Michael Feinstein’s Upper East Side townhouse and David Sanborn’s Upper West Side brownstone aim to hit real estate high notes.
Located on the Upper East Side, Michael Feinstein’s New York home is comprised of two townhouses that have been joined together as one. With a total of 18 rooms, the sprawling retreat includes twin staircases, six bedrooms, two kitchens, a gym, a meditation terrace, and an outdoor area that features a pair of pagodas that create an outdoor dining/living room. The home also includes a recording studio that listing agent Mickey Conlon refers to as “the ultimate sound laboratory. This is a high-functioning studio where Michael can digitalize all of his music into preservable formats.” Asking price: $17.9 million.
Over on the West Side, David Sanborn has his 1892 townhouse on the market for $12 million. The Grammy-award winning alto saxophonist dedicated an entire floor to a recording studio. “They soundproofed the space with leaded sheetrock,” said Conlon. “When they tested it, they let off firecrackers in the studio to make sure nothing could be heard on the other side of the walls.” The brownstone townhouse has four wood-burning fireplaces (one in the studio).
So does an in-house studio function as a help or a hindrance when selling an eight-figure property? “We’ve gone from pitching recording studios as something that can be converted into a media room to a true novelty that we’re finding people really want to embrace,” said Tom Postilio, who shares both listings with fellow CORE Group real estate agent Conlon. Together, the two star on HGTV’s Selling New York, and both notably have musical backgrounds: Postilio worked as a professional singer, performing the Great American Songbook in venues such as the Hollywood Bowl and New York’s Rainbow Room, while Conlon worked as a Broadway producer before turning to real estate.
“Maybe the most surprising factor is that people who are looking at these homes may not be musicians themselves,” said Conlon. “But having a recording studio taps into the garage band childhood fantasies. It’s like having world’s ultimate man cave.”