A little bit of ‘Sex’ in Brooklyn – Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick set real estate sights on Heights
New York Daily News //March 23, 2012
CARRIE BRADSHAW is planning on pulling a Miranda and moving to Brooklyn, sources in the Heights tell the Daily News.
“Sex and the City” star Sarah Jessica Parker and husband Matthew Broderick are closing in on a contract to purchase adjacent townhouses on State St. near Sidney Place in the borough’s most expensive neighborhood.
“They loved the West Village but wanted something more private, laid-back and discreet,” says a source familiar with negotiations.
When construction is completed, the combined home would create an urban mansion of approximately 7,000-plus square feet with a suburban-size backyard — perfect for the family’s growing children, son James Wilkie, 9, and twin daughters Marion and Tabitha, almost 3.
The purchase of the townhomes will be an “off-market” transaction, meaning the houses weren’t officially for sale. Reps for the actors had no comment.
Neighbors say the high-powered couple will fit right in.
“It’s a quiet, family-oriented area. A lot of the homes are owned by people with children, and it’s a really safe neighborhood,” said Billy Calder, 22, who has lived on State St. his whole life.
“There are quite a few celebrities around here already,” he added. “Norah Jones lives close by; Gabriel Byrne lives a few streets away, so I don’t think it would be a big deal.”
City records show both homes are owned by Mark and Diane Baker. They did not have a comment on the proposed transaction.
SJP and her “Ferris Bueller” star hubby are burgeoning real estate moguls, having closed on an E. 10th St. townhouse two years ago for $18.995 million.
The famous couple is quietly shopping that home after remodeling, having never moved in.
They continue to reside in their townhome on Charles St., near West Fourth St.
But apparently they can’t resist red-hot Brooklyn Heights.
The Truman Capote House at 70 Willow St. recently sold to the creator of the video game Grand Theft Auto for $12.5 million, a borough record for a single-family residence.
“Brooklyn Heights is the city’s first official historic landmark district, that’s how beautiful it is and what it means to New York,” says CORE senior vice president Doug Bowen, a Brooklyn townhouse expert who has a listing at 161 State St.
“The price difference between the West Village and Brooklyn Heights is sometimes two, three, four times the amount. That’s why even big names are deciding to live here. It’s an easier financial commitment.”
Just having turned 50, Broderick, born and raised in the West Village to artist parents, shouldn’t have trouble adjusting to life in the Heights.
With charming streets, hidden lanes, carriage houses, writers and landscape architects, it’s like the West Village 25 years ago — with a dash of Paris thrown in.