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Mayor Bloomberg really likes his space! The NY Times reports that the billionaire who lives in a 5-story "flawless Beaux-Arts limestone with 7,500 square feet of exquisite living space" at 17 East 79th Street, has been "been buying up space in the building next door, knocking down walls and combining two entire floors along the way."
The neighboring building, 19 East 79th, is described as a "white 1880 neo-Grec co-op town house," and the added space—one of the floors includes "vaulted ceilings, a solarium and two wood-burning fireplaces" now gives the Mayor 12,500 square feet of living space. A broker says, “It’s really a mansion, not a town house anymore.”
Bloomberg's spokesman Stu Loeser had this response for the Times reporter inquiring about expansion, “We don’t tell you why and we don’t discuss it.” However, neighbors did talk and "say Mr. Bloomberg has been able to expand his dining room, where he is the host at star-studded salons"—handy when you're trying to woo support for a NYC 2012 Olympic bid, say— He has also been spotted using one room for his aerobic workouts." What about the Scrooge McDuck-style vault with his billions (yes, that will eventually go to charity)?
And while the residents of the top unit at 19 East 79th Street think the Mayor is a "great neighbor," they won't be giving up their place to him anytime soon—they say they are never going to move.
Image of Bloomberg during his Xanadu-inspired Inner Circle Dinner spoof from Azi Paybarah
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I am starting to look for alternatives to this site. I do not care about spelling errors and shit but things are always grammatically unclear! So sick of it.
This sentence "And while the residents of the top unit at 19 East 79th Street think the Mayor is a 'great neighbor,' they say they are never going to move." Doesn't make sense!!!! It would make sense if they said that while he is a great neighbor, they are planning to move soon". Otherwise, be more clear or stop stealing stories if they are not clear!
Thanks—it's been nice knowing you.
Ban-hammer-grammar-slammer!
See ya!!! By the way, shouldn't you change your name to "sourpanties?"
OOOOH! Burned by JC!
Jen, please refund sweetpanties price of subscription.
And we were just getting to know you sweetie. Your last name isn't Marbury by any chance is it?
Sweetpanties: It's a blog and not the NY Times. Be thankful
you have it. We love you Jen.
If you don't like the site for whatever reason, why not just go away quietly without all the drama? Leave the song and dance to Hugh Jackman.
I'm sure this will be cited as a "turnaround in the market" by real estate brokers.
I welcome constructive comments. I don't need to put up ones that are also rude.
Amen, sistafriend!
Jen you have to admit that based on your past performance; Jen Chung - Editor = oxymoron. I was sure that the site upgrade with the spell check feature was for your benefit alone!
As far as the feudal midget mayor of shantytown is concerned; he's still a carpetbagger from Boston that has done more to ruin the city than improve it.
I'll take that into consideration and work on changing my title to "Cat Herder: Jen Chung"
you got another cat????
we just took in a cat (12 yrs old), the prev. owner committed suicide.
poor thing just craves attention.
That's a funny pic!
Love the pic.
there are over 10,000 homeless families in nyc.
the highest since 1983.
there are over 10,000 empty luxury condos in nyc.
that's bloomberg's idea of city planning.
it's nice to know we have billionaire mayor who lives in an ultra-mega-townhouse-mansion and expaning it while
middle class ny'ers are suffering. i'm sure he can really relate to us and understand our needs.
As a frequent critic of Gothamist spelling grammar -- but hopefully not too rude -- I do have to say that it is an ongoing problem here. This site has a lot to offer, but I don't understand why you can't take the time to proofread before posting.
Suggestion: Print the text and proofread before posting. I learned early on in my career that computer screens can make everything look fine -- but the ugly errors really pop-out on paper.
Thanks—we are trying to be better about proofreading, but the fixes aren't as easy (there's some coding that need to be done, not to mention time/resources).
For the rest of the comments, let's please put the focus back on Mayor Bloomberg's aerobics room. As for any further comments on the typo/grammar issues of the site, I welcome you to email me directly at jen(at)gothamist(dot)com .
Your wish is my command. I was going to make a new post, but since you asked, I'll reply to you instead:
Based on the pictures of Bloomie with his paunch (especially that one of him in shorts a couple of years ago), I'd say the aerobics aren't doing much good. He could use some personal training from the Governator.
I don't care about ms. chungs errors,
I do care about this mayor who is rude, uncaring and disrespectful
who also passes this trait on to his staff.
from his upper level to lower, they all have his rudeness.
