miami and the Mondrian in Los Angeles.

UPDATE: One of our lovely readers commented that he/she actually looked to purchase the Consuelos/Ripa apartment when it was for sale and says it was "SO nice." He/she also tells us the family currently lives uptown while their new penthouse at 76 Crosby undergoes a gut renovation.

Phew! That concludes our whirlly-gig tour on the six degrees of the Consuelos/Ripa apartment. Your Mama is worn out and we're headed for our big king sized Tempur-Pedic bed to curl up and have a nap with our bitches Linda and Beverly.

Sources: NY Magazine, NY Observer, NY Post, Curbed