Double Whammy: Anderson Cooper (I)

SELLER: Anderson Cooper
LOCATION: West 38th Street, New York, NY
PRICE: $1,580,000 (sale price)
SIZE: 2,000 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Today we're going to bring the children something special, the Anderson Cooper Double Whammy. First we will discuss the Midtown Manhattan loft apartment he sold in 2005, and then later in the day Your Mama will bring y'all some information on his new penthouse apartment which happens to be located on the top floors of the very same building as his old apartment.

But before we begin we would like to express our sincerest thanks to Christiane Freakspeaker who has provided us with more information than we ever thought we needed to know about Anderson Cooper through her Anderson Cooper 360 Blog. It was on the tip of a reader that we were directed over to Miz Freakspeaker's blog, and for the last few days Ms. Freakspeakers has been a dee-lite to deal with and it is from her that we received all the glorious photos.

Because coincidence can be fun...Just yesterday, someone Your Mama knows quite well was working out at the gayest gym in New York where he was huffing and puffing lifting weights next to none other than the very thin grey haired television news stud himself. The Coop was working out with a verrry good looking trainer who we're told models in his spare time. We're sure it was purely a bizness relationship, but Coop, hunny, if you're looking to keep the gossips quiet about your "proclivities," working out at a gayest gym in New York is certainly not the way to do it.

Anyhoo, let's go back into the dark recesses of our minds and remember that a couple of years ago the Coop put this loft on the market for $2,200,000 with powerhouse brokerage Brown Harris Stevens. All the real estate gossips in New York took notice and the vigil began. But there were no takers.

So the price was reduced to $1,895,000 and the gossips went wild again. This was back when the Manhattan market was white hot and apartments were sold at record prices even before they were for sale. But still no one wanted to buy the Coop's coop.

The price was hacked once again. This time to $1,795,000. And of course the real estate gossips pounced. And then, finally, along come a couple of gays, one of them a real estate agent at Brown Harris Stevens, and they steal the place in December 2005 for just $1,580,000.

Miz Freakspeakers tells us the Coop had the place designed, decorated, and customized by an architect friend, a partner at Workshop/apd, who squeezed a fair amount of space into 2,000 square feet. We have fond memories of pouring over the photos and floor plan of this apartment back before this blog was even a glimmer in our eye. And we recall reading all the real estate blogs and reports about the difficulty the Coop was having selling the place. But we also remember thinking this place was pretty spiffy, and even modest for someone who is an heir to the Gloria Vanderbilt denim legacy.

With space and storage at such a premium in Manhattan, Your Mama is very appreciative of all the cabinetry in the living room which surely provided the Coop with plenty of space to store knick-knacks, heirlooms, and porn tapes. In the interest of comfort, we prefer a sofa over the Aalto chairs, but these look nice too. The desk space in the living room with the fancy Eames office chair conjures up images of late nights and Coop sitting in his boxers (or briefs?) clacking away on his lap top, working his fingers to the nubbins to bring the world the latest on Darfur, Katrina, and the fate of Afghani women in exile.

The very expensive looking dining room furniture was instantly turned multi-culti boho chic with the table runner, which we imagine the Coop bought for 12 cents in some filthy market in a country where people are lucky to eat one meal a day. The bookshelves in this area are a welcome touch. So many times we see fancy apartments without a book in them and we think, "Who are these people who don't read?" We knew deep in our heart that the Coop is a reader.

The bedrooms, located at the back of the apartment, lack the sort of closet space we would like to see. We imagine the Coop must have needed a storage unit so that he could swap out the summer Prada for the winter Prada. We don't mind the smallish size of the bedrooms, but the master bedroom does not have direct access to the master bath, which can be a real drag when you're nekkid and need to pee in the middle of the night and your mother in law, who is visiting for the weekend, needs to to the same thing.

One item that disturbs us is the huge portrait of Gloria Vanderbilt above the bed. We can't be sure whether this was the master bedroom or the guest bedroom, but either way it's troublesome. Don't get Your Mama wrong, ain't nothing wrong with Miz Vanderbilt. Lady was a lacquer haired diva of beauty, fashion, and culture who in the 1980s smartly and proudly put her family name on the butts of every disco queen from Long Island to Los Angeles. But think about it...how was the Coop supposed to do the nasty with his mama looking down and watching the whole thing? That's just creepy if you ask us, and surely there was a better location for that portrait.

Oddly enough, this apartment is back on the market. And what price do you think the sellers are asking? $1,795,000.

One of the reasons Coop was so eager to sell this place was that in early 2005 he purchased the top floor unit of the very same building for $2,480,000 according to property records. He had big plans for the top floor unit including busting through the roof and adding a second floor. More on that later.

Sources: Freakspeakers, Gawker, Curbed