Folks, if you want to see poor editing pick a copy of the amNY. Everyday, there are about 2-3 articles with significant incorrect statements, which are far worse than grammatical oversights.
So don't get your Xanadu panties in a bunch when you read this site, which is (presumably) intended to be informative and fun.
sorry spoke too soon,
he's only rude, uncaring, unsympathetic and disrespectful
if you're poor.
if you're rich, he'll take care of you, no questions asked.
Bloomberg has done enormous things for the City Of New York. Bloomberg deals with loads of people and has a huge social network and its more convenient and more efficient and safer for him to do more at his townhome. Its an expense that makes sense for him and us. Bloomberg didn't take away anything from anyone. The neighbor who sold him the property also highly respected him as well. This was a mutual agreement over space swapping and nothing more.
Yes, I agree. Bloomberg has done enormous things for NY'ers. He has enormously raised property taxes by over 50% in his first year in office for many homeowners. He has also tried shutting Manhattan down to outer borough residents by trying to implement East River tolls. Bloomberg was against temporarily suspending term limits for Giuliani after 9/11 but has had a miraculous change of opinion since. Glad he has the funds to expand his mansion as NY'ers are fighting to keep their homes. Enormously inane.
Is all this class envy because he's mayor? Yoko Ono owns half the Dakota but nobody's reporting on her aerobics room.
Yeah but Yoko isn't the mayor of NYC which is facing one hell of a hard time (partly) due to her fiscal and city planning policies of the past 7+ years.
As someone pointed out, for him to go ahead and expand his mansion while thousands of working families are homeless or being evicted or losing their jobs...well looks pretty bad.
I understand your point but I've never thought Bloomberg was interested in running the city. He ran for mayor to stroke his ego. He's certainly not trying to get in for a third term because he's concerned about NYC. He's just trying to "one up" Ed Koch.
mabey sourpanties got laid off and is about to lose her free wifi connection because she has to move to brooklyn now. So since she has nothing to do is going around yaking about inconsequential things. Down with bloomie.
Bloomberg is no Mother Teresa or even more realistically a Warren Buffet, but the fact that he intends to give most of his billions away one day is decent enough for me. How many billionaires out there are total greedy assholes?
That said, none of this means he is or is not fit to be mayor, but I can see why this sends out the wrong message, future philanthropist or not.
Also, lets just admit we're all jealous. Whether you reside in Manhattan or Staten Island, lets all just get it out there that it's everyone's dream to own a Manhattan brownstone.
Please withhold the "I'm better than that" or "you're just a social climber" or "rich people in Manhattan are soulless losers that don't understand culture" comments simply because I wish I had a Manhattan brownstone. If you were a billionaire, you'd want one too.
PS totally torn on whether or not I'm voting for him, but it's certainly not a lock
Uhh not my dream. If I were a billionaire I would not live in this god forsaken shithole of a city. I would not look to expand my real estate empire like this little fucking toad. He's rich we get that-he outbid everyone else to become mayor. Good for him. He can take each brick of his brownstone and systematically shove them up his ass.
And all we do is continue spreading more cheese over this Townhouse Cracker.
Let this be a lesson to all of you. Stay in school and study hard and you too will be able to afford an Escalade.
Geez, where did you get that sartorially-challenged picture?
Bloomberg looks like he was part of the casting call for the latest Broadway version of HAIR.
Where did you get that sartorially-challenged picture?
Bloomberg looks like he was part of the casting call for the latest Broadway version of HAIR.
The picture was photoshopped over an old picture of former mayor Giuliani.
The guy is rich, and people have always been rich while others starve. You guys expect him to sink all his personal money into helping the city?
Add to that, he refused to accept a city salary (I think he makes $1.00/a yr.) But the man's amassed a fortune and bad economy or not, it's his money and investment. should we expect him to live like a "pauper" for lack of a more appropriate word. He's entitled to do what he wants with his own money. The focus should be on his policies.
jen chung, please read your postings aloud slowly before posting them. doing this will clear some things up and make it easier and more enjoyable for the readers.
DUDE, Someone got acess to my account!!!! wtF????
Isn't it obvious that the numerous comments about the editing of this article are designed to change the subject and crowd out the comments on the actual topic? Jen, just delete all that and let's get back to talking about how the Bloomberg empire expands as the NYC economy contracts. And for those who say everyone's jealous, no, I don't want a townhouse, and imagine not everyone wants a private jet and a place in London, Bermuda and Colorado either. Some of us are just happy with our little apartments in NYC and would like to afford to keep them. We just didn't have the benefit of a 8-figure payout from a now-defunct i-bank to start our businesses.